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What she does:
- Janna R. Sullivan is a Decision Support Officer with HSBC Bank USA, N.A. in Buffalo, NY. This position was formerly called a Credit Risk Management Officer. Janna performs complex project-based analysis using a variety of quantitative tools to solve risk-related problems. She has held this position since August 2004.
Math on the job:
- Janna is a project manager for the development of new automated decision-making systems. She gives regular monthly performance reports involving data analysis using internal and external data sources to identify risk and provide insight into developing trends. She is also a project manager for regular development of new decision systems for products such as home equity loans and mortgages. One project of particular interest is that she is currently developing an analytical program for the detection of fraudulent deposits. This program is expected to save the bank over $700,000 annually.
Janna's background:
- Janna received her Bachelor of Science degree from St. Lawrence University in Math 2004, with a double major in Mathematics and Fine Arts. Janna says that she regularly uses mathematics in her job, and particularly uses the material from her courses in Applied Statistics, Time Series Analysis, Mathematical Logic, and Multiple Regression. She also uses skills in basic computer programming, SAS, SQL, and Microsoft Office. While Janna was an undergraduate at St. Lawrence University, she completed a summer internship with HSBC Bank during Summer 2003. This internship helped her focus on what she wanted and helped her obtain the position but was not a necessary prerequisite for the position.
Advice for students:
- Janna offers the following advice for students considering a major in mathematics: “I feel that there are a lot of opportunities out there for graduates with a math degree. I felt much more marketable entering the workforce than peers who had majored in other areas. I felt that having a double major in Math and Fine Arts really worked to my advantage since I didn’t come across as being purely analytical.”