Su Latt was recently named to Crain’s Cleveland Business’ “20 in their Twenties,” which features young leaders in Northeast Ohio’s business and nonprofit community.
“It’s an honor that my hard work and dedication towards my civic engagements and career achievements are being recognized,” said Latt, who graduated from Weatherhead School of Management in 2018 with a master’s degree in business analytics and intelligence.
Latt is currently working as an analytics manager for Merkle Inc. in Cleveland. Learn what she’s been working on at Merkle and what is something she learned at Weatherhead that she’s taken with her in her career:
What does your work focus on as the analytics manager at Merkle?
I am within the Performance Media Analytics team, leading a few analysts to support financial service institutions, as well as retail clients with marketing performance tracking, campaign reporting and testing target audience, creative and content messaging, and media partners.
I’m also involved in coming up with optimization recommendations based on insights derived from campaign performance data to eventually generate better returns on investments in the media placements.
What led you to Weatherhead School of Management to pursue your master’s degree in business analytics and intelligence?
I always dreamed of going to Case Western Reserve University for my graduate school and when I learned that Weatherhead offered the Business Analytics and Intelligence program, I just had to apply and see where it would take me.
I had an incredible experience being able to visit the school and spoke with Meredith Richardson (director of recruitment and admissions), professors and current students. I’m just grateful for that opportunity because Weatherhead really got to know me and I got to know the school as well as the program. And I found it was a fit!
How do you think Weatherhead helped lead you towards a successful start to your career?
The Weatherhead Business Analytics and Intelligence program has given me so many opportunities to learn not only the technical aspects of data analytics and data science, but also the industry knowledge by introducing us to industry partners who were also our mentors. By learning from different mentors, I was able to learn how the business world uses data to find insights and to make better business decisions.
What is something you learned during your time as a student at Weatherhead that you’ve taken with you?
I learned that classes at Weatherhead would touch on as many analytical approaches and techniques as possible, but it was my responsibility to be open to networking with mentors and industry professionals if I wanted an internship or full-time opportunities after graduation.
I am so grateful that I was able to take advantage of the mentorship program at the school that I am now a part of as a mentor.
Can you tell us how you are connected with the school still, as a mentor, and any other ways?
I’m a mentor for the Business Analytics program and a part of the Alumni Advisory Council, where I recently helped with planning the spring networking event. It was a great success and I look forward to helping with planning the fall event as well. In addition, I have been invited to visitation days with prospective students and asked to be a speaker on the International Alumni Panel in the past.
What did you love most about Weatherhead during your time here?
I enjoyed spending time with my friends and classmates to work on projects together. I remember working to hit some project deadlines even on my birthday. My friends from the Business Analytics program and I still went out for a quick dinner and came back to work on projects until the next day. It was so memorable because now that I am working full time, I still learn and study about things that I am working on, but I do it alone now! So I miss that collaboration with my friends.
I also enjoyed being a part of the graduate student council as a representative of our program and helping to plan the Halloween Ball in the basement of the Peter B. Lewis Building. I was also a big fan of happy hours at ABC the Tavern, as well as Thursday Karaoke nights at the Jolly Scholar either with my friends or my roommates.