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Marketing Data Science

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Welcome

Mike is a leader in the field of Marketing Data Science & Operational Strategy with 20+ years leading global Data Science, AI/ML, and Marketing Analytics teams at Dell Technologies, Cisco, Pure Storage, Hitachi Vantara and Hearst Media. He is also an Accredited Professional StatisticianTM with the American Statistical Association.

Resume

Michael E. Foley

Morgan Hill, CA 95037 ▪ 510.449.6810 ▪ mifoley@me.com ▪ LinkedIn: Michael-Foley-Data-Science ▪ mikesdatamarketing.com

AI-Driven Leader: Developing and applying AI strategy across all phases of business

Senior Director of Marketing Data Science & Operational Strategy with 20+ years leading global Data Science, AI/ML, and Marketing Analytics organizations. A strategic architect and transformative change agent who advances data-driven sales and marketing by building governance, Agentic AI and operational analytics platforms, and predictive intelligence that elevate forecasting precision and modernize Go-To-Market execution. Known for integrating advanced modeling into planning and decision-making in ways that unlock multi-million-dollar revenue impact, strengthen cross-functional alignment, and enable organizations to operate with greater clarity, consistency, and speed.

Main Impacts & Highlights

Strategic Enterprise Leadership & Operating Model Design

Consistently builds and scales new data-driven functions—including Data Science practices, Centers of Excellence, and enterprise analytics teams—across global organizations. Expert in unifying marketing, sales, and strategy teams under a cohesive AI-enabled operating model that improves pipeline accuracy, execution velocity, and revenue forecasting.

AI/ML-Driven Marketing & GTM Transformation

Delivers enterprise-grade predictive modeling (forecasting, segmentation, CLV, propensity, churn) that modernizes Go-To-Market strategy end-to-end. Proven impact improving pipeline accuracy, conversion velocity, marketing ROI, and customer retention for Fortune 500 companies and hyper-growth tech firms.

Data Strategy, Governance & Scalable Architecture

Designs and operationalizes enterprise data strategies, governance frameworks, and scalable analytics ecosystems (MDM, Data Lakes, data quality KPIs) that enable consistent, repeatable, and compliant decision-making across marketing, sales, finance, and operations.

Advanced Analytics & Data Strategy Leadership

Accredited Professional Statistician™ with deep expertise converting complex data ecosystems into decision-ready intelligence. Designs and operationalizes scalable Data Lakes, MDM systems, data quality, analytics governance, and ML deployment pipelines that enable real-time customer intelligence and omni-channel execution.

Executive Influence, Change Leadership & Cross-Functional Alignment

Trusted advisor to C-suite leaders and an effective ambassador across business, product, operations, and finance. Known for turning fragmented data environments into unified insight engines—accelerating strategic planning, resource allocation, and enterprise transformation initiatives.

Organizational Design, Talent Development & COE Building

Builds high-performing analytics and data science organizations, establishes Centers of Excellence, and implements leadership development and skills-growth pathways that scale capability across teams.

Viral Marketing Analytics & Sales Impact

Leveraged data science to quantify the business impact of globally viral marketing events—such as the Math Behind the Morecambe Missile, the EMC Semi-Truck World Record Jump (featured at C2 Montréal), and Parker Liautaud’s South Pole Expedition—providing thought leadership to IT audiences captivated by these campaigns and connecting viral engagement directly to sales influence.

https://www.thisisarebellion.com/projects/emc-morecambe-missile

Professional Experience

Hitachi Vantara– Santa Clara. CA                                                                                                                                     May 2019-Dec 2025

SENIOR DIRECTOR, MARKETING DATA SCIENCE

Strategic Leadership & Operational Scaling: Hands-on global responsibility for data science roadmap and operational deployment across Go-To-Market functions (sales, strategy, and marketing) to drive customer success and marketing optimization. Built and led company’s first data science practice, growing the team from zero to five onshore professionals.

  • 360-degree Customer View: Engineered a dedicated data science data lake workspace to operationalize data science output using near real-time customer data in BI dashboards and Salesforce systems to unify customer intelligence.
  • Organizational Scaling & Governance: Founded and scaled the Marketing Data Science practice, driving technical hiring, advanced skill development, and creation of foundational data assets alongside governance protocols that supported enterprise-wide growth.
  • Predictive Forecasting & Accuracy: Implemented deep learning and statistical models for sales forecasting, achieving 95% prediction accuracy and enabling proactive strategic planning for executive leadership.
  • Pipeline Optimization: Developed and deployed advanced lead-scoring models that prioritize high-intent, time-sensitive leads, significantly increasing lead conversion velocity and directly contributing to an increase in the qualified sales pipeline.
  • Targeting & Segmentation: Led cross-functional teams to develop a Marketing Analytics Portal, scaling customer targeting and segmentation; provided advanced analytics and a value-based account segmentation model (based on purchase behavior and XaaS adoption) for Sales Territory Planning and Sales Account Management.
  • Customer Retention: Built Propensity-to-Churn models that accurately identified at-risk customers and measurably improved retention.
  • Competitive Intelligence: Leveraged competitive tech-install and online intent data to execute targeted Competitive Takeout strategies.
  • Digital Personalization: Implemented product recommendation systems.

