Vanessa M. Eaton

Leader in AI Technical Product Management

Championing innovation through artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data-driven products that revolutionize the user experience within high-profile, customer-obsessed environments.

Team Leadership | Technical Expertise | Agile Methods | Business Use Cases | AI + ML | Industry Experience

Over 8 years of experience in Technical Product Management has demonstrated consistent leadership in product roadmaps, fostering innovation, and delivering customer-facing solutions.

Visionary leader with a proven track record of fostering relationships with individual contributors through guidance and mentorship, supporting their success. Expertise encompasses owning the roadmap, influencing buy-in for bold visions, and balancing complex trade-offs, with a nuanced understanding of both business and technical considerations.

Proficiency in data instrumentation and operations ensures high-quality decision-making. Proven ability to navigate complex architectures and processes align well with the needs of peer data product teams.

Areas of Expertise

Career History

Walt Disney Corporation | Orlando, FL

Senior Product Management, Machine Learning and Data Science | 2021 – Present

• Research, build, and deploy machine learning and data-backed products and features to enhance attractions and entertainment for the ultimate customer experience across 23 global theme parks and associated resort properties.
• Lead product development process from ideation through research, proof of concept, and feasibility while leading a team building minimum viable products and highly complex machine learning models.
• Manage concurrent development workflows while gathering and translating requirements, leading Agile processes, and balancing various priorities from stakeholders such as Safety Video Analytics, R+ Bot Detection, OpSheet Guest Per Vehicle, Smart Tables (Ideathon) .
• Lead and mentored a delivery team of software engineers, data scientists, and web developers to success on the team and inside the organization.
• Leveraged expertise in large-scale data operations to drive the integration and management of complex data assets, ensuring alignment with overall business strategies and operational excellence.
• Define and pitch business use cases and commercialization strategies to secure $13M+ in funding to build internal and external AI features impacting guests, cast members, and staff from C-suite to the front line.
• Create a pipeline of ML-backed products and features to establish strategic road maps for product development across guest attractions that impact nearly 100 million users annually.
• Conceptualize new strategic AI/ML road maps to encourage a hierarchical development framework that improves research-to-production timelines while delivering resiliency and performance.
• Lobby for value-driving AI/ML strategies across multiple data streams while collaborating cross-functionally with project managers, data scientists, engineers, and scrum masters to define product goals.
• Managed cross functional teams to deliver product increments and achieve project goals within time and budget constraints such as delivered Mobile Order Recommendation Engine with a condensed timeline and budget. Estimated 8 months @ $500k to deliver Proof of Concept, but actually delivered to production in 6 months with no defects or scope reduction.
• Spearheaded cross-functional teams in Agile environments, effectively navigating ambiguity to deliver high-impact data products and establish a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
• Pioneered and executed a robust data monitoring strategy, ensuring accurate representation of data quality, driving informed decision-making, and enhancing overall data integrity across critical business operations.
• Guided tool selection and implementation across complex technical domains, ensuring solutions were accessible to users of varying technical proficiency.
• Coordinated RFP/RFI process with vendor partners to align resource needs to product development roadmap and project timelines.
• Inform enterprise-scale philosophies on using and applying machine learning, leveraging in-depth technical knowledge and industry acumen to establish internal processes and methodologies for Data Management, ML, and AI.
• Championed the development and implementation of organizational standards for data product management, fostering a cohesive community of practice and ensuring consistent data quality and governance across the enterprise.
• Generative AI white-paper research: GPT-1, GPT-3, Diffusion Models, LLaMA 2, ViT, Dall-E
• Supervised vendor POCs for application of Generative AI in proprietary Disney use cases which are now under development with internal business partners.

Data Product Development Wins

• Executive-level recognition of excellence in contributing to various AI initiatives across partner teams, specifically “Best of Disney” for work with Food & Beverage Menu Recommendation and Morris Award for work with Resiliency + (R+) Bot Detection Initiative.
• Championed the development of innovative solutions for hotel and lodging data with an emphasis on creating efficiencies in booking, vacation planning, and personalized experience recommendations
• Explored and analyzed critical data from internal databases to develop targeted solutions, significantly enhancing efficiencies and streamlining operational processes for cast members in the hospitality sector.
• Led efforts to drive efficiency improvements and optimize operational workflows by leveraging and integrating data from multiple internal databases, resulting in enhanced performance for cast members across various functions.
• Spearheaded a cybersecurity initiative within the Protecting Personal Data (PPD) Capital project to improve enterprise security and threat monitoring across data infrastructure by generating a machine learning concept capable of scanning billions of daily instances.
• Encourage higher data security in an environment with significant user and financial data, streamlining operations to mitigate risk, increase accuracy, and save costs through reduced manual analysis.
• Identified, recommended, and productized a machine learning model to offer mobile order functionality at scale, boosting revenue by 2%+ across a billion-dollar food and beverage operation with 200 locations.
• Delivered $7M+ annual value predictive algorithm in the cybersecurity space
• Delivered end-to-end prediction engine integration into consumer application which generates $5M+ annually

Predictive Caller | Orlando, FL

Lead Data Scientist | 2020 – 2021

• Modeled data pipeline integration into call centers, single-handedly executing client projects while collaborating with leadership to define requirements, understand problem statements, and present model impact.
• Developed a library of commonly used functions while working with 850+ data features to build model processes, predictive classifications, and propensity models that generated $60k+ in monthly profit.
• Facilitated client engagements by presenting validation parameters and managing communications during development, implementation, and optimization.

LMS, Inc. | Orlando, FL

Data Scientist | 2018 – 2020

• Oversaw a team developing and deploying data science and business intelligence products and features into production while driving the productization of internal BI applications and data science tools.
• Designed and implemented new database features to optimize data storage, unite disparate entities, and streamline data operations, championing ETL implementation for a proprietary consumer BI application.
• Executed data governance standards and requirements aligned with policy and privacy best practices.
• Developed deep learning models to showcase image classification use cases and prototyped models to create a correlation between education and business success in an entrepreneurial environment.
• Performed case study research to model use cases for machine learning, presenting concepts to executive leadership.
• Generated $4M in new business through extended contracts, scopes of work, and client SLAs.
• Gathered requirements and delivered scope analysis for the development of a BI product for a Fortune 50 client.
• Increased market research capacity through spatial analysis and predictive models capable of pinpointing zip codes in 95% of unknown instances.

Select Comfort, Inc. | Orlando, FL

Sales Analyst | 2014 – 2018

Developed a predictive model to drive the success of a $2.5M+ four-person sales team while prototyping analytics tools to streamline sales operations and pipeline activities.

Glendale Community College | Glendale, AZ

Mathematics Instructor | 2012 – 2013

Provided technical instruction and comprehensive feedback to approximately 90 adult engineering students, fostering a supportive and engaging learning environment tailored to their specific academic needs.

Peoria Unified School District | Glendale, AZ

Engineering Instructor | 2008 – 2012

Oversaw a cohort of 120 honors engineering students, providing personalized guidance and support to optimize academic performance, while concurrently mentoring a 9-student state engineering challenge team through project development and competition preparation, fostering a culture of excellence and achievement within the program.