Jay Winkeler

Former Leidos executive Jay Winkeler has been appointed executive director of the Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics in the Pamplin College of Business.

A Virginia Tech alumnus, Winkeler received a bachelor’s degree in statistics and a master’s degree in engineering administration.

He started his career at the Central Intelligence Agency and spent more than 15 years each at TRW and Lockheed Martin. In 2016, Winkeler joined Leidos, where he led business units focused on serving the U.S. Department of Justice and the intelligence community. 

He was most recently vice president of the company’s enforcement and public safety solutions division, with responsibility for information technology and services programs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

At Virginia Tech, Winkeler has been a member of the advisory board of Pamplin’s Department of Business Information Technology since 2016. He has served as a guest lecturer on business ethics topics and has mentored engineering student design teams in the Joseph F. Ware Lab. 

Winkeler will lead the Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics as it enters a new phase of growth and expansion and contributes more broadly to the university’s critical data and decisions initiative. 

He will work with university stakeholders, including those in data and decisions and business engagement, and with external partners such as corporations and government agencies, to expand the center’s capabilities, programming, and research initiatives.

Through collaborative relationships with students, faculty, and corporate leaders, the center helps drive the discovery and advancement of best practices in business analytics and experiential education, training, and research in this field. 

The center serves as an interdisciplinary resource to support faculty research within Pamplin and in cooperation with other centers and academic units at Virginia Tech. Through its academic director, the center leads curricular initiatives for students interested in business intelligence and analytics and directs a master’s program in business analytics.

Written by Sookhan Ho