Elder Research: Data Driven. People Centered.

2020 marks Elder Research’s 25th anniversary as a firm. (And what a year!)

When I started at the firm in 2012, we had 30 employees between two small offices. Today, Elder Research has grown to over 110 scientists, engineers, and support staff across five offices in two countries.

Occasionally one of our trusted clients will ask me “You know… Elder Research is… a little odd, just a bit different. What is it?”

And they are right! We are extraordinarily different. Our clients realize that we’re more than a vendor trying to make a few dollars. We’re a community of teammates, artisans, dreamers, and problem solvers, united by our passions for:

1. Learning and curiosity
2. Analysis and problem solving
3. Teamwork and humility
4. Service

In that context, we’re excited to announce a new tagline:

“Data Driven. People Centered.”

As well as unveil an updated logo:

Both are prominent on our new website. Despite the updated exterior, the inner foundations preserve the same tenets and principles that have helped us succeed for over two decades.

We recently pulled a statistic and found that our collective team has completed more than 250 (TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY!) analytics, data science, and machine learning projects in the last three years alone. That is an astronomical rate. Trust is the combination of competence and character. For the last 25 years, our clients have placed their trust in us to solve (a lot of) very complex problems with integrity, passion, and ingenuity. And we see that as a great privilege.

“Data Driven” means we relentlessly hone our craft. We listen first to our clients and understand the problems at hand before prematurely jumping to conclusions and algorithms. We refine existing, and incorporate new, analytical approaches and methods to improve project benefits. We train team members in the principles of sound science, analysis, and data modeling, as well in best practices of engineering and practical consulting, so our findings will be reliable and repeatable. We balance confidence in our skills and analytic outcomes with a healthy skepticism of our own biases and perspectives to avoid inadvertently steering results in any predetermined direction.

If we continue to do all of these things well, we will continue to get strong reliable results and maintain the indispensable trust of our clients.

Stepping away from our keyboards and monitors, python and java code, and diagrams and equations, we understand that people are the glue and focus that drive our success.

Our team is made up of amazingly diverse people. Our people embrace our culture, which is the “secret sauce” to our ongoing success. One of my favorite rituals at Elder Research is when we gather team members in a conference room to deconstruct a new problem– considering goals, pitfalls, approaches, tradeoffs, and “gotchas”– and brainstorm a unique solution weighing all of the competing dynamics. That’s where the magic happens! When we put our heads together as a team, we always come out of that conference room with a better, more innovative, and more valuable solution than if any of us had gone at it alone. It’s an incredible and humbling experience that consistently gets top results for our clients.

Our clients are people facing complex business challenges and we value them, their mission, and their expertise. We have a healthy understanding of our skills and strengths, but we always learn so much from others, especially our clients. Seeking first to listen and understand is the core of how we interact with our clients. They are our trusted partners, so we expend a lot of energy to partner with organizations that have powerful missions we are proud to support.

Our analytic models and solutions impact people. Our analytic solutions have:

• Expedited housing, credit, and healthcare for those in greatest need
• Detected and prevented national security threats
• Reduced fraud and ensured resources are not being stolen nor wasted
• Detected biomarkers that are predictive of early onsets of deadly or disabling diseases
• Identified subpopulations most at risk of opioid abuse and addiction to enable early intervention
• Helped businesses improve efficiency, creating new jobs and economic opportunities for our communities

“People centered” points to our belief that people are at the heart of everything we do, and that is a tremendous privilege and responsibility that we don’t take for granted.

In November 2000, Elder Research incorporated the corona icon into our logo. Corona plots were developed by our Founder, Dr. John Elder, to instantly visualize the efficacy of a 2-d metric for selecting stocks for an investment portfolio. Precisely 20 years later, in November 2020, we have updated the graphic, while honoring its origins, to reflect our passion for innovation and cutting-edge analytics solutions.

In my experience, when organizations go through a new website and branding process, they design a tagline or logo to capture aspirational goals of who they want to become or how they want to be perceived. Our experience is inverse. Rather than these new components being aspirational, I believe they more clearly express existing foundations that make Elder Research a special workplace with amazing people serving remarkable clients.