Scott Ferguson Email & Phone Number

Offering services as a Principal AI Advisor to midmarket companies and startups focused on the transformative impact of Generative AI on new & existing businesses.• Building out Generative AI & recommendation system features for a startup mobile app using multimodal SLM/LLMs to generate data attributes and similarity/embedding vectors for items from photos to side-step the recommendation cold start problem.• Executed M365 Copilot Readiness engagements walking clients through data leakage, data oversharing, data accuracy, and user readiness. Performed detailed security analysis covering client’s Microsoft Entra, M365, Teams, and SharePoint configurations.

New York, Ny, Us

As director of data analytics & AI at FlexManage/New Era Technology, I led R&D initiatives, developing innovative POCs and executing technical solutions using the Microsoft Azure stack. My work drove business transformation through AI and data analytics strategies, while also strengthening Microsoft partnerships, supporting sales efforts, and educating sellers on technical solutions. I mentored teams, guided staff augmentation, and ensured alignment with project goals through candidate interviews. With certifications in Azure AI, Azure Security, and Power BI, I consistently delivered scalable solutions that fueled innovation and growth.• Pioneered 8 innovative POCs using M365 Copilot, MS Graph, Azure Synapse, and Power BI, securing $160K in Microsoft funding for the company’s first initiatives in this area.• Implemented a scalable Data Lakehouse architecture using Azure Synapse and Delta Lake for a manufacturing client, ensuring enterprise-level scalability and productionizing data and machine learning tools.• Rescued and rebuilt a Power BI reporting system for legal clients, integrating billing systems to provide real-time data on billing, AR, invoicing, and hours, accelerating cash flow and retaining clients.• Strengthened the AI community as a board member of Houston Energy Data Science, organizing machine learning meetups to foster collaboration.• Expanded AI and data science awareness by presenting at 20 meetups and contributing to four Rice University conferences as a program committee member.• Led or executed 18 major projects across healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, legal, and other industries, delivering transformative solutions.• Enhanced efficiency for 80,000 healthcare users by delivering a Power App that streamlined collaborative requests.• Improved customer support for an insurance company by developing an FAQ chatbot with human-in-the-loop escalation, benefiting 30,000 users and improving user experience.

Houston Energy Data Science (HEDS), is a Non Profit Corporation for Energy Data Scientists, Data Enthusiasts, Energy Professionals, Data Artists, and those interested in Data Science to come together and share ideas, share Data Science practices, be speakers, advocate, educate, share common tools and network.

Organizing monthly public sessions on Data Science and Machine Learning topics. (On hiatus since COVID pandemic.)

San Francisco, Ca, Us

In 2018, I was selected by Insight Data Science for a highly competitive program designed to help PhDs acquire best practices in scalable, distributed machine learning and natural language processing solutions. As part of this program, I delivered presentations of my research outcomes to leading tech companies like Uber and Bosch, pitching innovative work in machine learning and NLP. Additionally, I established professional connections by participating in meetings and company visits with major tech organizations, including Salesforce, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google, gaining valuable insights into the latest advancements and industry practices.• Successfully built and trained a probabilistic language model using PyTorch and LSTM neural networks, focusing on improving sentence completion and text generation.• Enhanced model performance by conducting NLP research and implementing techniques to handle rare words in language models, including continuous pointer caches and on-the-fly word embeddings.• Extended cutting-edge language models suitable for scalable, distributed ML solutions for real-world applications in collaboration with fellow participants and industry mentors.

As principal/managing consultant for Ferguson Analytics, I provided strategic leadership and direction for ERP conversions and report remediation, resolving critical data issues and enhancing reporting accuracy for large-scale organizations. My work involved analyzing complex financial data, troubleshooting and resolving discrepancies in labor, billing, and job cost reports to ensure accurate and timely reporting for clients. Additionally, I implemented AI and machine learning techniques using Python, PyTorch, and other open-source stacks to prototype advanced analytics solutions, driving innovation and improving client systems.• Improved reporting timelines for a $2.7B division by enabling monthly financial closings two days earlier, delivering a key report with 70 measures from JD Edwards E1, crucial for a publicly traded company's reporting accuracy.• Optimized ERP reporting for 800+ jobs with $1.5B in annual revenue, adding 20 new measures for raw material, WIP, and inventory, enhancing project cost visibility, and generating comprehensive close reports for the fabrication services division.• Reconciled inventory for $2.5B global winemaker, analyzed variances, specified & validated custom reports for Item/Balance & Item/Account Ledger variances, and created new reconciliation business processes.• Streamlined enterprise reporting strategy for an $830M EPC company by developing a decision matrix based on 22 characteristics, improving tool selection and decision-making processes across the organization.• Resolved critical financial reporting issues by analyzing $230M in monthly cost, identifying discrepancies, and preventing a go-live cancellation, securing project success for the client.

Houston, Texas, Us

As manager of global application development and integration for McDermott International, I led a global team of 35, including 4 direct reports and 10 contractors, managing application development, integration services, SharePoint content services, and business intelligence projects across multiple global locations. I oversaw modernization initiatives, introducing new toolsets and technologies for custom application development, data integration, and workflow automation, ensuring all efforts were aligned with corporate goals and strategic objectives. This work enabled seamless operations and enhanced the efficiency of our global teams.• Globalized IT custom development, breaking down silos between teams in Houston, Dubai, Singapore, and Indonesia by driving collaboration, common processes, and shared tools to foster a unified global culture.• Supported $1B+ in new EPC projects annually by forming a dedicated six-person team to deliver Microsoft enterprise application integrations for new project data stores, data marts, and BI reporting solutions.• Executed a $2.6M consolidation project, leading the rollout of SharePoint 2013 with new social and workflow toolsets, migrating 6 terabytes of content from 7,000 sites across six legacy farms on three different SharePoint versions.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Linguistics (Syntax, Computational Linguistics)

Post Doc, Laboratoire D'Analyse Et De Technologie Du Langage

Bachelor Of Science, Computer Science