Ana Parra Vera MSBA 20

Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Ana Parra Vera is an analytics professional with a passion for diversity and opportunities in STEM. She currently works in an analytics team at Google that helps engineers improve hardware products (i.e., Pixel, Fitbit, Nest, etc.), and organizes outreach events with scholars and alumni from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.

After graduating with honors and obtaining her B.S. in computer science from Stevens Institute of Technology, Parra Vera worked on a data science team at a financial firm in Boston, where she grew her desire to learn more about analytics. She moved to San Francisco to pursue an MSBA from UC Davis. As an Executive Assistant for the MSBA program, she supported recruiting efforts focused on diversity initiatives. As a member of the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee (DSAC) focusing on community involvement, she has helped organize multiple events that brought together the GSM community, like virtual Zumba events, the 2020 UC Davis Data Hackathon, and a Google Cloud sponsored hackathon. Parra Vera also helped run the official MSBA Instagram channel, and led her practicum team to discover insights about customer retention and expansion for a SaaS company in the Bay Area.

"I chose the UC Davis MSBA program because of its rigorous curriculum, direct access to industry-expert faculty and the opportunity to network in the Silicon Valley area. I also wanted to be a part of the Data Hackathon.”

Professional Experience

  • Technical Program Manager, Google
  • Data Scientist, Sumo Logic
  • Software Developer, Data Science, Putnam Investments

Student Leadership and Experience

  • UC Davis Community Chair for the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee (DSAC)
  • Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholar
  • Member of Putnam’s Women's Leadership Development Program
  • Lead Organizer of the Putnam Hackathon
  • Corporate Relations of Stevens Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
  • Co-Founder and VP of Stevens Transfer Student Association (TSA)

Previous degree and university attended

  • M.S. in Business Analytics, UC Davis, San Francisco, CA
  • B.S. in Computer Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ
  • A.S. in Computer Science, Bergen Community College, Paramus, NJ

Fun facts

  • I love salsa dancing!
  • I am a licensed Zumba instructor.
  • I can also solve a Rubik’s cube.