Swetha Pandiri

About

I'm a finance systems and analytics leader who loves turning messy reporting into reliable decision intelligence. I began my career at Deloitte (USI) working with financial data, where I learned how processes actually break in the real world - inside spreadsheets, handoffs, and unclear ownership. To anchor my technical toolkit, I completed a master’s in Business Analytics at the University of Illinois, focusing on practical modeling, data engineering fundamentals, and communicating insights for operators and executives. Today, as FP&A Business Systems Manager at Kaiser Aluminum, I lead enterprise reporting and automation initiatives - designing architectures, Power BI experiences, and governance practices that help CFOs and controllers move from reactive reporting to repeatable, CFO‑ready insight. My work centers on scalability, clarity, and change adoption so solutions stick long after the first demo.

Publications & Talks

5 Steps to Fix Fragmented Reporting

Published at CFO.com

Article summary: A practical five‑step playbook to stabilize fragmented reporting caused by spreadsheets, siloed ERPs, and ad‑hoc automations. The piece focuses on clarifying ownership, instituting lightweight governance, rationalizing measures, and building an executive snapshot that drills into action—so finance teams can deliver decision‑ready reporting fast.

About CFO.com: CFO.com is a leading publication for senior finance leaders, covering strategy, reporting, technology, and risk, widely read by CFOs, controllers, and finance executives.

What It Really Takes to Make Finance Automation Drive Change

Published at Strategic Finance

Article summary: A case‑led walkthrough of how automation efforts produce lasting value only when paired with governance, process design, and stakeholder alignment. Using a Deming Cycle lens (Plan‑Do‑Check‑Act), it shows how to move from tools‑first pilots to outcomes‑driven transformation.

About Strategic Finance: Strategic Finance (IMA) publishes practitioner‑focused research and features for management accountants and finance leaders, emphasizing actionable methods and real‑world rigor.

Reframing Automation in Finance

Women in Analytics — Blog

Post summary: Reframes automation as a path to better decisions—not just faster tasks. It highlights aligning projects to business outcomes, measuring adoption, and building credibility through governance.

About Women in Analytics (WIA): WIA elevates diverse perspectives in analytics through content, community, and events; spotlighting practical data work that drives impact.

Milestones

FP&A Business Systems Manager: Kaiser Aluminum
Owning enterprise reporting architecture, automation, and CFO‑ready analytics.
Masters in Business Analytics: University of Illinois Urbana‑Champaign
Built depth in modeling, data storytelling, and scalable analytics practices.
Financial Data Analyst: Deloitte, USI
Hands‑on financial data work; learned how processes break and how to fix them.

Projects

Airbnb Host Analysis

Analyzed U.S. Airbnb listings in Tableau to identify pricing drivers and built a regression‑based model in R to estimate listing prices with ~93% accuracy.

View Project →

Humana‑Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition

Top‑50 nationally. Built an XGBoost model (≈87% accuracy) to identify Medicare members at risk of housing insecurity; balanced quantitative performance with qualitative impact and interpretability.

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