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Professional Summary

Strategic Data & AI Leader | Builder of Scalable Analytics Platforms | Trusted Advisor to Executives


Mission-driven data and AI strategist with a track record of turning complex challenges into measurable impact across higher education, workforce, and financial services. At Kennesaw State University, I conceived and launched uHoo Analytics, an AI-powered platform adopted by 500+ faculty and recognized with the 2024 Platinum EdTech Award, transforming how an institution monitors student success, accreditation, and academic outcomes.


Trusted by Provosts, Presidents, and C-suite leaders, I have delivered executive dashboards, accreditation frameworks, and predictive models that shaped multimillion-dollar institutional decisions, improved retention, and built confidence in data-driven strategy. My experience spans education, healthcare, HR, and finance, where I consistently bridge technical depth with leadership vision.


Known for turning ambiguity into action, I lead with empathy, resilience, and collaborative storytelling — skills shaped by both professional challenges and personal growth. I thrive at the intersection of emerging technologies and human-centered impact, ensuring that every solution I design is ethical, inclusive, and future-ready.

EDUCATION

  • 2017-2026 (ABD)  Ph.D. in Analytics and Data Science, Kennesaw State University, USA
  • 2015-2017  Master of Science in Computer Science, Kennesaw State University, USA 
  • 2010-2015  Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,   Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Lead Data Scientist | Functional Director of Learning Analytics 


Kennesaw State University


Context/Challenge:KSU lacked a unified system to track student success, faculty engagement, and accreditation metrics. Faculty were frustrated by fragmented data, the Provost needed transparent KPIs for decision-making, and accreditation bodies (SACSCOC) required evidence of continuous improvement. Trust in data was low.

Solution/Achievements:

  • Designed and launched uHoo Analytics, a campus-wide platform powered by Azure Synapse + Power BI, integrating LMS, advising, and curriculum data.
  • Grew adoption to 500+ faculty across 11 colleges, making it the university’s most widely adopted faculty-facing analytics tool.
  • Created predictive models that flagged at-risk students by analyzing course performance, advising engagement, and historical DFWI rates.
  • Delivered monthly executive dashboards directly to the Provost and President, shaping decisions around retention, budget allocation, and faculty development.
  • Built reporting frameworks aligned with SACSCOC accreditation standards, ensuring readiness for audits and reviews.
  • Chaired the AI Steering Committee, writing ethical AI policy guidelines and performing readiness assessments.
  • Ran workshops to train faculty and staff, building a culture of evidence-based decision-making and breaking down distrust in analytics.

Impact:

  • Platform won the 2024 Platinum EdTech Award, validating its national significance.
  • Improved retention by providing faculty early intervention insights on struggling students.
  • Reduced accreditation stress by producing standardized, repeatable reporting templates.
  • Strengthened faculty engagement: survey feedback showed 35% increase in confidence in using data to guide instruction.

Growth as a Leader:I learned to lead through coalition-building. Success wasn’t just technical—it came from building trust with skeptical faculty, bridging silos between IT, HR, advising, and academics, and showing empathy when change felt overwhelming. This role taught me that leadership in data science is as much about storytelling and trust as it is about algorithms.

OpenAI Forum Leader


OpenAI


Context/Challenge:
In the early days of generative AI adoption, professionals across industries were intrigued but didn’t know how to move from curiosity to application. Communities were fragmented and lacked practical guidance.

Solution/Achievements:

  • Hosted global roundtables on AI’s role in education, workforce, and business.
  • Translated technical topics (LLMs, fine-tuning, prompt engineering) into real-world use cases for non-technical professionals.
  • Created an inclusive space where educators, executives, and technologists co-designed prototypes and solutions.
  • Developed frameworks for evaluating AI ethics and societal impact, sparking adoption of responsible practices.

Impact:

  • Recognized by OpenAI for bridging strategic thinking with practical execution.
  • Helped participants design pilots in areas such as AI tutoring, HR automation, and financial modeling.
  • Built a multi-thousand-member community that became a hub for thought leadership in applied AI.

Growth as a Leader:
This role sharpened my ability to communicate complexity simply and to lead in spaces where authority comes not from title, but from trust, clarity, and facilitation skills. It taught me how to move people from excitement to implementation.

