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Personal Information
Name: Corrin Lakeland
Address: Titirangi, Auckland
Email: lakeland@acm.org
Web: http://www.corrinlakeland.com/
Date of Birth: 19th March 1976
Telephone: (+64) 021 467 784
PROFILE
I am comfortable and experienced in delivering analytics solutions. I have both a strong technical background and practical experience from hundreds of projects. I know how to approach new projects and have seen what works and what doesn’t. My passion is in understanding how the analysis is going to be used so that the work and presentation can be tailored to match objectives, rather than leaving it to stand on its own.
My career does not match well to the regular CV format where a job has a set of responsibilities, skills, and experience. I wear vastly different hats in the different roles and projects I’m involved in and so am formatting my experience section in terms of the broad themes that have run through my career.
Technical: decades of experience turning numbers into action. Skilled in advanced analytics with tools such as PyTorch, Fiona and BigQuery, and data engineering with tools like DBT and Airflow.
Leadership: Business: strategy, finance, governance; Team lead: staff development, HR; Project owner: direction, project management
LOCATION
Auckland, New Zealand
PHONE
+64 21 467784
lakeland@gmail.com
Website
linkedin.com/in/corrinlakeland/
WORK HISTORY
SEP 2018 – May 2024 - Data Science Lead | Woolworths NZ (contract)
NOV 2015 - Present - Co-Owner | Morris Sheetmetal Works and Massey Smiles Dentistry
Sep 2013 - Present - Data Architecture Consultant | High Performance Sport (contract)
Apr 2013 – Nov 2019 - Data Consultant | Fonterra (contract)
Other projects for: Westpac, Partners Life, Foodstuffs, BNZ, NZRU, Dominion Breweries, NZHL, 11Ants, and others
Working as an analytics consultant, business owner, team lead, data scientist, ML engineer, data architect, project manager, and product owner.
EDUCATION
PhD in Natural Language Processing (1998-2005), University of Otago
BSc (Hons) in Computer Science (1994-1997), Victoria University and Otago
Data Science
Over 30 years of experience in building machine learning systems, with a focus on operational ML and MLOps platforms. Expertise in developing and deploying models that interact with people, with a passion for understanding the insights they provide. Portfolio includes multiple ML model builds and MLOps platform development, with a focus on driving business change. Skilled in using data to tell stories and inform business decisions.
Programming and Technology
With a lifetime of programming experience spanning decades, I possess a deep understanding of software development principles and practices. While not a full-time programmer, I have consistently applied my skills to solve real-world problems, leveraging languages like Python, C#, and SQL to deliver data-driven solutions.
My programming focuses on practical applications, such as data manipulation, analysis, and visualisation, rather than developing large systems. I am comfortable working with complex data sets, designing scalable solutions, and optimising code for performance. While I do not have the methodical approach of a professional programmer, my experience has taught me how to effectively utilise programming tools to drive business value.
Business
Founder and owner of CME Connect, with 10+ years of experience in managing a business, including contracts, HR, sales, marketing, finance, and strategy. Successfully expanded business through acquisition and new ventures, with a total of over twenty employees across three companies. Proven record of driving business growth and improving profitability.
Having transitioned from a consulting role, where I advised businesses on improvement strategies, to a small business owner, I have gained invaluable insight into the realities of implementing change. I have learned to balance vision with practicality.
Marketing Automation
Developed and implemented marketing automation platforms for various clients, including Fonterra and NZRU. Designed and built two offer recommendation engines. Also developed customer engagement monitoring systems. Skilled in using data to drive marketing decisions and improve customer engagement.
Portfolio
I build long-term relationships with clients, serving as their data science partner. My goal is to create continuity through ongoing collaboration.
I help organisations overcome common data challenges, such as lack of understanding, misaligned objectives, and inefficient technology. My projects focus on marketing automation, MLOps, and business process improvement, demonstrating my versatility across industries and my ability to drive meaningful change.
The projects below demonstrate my expertise in marketing automation, MLOps, and business process improvement, demonstrating my versatility across industries and ability to drive meaningful change.
Offer Effectiveness. A mix of ML models to predict customer spend next week with attribution modelling. My primary contribution was in ML engineering.
Responsible AI Platform (2022). A ML environment designed from the start for governance controls. The work was lead by Deloitte, and my role was in ensuring that the platform could be applied to multiple use cases.
Relevancy Engine (2020). Helped build a next-best-conversation and price recommendation system for Woolworths. Every customer is sent offers tailored to their interests and price elasticity.
Feature Library (2020). Standardised and centralised definitions of key business metrics. Incorporated a data lineage and governance framework.
Spatial Modelling (2019). Site recommendations, catchments, optimal network design and new site sales forecasts. Similar projects for both NZHL and Countdown.
Product Ranging Recommendations (2018). Recommending changes to store ranging. Product Sales forecasting. Identifying products where customers rely on affordable pricing.
Farmer Services Datamart (2017). Developed a datamart for Fonterra so that less technical users could build reports. Integrated Salesforce, Google Analytics, Surveys, and LINZ maps.
Marketing Automation (2016). Product owner for the marketing automation system CME developed to support our clients including friendly portal, approval system, next best message, email delivery, product selection, effectiveness reporting, and more.
Animal Welfare (2015). Designed an early warning system for identifying struggling farmers and scheduled support services.
Customer Complaints (2014). Helped BNZ build a system for predicting which customer interactions would lead to complaints using text entered in the CRM system.
Messaging Engine (2014). Designed a messaging engine for Fonterra so that farmers could focus on the most important messages rather than drowning in information.
Sentiment Monitor (2013). Automated monitoring and analysis of feedback including telephone call sentiment and topic analysis. Used to help executives understand how farmers are feeling.
Specials Optimisation (2012). Improved Countdown’s product selection so that people would be offered products based on similar products. Developed over 30,000 propensity models along with processes for monitoring model accuracy and refreshing models.
Voice of Customer (2012). Designed audience selection process so that Westpac could assess how their staff were tracking against KPIs while minimising the number of unnecessary customer surveys.
Customer Persona Development (2011). Posters for helping Countdown staff understand their customers. Used to give non-marketing staff an understanding of how diverse customers are.
Route Optimisation (2011). Identified which buses were consistently running late and which spent too long sitting idle as part of a larger project by NZ Bus
Personal interests
I have played Go (WeiQi) competitively for almost thirty years, even representing New Zealand twice. It is a game that teaches you to think ahead and stay calm under pressure. I also enjoy playing other board games casually with friends and family.
Five years ago, I picked up Ultimate Frisbee and fell in love with the ‘spirit of the game.’ It’s all about respect and fair play, and it’s fun to push myself in a sport where I’m constantly learning and improving.
I’m active on a number of personal and small business budgeting forums. There’s so much generic advice out there, and I love helping people make sense of their finances with practical tips and models.
Organizing New Zealand Analytics events is something I’m passionate about. It’s a great way to bring together analysts, who often work in isolation, and help them stay connected and share knowledge.
Volunteering for iMoku, a telehealth provider, has been a fantastic experience. I’ve helped set up their data and analytics systems, and I’m excited about how centralized health data can spot trends and improve care.
Home automation is my latest hobby. I finally put motors and a schedule on my blinds—it’s remarkable how crossing a tipping point changes things from a novelty to practical. I also set up a ZigBee water detector to alert me if there’s a leak, saving my cupboards from another flood.