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Software company’s co-founder says businesses need graduates who aren’t intimidated by data.

When she co-founded Alteryx in 1997, Libby Duane and her partners had a clear vision for a future in which business analytics would go from being the role of a specialized set of knowledge workers to the responsibility of everyone throughout the organization.

It’s safe to say that the world, in the last 25 years, has proved her right.��

“Analytics is no longer reserved for just a chosen few in the business,” she said. “It has become our responsibility, as business leaders, to ensure students are graduating with these data and analytics skills, to make them better job candidates and prepare them for long-term success.”��

That’s a key reason that Alteryx has become a partner for life-changing scholarships at the Leeds School of Business at the 91������. Beyond extending support for underrepresented and first-generation college students, Duane—now chief advocacy officer at the software company—said the business world needs graduates who aren’t intimidated by data.��

“Data is not going away. And the ability to work with data is a job-required skill now,” she said. “And the more students invest in that skill set, and develop their ability to work with data, the richer their career opportunities are.”��

That’s certainly true for Jordyn Gerstle-Goodman (IA, Fin’21; MSBA’22). She learned about data science during her undergraduate work, and thanks to an Alteryx scholarship, was able to immediately pursue her master’s degree while getting exposure to an invaluable set of tools.��

“With the Alteryx scholarship specifically, it’s very much centered around my skill set,” said Gerstle-Goodman, who is returning to Disney following an internship in data analysis at the company. “The money obviously helps, but there are also these great learning opportunities. I got to attend coding boot camps and had access to Alteryx tools, in addition to job opportunities.” ��

While Gerstle-Goodman is a confident coder, Duane—who has a background in marketing—is not. But that doesn’t mean she abstains from analysis.

“Modern analytics is both code-free and code-friendly,” she said. “We need to be able to support all the learning styles and skills that every learner has, and that’s what the Alteryx analytics platform enables. It enables you to learn analytics as a code-free individual, which is me.”��