Mary K Batcher, Ph.D.
BDS Data Analytics
Education
► Ph.D. Statistics, The University of Maryland (1986)
► M.A. Statistics, The University of Maryland (1978)
► B.S. Sociology, The University of Maryland (1972)
Honors
► Founders Award, American Statistical Association (2012)
► Professional Statistician Accreditation, American Statistical Association (2010)
► Elected Member, International Statistical Institute (2005)
► Elected Fellow, American Statistical Association (2003)
► Finalist, Rosemarie Meschi Award (2003)
► Assistant Commissioners Award (1996)
► Several Performance Awards
► Maryland Fellow (1983-1984)
Mary is a Partner at BDS Data Analytics where she is building a statistical practice for a new company, following her retirement from Ernst & Young (EY). At BDS, she has led sampling projects for litigation and tax credit claims and, with her colleagues, designed and implemented a large survey project and analysis. She also taught an audit sampling class for the Graduate School USA.
Prior to the creation of BDS after leaving EY, she was a consultant on a project in China for the IMF to help the Chinese tax authorities build a tax modeling data base.
At Ernst & Young, she was an Executive Director in the National tax Department where she built a statistics and sampling practice that enabled or enhanced the delivery of several million dollars of tax projects per year. She identified areas where statistical methods could be useful in new business settings, oversaw the quality and accuracy of the statistical work performed by EY statisticians. She also provided statistical and sampling expertise to Advisory and Assurance projects, including sampling for the review of healthcare billings to test compliance with federal payor rules and tests of financial institutions’ fees imposed on mortgage loans. Mary has also been an occasional expert statistical witness on behalf of EY clients. Mary retired from EY in 2015.
Before joining Ernst & Young, Mary led a similar practice in the Statistics of Income Division of the IRS. At the IRS, she provided statistical guidance for the testing and implementation of innovative efforts to improve the taxpayer experience in dealing with the IRS.
Mary holds a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Maryland and is an accredited Professional Statistician, accredited by the American Statistical Association for sound and ethical statistical practice. She is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association. She is currently a member of a National Science Foundation panel reviewing the US Census Bureau’s suite of economic surveys and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences.
Professional service activities
► ASA External Nominations and Awards Committee (2018 to present)
► Mahalanobis Award Committee, International Statistical Institute (2018)
► Herriot Award Committee, Washington Statistical Society (2015 to 2018)
► Chair, Board of Trustees, National Institute of Statistical Sciences (2014 to 2019)
► ASA Accreditation Implementation Committee (2009 to 2015)
► Chair, ASA Committee on Accreditation of Individual Statisticians (2007 to 2008)
► Organizer, ASA Special Interest Group on Volunteering in Elections (2005 to 2013)
► Chair, ASA Task Force on Professional Accreditation (2005)
► Nominating Committee, American Statistical Association (2004 to 2005)
► Founders Award Committee, American Statistical Association (2004)
► Chair, Council of Chapters, American Statistical Association (2003)
► Methodology Program Chair, Washington Statistical Society (2001 to 2002)
► President, Washington Statistical Society (1999)
► Chair, Caucus for Women in Statistics (1996)
► Associate Editor, Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry (2007 to 2016)
► Associate Editor, Journal of Data Science (2002 to 2006).
► Associate Editor, Journal of the American Statistical Association (1996 to 1998)
► Adjunct Professor, The George Washington University (2005 to 2007)
Positions Held
► Following her retirement from Ernst & Young in 2015, Dr. Batcher worked as an independent statistical consultant for projects for the International Monetary Fund and the Province of British Columbia. In 2016, Dr. Batcher joined with two other statisticians to create a statistical consulting company, BDS Data Analytics LLC where she has led sampling project and collaborated on survey projects. (2016 to present – Partner, BDS Data Analytics LLC)
► Dr. Batcher was responsible for developing a statistics practice at Ernst & Young. She began by building a foundation in sampling for business tax filings and healthcare billing reviews. She expanded that practice to include statistical analysis for a variety of business applications, including the development of performance measures, forecasting, surveys, and statistical analysis of survey and other data. Her success led to her promotion to Executive Director in 1999. (1999 to 2015 – Executive Director, National Tax, Ernst & Young LLP; 1997 to 1999 - Senior Manager, National Tax, Ernst & Young LLP)
► Dr. Batcher has provided expert witness reports and testimony about sampling in disputes involving reinsurance claims, energy, telecommunication slamming, landlord rental rates to business tenants, and research and development tax credits.
► Prior to Ernst & Young, Dr. Batcher was at the IRS, Statistics of Income where she built and led a group of statisticians consulting on internal agency projects. Her responsibilities included recruitment and training of staff, technical oversight of statistical work, and representation of statistical work to customers and stakeholders. She was responsible for the direction and oversight of the statistical support for several major agency initiatives, which were the subject of media and congressional scrutiny. She led an effort to consider disclosure issues associated with publication of a public use data file for smaller corporations. (1990 to 1997 - Chief, Statistical Support Staff, Statistics of Income Division, Internal Revenue Service)
► Dr. Batcher was responsible for the development of a measurement system for the accuracy of the IRS telephone assistance, including sampling, estimation, technical documentation, and explaining the system to field executives. She was also responsible for improving the measurement system after its first implementation and helping people understand and respond appropriately to fluctuations in the accuracy rate. (1988 to 1990 - Mathematical Statistician, Statistics of Income Division, Internal Revenue Service)
► Dr. Batcher began her professional career at the National Center for Education Statistics where she was responsible for the development of the first early estimate system for enrollment, staffing, and basic expenditures by state for public schools. She led one of two teams negotiating agreements with states on data definitions and reporting dates for reporting state administrative record information. (1985 to 1988 - Statistician, National Center for Education Statistics)
Publications
Scheers, NJ, Dayton, C., Batcher, M., & Thatch, B. (2019). Reports of Injury Risks and Reasons for Choice of Sleep Environments for Infants and Toddlers, Maternal and Child Health Journal.
