Charles E. Downing, Ph.D., is the Dean’s Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Operations Management and Information Systems Department of the College of Business at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Downing researches, teaches and consults in Data Science and Big Data Analytics, Technology Strategy, and Information Systems Analysis, Design and Development. His articles have appeared in top journals, including Communications of the ACM, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, Journal of Global Information Management, The Journal of Information Technology Management, Information Systems Management and others. Dr. Downing has provided consulting services to a variety of organizations, including Chicago Title, Ernst & Young, Northern Trust Corporation, Walmart and others in the planning, deployment and usage of technology. Professor Downing received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University, and prior to his current position was a tenured Associate Professor at Boston College. In his 24+ years as a professor, Dr. Downing has taught over 12,000 students, including section sizes as small as 10 and as large as 350.