School of Management — Analytics and Technology

Vijay Mehrotra

Director / Associate Professor

Vijay's academic and professional focus is on how mathematical models transform management in today's data-rich, information-poor business world. He teaches courses in operations management, spreadsheet modeling, and business analytics, and conducts research on the use of modeling and analysis to improve service operations. He also writes a column called "Analyze This!" that appears in each issue of ANALYTICS magazine.

Prior to become a professor, Vijay enjoyed a very successful career as an operations management consultant, entrepreneur, and executive. From 1994 to 2002, he was co-founder and CEO of Onward Inc., an operations management consulting firm based in Mountain View, CA, where he led the growth of the firm from three consultants to a professional staff of thirty.

In 2002, Onward's call center consulting practice was acquired by Blue Pumpkin Software (acquired by Witness Systems) while Onward's data analytics group was acquired by Advertising.com (acquired by AOL).

Dr. Mehrotra has invested in and/or served as advisor to many technology companies including Tyecin Systems (acquird by Manugistics), LiftMedia (acquired by WebLoyalty), Enkata Technology, the Rubicon Project, and Resonate Networks. Professor Mehrotra holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University and a B.A. in Mathematics, Economics and English from St. Olaf College.

Education

Ph.D., Operations Research, Stanford University, 1992

Teaching
  • Quantitative Business Analysis
  • Operations Management
  • Spreadsheet Modeling
  • Business Analytics
Publications

Mehrotra, V. and T. A. Grossman. "OR Process Skills Transform an Out of Control Call Center into a Strategic Asset, Interfaces, Vol. 39, No. 4, July-August 2009, pp. 346-352.

Steckley, S., Henderson, S., and Mehrotra, V. "Forecast Errors in Service Systems," Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences, Vol. 23, No. 2, April 2009, pp. 305-332.

Grossman, T. A., Mehrotra, V., and Özluk, Ö. "Lessons From Mission-Critical Spreadsheets," Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 20, August 2009, pp. 1009-1042.