Jordan Gill
Moving Forward
Wheels and pedals have been Jordan Gill’s preferred mode of transportation since childhood. In high school, he’d bike to friends’ houses, the gym, and around the neighborhood as a way to stay in shape for the wrestling team. As an undergraduate student, he pedaled everywhere—to the grocery store, to class, and to parties.
“I’ve always kept a working bike for exercise and getting around town,” Gill says. “I love using it as a way to explore whatever neighborhood I’m living in.”
His bicycle has accompanied him on several moves over the past several years. Initially on course to become an actuary, he pivoted into analytics when he enrolled in the Haslam College of Business MSBA program in 2015. The program helped him focus more on his presentation abilities and soft skills. “I emerged with the ability to communicate technical results to non-technical people,” he says.
When he graduated in 2016, Gill took those skills to industry roles. He worked first with HanesBrands Inc. as an analytics technologist, then as a senior supply chain analyst for Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Most recently, Gill served as an analytics analyst at Brookdale, a company that operates more than 700 senior living communities across the United States.
In each role, he helped leaders make better decisions based on data analysis. His diverse background in sales, marketing, and sourcing operations helped him contextualize theoretical concepts by telling real-world stories. “That ability to communicate helped me get projects implemented,” Gill says. “You can do the best analysis, but if you can’t sell it, it doesn’t get adopted.”
One of his projects at Brookdale was developing a way to predict how many people would move into their communities in the following month. He looked at sales activities, past moving trends, acuity scores, and how much care an individual would need. Combining all these data points, his team developed an algorithm to estimate the monthly move-in rate. The algorithm helped the company plan ahead more accurately and identify the best ways to use their marketing budget.
In 2021, Gill returned to Haslam as a lecturer and co-director of the MSBA program. Currently, he teaches data mining along with statistics and capstone courses. “Students coming into our programs invest a significant amount of trust that we will provide a high-level educational experience and equip them with the skills to succeed,” he says. “My long-term goal is to see Haslam’s MSBA program at the top of the national rankings.”
