Expert Consultants Who Can Help You

We can match you up with an expert with deep model-building expertise and knowledge of Frontline Systems' products -- either from our own staff, or from a select group of external consultants.  This is often the most cost-effective way to get results from data mining and predictive analytics, mathematical optimization, simulation and risk analysis, or a combination of these methods.

Dr. Sima Maleki Dr. Yong Li Dr. Scott Nestler
Dr. Huybert Groenendaal Dr. Francisco Zagmutt Dr. Alan Kosansky
Dr. Fred Marshall Dr. Prashant Joshi Dr. Michael Fry
Dr. Cliff Ragsdale Dr. Paolo Catasti Dr. Jesse Chang
Kevin Holston Chris Kunze Mark Herndon, PE
Dr. Jim Burns Dr. Holly Lutze Dr. John Harwig
Dr. Rina Schumer Dr. Nikolay Chikhachev Dr. David Bourgeois
Jeff Baum, MBA, MSEE Hunter DeMeyer (RASON) Dr. Liam Bastick (Worldwide)
Lito P. Cruz (Australia) Rajendra Desai (India) Apollo Marcelo (Philippines)
Jef Hendrickx (Belgium) Eduardo de Almeida (Spain) Giovanni Rossi (Italy)

Are YOU an expert consultant who would be interested in our Consulting Partners program? Click here for details.

Dr. Sima Maleki - San Jose California, USA

Sima has a PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering (Operations Research) from the University of Tennessee.  She has experience with a wide range of software tools including Frontline Solver products, statistical software such as SAS and SPSS, simulation software such as ARENA and ProModel, and optimization software such as GAMS and CPLEX.  Sima has built models for applications such as network design, supply chain simulation and optimization, facility location, 3D layout optimization, scheduling, and "lean healthcare" resource utilization. Currently, Sima is conducting live webinars for Frontline Systems, demonstrating the power of Analytic Solver and RASON.

Dr. Yong Li - Vancouver British Columbia, Canada

Yong has a PhD in Management Science from the University of Alberta, Canada, where her dissertation research was in the field of workforce scheduling.  She has more than seven years experience in optimization and simulation modeling research and practice, and has taught several university courses in simulation modeling.  Yong has done work for the Canadian National Health Service and energy firm Headwaters Inc.  Formerly with Frontline Systems, Dr. Li has worked with a wide range of clients, in fields as diverse as financial services, energy, and electronics, using both our Solvers for Excel and our Solver SDK products, with repeat engagements from a number of clients.

Dr. Scott Nestler - South Bend Indiana, USA

Scott has a PhD in Business and Management with a concentration in Management Science from the University of Maryland, and an MS in Applied Mathematics / Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School.  A former faculty member at the Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Scott has 20+ years of experience in military decision making, operations research, management science, and risk analysis.  Scott is one of the first individuals to be awarded the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) designation by INFORMS, the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science.

Dr. Alan Kosansky - Hawaii USA

Alan is co-founder and President of Profit Point Inc. He has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from The Johns Hopkins University.  Alan is a leading authority on supply chain optimization, having pioneered the application of advanced analytic techniques to supply chain management, transportation procurement, and dynamic scheduling.  He combines deep insight into optimization technology with over 18 years experience working with a diverse group of clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small startups. Alan’s ability to quickly identify and implement useable solutions for his clients is a major contributor to the number of repeat engagements Profit Point enjoys.

Dr. Huybert Groenendaal - Denver Colorado, USA

Huybert is a managing partner of EpiX Analytics LLC. He has a PhD in Risk Analysis from Wageningen University in The Netherlands and an MBA in Finance from Wharton.  He has provided decision-support using a wide variety of analytical approaches (simulation, optimization, decision-trees, etc.) in industries ranging from oil and gas and manufacturing to food & beverages and health. Huybert has extensive experience in risk modeling and analysis for business development, financial valuation, R&D portfolios and portfolio evaluations in pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Dr. Francisco Zagmutt - Denver Colorado, USA

Francisco is a managing partner of EpiX Analytics LLC. He has a Masters from UC Davis, a PhD in epidemiological modeling from Colorado State University, and is also an honorary lecturer at the University of London. Francisco has performed and supervised simulation, optimization, risk modeling, and decision-analysis projects in a wide variety of industries on every continent. Examples of his consulting work include strategic forecasting and optimization of inventory under high uncertainty, modeling of catastrophic events, and strategic staffing optimization. His experience working with a diverse clientele allows him and his team to use cutting edge methods to customize solutions to the specific client’s needs while also being able to effectively communicate the applicability of the work with senior management.

