Pushkar Raj joins UMD's Labovitz School of Business and Economics (LSBE) Marketing department as a director and instructor of Marketing Analytics and brings with him almost ten years of corporate work experience in customer insights and analytics space.
Most recently, Pushkar worked at Walmart as a senior manager for two years in Customer Insights and Analytics using data centric and customer insights driven strategies to grow the Omni-channel business.
“As director of LSBE's Marketing Analytics Program, I get the opportunity to mentor and teach students, collaborate with industry partners, and shape the future of the program” said Raj. “It’s a challenging but hugely important task for which I am very excited.”
Raj received his MBA in Marketing Research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, A.C. Nielsen Center. While completing his MBA, Pushkar led student consulting projects for Orbitz and General Mills and completed a new product development consulting project with American Family Insurance. Prior to coming to the U.S., he held a variety of insights and analytics roles such as senior analyst at Dunnhumby, analyst at HSBC, and consultant at Deloitte – all based in India.
Additionally, Raj’s spouse, Dr. Devaleena Das, has joined the Department of Anthropology, Criminology, and Sociology in UMD’s College of Liberal Arts as an assistant professor.
Raj replaces Sara Pitterle, who was the program's director since 2011. With almost 20 years of industry experience in a variety of roles both in the U.S. and overseas along with her experience gained at LSBE, Pitterle is returning to work hands-on in the analytics industry.