The Business Analytics and Intelligence program at BGSU is gaining worldwide recognition and graduate Trevor Bischoff is a testament to the program

Bowling Green State University alumnus Trevor Bischoff continues to make his alma mater proud and strengthen the Falcon reputation of producing top students who are prepared for a successful career.

Trevor Bischoff graduated in 2014 as the first College of Business student to earn a business degree with four specializations – finance, accounting, applied economics and business analytics and intelligence. 

Not only did Bischoff graduate with four specializations, he accomplished this while being a very involved student. Bischoff was named the 2014 Karl E. Vogt Outstanding Senior. He was a peer facilitator mentoring first-year business students, an orientation leader, a College of Business Student Ambassador, a teaching assistant, a tutor and a resident advisor during his time at BGSU.

In addition, he pledged two fraternities – Delta Sigma Pi, Professional Business Fraternity, and Greek fraternity, Kappa Sigma. During his time at BGSU, Bischoff was elected president of both fraternities.

“Pledging two fraternities at the same time was a difficult challenge to overcome, but it opened up my network at the University. It taught me to be a team player and how to support those around me,” Bischoff admitted.

After graduation, Bischoff was hired at Deloitte as a consultant in the Regulatory and Compliance Team.

“The type of work I handle is fairly broad, but is focused around compliance with government and financial regulations throughout an enterprise. I meet with clients around the nation evaluating their businesses and advising them on the current and future risk environment,” Bischoff said.

For example, Bischoff works with banks on regulatory filing, insurance companies to remediate different rates and products. He just helped develop a compliance survey for companies to use when benchmarking success against peers within the market. He recently returned from California where he spent three months helping an organization with a new capital standard.

“Traveling is my favorite part of the job,” Bischoff admitted. Since graduation, he has been to Newport Beach, Dallas, Chicago, New York City, Parsippany and St. Louis. Most of the projects take six to eight weeks to complete, so he has time to get to know the cities where he is working.

Bischoff earned four specializations and credits all of the programs in helping him achieve success in his current position.  He admits, however, that his passion is with analytics and data mining.

“Dr. McKinney taught a class that showed students how to properly display data—graphs, colors and shapes that help with client deliverables. At Deloitte, I’ve learned the importance of presenting data properly to a client. There is definitely a train of thought behind presenting information in an easily interpreted format exceeding the clients’ expectations,” Bischoff said.

“The College of Business at BGSU positioned me to graduate and be successful. Not only did I learn the necessary academic requirements, but I learned critical business skills as well—networking, golfing, dining etiquette, business travel and business dress are offered to students as part of their academic experience,” Bischoff continued.

Despite working up to sixty-hour per week, Bischoff still finds time for fun.  And, of course, this fun incorporates his analytical and data mining skills. He created a three variable model to predict NFL games in 2014.  Microsoft’s Cortana and Nate Silver’s Elo are two other popular predictors and last year, Bischoff’s predictor model beat Microsoft’s Cortana.

“I went through and downloaded a bunch of data from online and sorted through the data to figure out key patterns and trends. Then, I put together metrics on what makes a good team,” Bischoff stated. “Oftentimes, people let subconscious biases sway their opinions, but by relying solely on the data, my predictions were consistent,” he continued.

Big data is a growing field and contrary to popular belief, data mining and analytics are critical to the success of all business, not just big businesses.

“Analytics is not just used in business and sports analytics. Successes in analytics applications are also seen in other fields such as manufacturing, telecommunications, insurance, healthcare and e-commerce,” Arthur Yeh, Chair of the Department of Applied Statistics and Operations Research, said.

As this field continues to grow, so does the reputation of the business analytics and intelligence program at BGSU. Each year, the College holds a Business Analytics Symposium, which is gaining worldwide recognition.

On October 9, the symposium, “Insights + Analytics:  Coming Together!,” will be held in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom on the Bowen-Thompson Student Union at BGSU. Jeff Schlageter, IBM vice president and Brian Bibber, a business development manager at IBM, will present the keynote address. There will be a panel discussion with presenters from Champion Solutions Group and Comcast.

Because of the success of the conference, Tianjin Polytechnic University (TPU) in China asked Dr. Arthur Yeh, to assist in organizing a business analytics symposium in China.

Dr. Yeh delivered a presentation at the symposium on the current status of analytics programs in higher education in Western countries, especially in the U.S. and also participated in a panel discussion.

Besides collaborating on a symposium, a new 3 + 1 educational program has been signed between BGSU and TPU, which began this fall.

“This symposium and the 3+1 agreement are strengthening our collaborations with TPU and setting us up for further opportunities for our students. In addition, it provides the College and BGSU exposure in China, especially in the area of business analytics, a subject matter that is still very new in the East,” Dr. Yeh stated.

Bischoff is proof that the Business Analytics and Intelligence program at BGSU is graduating top talent in the industry. Recruiters from well-known companies such as Google, Amazon.com, Nationwide Insurance, Quicken Loans and the FBI reach out to BGSU searching for graduates to hire.

“Each week, more and more companies contact me looking for business analytics and intelligence students for both full-time employment and internships. With our increasing dependence and use of technology, this field is growing exponentially and is a great career choice for a student who has an interest in data mining and analytics.” Tom Siebenaler, associate director of the Business Career Accelerator, stated.

“According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected growth in employment from 2012 to 2022 is 27 percent, which is much higher than average.  The median salary for this field is $75,560 annually and our interns average $16.83 per hour,” continued Siebenaler.

“This program is a great field for high school students and undecided majors to consider. Our graduates are working at some of the most successful companies around the world. The average starting salary for business analytics graduates are among the highest in Ohio and higher than the national average. The majority of our students have full-time employment at graduation,” Raymond Braun, Dean of the College of Business stated.

The cutting-edge curriculum, unique experiences through partnerships with other universities as well as bringing world-renowned data experts to campus through the symposium are a few of the reasons the program is gaining a prestigious reputation in the country and throughout the world.

Bischoff, along with hundreds of other successful graduates, are proving this reputation is well deserved.