Senior Data Scientist – Healthcare Risk & AI Strategy


MagMutual


Context/Challenge:
MagMutual, one of the largest healthcare liability insurers, faced rising physician liability claims and needed a way to predict risk before it became unmanageable.

Solution/Achievements:

  • Built ML models using structured and unstructured claims data to classify severity and spot high-risk patterns.
  • Partnered with clinicians and legal teams to ensure models were interpretable and compliant with regulatory requirements.
  • Designed early-warning risk dashboards for executives to monitor emerging liability clusters.
  • Conducted workshops with underwriters and actuaries to integrate AI findings into safety protocols.

Impact:

  • Models directly informed safety policy changes, reducing exposure to liability.
  • Strengthened MagMutual’s reputation as a forward-thinking insurer using AI.
  • Improved patient outcomes by influencing adoption of preventive measures.

Growth as a Leader:
This role taught me how to build responsibly in regulated environments. I had to balance innovation with transparency, and I learned the importance of explaining AI outputs in plain language to clinicians and lawyers.

Lead Data Scientist – Global Workforce & People Analytics 


Novelis


Context/Challenge:
As the world’s largest aluminum recycler, Novelis was struggling with workforce retention and training ROI across global plants.

Solution/Achievements:

  • Built HR data models that tracked attrition drivers, training effectiveness, and employee performance.
  • Designed executive dashboards that revealed geographic and role-specific retention challenges.
  • Identified root causes of turnover by integrating survey data, HRIS, and performance metrics.
  • Proposed targeted interventions for high-turnover regions.

Impact:

  • Leadership adopted retention strategies that saved millions in training and rehiring costs.
  • HR gained evidence-based visibility into workforce development ROI.
  • Improved overall employee engagement by connecting analytics to real human outcomes.

Growth as a Leader:
I learned how to influence global executives with data storytelling and gained experience in aligning analytics with workforce strategy. It was my first exposure to leading global-scale change through evidence.

Applied AI Scientist – Innovation Lab


Equifax


Context/Challenge:
Equifax needed to modernize its fraud detection and credit scoring models in the face of increasing fraud sophistication.

Solution/Achievements:

  • Built deep learning architectures to improve fraud detection accuracy.
  • Developed ML models for credit scoring with scalable big data pipelines.
  • Collaborated across data engineering, product, and compliance teams to integrate new methods.
  • Authored documentation that shaped Equifax’s approach to next-gen modeling.

Impact:

  • Improved fraud detection performance, directly reducing financial losses.
  • Helped evolve identity resolution and customer authentication pipelines.
  • Positioned Equifax to stay competitive in the rapidly shifting credit/fraud space.

Growth as a Leader:
Here, I learned enterprise-scale AI productization—balancing speed, compliance, and innovation. It was a crash course in building models that matter at scale.

Graduate Fellow – Institutional Research 


Kennesaw State University


Context/Challenge:
As a graduate student, I saw that retention and international student support were fragmented and under-researched.

Solution/Achievements:

  • Directed multi-year applied research on retention, survey design, and student success analytics.
  • Founded the International Peer Leader Program, improving retention for international students through mentorship.
  • Elected President of the Graduate Student Association, representing 5,000+ students, advocating for funding, and influencing policy with the Board of Regents.
  • Supported computer science teaching (C++, Data Structures), mentoring undergraduates.

Impact:

  • Improved international student retention rates measurably.
  • Delivered data-driven insights that shaped university policy.
  • Built leadership visibility at institutional and state levels.

Growth as a Leader:
This role taught me how to advocate for diverse groups, scale initiatives from idea to impact, and balance research with leadership responsibilities. It laid the foundation for everything I do now.

Purpose + Practice

I’m a mission-driven data and AI strategist who builds inclusive, human-centered systems that improve lives—especially in education, workforce, and healthcare.


My brand is rooted in turning pain into purpose. Growing up gay in a society that didn’t accept me taught me empathy and resilience. That empathy now guides how I build products, lead teams, and collaborate with stakeholders—especially when trust is low or systems feel broken.


Technically, I design scalable analytics and AI solutions that help people make better decisions. Personally, I lead with vulnerability and transparency to build trust where it didn’t exist, my work bridges the technical and human.


At the core of my brand is a belief: technology should never leave people behind.

Catch Me on LinkedIn

Sanjoosh

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