Nataliya Portman is a data scientist and applied mathematician with a track record of turning advanced mathematics into practical, production-ready systems. She received her doctoral degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo in 2010, followed by postdoctoral training at the Neurological Institute in Montreal, where she developed a novel approach to brain tissue classification in early childhood brain MRIs using modern computer vision pattern recognition and perceptual image quality models.

Her career has taken her through neuroscience, biotech, the public sector, and startup software companies. Along the way she has applied her mathematical expertise to build machine learning algorithms, computationally efficient algorithms for model validation, and neural networks. She is the co-inventor of Bid-Assist, a strategy for setting up an initial bidding amount to discourage low bidding behavior, and AutoVision, a mobile app that automatically captures vehicle views and recognizes damages with an image classifier. She also paved a new way for data science in the incentives industry, developing predictive analytics tools that help channel leaders maximize the return on investment of their channel incentive programs.

In January 2021, Nataliya joined Cineplex Digital Media as a Senior Data Scientist, committed to the development of media content recommendation systems.