Our department fosters lasting connections with industry leaders, and those bonds have led to robust, active advisory boards, which provide us with advice, resources, guest speakers, funding for scholarships, field trips, internships, and faculty consulting opportunities. Our boards also ensure that curriculum meet the needs of employers.

Business Analytics

Business Analytics Advisory Board Members

Mike Butler
First Merchants

Lolita Chandler, '13
One America Financial Partners, Inc.

Glenn Dunlap
Peerview Data

Braxton Forestal
TMC Transportation

Mason Hammock
Ontario Systems

Todd Hollowell, '89, MS '91
Impact Advisors

Troy Powell
Walker Information

Tony Ramsey
Roche

Information Systems Advisory Board Members

Board members represent a good mix of industries in a range of relevant positions, including managers, executives in the field, chief operating officers, partners in consulting firms, and recent graduates. Current students are also represented on the board.

Mike Butler '05, '11
First Merchants Corporation

Kevin Davis '06
Target Corporation 

Stephan Fluhler '03
First Merchants Corporation

Kyle Hayden
Phreesia

Matthew Ryan Hostetler '10
Ultimate Technologies Group

Mark Isenbarger '08
Crowe Horwath LLP

Clayton Johnson '07
Rolls-Royce Corporation

Kyle Keesling '06
PASS Training & Compliance

Tom Kinghorn
Ardagh Glass, Inc.

Tom Konopinski '94
rJet

Brian Kovacs
Walker Information, Inc.

Jennifer Langford '07
Indiana University Health

John Mickle '95
Wipro Gallagher Solutions

Abi Minton '19
Ontario Systems

Matthew Morris '95
Walker Information

Travis Parisi
Accenture

Joel Patrick '03
Ardagh Glass, Inc.

Ronald Pelletier
PONDURANCE LLC

Spencer Preston '18
Walker Information

Melissa Stratton
Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance

Paul Sylvester
TeamSylvester.com

Jason Westrick '01
Thermo Fisher Scientific

Erin Willard '95, '96
Eli Lilly & Company

Shaun Wilson '07
Instruct Digital

Brian Zhao
Wyzlink

Logistics and Supply Chain Management Advisory Board Members

Dr. Michael Gambrel
LSCM Advisory Board President
Senior Transformation Consultant
Community Health Network

Dr. Michael Gambrel brings over 20 years of experience across multiple industries including telecommunications, retail, advertising, logistics, financial services, and healthcare. He currently serves as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with Community Health Network working in Performance Excellence. He has held senior positions in operations, improvement, and analytics along with experience teaching operations management, Lean Six Sigma, and quality improvement at Ball State and Franklin University. Dr. Gambrel holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Franklin University, an MBA from Ball State with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Health Economics, Policy, and Administration and a doctorate in Healthcare Administration from Franklin University. Additionally, he holds certifications in Lean Six Sigma and SAFe Agile Methodology.

Lolita Chandler
Senior Executive
Guidenar

With over 20 years of business and leadership experience, Lolita Chandler has leveraged business analytics for strategic decision-making and operational excellence across various sectors. As Founder and CEO of Guidenar, an innovative EdTech company, Lolita is utilizing analytics to forge career readiness solutions, aligning educational outcomes with market needs. At Google, Lolita's role as Head of Partner Process & Requirements Automation involved extensive use of business analytics to automate partner solutions and develop Go-To-Market strategies, significantly enhancing efficiency and stakeholder engagement. Prior to Google, Lolita held data-driven leadership roles at OneAmerica and Roche Diagnostics. Lolita possesses an MBA from Ball State University and a Bachelor’s in Organizational Leadership and Supervision in Technology from Purdue University.  

Braxton Forestal 
Toll Technology Analyst 
HNTB Corporation

Braxton Forestal is a Data Analytics expert with almost a decade of experience in the field. He graduated from Ball State in 2015 with a BA and continued on to graduate with his MBA in 2017. He started his time with TMC Transportation helpin the Logistics department solve all manner of data problems. Currently, he is working for HNTB as a data consultant for a project between KY and IN on the Ohio River Bridges tolling project.

Dwayne Gott 
Consultant for Cardinal Indiana Consulting LLC.

Ball State University class of 1975, B.S. in Journalism with minor in Business Administration.  MBA from Indiana University Kelley School of Business 1982.  Over 30 years of supply chain management experience in warehouse and delivery operations and purchasing/inventory management with regional and national companies including Ferguson and Unisource.  Currently retired but continuing as a consultant in the field as Cardinal Indiana Consulting LLC.     

Yancey Jones
Sourcing Director
Cummins, Inc.

 

     

Megan Mills 
Vice President
Genesys Cloud Services, Inc. 

Genesys is the industry’s #1 customer experience platform and leads in both cloud and on-premise customer engagement solutions. Prior to Genesys, Megan was the Business Leader for Schlage Residential Locks at Allegion and has spent over 13 years in progressive procurement, operations, and supply chain management roles at Allegion, Ingersoll Rand, and Delta Faucet. 

Megan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Management from Ball State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Colorado State University.  Megan and her husband, Lance, have 2 children, Crosby and Monroe. 

Jeff Payne 
Chief of Staff
Director of Portfolio Management & Continuous Improvement
Progress Rail, A Caterpillar Company