Eradicating Demographic Pay Gaps with Data Informed Analytics

Pay gaps will not be erased with good intentions alone, quantitative tools are needed to measure and close pay gaps and to maintain pay equity. In this talk Dr. Bjarnadottir will discuss recent developments and changes in pay equity as well as her approach, built on data and models, that supports organizations in 40 countries in eliminating their pay gaps.

Associate Professor of Management Science and Statistics and Founder of PayAnalytics

Dr. Margret Vilborg Bjarnadottir is an Associate Professor of Management Science and Statistics at Robert H. Smith School of Business. Dr. Bjarnadottir’s research focuses on developing novel methodology and analytics to address problems with real social impact. Over the past few years Margrét has focused in part on people analytics, and the pay gap in particular, bringing a new approach to eradicating demographic pay gaps. In 2016 she co-founded PayAnalytics, and is changing how organizations measure, and more importantly, close the gender pay gap. Her work on pay equity has been covered by outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Forbes, BBC, HR magazine and others. Most recently she was awarded the GWIIN - overall inventor innovator platinum award for her innovative approach to addressing pay equity and was named the University Woman of the Year 2019 in Iceland for the impact of her pay equity work. She has published numerous peer reviewed papers, is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, most recently named a favorite Professor of the MBA class of 2021 by Poets & Quants. Dr. Bjarnadottir holds a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the University of Iceland and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.