Pedro Ávila

Background

About

Technical program and product manager who speaks the language of executives and engineers. Interested in bringing together people, data, and technology to create human-centered solutions that improve meaningful social outcomes, especially in the areas of climate, privacy, and responsible AI.

Work Experience

Technical Program/Product Manager,
Aug, 2017 - Present
Protect User Data
- Develop intentional consent and age-verification strategies to enhance user trust and regulatory compliance
- Organize Google’s information about product privacy designs, including integrating LLM-based AI to improve compliance position through an increase in data classification accuracy of more than 150%
- Drive the vision and strategy for process and tooling to govern privacy compliance artifacts across Google and align compliance artifact strategies for cross-functional groups
- Drive execution for Google Play Privacy Safety Label artifacts in the SDLC process influencing executive leadership to execute the vision
- Influence and drive execution of product privacy for Google Workspace launches, aligning x-team objectives and requirements to engineering features and scaling the privacy review process
Sr. Solutions Consultant for the Google Analytics 360 Suite,
Jun, 2013 - Jul, 20174 years 1 month
Enable awesome analytics, measurements, and insights
- Engage Google's top advertising clients, protecting and growing ad spend by providing insight, guidance, and custom measurement solutions
- Streamline and automate the delivery of technical guidance to clients and partners by leading the creation and development of scalable tooling
- Increase the supportability of Google Analytics by creating, socializing, and maintaining a Google Sheets add-on tool to manage bulk items for enterprise clients
- Reduce implementation engagement time by 66% through automation and cross-functional process changes
Faculty Lecturer,
May, 2017 - Present
Advise graduate students in the Applied Analytics program on their capstone project
- Lead the capstone class for the Applied Analytics graduate course on building data-savvy organizations
- Advise students on analytical methods and client engagement as they work on real-world problems and present to real-world clients
Staff Lecturer,
Mar, 2016 - Oct, 20204 years 7 months
Teach ecommerce and social analytics with a focus on the fashion industry
- Develop and teach courses on ecommerce and social analytics, including theory and practice
Product Analyst,
Sep, 2012 - Jun, 20139 months
Provide product analysis, and generate insights & data for Zagat's CFO
- Automate reporting of key management data
- Owned a redesign of the Zagat Content Management System
- Develop automation and effect cross-functional process change for corporate sales reports, increasing accuracy and reporting efficiency by 95%
Sr. Solution Architect for Consulting and Integrations Services,
May, 2005 - Jun, 20116 years 1 month
Architect IT process solutions across the world
- Plan and execute IT automation projects for multi-million dollar software services accounts across the globe
- Lead cross-industry engagement to optimize business processes
- Led classroom trainings for clients and partners at various technical levels and different languages
Performance Test Consultant,
Sep, 2004 - May, 20058 months
Break web applications to expose and fix architecture flaws
- Design and implement performance tests for web applications
- Analyze test results to formulate causal analysis reports

Skills

Public Speaking & Presentation
public speaking

presentation

facilitation
Google Analytics
collection strategy

analysis

ecommerce

BigQuery

API

Apps Script
Web Development
javascript

html

css
Data Analysis
R

SQL

Python
Machine Learning
R

Python

Tensorflow

Anaconda
Android
Java

Education

Applied Quantitative Research, MA, Columbia University
Sep, 2010 - May, 2012
4.0
Data Mining, Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition

Regression Models & Temporal Processes

Data Analysis

Spatial Analysis

Economic Analysis

Political Economy

Media & Economic Development

Quantitative Theory & Methodology
Computer Science, BS, California Polytechnic State University
Sep, 1999 - Jun, 2004
Cryptography

Project Management

Software Engineering

Ethics

Awards

Winner of Data Journalism Bicoastal Datafest Hackathon , Sunlight Foundation
Awarded on: Nov 11, 2013
Built an application that uses Benford numbers to direct journalists efforts by identifying likely areas of accounting fraud at local levels of government

Volunteer Work

Instructor, Capoeira Brasil
May, 2014 - Present
Lead classes in capoeira technique, conditioning, culture and etiquette, maintaining a fun and safe environment
Instructor, New York Sailing School
Jun, 2011 - Present
Instructed students of various age groups in sailing theory and safety techniques
Emergency medical technician, Municipal Hospital & SAMU
Jun, 2003 - Jan, 2004
Admitted patients and assisted physicians
- Performed examinations on a semi-rural population, at times assisting physicians in minor surgeries
- Administered pre-hospital care onboard ambulances in an urban environment, including advanced life support during aerial transports

Publications

Bulk Analytics Configurations with Google Sheets, Online Behavior
Published on: Nov 10, 2015
Bulk management of Google Analytics entities in Google Sheets
On the Evaluation of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs, Columbia University
Published on: May 19, 2012
Masters thesis research of the measurement methods used in assessing welfare programs in Latin America
PPMC Value, Hewlett Packard Services Summit - Oslo, Norway
Published on: Oct 21, 2009
Presentation quantifying the value of implementing Hewlett Packard’s Project and Portfolio Management Center
Scoping PPM, Hewlett Packard Consulting Briefcase
Published on: Jan 08, 2009
HP Knowledge Brief to provide an understanding of how to scope Project and Portfolio Management Center projects
Thinking PPM, Hewlett Packard Services Summit - Prague, Czech Republic
Published on: Jun 15, 2008
Introduction to more effective architecture and design in Project and Portfolio Management Center
qpeN™ ASCII Cryptosystem, California Polytechnic State University
Published on: Jun 16, 2004
An introductory example of RSA cryptography using an implementation based on Java elements
Napster, KaZaA and the Code, California Polytechnic State University
Published on: Mar 22, 2002
A comparative analysis of the Software Engineering Code of Ethics in the context of file transfer utilities

Interests

Outdoors
SailingSurfingHiking
Martial Arts
Capoeira
Writing
technology and political bloggingshort storiespoetry

References

Michael Hansen - Principal IT Systems Engineer at Pacific Gas and Electric Company
From the time I recruited him, I have been and continue to be impressed with Pedro. He possesses the rare combination of excellent technical skills and even better people skills. He is hard working, considerate of others, and extremely honest. I would feel confident using Pedro’s services in any field that he decides to peruse.
Mathias Nöbauer - Sales Manager for Cloud & Enterprise at Microsoft
Pedro is a great colleague to work with! He is adaptive, customer-oriented and has a lot of practical experience.
Brian McQuillan - Senior Product Manager at ServiceNow – The Enterprise Cloud Company
Pedro is a pleasure to work with. He never shirks a challenge and doesn't complain when the going gets tough. His professional 'can do' attitude has helped enusure that the projects he worked on were successes both for the company and the customer. I highly recommend him.
James Nelson - Sr. Project Manager at Nevada System of Higher Education
Pedro was extremely helpful on a very short time-framed project I managed. In a few days he was able to clarify and resolve issues that had not been resolved by his peers. He is very approachable and knowledgable in his field. I would work with him any day and hire him if I owned an IT company....or any company for that matter.
Bart van Slobbe - Head of Digital and Media PSA Peugeot, Citroën and DS Benelux
Pedro has contributed many insightful and helpful articles to the travel guides of WritingTravellers.com. He is attentive to detail and takes his audience into consideration, writing travel articles for their benefit, by finding new travel experiences and rejuvenating the hot spots with new angles and perspectives. I'm glad to have his contributions and recommend him as a travel writer to anyone looking for depth, meaning and purpose from their writers.