Batcher, Mary; Falk, Eric; & Rotz, Wendy (2010), New IRS Guidance Makes Statistical Sampling More Attractive than Ever for Federal Tax Purposes, The Tax Executive, Vol. 62, No. 1.
McCarthy, John; Stanislevic, Howard; Lindeman, Mark; Ash, Arlene, Addona, Victor, and Batcher, Mary (2008), Percentage-Based versus Statistical-Power-Based Vote Tabulation Audits, The American Statistician, Vol. 62, No.1, American Statistical Association.
Liu, Yan, Batcher, Mary, & Scheuren, Fritz, (2005), Efficient Sampling Design and Estimation in Audit Data, 2005 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Liu, Yan, Batcher, Mary, & Scheuren, Fritz, (2005), Ohio Election Analysis, 2005 Proceedings of the Social Statistics Section, American Statistical Association.
Rotz, Wendy & Batcher, Mary (2005), Quality Procedures in Statistical Sampling, 2005 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Liu, Yan, Batcher, Mary, & Scheuren, Fritz, (2005), Efficient Sampling Design in Audit Data, Journal of Data Science.
Brachio, Amy & Batcher, Mary (2005) Outcomes of Arbitration, an Empirical Study of Consumer Lending Cases, World Arbitration and Mediation Report, March 2005.
Gregory, Thomas & Batcher, Mary (2003), The Margin of Error in Healthcare Billing Audits, Health Lawyers Weekly, November 2003.
Liu, Yan, Batcher, Mary, & Scheuren, Fritz, (2003), Efficient Audit Sampling Design in Ratio Type Data, 2003 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Liu, Yan & Batcher, Mary K. (2002), Ratio Estimation of Small Samples Using Deep Stratification, 2002 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Batcher, Mary K. (2001), Statistical Sampling: A Potential Win for Business Taxpayers, The Tax Executive, Tax Executives Institute, Inc. V. 53, N. 6.
Batcher, Mary K., Liu, Yan, Rotz, Wendy (2001), Application of the Hypergeometric Distribution in the Estimation of Rare Events, 2001 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Batcher, Mary K. & Liu, Yan (2000), Meeting the Sampling Needs of Business, 2000 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Batcher, Mary K., Dorn-Havlik, Sara, & McDuffy, Ryan (1999), 1998 Survey of Major League Baseball Fans, Oriole park at Camden Yards, 1999 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Batcher, Mary K., Cecco Kevin, & Lin, Dennis (1998), Automating a Manual Telephone Process, Statistical Case Studies: A Collaboration Between Academe and Industry, Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia.
Batcher, Mary K. & Mulrow, Jeri M., (1998), Credit Union National Association Survey Review, Internal Ernst & Young publication.
Batcher, Mary K. & Scheuren, F.J. (1997), CATI Site Management in a Survey of Service Quality, Survey Measurement and Process Quality, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Batcher, Mary K., Falk, Eric, & Rotz, Wendy E., (1995), Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program Sample Design, Internal IRS technical publication.
Batcher, Mary K., Falk, Eric, & Rotz, Wendy E., (1994), Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program Sample Design, Internal IRS technical publication.
Batcher, Mary K. (1993), The IRS Experience with Cognitive Labs and Forms Design, Quality in Student Financial Aid Programs, Committee on National Statistics, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Batcher, Mary K. & Sewell, Paulette (1993), The Taxpayer as Customer, Quality in Student Financial Aid Programs, Committee on National Statistics, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Daniels, J. & Batcher, M. (1992), Question Development Process of the IRS Test Call System, 1992 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Lee, R. & Batcher, M. (1991), Assessing the Test Used in the Measurement of IRS Telephone Accuracy, 1991 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
van Melis-Wright, M., Batcher, M. et. al. (1990), Cognitive Psychological Approaches in the Evaluation of Information Exchange Processes, 1990 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Batcher, M. & Scheuren, F. (1990), The IRS Test Call Program: Design and Estimation Issues, 1990 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Batcher, M., Collins N. & Scheuren, F. (1988), The Integrated Test Call Survey System Technical Documentation, Internal IRS Publication.
Batcher, M. & Scheuren, F. (1989), The IRS Test Call Program, 1989 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association.
Batcher, M. & Scheuren, F. (1987), The Integrated Test Call Survey System Technical Documentation, Internal IRS Publication.
Caliendo, M.A. & Batcher, M.K. (1980), Factors Influencing the Dietary Status of Participants in the
National Nutrition Program for the Elderly, Journal of Nutrition for the Elderly.