Hilary Mason (data scientist)


Hilary Mason is an American data scientist and the founder of technology startup Fast Forward Labs as well as Data Scientist in Residence at Accel Partners. She was the Chief Scientist at bitly. On September 7, 2017, Cloudera announced that it had acquired Fast Forward Labs, and that Mason would become Cloudera's Vice President of Research.

Early life and education

Mason was born in New York City, and graduated from Grinnell College with a B.A. in computer science in 2000, and attended Brown University.

Career

Mason was the chief data scientist at bitly for four years. She is the founder and CEO of Fast Forward Labs and is a consultant data scientist at Accel, evaluating and advising on data strategies regarding technologies and investment opportunities. In 2010, she co-founded HackNY, a non-profit that helps integrate engineering students into the startup community in New York City. She has also been a member of Mayor Bloomsberg's Technology and Innovation Advisory Council. In addition, Mason is a prominent member of NYCResistor, a hacker collective located in Brooklyn.
She has been interviewed by TechRepublic,Forbes, Wall Street Journal, ProgrammableWeb and others. She has further featured in both Glamour and American Scientist

Fast Forward Labs

Fast Forward Labs, founded by Mason, specializes in machine learning intelligence research.
On September 7, 2017 it was announced that Fast Forward Labs was being acquired by Cloudera, a US open-source software company that offers support, training and software to business clients. Cloudera extended this offer due to FFL's experience and expertise in applying machine learning to practical business problems and their commitment to continual academic and industrial research surveys on new techniques. Mason explained that the merger of FFL with Cloudera would enable further and accelerated research opportunities on a larger platform.

Awards

Mason received the TechFellows Engineering Leadership award in 2012 worth $100,000. She was also on the Fortune 40 under 40 Ones to Watch list in 2011, as well as Crain's New York 40 under Forty list.
She was named within the Top 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company.