Speaker Profile

Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne's research and teaching activities focus on decision analysis, data science, business analytics, forecasting, forecast aggregation and the wisdom of crowds, decision analysis, project management, and behavioral decision-making.  Yael is an award-winning teacher and in 2014 was named one of "21 Thought-Leader Professors" in Data Science. At Darden Yael teaches courses on Decision Analysis, Project Management, and Data Science in Business. Yael's "Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management" Coursera MOOC had over 200,000 enrolled, across 200 countries worldwide. While visiting Harvard Business School, Yael taught the required Technology and Operations Management course and an elective course on Applied Business Analytics. She has also been teaching in the Harvard Business Analytics Program, powered by 2U, since 2018.  

Before starting her academic career, she worked in San Francisco as a marketing director of an ERP company. As an expert in the areas of decision analysis and critical thinking, project management, and digital transformation, she has served as a consultant to international firms in the ed-tech, aerospace and pharma industries, such as Merck Serono, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, 2U, High Speed 2 Rail, PPL Electric Utilities, Heathrow Airport and Eurocontrol, Network Rail UK and the Department for Transport UK, and Dunlop Aerospace. Yael is an Associate Editor at Management Science, Operation Research, and Decision Analysis.