SportMetrika, Inc.: analytical consulting to the sporting industry

SportMetrika, Inc. : analytical consulting to the sporting industry

SportMetrika, Inc. was founded in 2003 by two brothers and their friend, all of whom were raised on corn, baseball, the Indy 500 and of course high school and college hoops. Products of small Indiana towns, they each earned their undergraduate education at Indiana University before the brothers went on to earn their Ph.D.'s in Applied Mathematics (Mark, Princeton, 1998) and Statistics (Matt, Carnegie Mellon, 2001) from top-tier institutions while their friend began his real-world training in developing solid business partnerships.

Through their intense academic training and business experiences, none lost sight of their passion for sport. Along with their strong family and cultural ties to college sports (numerous family members involved in football, basketball and baseball) and their emotional midwestern connection to baseball, they are all accomplished athletes themselves.

Their passion for sport. Their passion to figure things out. Their dedication to making sure you understand and measure your sports operations decisions from a fresh perspective by embracing the obvious but often neglected reality that the numbers don't lie.

They are SportMetrika.

Let's play.

Mark E. Johnson, Ph.D.
Mark earned his Ph.D. from the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics at Princeton University in 1998. His areas of research involved the analytical and visual studies of differential equations and chaotic dynamical systems. He has since been involved with analytical projects as well as extensive data mining, business intelligence, and operations research experiences at several leading internet/technology companies (Yahoo and Netflix, to name two). While an undergraduate at Indiana University, Mark spent four years as a student manager of the men's basketball team under the guidance of Coach Bob Knight. Coming off a successful amateur career in triathlons as a two-time member of U.S. Long-Course National Team, Mark now enjoys adventure bicycle touring when he gets the chance. Mark was the Senior Baseball Analyst for the 2004 National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals baseball club; his full c.v. is available online.
Matthew S. Johnson, Ph.D.
Matt earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Statistics at Carnegie Mellon in 2001. His research interests are firmly planted in the field of psychometrics, specifically in estimating abilities from repeated categorical responses. The responses could be test questions used to measure a student's ability, or wins and losses used to measure a team's talent. Matt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems in the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, of the City University of New York. His university webpage is available online.
Robert W. Beck
Based in New York, Robert W. Beck brings operational and strategy experience in both start-up and Fortune 500 companies to his role at SportMetrika. Prior to joining the company, Rob worked in accounting, analytical and managerial capacities at Arthur Andersen in their Tax and Business Consulting groups, GE Capital Commercial Finance, and Pacific Coast Capital Partners, a real estate related opportunity fund based in San Francisco. Most recently, Rob was responsible for Business Development efforts at Yahoo, Inc. in their Listings and Classifieds group. Rob graduated with a BS in Management from Indiana University in 1988 and is a lifetime devotee of Indiana Basketball, the classless tournament system, and all things sport.

SportMetrika, Inc. : analytical consulting to the sporting industry

Mark E. Johnson, Ph.D.

Matthew S. Johnson, Ph.D.

Robert W. Beck