Dr. Otis B. Jennings is a leader in data analytics, simulation, and stochastic modeling. As vice president of engineering at IvySys Technologies, Otis drives the development of innovative data science and software engineering solutions across multiple teams to ensure alignment with customer mission objectives. He is responsible for the expansion of the firm’s big data and analytics capabilities. Otis leads the IvySys modeling and simulation efforts on the DARPA Modeling Adversarial Activity program, providing world-class expertise in the modeling of human behavior and the automatic generation of large-scale synthetic data. 

Prior to working at IvySys, he served as a principal for big data advanced analytics at AT&T, where he led several technical teams within AT&T’s Big Data organization. At AT&T, he guided the efforts of data scientists and software engineers, and also served as a liaison between his big data technical teams and business units throughout AT&T. In a notable project featured in the Dallas Business Journal, he led a data analytics team that leveraged big data collected within AT&T to create predictive analytics solutions that significantly lowered internal maintenance costs by enabling operations personnel to preemptively replace faulty systems.

Before joining AT&T, Dr. Jennings had an extensive career in academia. He was a professor of engineering and business at MIT, Duke University, Cornell University, and Columbia University. His research findings in applied probability, statistics, queuing theory and data analytics appeared in over a dozen journal and conference publications. His broad course offerings included stochastic processing networks, sports analytics, and service and healthcare operations management. 

Otis received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In support of his graduate studies, Otis received a Georgia Tech Presidential Scholarship and graduate fellowships from both the National Science Foundation and Bell Labs’ Cooperative Research Fellowship Program (CRFP) program. After earning his degree, he completed postdoctoral studies at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Otis earned a Bachelor of Science and Engineering in Operations Research from Princeton University, where he graduated magna cum laude and earned All-Ivy and Academic All-Ivy honors in track and field. He serves on the trustee board of St. Mark’s School of Texas, his high school alma mater, and on the advisory board of the Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Department (IMSE) at the University of Texas at Arlington.