Your Coaches

Michael is proof that The Data School program is the number one way to develop professional talent in this industry.

He joined The Information Lab in London in 2017. As part of cohort 7, he entered the company with vast technical knowledge of the motor insurance industry, specializing in claims operations. Following The Data School program, he joined The Information Lab core team in the UK. Throughout his long tenure he has worked in many business areas including Finance & Banking, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, E-commerce, Manufacturing & Supply Chain and Marketing to name a few.

Michael has always supported the company both locally and internationally and has now taken on the role of Head Coach in our New York office. He brings a wealth of consulting expertise, which plays a pivotal role in his coaching style. His hands-on experience in dealing with complex data challenges equips him with the ability to offer practical solutions to real world scenarios and give guidance on handling them to those under his mentorship.

He takes great pride in knowing that he's not only providing people with the transferable knowledge and skills needed to succeed in this industry, but that he's doing so in the fun, professional and unique environment that is The Data School.

Peter has worked with TIL for seven years, joining The Data School in 2016 in our third cohort. After two years in this role, and successfully tackling placements at three large companies, he worked in our Core Consulting team for four years. In this role he worked with a wide variety of customers and tackled challenges from many different industries. He worked across the spectrum of our offerings: doing short- and long-term consulting project work, offering regular technical support, and delivering training to both customers and our own employees.

He now works closely with our German team in Hamburg to coach our Consultants in The Data School Deutschland. Having worked in Austria as a Ski and Snowboard Instructor, (and having spent one wild summer in Berlin) before joining TIL, his German language skills were once very good, so the opportunity to brush up the linguistics, take on a more coaching-focused role, and get stuck into working abroad again was too good to miss. His passion for exploring, teaching, and conquering tough projects (both physically and digitally) will no doubt assist him in helping our Data School Consultants reach new heights of their own during their training.

His favourite data to visualise is location data from various adventures - usually sourced from the activity tracking app Strava. Have a look at his Tableau public profile to see a selection of these epic adventures and visualisations.

Jenny joined the Data School in April 2019, hoping to develop a specialism and expertise in data. She found her passion in all things Data Prep, whether that be through Alteryx or Tableau Prep. From 2020, Jenny got involved with helping to run the Tableau Community project Preppin' Data - giving the community weekly data prep challenges to complete in their tool of choice. She's also a co-lead for the Tableau Prep User Group and a Tableau Social Ambassador. At one point, Jenny challenged herself to complete all the available Alteryx Weekly Challenges (233 in a year) and she also holds the rare Alteryx Expert Certification.

After joining the Core team at the Information Lab in August 2021, Jenny worked with a variety of clients, but also had the opportunity to start teaching at the Data School. She finds nothing so rewarding as a day spent in the classroom.

Outside the data world, Jenny loves spending time with her mischievous cat Pyrrha and dabbles in a variety of nerdy hobbies, from Pokémon to roller skating along the seafront

Lorna started her data journey during her masters degree in 2014. Due to her love of sports and data, she became part of the second cohort of The Data School UK.

Once Lorna had finished The Data School, she went on to speak at many Tableau Conferences, which involved Speed Tipping.

Now Lorna co-leads the community initiative Workout Wednesday with several others and co-leads the North West UK Tableau User Group. She also authored the book Tableau Desktop Cookbook (2021). Lorna is one of our Tableau Visionaries and Tableau Public Ambassadors.

In her spare time she loves her cats and sports, especially Rugby League.

Collecting, processing and making sense out of data have been at the centre point of Robbin’s interest throughout his journey from the Netherlands to Australia and now the UK.

During his BSc, MSc studies in Chemistry and PhD in chemotherapeutics he soon realised that breaking down, translating and presenting complex data sets for everyone to understand is one of the things he enjoys doing most.

Robbin joined the Data School in Feb 2018 and being exposed to Alteryx and Tableau opened up a whole new world of streamlined data processing and amazing avenues to tell your story using data.

He has been consulting, training and coaching clients and data schoolers on all Desktop and Server aspects of Tableau, Power BI and Alteryx ever since.

Ruth originally joined The Information Lab as part of the Data School. She was attracted to the opportunity to combine her love of learning, creative problem solving and teaching, and apply it across multiple industries.

A technical designer, tailor, analyst and private tutor of Maths & Science for ten years, Ruth considers herself a Master Jack-of-all-tradesman; holding a DEng Civil Engineering, BA Architecture, BSc Economics along with a Diploma in Bespoke Tailoring. As a Data School Coach, she is focused on instilling adaptability, inquisitiveness and technical expertise to develop the next generation of data analysts and consultants.

As one of the coaches in our New York Data School, Sam is a shining example of the vast array of opportunities for growth and development within the industry that the Data School provides. Before joining the Data School program, Sam discovered his passion for data while working towards his MSc studies in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Throughout his studies, he dedicated himself to honing his skills in creating models and explaining complex data points, leading to his exceptional performance in the program.

In February 2019, Sam joined the Data School as part of DS13 (which, by the way, is not unlucky for everyone!) and quickly began working with clients such as JP Morgan, PwC, Guys & St Thomas Charity, among others. After his time in the Data School, Sam moved to the Core Team in the UK where he continued to delight clients and develop the data skills of those around him. He worked tirelessly on enablement projects to help clients better understand data and improve their data literacy. His dedication to his work and exceptional results made him a valuable member of the team, regularly supporting the UK team in various ventures.

Now, Sam has taken on the opportunity to directly coach others through the Data School Program as a Data School Coach in NY. With his wealth of consulting and training experience, he is able to implement cutting-edge techniques and share his knowledge through his coaching, offering additional guidance to those under his wing. His passion for data and exceptional skills are sure to inspire and help his students achieve their full potential.

Valerija is a recent addition to the Data School New York coaching team. Similarly to other DSNY coaches, she completed the Data School program in London first before making the move across the Atlantic.

After making a successful transition into the world of data analytics from her previous roles in hospitality operations and legal services sales administration, she gained extensive experience consulting organizations on their data challenges. During her time as a Tableau and Alteryx Consultant at the Information Lab UK she worked alongside Business Intelligence teams in healthcare, software, real estate and other industries helping companies solve complex data problems, build and optimize data pipelines and upskill in-house employees.

She soon realized that sharing knowledge and enabling others to develop the neccesary skills to unlock the full potential of Tableau and Alteryx was the part of the job she felt most passionate about, so when the opportunity came up, she embarked on the coaching path joining the fast-growing Data School team in New York. She is excited to inspire and guide future cohorts of aspiring data enthusiasts and show them that data analytics and visualization can be fun!

Cool facts about Valerija that don’t relate to data analytics but will probably be brought up by colleagues when introducing her: she is fluent in five languages, has been on month-long hiking trips in Mexican rainforests and Tien Shan mountains, and used to compete in full-contact karate championship on a national and international level.