On June 10th, the 15th "Industry Forum" of the School of Statistics and Management was held as scheduled in the auditorium. Tan Xiaofeng, the president of Shanghai Nash Investment Management Co., Ltd., gave an outstanding lecture to the master's students in applied statistics.
The lecture topic was "How to Successfully Transition from Campus to Society," and the content mainly derived from Dr. Tan's personal experiences and insights. Dr. Tan Xiaofeng graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Statistics and is currently the President of Shanghai Nash Investment Management Co., Ltd. and the Vice President of Beijing Xinhaitai Investment Management Center. His extensive professional experience left the students in awe: he has worked in foreign-funded, joint venture, Chinese shareholding, state-owned, and private enterprises, covering sectors such as securities, insurance, investment and financing, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and consulting.
The lecture unfolded from four aspects: the broad demand for statistical applications, the specific practices of statistical applications, designing an efficient career plan, and pursuing a successful career. Dr. Tan Xiaofeng first presented his understanding of statistics: “Statistics is not absolute; it mainly involves evaluation and prediction.” He then focused on how China Mobile utilizes statistical methods to segment internet users, including both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The qualitative part mainly involves focus group discussions and surveys, while the quantitative part consists of data acquisition and data analysis (including presentation and testing, factor analysis, cluster analysis, etc.).
In the career planning section, Dr. Tan summarized the characteristics of various industries based on his many years of professional experience. He believes that the application of biostatistics is mature and stable, the competition in consumer goods is diverse, and finance has historically lacked innovation, leading to a strong product homogeneity that needs improvement. Due to the non-reproducibility of financial situations, quantifying them based solely on historical data is very challenging.
During the Q&A session, Dr. Tan Xiaofeng responded to students' concerns about internship choices and encouraged everyone to consider entrepreneurship. In the end, the lecture concluded successfully amidst warm applause.
