Ana Roy, The Head of Analytics and Merchandise at Kmart, has been named the number one Analytics Leader by the The Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA).
Roy received the award last night, securing first place in the IAPA’s Top 25 Analytics Leaders award program and becoming the first woman to be ranked first place since the program’s inauguration six years ago.
The judges commended Roy’s forecasting and pricing models, which ‘enabled the Kmart merchandising team to deliver better business outcomes as a ‘everyday products at low prices’ retailer,” a statement read.
Roy was join by two other women in the Top 5 — and another six women in the Top 25.
Duhita Khadepau, Director, Analytics and Data Science at Assignar, placed third, while Elizabeth Moore, Head of Audience Data and Insights at the ABC placed fifth.
Annette Slunjski, IAPA Managing Director, said that this year’s award was “marked by a maturing and genuine acknowledgement of the value of analytics to business.”
“This year’s Top 25, and especially the Top 10, have true c-suite support as analytics delivers real-world outcomes that move the needle in terms of revenue, cost containment or better business models,” she said.
IAPA Chair, Antony Ugoni agreed, adding that this year’s list “saw a greater focus on impact and outcomes of analytics effort and the implementation of sophisticated analytics-driven solutions to business problems.”
“Selecting the Top 25 from the extremely strong field was challenging for the judging panel but also showed the maturity of analytics and data thinking in so many organisations,” Ugoni said.
It’s a promising win for women as they remain minorities in the field of analytics. One study from 2019 found that women occupied roughly 30 per cent of data and analytics roles across all industries— a figure that appears to be declining since.