Natalie Kortum has recently joined Humana opening up their Irving Analytics Center as Director of Analytics in Consumer Insights. Previously as a Global Decision Sciences Manager at Dell specializing in Investment Optimization, she worked at measuring long-term impacts of difficult to measure influences such as Brand Campaigns, Social Media, Corporate Social Responsibility and Total Quality Management Improvements.

She is lead inventor on two patent-pending model techniques including an overall investment model and a brand health model. In previous roles, she has worked in pricing analysis, promo management, web analytics, and financial planning. She received her undergrad in Mathematics from Texas A&M and her MBA in Marketing and Finance from Southern Methodist University. She has spoken at a variety of Big Data, online, and analytics conferences.

What mobile device can you not live without?

I love my Google Nexus 5! I always carry my Anker External Battery Pack and I use it almost every week at some point.

Can we take a peek at your phone’s home screen?

Of course. No idea how to take a pic of it though since my only phone is on my cell phone – so just come ask me at the conference.

What app do you use most often for work?

Email via Good Enterprise. I’m also often on linkedin for recruiting/networking. At conferences, I’m almost always using twitter.

What social media network or website do you frequent most when you’re not working?

Facebook probably. I love keeping up with my friends who live far away and this seems to be where most of them post. At the moment, I’m on realtor.com a lot looking for houses as well.

What’s the first thing you check on your phone in the morning?

Text messages, then work email, then personal email.

What work challenge keeps you up at night?

Right now I’m working to grow out an analytical team in Dallas and I am busy recruiting great talent. In this growing market, looking for fantastic applicants to bring in the door to help grow Humana’s analytics is a very large challenge.

What has been the most exciting work development this year?

I’ve recently joined Humana and will be opening up an analytics center in Dallas area. Learning about the healthcare industry and Humana culture, I’m excited about bringing my more consumer-centric experience to Humana.

How many miles have you traveled this year?

Since January, I’m already at 10,000 miles. Most of it is flying back and forth from Texas to Humana’s headquarters in Kentucky.

What other career would you like to try?

I explored meteorology for a while in college. Frankly, weather prediction is based off of a huge model of data that is forever improving. It also has tons of history to study and experiment improved forecasting on. Fantastic and interesting area.

What does your desk look like right now?

Right now, I don’t have an official desk in Dallas. The office floor is still under construction and I’m working from a temp office in Kentucky or from my hotel room or from my couch at home. At the time of answering this questionnaire, I was in the hotel room – so I just snapped a shot.

What is the last business book you read?

Full book – I’m not sure honestly. I tend to like to read linkedin group questions, some blogs and of course attend webinars and conferences. I find my attention for work related concepts requires more concise content. I rarely even “read” books, but tend to love audio books which I listen to while working out, on the plane, or anytime I just want to escape.

Outside of your company’s efforts, what marketing campaign or video caught your eye recently?

RadioShack’s commercial caught my eye – for two reasons. The 80s themed details made me actually cease my fast forwarding through the commercial on the DVR and then the message is clear that RadioShack is trying to re-invent itself. I certainly got the message and despite the fast paced viewing I normally give commercials.

Overall – I still think the best one ever was the Apple commercial with their personification of PC and Apple. It was entertaining while still capturing the message. I wish they’d bring it back. It was a good mix of entertainment and message.