Dr. Fred Marshall - Washington/Oregon, USA

Fred is founder and President of Mission Systems, Inc., a Registered Professional Engineer, a specialist in electronic systems and computer applications, and a self-described “Analytical integrator”. He has been a senior technical and business director and/or VP at Honeywell, RGB Spectrum, the U.S. Navy, and Resilience Corp. His experience includes electronics, imaging, video and dynamic control systems (degree-of-freedom motion models), undersea and military systems, project management, and finance, banking (cash projection) and stock market applications (transaction pattern recognition and extraction).

Dr. Prashant Joshi - Seattle Washington, USA

Prashant is presently working as Adjunct Professor at College of Business and Leadership, Lourdes University, Sylvania and at Applied Statistics and Operation Research, Bowling Green University, Ohio. He has rich experiences of teaching and research at India, Canada and Taiwan, plus academic visits to Germany, France, Switzerland, Brussels and Luxemburg. He has more than 19 years of Industry, teaching and research experience. He has published 5 international books in the subject of Data Analytics, Financial Econometrics and Statistics and written more than 48 research papers. He has a certification on Macroeconometric Forecasting from the IMF, and exposure to volatility modelling, Value at Risk, Bayesian analysis and regime switching.

Dr. Michael Fry - Annville Pennsylvania, USA

Michael has a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He taught Mathematical Sciences at Lebanon Valley College for 34 years, becoming his department’s expert in Machine Learning, Data Analytics, and Operations Research; he has recently retired from the college, but continues to teach part time. He has used Frontline's Solver in Excel for over 20 years for optimization problems, and is experienced with Analytic Solver for both optimization and data mining. He has broadened his background by taking Andrew Ng’s well-known Coursera course in Machine learning, the Predictive Analytics course at Statistics.com, and the VSCSE Data Intensive course.

Dr. Cliff Ragsdale - Blacksburg Virginia, USA

Dr. Ragsdale holds the Bank of America Professorship in the Department of Business Information Technology and serves as Academic Director of the Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics at Virginia Tech. He received his Ph.D. in Management Science and Information Technology from the University of Georgia. Dr. Ragsdale is an internationally recognized scholar and thought-leader in the use of spreadsheets for modeling, analyzing, and supporting business decisions. He is author of the best-selling textbook Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis: A Practical Introduction to Business Analytics, now in its 8th edition. Dr. Ragsdale has served as a consultant to various organizations including: The World Bank, Darden Restaurants, Dominion Energy, Rockwell Automation, Deloitte & Touche, Pella Windows, and Best Western Hotels, and as an expert witness in the area of spreadsheet forensics for Woodcock Washburn LLP and Duane Morris LLP.

Dr. Paolo Catasti - Richmond Virginia, USA

Paolo is a data scientist with 15 years of relevant management, strategic planning, competitive analysis, and cross-functional experience, with an MBA, a PhD in biophysics and a BS in physics, and a Black Belt certification is Six Sigma methods. His problem solving and presentation skills were developed in previous roles as research scientist, management consultant, business analyst, and corporate manager. He also has 10 years experience teaching analytics and statistics to business students, and 7 years working as a life science staff scientist for the US government.

Dr. Jesse Chang - Reston Virginia, USA; part-time in Taiwan and Singapore

Jesse has a wide range of experience in management and development of optimization, modeling, automation, and artificial intelligence projects. He has a PhD in Chemical Engineering, certifications in Machine Learning, Data Mining, Optimization, and Deep Learning Neural Networks, and is an Adjunct Professor teaching Data Analytics and Decision Technology. He has led projects from scoping, economic value assessment, management presentation to project development and commissioning, such as plant-wide planning models and optimization for material purchase and operation planning, and real time optimization of refining processes.

Kevin Holston - Atlanta Georgia USA

Kevin is principal consultant at Holistic Consultant & Analytics, specializing in data mining, predictive analytics, lean six sigma performance improvementm and Agile/Scrum approaches with teams. He has more than 20 years experience working with business leaders, an MS in Applied Statistics from the University of Georgia, and a BS in Materials Engineering from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. He is a Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) – INFORMS, Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) - ASQ and Scrum Master (CSM) – Scrum Alliance.

Chris Kunze - Madison, Wisconsin

Chris, founder of Kunze Analytics, LLC, has 12 years experience building analytic models, starting with Excel Solver in 2007 to find optimal business solutions to complex talent problems. Today, he uses Analytic Solver Data Mining algorithms to build people-related predictive models, Analytic Solver Simulation to forecast the ROI of personnel selection decisions, and Analytic Solver Optimization for NPV, budgeting and staffing problems. Estimating the value of personnel selection systems through the BCG utility formula is one of his specialties. Chris is multilingual having lived and worked in Germany, Italy and Spain. Kunze Analytics predicts employee performance, retention, satisfaction and safety.

