Ani Palakurthi

Biography

With over a decade of experience in data analytics and data warehousing, I’ve had the opportunity to work across diverse domains—from IT consulting and financial services to higher education IT.

Currently, I serve as the Senior Business Intelligence Analyst at the University of Illinois Chicago, where I collaborate with cross-functional teams across IT and non-IT units to analyze complex, disconnected datasets and deliver insights that inform decision-making at multiple levels within University IT. Over the past seven years in Higher Ed IT, I’ve worked closely with a wide range of teams, from core data teams to IT infrastructure units. This has allowed me to develop fluency in the unique language and priorities of Institutional Research Analysts, Data Scientists, IT Strategists, Network Engineers, and Information Security Specialists.

Prior to my transition into higher education, I was part of the Financial Crimes Analytics team at a major financial services organization serving U.S. military personnel and their families. There, I built ETL applications in both GUI-based and code-based environments to support fraud detection and Anti-Money Laundering efforts. This experience provided a strong foundation in managing regulated, sensitive data and operating within compliance-heavy environments.