Pure Storage – Mountain View, CA                                                                                                                              Nov 2016-May 2019

SENIOR DIRECTOR, DATA SCIENCE

Established Pure Storage’s Data Science practice from inception, grew the team from 0 to 6 members, defining the governance framework and operational roadmap for advanced analytics supporting Sales, Marketing, Strategy, and Finance.

  • Revenue Forecasting & Precision: Built Pure’s first statistical forecasting models to help Finance accurately predict annual revenue in a volatile mid-market environment, resulting in stronger pipeline control, more reliable earnings guidance, and a significant stock-price rebound—recognized externally by SiriusDecisions as an unusually advanced, data-driven engine for targeting, cross-sell/upsell, and forecasting.
  • Marketing Mix Optimization: Improved ROI from 18x to 32x using ML for optimization.
  • 360-Degree Customer Intelligence: Integrated diverse, high-volume data sources (product telemetry, CRM, financial records, competitive install, clickstream) within the Data Lake.
  • Strategic Revenue Modeling: Drove quantifiable revenue growth through predictive modeling (Propensity-to-Buy, CLV, Purchase Recommendations) using ML (Random Forest, SVM, XGBoost, Collaborative Filtering, Association Rules), thereby optimizing marketing spending and targeting effectiveness.
  • Foundational Data Architecture: Architected and executed a comprehensive Master Data Management (MDM) strategy, building a scalable, multi-domain Data Lake in partnership with IT, enabling centralized analytics across three major BUs.

Dell Technologies – Santa Clara, CA                                                                                                                               Apr 2012-Nov 2016

SENIOR DIRECTOR, MARKETING DATA/DIGITAL SCIENCES & MARKETING SCIENCE LAB

Directed the entire Marketing Data Science, Data Strategy, and customer-facing Marketing Science Lab, serving as the executive liaison for the analytics function across the entire Dell enterprise. Managed the DellEMC lab transition post-acquisition, showcasing Dell’s marketing data science and Data Lake capabilities to customers.

  • Foundational Architecture & Team Building: Architected the infrastructure, process, and team to establish the first marketing data science team at the $21B company; grew team from 0 to 8 professionals.
  • Comprehensive Data Strategy (Go-to-Market): Applied data science to every step of the marketing process, including planning, segmentation, targeting, personalization, media planning, and optimization.
  • Analytics Platform Operationalization: Architected the development of a proprietary Data Lake to operationalize models and integrate data science output into marketing execution systems.
  • Data Governance & Quality: Championed and executed core Data Strategy and Quality initiatives, establishing the infrastructure required for scalable predictive modeling of customer behavior.
  • Executive Customer Engagement: Strengthened brand credibility, elevated executive customer engagement, and supported multi-million-dollar enterprise opportunities by building a uniquely customer-facing Predictive Analytics & ML Center of Excellence—positioned as a live, behind-glass working lab inside the Executive Briefing Center—to demonstrate real-world ROI of DellEMC analytics and data-lake technologies and showcase advanced data science workflows to visiting executives.

Prior Roles

Sr. Mgr. Planning & Operations for America’s Field Marketing; Marketing Planning & Ops Lead; Chief of Staff, Cisco, San Jose, CA

  • Recognized for Operational Excellence in Data-Driven Marketing (Recipient of the 2011 Global Marketing Leadership Excellence Award & 2009 Transformation Award)

Vice President of Marketing, Career Central (start-up), Sunnyvale, CA

Director of Marketing, San Francisco Chronicle & Examiner (Hearst Corp.), San Francisco, CA

Education

M.S., Predictive Analytics (GPA: 4.0), Northwestern University

MBA, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

BA, English (Highest Distinction), University of California, Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa)

Training and Certifications:   

  • Accredited Professional StatisticianTM | American Statistical Association
  • Certifications: Python, Tableau, and SQL

Technical Areas & Technology Profile

  • AI/ML: predictive modeling, deep learning, time-series analysis, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM), propensity modeling, and A/B statistical testing/experimental design.
  • Agentic AI & LLM Orchestration: Built an agentic execution layer using the Gemini 2.0 LLM to automate the interpretation of XGBoost propensity models. Engineered system instructions to transform complex model outputs into scalable, personalized GTM playbooks and micro-segmented marketing strategies.
  • Technical Stack & Programming: Python (Pandas, NumPy, ML Libraries), R, SQL, Tableau, PowerBI, Cloud Platforms, Database Design, dBeaver.
  • Statistical & Analytical Methods: Statistical Modeling | Hypothesis Testing | A/B Testing | Causal Inference | Experimental Design | Advanced Data Analytics | Feature Engineering | Data Quality & Imputation
  • Data Engineering & Cloud Deployment: ETL Pipeline Development | Scalable Data Pipelines | MLOps | Model Deployment | Cloud-Native Development (AWS, GCP) | Automation & Process Optimization
  • Business Intelligence: Tableau | Power BI | Stakeholder Storytelling | Data Visualization

References Available Upon Request