The Wolfcast really enjoyed the company of Dr. Renu Ann Joseph, the Founder, and CEO at Luminant Analytics and the Head of Virtido Center for Data Science & AI. Luminant was founded to challenge the way insurance pricing is done and enable insurers to adopt a new approach to that pricing. Virtido makes Data Science accessible and actionable for industries not traditionally driven by data.
Some of the topics that Renu and I discussed:
- At 12 years old thought she wanted to be an archaeologist but figured there was not much money in it
- Determined at 14 years old that she wanted to be an economist
- followed the dream to become an economist and focused her Master's Degree studies on Developmental Economics
- Studied for her Ph.D. under Dr. Frank J. Chaloupka
- Did her post-doctoral studies with The Gates Foundation in Toronto
- Switching gears and working for Moody's in West Chester, PA
- Moving to Zurich, Switzerland, and taking a cool job at a re-insurer
- The launching of Luminant Analytics
- The siloing of data in insurance companies
- The significance of step changes for startups
- Starting her second venture - Virtido Center for Data Science & AI
Other titles we considered for this episode:
- The Use of Tobacco In Poorer Countries Is Nuanced
- The Academics Are Very Grumpy :-)
- I Always Need To Know a Little Bit More
- Data In Insurers are Siloed to Heaven and Back
- That Process Is Very Painful
- Making Someone Pay for What You Produce Is Hard
- Analytics Is Real Behavioral Change Within an Organization
