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:

1. The Use of Tobacco In Poorer Countries Is Nuanced
2. The Academics Are Very Grumpy :-)
3. I Always Need To Know a Little Bit More
4. Data In Insurers are Siloed to Heaven and Back
5. That Process Is Very Painful
6. Making Someone Pay for What You Produce Is Hard
7. Analytics Is Real Behavioral Change Within an Organization