Our Alumni Spotlight in the UCF College of Business Graduate Programs is Paige Biller. Biller is a 2017 graduate of UCF’s inaugural cohort of the Master of Science in Management-Business Analytics program. Biller also obtained a bachelor’s degree from UCF in business and managerial economics.
Upon graduating from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2012, Paige Biller secured a role as Pricing Analyst at Disney Parks & Resorts. After five years with the company, she was ready to take her analytics career to the next level.
The Professional Master of Science in Management-Business Analytics program (PMSM) was perfect for Biller as she would learn to master statistics, programming and business strategy all in one program. Additionally, the classes were held at UCF’s downtown campus and fit well with her work schedule.
Biller found comfort in the cohort format of this program. The cohort format limits class sizes and provides a culture of networking, collaboration and teamwork. The students of the program were able to move through the classes together and were able to access faculty easily.
As she made her way through the PMSM program, she was rewarded at Disney by earning a promotion to Senior Analyst, then again to Pricing Manager. She graduated in 2017 with her master’s degree. Recently, she was promoted to her current role as Lead of Data Science within the Commercial Strategy Organization.
About Your College Experience
How accessible are the faculty?
I found the faculty to be helpful and willing to answer questions. I reached out to Dr. Lin Liu for advice preparing for an interview and he provided multiple examples of follow-up material expanding on concepts we learned in class to help me prepare.
What are some beneficial things that you learned in the program and have been able to use over the years?
From a software perspective, the program expanded on my existing SAS knowledge and introduced me to Python, both of which I have used since graduation. In addition to the software learned, I had broad exposure to different modeling techniques and when they apply, in addition to a more generalized framework for how to think through and execute on business problems from start to finish.
What do you do in your current role?
In my current role, I am focused on identifying and applying the best data science techniques to solve business questions related to Guest spend and value. More broadly, our team is also focused on data engineering and data stewardship best practices across the organization, including specialization in Disney Park Pass and Guest identity resolution data.
With the help of UCF’s PMSM program, Biller was able to propel forward in her career. She is an outstanding alumna with a bright future. We wish her continued success! Go Knights!