Jie ChengADARA, the leader in leveraging global travel data to drive future business performance, today announced that Jie Cheng, Ph.D., has joined the company as its chief analytics officer. In this new role, Cheng will lead ADARA's data and analytics strategy to further build out the company's solutions in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Previously, Cheng served as chief analytics officer at Acxiom Corporation. He has more than 20 years of experience developing and executing global data and analytics product strategies. He is an expert in data sourcing, data science methodologies, business application of data, as well as analytic solution design, development and deployment. During his tenure at Acxiom, Cheng led a global team of analytics consultants, data scientists, product managers, and software engineers for the development of advanced analytic products and solutions. In addition, he was recognized as Acxiom Consulting Professional of the Year and received the honour of an Acxiom Fellow. Prior to Acxiom, Cheng served in leadership positions at Trilogy Enterprises, Information Resources, Inc., J.D. Power and Associates, and Ford Motor Company where he received the Henry Ford Technology Award. Cheng earned his master's degree and doctorate in computer science with special interest in artificial intelligence and data mining from the University of Michigan. Cheng has published more than 30 research papers and co-authored books on analytics and big data, and he is the primary inventor on three approved patents.