Trustworthiness
We aim to be trusted partners, expert advisors and knowledgeable collaborators.
Ingenuity
We're interested in clever creativity. Give us a gnarly problem, and we'll science the hell out of it.
Passion for eliminating inefficiency
We're not on the fence about inefficiency. We loathe it. The Optimal Analytics team have an energetic drive to investigate, identify and improve clunky processes with limited visibility. We like to think our passion is infectious.
Pragmatism
Passion doesn't cloud our judgement: it guides our recommendations. Our goal is meaningful, measurable change, and we've got enough experience to know that 'a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'.
Our credo
- The best place to start is where you are now
- There is no magic bullet
- But technology can help
- Any time you enter data into Excel, you've failed
- Copy/paste is the manual labor of this century
- You don't need a report, you need help solving your problem
- We don't just consult. We do.
- Focus on tangible value.
CEO and Co-founder
David Folkner
David is Optimal Analytic's technical powerhouse. He is constantly seeking to improve on the status quo, creating solutions in the most elegantly designed and effective ways. David not only has the technical understanding of information technology but also demonstrates the rare ability to simplify technical problems so management can make informed decisions.
David has years of experience with complex system integration, statistical analysis, model development, scripting, and data wrangling as a Technical Lead Engineer at General Electric. David graduated Magna Cum Laude from Utah State University, earning a Masters degree in Thermodynamics Engineering. He has been published twice in academic journals and has been issued nine US patents for his mechanical designs.
Technical Skills: Python, FORTRAN, MATLAB, C++, Linux/Unix Shell, VBA, Django, LabVIEW, VUE, JavaScript, SQL, Postgres, Unit Testing, Git, Clojure
CFO and Co-founder
Katherine Elizabeth
Katherine is the driver that makes things happen, she has the ability to take the abstract and bring it into reality. She has the organization and follow-through to execute projects of various complexities and sizes. Katherine builds a strong rapport with those around her and understands how to motivate and communicate with her team to deliver results.
After receiving a dual degree at Utah State University, she quickly established herself as a Senior Manager at Harley Davidson Financial Services, handling a delinquency portfolio of over 310 million. Katherine received her Masters in Business Administration from Clemson University in the winter of 2019. Post-graduation she transitioned to a role at Resurgent Capital Services acting as Sr Director of Litigation Performance.
Katherine has over 7 years of experience managing technical projects and driving measurable results to senior leadership.
Director of Engineering
Brad Foulkes
Brad has a passion for solving problems, big and small. He knows that identifying the solution is just the first step but executing is where the rubber really hits the road. He has a proven track record of working with teams to develop ideas, then executing to provide the best business outcome.
Brad has been working for 10+ years to develop his analytics toolkit so that every problem isn’t treated as the same nail. His experience spans several industries, from industrial equipment to microchip testing hardware, and a variety of roles as a design engineer, a six sigma blackbelt, a reliability engineer and a data scientist. He understands that just because you can use a complicated solution, does not mean that you always should.
Brad has a B.S. and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has presented at conferences on reliability and analytics, and his technical skills include SQL, SAS/IML, JMP, and Python.