1. If I would have know then…
Leanne Marshall
Credit Risk Consultant
Nordstrom fsb

2. Outline Background Since Graduation My typical day at work
UNL experiences that helped me
Things I wish I had learned
Opportunities for Statisticians
General Advice

3. Background
2006: Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Math with a minor in Statistics from UNL
2008: Masters of Science in Statistics from UNL
: Statistician/Credit Risk Analyst at First National Bank of Omaha
2015-present: Statistician/Credit Risk Analyst at Nordstrom fsb

4. Since Graduation Many different roles at First National Bank of Omaha:
Statistician on the Decision Sciences team
Evaluated and developed response models for marketing campaigns; used experimental design for marketing testing
Analyst for Consumer Lending Credit Risk
Completed analysis to create/modify Consumer Lending policies for the Retail division of the bank
Analyst for Bankcard Portfolio Credit Risk
Maintained and developed strategies to manage existing credit card portfolio

5. Since Graduation continued
Nordstrom fsb
Analyst for Portfolio Credit Risk
Model management, tracking and governance
Strategy maintenance and development
Ad-hoc analysis

6. My Typical Day at Work SAS and Excel!
I use SAS everyday to access our data warehouse and analyze data (SQL code)
I use Excel nearly everyday depending on the type of analysis and the size of the dataset I am analyzing
Knowledge Seeker – a strategy design tool that helps to create decision trees
Working through assigned projects and answering questions that come up from upper management, reporting or customer service
Attending meetings for project teams or discussions with other analysts

7. UNL Experiences That Helped Me
Communicating with professors helps build confidence that is necessary when presenting to upper management
Broad base of statistical theories and techniques has been beneficial when a new project comes up
Weekly seminars helped me understand many applications/opportunities to apply statistics education
Working together with fellow students helped simulate the work environment where I work closely with other team members on large projects

8. Things I Wish I had Learned at UNL
Data mining techniques for large data
Pivot tables in Excel

9. Opportunities for Statisticians
The financial services industry uses statisticians in various areas
Model development, Credit Risk, Loss Forecasting, Finance & Accounting, Fraud detection, Suspicious transactions (i.e. money laundering), Experimental design for testing
Most automated decisions that impact customers are based on scoring models and decision trees

10. General Advice
Keep good notes and don’t throw out your text books…you never know when you’re going to dig them out of storage for reference
Internships offer a “trial period” to see if you would truly enjoy the field that you think you’re interested in
Take advantage of mentoring relationships in graduate school and beyond
There are always people willing to help you along in your career whether it be an advisor or someone who has been at your company for a while
Meet often and seek advice whenever you can

11. Questions?