Sara Brumbaugh is Managing Principal of Ceres Analytics, a consultancy specializing in applied mathematics, statistics, and machine learning. With over 20 years of involvement with IBF, she is the recipient of IBF’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Sara’s career spans business forecasting in utilities, data mining in finance, genetic research collaboration at Harvard Medical School, and development of patent-pending fraud detection algorithms. She holds master’s degrees from Harvard University and Florida State University.

Randy leads the Forecasting and Analytics function CoE for Organon, which was recently divested from Merck Pharmaceuticals, where Randy established and lead their Forecasting CoE for 10 years. Prior to Merck, Randy held forecasting leadership roles at BMS and Pharmacia. He has also launched his own forecasting consultancy practice and lead forecasting consulting for a large consulting firm. Randy holds an MS-MIS, MBA in Marketing, and BSBA in Accounting, all from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Ted Hanawalt is the Director of Global Forecasting and Market Analysis at General Motors, responsible for synthesizing market data into strategic issues and actionable opportunities. Ted’s experience at General Motors covers a variety of different functions, particularly from a product demand forecasting, product portfolio strategy, and manufacturing strategy perspective. Ted holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and an MBA from Pennsylvania State University.

Eric Wilson is Director of Thought Leadership at the Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning, bringing over 20 years of experience in demand planning and predictive analytics. He previously led forecasting at Escalade Sports, Berry Plastics, and Tempur Sealy. Eric is an IBF Advanced Certified Professional Forecaster (ACPF) and recipient of IBF’s Excellence in Business Forecasting & Planning Award. He is a frequent speaker, published author, and contributor to The Journal of Business Forecasting.