June 5, 2023

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Ashley Schmidt, lead data scientist at Central Payments.

Name: Ashley Schmidt

Age: 28

Hometown: Cottage Grove, Minnesota

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

When I graduated from South Dakota State, I chose to stay in South Dakota because my boyfriend — now husband — was finishing school. Sioux Falls provided many opportunities to start my professional career.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

The community! Sioux Falls is the perfect size in my opinion. I grew up in a suburb of the Twin Cities, and after going to school in Brookings, I found that I preferred a smaller but thriving community. Sioux Falls has plenty of stores, restaurants and entertainment, without the hectic pace, crazy traffic and crime that comes with a large metropolitan area.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

The challenge; every day we are analyzing the data in new ways, trying to make access to and understanding of information easier for our decision-makers and partners. The better we understand our data, the better we can drive our business. The constant challenge of better understanding, better reporting and better interpretation keeps it interesting.

How did you get connected to your industry?

In college, I took a class called predictive analytics, and it was my first real exposure to data and how companies consume it to make business decisions. I knew when I took that class that I wanted to work with data after graduation. When I started my career search, I looked for positions that mentioned “data” in the job description. I was lucky enough to get my first job as a business intelligence analyst at a local company in the prepaid card business, and I never looked back.

Describe Central Payments in three words.

Committed, innovative, collaborative.

What is something someone might be surprised to learn about you?

Although I am a math major with minors in statistics and economics, I am horrible at mental math. My many math teachers over the years would cringe at me saying this, but I’m a firm believer that “that’s what calculators are for.”

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?

I donate to the local animal shelter and various dog rescue groups; their pleas on social media get me every time. My husband and I also briefly fostered a puppy and spent time cleaning out the transportation van for a local dog rescue, B-Squad Dog Rescue. I also do my best to shop local whenever possible! Whether that be for clothes, gifts, coffee shops or restaurants, I love contributing to local, family-owned businesses!

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

I can’t think of anything!

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Professionally, I’d love to be leading a BI or data team at Central Payments and helping the company thrive by making data-driven decisions!