Dr. Priestley is the Associate Dean of The Graduate College and the Director of the Analytics and Data Science Institute at Kennesaw State University. In 2012, the SAS Institute recognized Dr. Priestley as the 2012 Distinguished Statistics Professor of the Year. She served as the 2012 and 2015 Co-Chair of the National Analytics Conference. Datanami recognized Dr. Priestley as one of the top 12 “Data Scientists to Watch in 2016.” Dr. Priestley has been a featured speaker at SAS Analytics, Big Data Week, Technology Association of Georgia, Data Science ATL, The Atlanta Chief Data Officer Summit, The Atlanta CEO Council, Predictive Analytics World, INFORMS and dozens of corporate events addressing issues related to advanced analytics and the challenges and opportunities of “Big Data”. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the Southern Data Science Conference.She has authored dozens of articles on Binary Classification, Risk Modeling, Sampling, Statistical Methodologies for Problem Solving and Applications of Big Data Analytics.Prior to receiving a Ph.D. in Statistics, Dr. Priestley worked in the Financial Services industry for 11 years. Her positions included Vice President of Business Development for VISA EU in London, as well as for MasterCard US and an analytical consultant with Accenture’s strategic services group. Dr. Priestley received a Ph.D. from Georgia State, a MBA from The Pennsylvania State University, where she was president of the graduate student body, and a BS from Georgia Tech.