CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SymphonyIRI Group, Inc. and Columbia University announced today that Robert Holston, executive vice president and division lead of Symphony Analytics, will join the Advisory Board of the Center for Pricing and Revenue Management at Columbia University. SymphonyIRI is a leading provider of innovative solutions and services for CPG, retail and healthcare companies.
The Center for Pricing and Revenue Management is a partnership between Columbia Business School and the Columbia School of Engineering’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. Columbia founded the Center recognizing the growing importance of price and revenue management and the need to apply analytics methodologies to customer segmentation and pricing across many industries.
“Columbia’s foresight to create an organization focused on pricing and revenue management demonstrates the increasingly complex nature of these disciplines in an environment where trends, such as frequent pricing updates, can mean the difference between winning and losing shoppers,” said Andrew Appel, president and chief executive officer, SymphonyIRI. “Inviting SymphonyIRI to participate on the Center’s Advisory Board reflects our leadership in developing new analytic approaches to assist manufacturers and retailers as they strive to attract and retain shoppers and unlock new sources of growth.”
The Center’s Advisory Board comprises leaders in the field of revenue management, who review activities and consider new opportunities to enhance the Center. Additional members of the Advisory Board include senior executives from The Walt Disney Company and other Fortune 50 companies. The Board shapes the direction of the Center’s activities by providing recommendations to the director and deans of the university’s Business and Engineering Schools. SymphonyIRI and the Center will launch an Executive Education Seminar series that will focus on pricing and revenue management topics specific to the CPG and retail market sectors. The first session is tentatively scheduled to take place April 2013.
“SymphonyIRI is an innovator in applying analytics solutions to support decisions by product and retail companies,” said Robert Phillips, professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Business School. “Analytics is also an important discipline as manufacturers and retailers move to create more shopper-centric organizations. We are excited to have SymphonyIRI join our program.”
The cornerstone activity of the Center is a series of roundtables during which executives from a cross section of U.S. industries share information on pricing, customer segmentation, analytics, marketing and revenue management strategies. Columbia faculty also present new research related to these topics. In addition, the Center supports research and educational activities related to the use of analytic techniques to support customer segmentation and pricing decisions across a wide range of industries.
For more information about the Center for Pricing and Revenue Management, please visit: http://www7.gsb.columbia.edu/cprm
About SymphonyIRI Group, Inc.
SymphonyIRI Group is a global leader in innovative solutions and services for the CPG, retail and healthcare industries. SymphonyIRI uniquely combines powerful market and shopper information, predictive analytics, flexible technology solutions and consulting services to help its clients drive and grow their businesses. For more information, visit: http://www.SymphonyIRI.com.