Jon Francis (statistics, ‘96) has built a career working for some of the biggest names in business, including Amazon, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Nike, T-Mobile, Starbucks, PayPal and currently General Motors. What education has allowed him to shift seamlessly from coffee to cars? A master’s degree in statistics from Oregon State University.
“Statistics is core to so many different industries and companies. It’s not like you have to go into a specific field or there’s only a few sets of companies or domains that you could work for,” Francis said. “Statistics applies to everything. It’s been really fun for me to have such a transferable set of skills.”
With 25 years of professional experience, Francis has learned valuable lessons and made a few mistakes along the way. Attending Oregon State, however, remains one of his best decisions.
Opportunities in every direction
As the chief data and analytics officer for the largest automaker in the United States — General Motors — Francis wears many hats.
“I am responsible for the stewardship of all our enterprise data, everything from manufacturing to customer data, to product development data. I am also tasked with finding where we can solve some of the company's hardest problems by applying statistics, data science, machine learning and AI,” Francis said.
On the customer side, he works with the marketing organization to ensure effective communication with customers when they are in the market to buy a vehicle. This includes determining which vehicles to highlight and what incentives to offer.
On the safety and vehicle quality side, GM is working to use diagnostic data proactively.
“If we could use machine learning and predictive analytics to predict when a car might have a problem and alert the customer to take it in, it would enhance customer lifetime value, improve loyalty and increase efficiency for GM in terms of costs,” he said.
Francis didn’t start on the business side of statistics. His first job after graduating from Oregon State was at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, where he worked as a statistician on the Women’s Health Initiative.
A series of clinical trials that kicked off in 1991, the initiative focused on studying major health issues for post-menopausal women. Francis helped design the analytics for the studies and reporting.
After that role, he moved into business, taking roles at Amazon, Expedia, T-Mobile, Microsoft and Nike. In 2011 when he joined Nike, the company was just starting to prioritize building more customer relationships directly with customers through digital experiences like their membership program. As the director of data science and technology, Francis helped move a lot of their analytic work toward the cloud and Amazon Web Services. He also explored what capabilities needed to be built around personalization and understanding what drives customer loyalty.
Reflecting on his early career, Francis admits that he changed jobs frequently, sometimes driven by frustration rather than strategic growth. Over time, he realized that similar challenges exist across companies, and the key to professional development lies in resilience and addressing problems rather than avoiding them. “Instead of running from the problems, how can I build a growth mindset and be part of the solution?” he explained.
His advice to students: pursue new opportunities thoughtfully, ensure they align with personal growth and long-term goals, and focus on running toward opportunities, not away from challenges.
“What’s happening with AI and machine learning are things we couldn’t even have dreamed of back then.”
Another important lesson he learned is to invest time in understanding stakeholders’ work, challenges and business needs.
“I think the core idea is to lead with humility. The best way for you to have an impact through the work you do is to build that relationship and earn that credibility by understanding what the challenge is for someone and how you can bring statistics to help solve those problems,” he said.
Statistics has become even more important in the 21st century.
“The world has changed. When I started some things were not possible because the technology wasn’t available. We didn’t have cloud computing, we didn’t have the scale that we have now in terms of the problems we can solve,” Francis said. “What’s happening with AI and machine learning are things we couldn’t even have dreamed of back then.”
As technology continues to advance, Francis believes there will always be a role for foundational statistical understanding. For him, statistics is more than just numbers on a page; it’s a language that decodes mysteries and solves problems across every industry.
From health research to Fortune 500 companies shaping the future of transportation, his career exemplifies the boundless potential of a statistics degree from Oregon State University.