Mark Herndon, PE - Charlotte North Carolina, USA

Mark is a principal at Datahead Consulting, with skills in statistical modeling and forecasting, data visualization, capital project valuations, and optimization modeling. He has an MBA from Duke University, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University, and is a Fuqua Scholar, and licensed Professional Engineer. He has worked on a range of projects in asset management, healthcare, manufacturing, operations management, marketing, and financial services, and has 7 years experience with Analytic Solver software.

Dr. Jim Burns - Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Jim is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at Western Michigan University. His teaching and research interests are in the area of supply chain optimization, business analytics, and applied statistics. Jim has more than 10 years of experience in the manufacturing (short-run contract to high-volume production) sector. He has worked in the automotive, consumer goods, and aerospace industries, and has used Analytic Solver and Excel in multiple courses and in conducting research. Jim holds a Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Industrial Engineering and is a member of IISE, INFORMS, and DSI.

Dr. Holly Lutze - San Antonio, Texas, USA

Holly specializes in optimization modeling, and offers a course in advanced linear programming for M.S. in Data Analytics students at Texas Lutheran University. She has an M.S. in Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research and a Ph.D. in Management Science, both from Stanford University. She has 14 years of experience applying a variety of operations research tools in both research and teaching -- most recently Analytic Solver for Excel.

Dr. John Harwig - Round Rock, Texas

John, founder of Five Star Analytics, is an experienced data analyst, acquisition professional, military strategist, and leader. He has a Ph.D. in Research and Industrial Engineering, a strong tactical and technical background, a Top Secret security clearance, and 33-plus years of analytical and military expertise. He has led and supported numerous Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation (RDT&E) efforts on robotics and unmanned systems, Command, Control, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities, and executive-level decision support tools using advanced analytics methods and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has extensive experience with optimization methods and models to support senior decision makers, and has been using Excel solver and coding in VBA since 1996.

Dr. Rina Schumer - Reno Nevada, USA

Rina has 25 years of experience in the formulation and solution of data-driven models and optimization problems. She has a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics and a PhD in Hydrogeology. Having worked in research, consulting, and organizational administration, Rina is skilled in communication and collaboration with theorists, executives, and non-technical audiences alike. In addition to delivering solutions across engineering, physical science, business, and healthcare industries, she enjoys coaching and training in data sciences. Use of Analytic Solver for EXCEL allows Rina’s clients to be “hands on” with models for scenario planning. Rina was a Research Professor and Assistant Vice President for Research at the Desert Research Institute in Reno and has taught graduate courses that include mathematical modelling and data analysis at the University of Nevada.

Dr. Nikolay Chikhachev - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Nikolay has extensive experience of applying data analysis to the investment decisions while working for over 15 years for recognized wealth management firms and banks in Canada and abroad. He has applied optimization methods to transportation problems, developed statistical models for demand prediction and simulation models for logistic systems and financial planning, performed statistical analysis of investment portfolios, and created and tested trading and investment strategies. He graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University Operations Research program and obtained a PhD in Applied Economics.

Dr. David Bourgeois - Orange County California, USA

David is currently leading the Business Analytics program at Biola University, where he teaches and is also an Associate Dean; he is available for short-term and long-term contract projects as his schedule permits. He has an MS in Management Science, a PhD in Information Systems, and over 30 years of experience in several different industries, leading projects and developing software systems for several different companies. He has used Frontline's Solver in Excel for over 10 years for optimization problems, and Analytic Solver for the last two years.

Jeff Baum - Phoenix, Arizona

Jeff has over 25 years of technology development and business management experience within the semiconductor, imaging & printing, telecommunications, medical devices, oil & gas, and enterprise software industries. He has lived project business-case forecasting, portfolio optimization, capital budgeting, strategic planning, and new product development at global companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Ericsson, Medtronic, Motorola, ON Semiconductor, TRW, Agilent Technologies, Freescale Semiconductor, ACCO Brands, Alcatel-Lucent, Rambus, Halliburton, and Fujitsu. Prior to joining PROXI in 2002, Jeff was a management consultant with PRTM (acquired by PwC) in their Tokyo, Japan and Mountain View, California offices. Earlier in his career, he spent 11 years developing new products with Motorola Semiconductor in both Phoenix, Arizona and Tokyo, Japan. Jeff earned his MBA at the University of California Berkeley – Haas School of Business, his MS Electrical Engineering at the University of Arizona, and his BS Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Hunter DeMeyer - Cleveland, Ohio

