Nationwide Center for Advanced Customer Insights

Research Team

Management Team

Jessica Kohlschmidt

Director

Dr. Jessica K. Kohlschmidt grew up in Houston, Texas, with five siblings. She was encouraged to pursue a college education so she could always support herself if she needed to. A first-generation college student, she had a passion for math from a young age and grew up with an interest in teaching. She would teach dolls or children—whichever was available. Thus, it was an easy choice to study math and teaching in college, although that has looked different throughout her life.

Dr. Kohlschmidt pursued a degree in mathematics and, through a series of curious events—including a required statistics class—she ended up minoring in statistics. Statistics was a real-world application of math that made sense and inspired her. Therefore, when Sam Houston State University created a new master’s in statistics program, she joined the program. Later, she attended The Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. Dr. Kohlschmidt dreamed of sharing her inspiration with others and envisioned that would happen through teaching in a college classroom.

Dr. Kohlschmidt has taught full and part-time at colleges since 1999. She was the PhD biostatistician at the Clara D. Bloomfield Center for Leukemia Outcomes Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center for 12 years. Her research group looked retrospectively at patient data to determine what gene mutations and expression (or combinations) predict which patients will have improved survival. This helped direct prospective clinical trials. In that role, Dr. Kohlschmidt was a consulting statistician and had the opportunity to apply statistics to real-world problems and teach collaborators about statistics and how to interpret results in a meaningful and appropriate way.

A longtime officer of the Caucus for Women in Statistics (CWS)—serving for 10 years as secretary and, in 2018, as the first executive director— Dr. Kohlschmidt currently oversees CWS operations. She has been involved with many of the updates that have occurred in the past few years and is enthusiastic about the new directions CWS has undertaken, including efforts to increase international visibility and outreach to young people. Dr. Kohlschmidt has a passion for helping young people, especially girls, learn about statistics and explore it as a career option. This is something she has been able to do more of through CWS and the Florence Nightingale Day event that has occurred the last five years and is sponsored by the CWS and American Statistical Association (ASA).

Dr. Kohlschmidt is actively involved with the ASA and serves as Vice Chair for District 3 for the Chapter of Councils, past president for the Columbus Chapter, and co-chair for the History in Statistics Interest Group. She feels honored when her work and effort are appreciated and when a student or collaborator expresses gratitude for the help and understanding of statistics she has provided.

Josh Mills

Executive in Residence

Dr. Josh Mills is a leader and a lifelong learner with a solid track record of experience developing and leading high-impact initiatives in the realm of data science & analytics at a Fortune 100 company. I've built or led model building and segmentation efforts supporting multiple lines of business in the insurance industry (e.g. Personal Lines, Financial Products, Worker's Comp, Excess & Surplus) as well as efforts supporting Marketing (e.g. Marketing Mix Modeling).

In addition, I'm currently leading a multi-year change management effort involving several cross-functional working teams, as we roll out a new end-to-end model build and deployment infrastructure. A large part of this effort involves development of associate-led hands-on training session for audiences of 100+ data scientists, data engineers, and actuaries. I've also played a major role in gaining alignment on key infrastructure design decisions.

My proudest achievement is the development and expansion of our department internship program, which, over a period of six years, has brought in over 50 interns from multiple disciplines and from across the country, from over 100 top-tier universities. Many of these interns became full-time employees with us and eventually became leaders in their own right. I played a major role in designing the recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding processes for the program and worked continuously to adapt the program to changing times.

I am a leader and a lifelong learner with a solid track record of experience developing and leading high-impact initiatives in the realm of data science & analytics at a Fortune 100 company. I've built or led model building and segmentation efforts supporting multiple lines of business in the insurance industry (e.g. Personal Lines, Financial Products, Worker's Comp, Excess & Surplus) as well as efforts supporting Marketing (e.g. Marketing Mix Modeling). In addition, I'm currently leading a multi-year change management effort involving several cross-functional working teams, as we roll out a new end-to-end model build and deployment infrastructure. A large part of this effort involves development of associate-led hands-on training session for audiences of 100+ data scientists, data engineers, and actuaries. I've also played a major role in gaining alignment on key infrastructure design decisions. My proudest achievement is the development and expansion of our department internship program, which, over a period of six years, has brought in over 50 interns from multiple disciplines and from across the country, from over 100 top-tier universities. Many of these interns became full-time employees with us and eventually became leaders in their own right. I played a major role in designing the recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding processes for the program and worked continuously to adapt the program to changing times. I also play a large role in our department's hiring and onboarding processes, working with leadership and Human Resources to evolve our practices and processes to meet the changing needs of our department and a rapidly changing marketplace. I believe in the concept of servant leadership, and I seek to empower and motivate others to embrace the concept of being lifelong learners and capitalize on their towering strengths to drive business value. In the future, I want to take on progressively more challenging opportunities that will enable me to play a more strategic role in the realm of data & analytics, particularly in the areas of end-to-end modeling and deployment infrastructure, talent planning, and change management.

Tim Welch

Administrative Associate

As administrator of the center, he is in charge of all human resources and financial functions. He has bachelor's degrees in Biology and Psychology. He has extensive office management experience and taught classes on Microsoft Office and Office Management for more than five years at a community college.

NCACI Graduate Students

Victoria Dikeman

Graduate Research Associate, Department of English

Tori is a Ph.D. student in the Department of English at Ohio State. She has also earned a B.A. in English Literary Studies from Bucknell University.. She also received an A.A. in Arts & Humanities from Lehigh Carbon Community College.

NCACI Undergraduate Students

Currently recruiting undergraduate for the Autumn 2024 - Spring 2025 research year via WorkDay Job Requisition R108309 Student researcher

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