OR/MS Today - June 2002 - Inside Story

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - June 2002</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>Inside Story</B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+2"><B>And the Winner Is...</B></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>Peter Horner, editor <A HREF="mailto:horner@lionhrtpub.com">horner@lionhrtpub.com</A></B></FONT><br> <hr size="1"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    In the February issue of <I>OR/MS Today</I>, we wrote a story on INFORMS President-Elect Tom Cook, the former leader of the OR group at American Airlines (Sabre Decision Technologies and its many permutations), who at the time had just been named chairman and CEO of CALEB Technologies. CALEB, an Austin-Texas based company, develops and markets disruption recovery and resource planning systems for complex, mission-critical applications. CALEB's current focus is on the airline industry; in particular, developing OR-empowered systems like CrewSolver and OpsSolver that help airlines recover quickly and efficiently from major disruptions to operations.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> In the article, we noted that Cook's former troops at Sabre had helped its clients win two Edelman Awards, the "Super Bowl" of OR/MS achievement. At the same time, we wondered in print if Cook could possibly repeat his magic and help CALEB capture an Edelman for one of its clients. <BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> In May, CALEB did just that. Thanks to a successful implementation of CrewSolver at Continental Airlines that resulted in $40 million in recovery savings for the airline in 2001 (most of it in the aftermath of 9/11), Continental earned first-place honors in this year's Edelman competition. While obviously pleased with the Edelman judges' decision, Cook wasn't claiming any personal credit for the victory, since the software was developed and the implementation was made before he took the reins from CALEB founder and former CEO Gang Yu. I guess that means Cook will have to wait at least another year to win that third "Super Bowl" ring.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> In the meantime, Yu and the winning team from Continental, headed by CIO Janet Wejman and Director of Crew Technology Anna White, made an impressive showing at the INFORMS Practice Meeting in Montreal, as did the other five finalists. Having witnessed several of the Edelman presentations myself, I don't envy the judges who must choose a single winner from among six worthy candidates. It was truly inspiring to see and hear first-hand how OR/MS has positively impacted such a diverse group of industries and companies.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Montreal marked INFORMS' second foray into a small, focused meeting geared toward practitioners. I missed the first one held in San Diego last year, I don't intend to miss another. From the opening plenary ("The Impact of Global Terrorism, Natural Disasters and Other Disruptions on Supply Chain Management" by MIT's Yosef Sheffi) on Monday morning to the final sessions on Tuesday afternoon, the conference was packed with timely, thought-provoking material delivered by first-rate speakers. Although there were only six tracks compared to the 30 or more found at INFORMS' fall meetings, the choices were just as difficult, if not more so.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Kudos to Terry Cryan, Sandy Owens and all the other INFORMS staffers and volunteers who played a role in the Montreal production. Too bad they don't present an award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences Meetings. They'd get my vote. <BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <font face="verdana, arial, helvetica" size="1"> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</I></A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2001 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. 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