Hunter holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Dakota State University and will start working towards a Master’s degree in bioinformatics, with a goal of earning a PhD in Informatics. He has a diverse background that includes broadcast engineering, next generation IoT power grid research, and software development for biomedical research. Specializing in workflow integration, he has experience transforming Excel models into robust applications using RASON and Solver SDK. [Daniel Fylstra, Frontline's Founder: Hunter is the youngest of our Certified Consultants, but he's completed all our listing requirements, and we've been impressed by his ability to master RASON and create dramatically faster optimization models in RASON.]

Dr. Liam Bastick - Australia, UK, US

Liam is accredited by Microsoft as one of 66 Excel experts around the world (Most Valuable Professional or MVP). He is a fellow of three accounting institutes, author of several modeling books, and holds PhDs / other research qualifications in Probability and Mathematics. A management consultant specializing in decision analysis for over 30 years, Liam used to head Ernst & Young's modelling team in Australia before forming boutique consulting firm SumProduct in 2009, which now operates in Melbourne, London and New York. He has trained all of the Big Four, and many Tier 2 firms, in financial modelling, auditing, valuations and M&A around the world. Past clients have included Microsoft, General Motors, Vodafone, UK and Australian governments, retail chains, manufacturers, hotel franchises, and many more.

Lito P. Cruz - Melbourne, Australia

Lito is a principal at Sleekersoft, a solution-oriented company with years of experience integrating data and analytics into a client’s existing information systems. Each of their consultants has a PhD in a STEM discipline and more than 10 years of industrial engagement. Lito is connected to Monash University where he has taught Analytic Solver Data Mining (XLMiner) for two years and more recently Analytic Solver Optimization. Sleekersoft also has experience with Power BI, SQL Server and Oracle, C/C++, Java, R and more.

Rajendra Desai - Bangalore, India

Rajendra is Director - Corporate Relations at St. Joseph's Institute of Management, Bangalore and Senior Consultant - ISME, Bangalore.  He has been in academics and consulting for the last 15 years, after 20 years experience as an entrepreneur founding and scaling up a manufacturing firm. His past positions include Head, External Programs, ISME, Bangalore, Dean, External Programs, XIME, Bangalore, Dean of Management Development Programs, AIMIT Mangalore, Assistant and Associate Professor positions at St. Joseph’s Institute of Management and XIME, and Research Associate at Virginia Tech. Currently he teaches the post graduate courses in statistics, operations research and business analytics at SJIM, and consults in the area of data and analytics.

Apollo Marcelo - Manila, Philippines

Apollo is a faculty member at the graduate school of Asia Pacific College in Makati City, Philippines. He is currently teaching management statistics, finance and accounting management, risk management, operations management and strategic management and research using Analytic Solver Data Mining, Analytic Solver Optimization and Analytic Solver Simulation and Risk Analysis. Apollo is a Certified Public Accountant and has a Masters in Management with specialization in business analytics. He has over 20 years of professional experience in the areas of finance, accounting, taxation and technology consulting covering industries such as utilities, oil & gas, telecommunications, health, retail, finance and banking industry.

Jef Hendrickx - Zonhoven, Belgium

Jef is a Principal at Coverton healthcare management. He has more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles in multiple industries. Since a few years, Jef focuses on supporting decision making in healthcare by providing forecasting and optimization models. The solutions range from optimizing operations in emergency departments to simulating vaccination campaigns. Analytic Solver is his preferred tool to do so. Jef earned an MBA degree From Vlerick Business School in Belgium next to a Master in IT and BA in Film.

Eduardo de Almeida - Zaragoza, Spain

Eduardo founded Cognit in 2011, a company that has helped hundreds of industrial clients optimize processes and increase productivity. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt, specialized on industrial process modelling and optimization, with extensive experience in projects that ranged from initial viability, to implementation of data capture, modelling, and finally, the delivery of digital predictive solutions to improve productivity. Eduardo is a Mechanical Engineer with an MBA, fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.

Giovanni Rossi - Rome, Italy

Giovanni is a results-oriented project manager with more than 20 years’ experience using Frontline's Solvers and a sound track record in the international telecommunications industry -- including start-up in Latam, operation management, network optimization and business process improvement (LSS green belt). He is self-taught in analytics with a wide range of interests and background that includes operations research, RE energy, advanced investment analysis and real-world portfolio optimization. Giovanni is a Mechanical Engineer with a Master's degree, fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.