Acorns 2018: Ben Carroll, head of Insight, Whitbread

Head of insight, Whitbread

Nominator Catherine Rees, internal communications manager

Proudest moment "Presenting a paper on machine learning on the same stage as psychologist Daniel Kahneman at the Philadelphia Analytics Conference was an amazing experience."

Biggest inspiration "My family, who have an incredible work ethic. I wouldn't be where I am without them."

Ambition "To run a business one day. But as long as I feel I'm learning and developing, I'm happy."

As head of the insight division, Carroll has taken on responsibilities across restaurants and hotels and increased his team from four to 12. His subsequent presentations to the executive board and chief executive have resulted in significant changes in the way Whitbread funds and runs its operations â€" using quantitative and qualitative customer data to drive business decisions.

Not least, he revolutionised Whitbread’s approach to housekeeping and F&B across its 800 hotels and safeguarded more than £10m per year in customer revenue by rethinking refurbishment strategies. He also built the first in-house digital marketing roles within Whitbread, saving £1.5m per year.

In 2016 Carroll started his own business â€" CurioCity â€" to provide geo-located information to tourists and locals about their surroundings. The company has attracted £15,000 of funding and a customer-facing app will launch this summer.

Carroll has written an academic paper on machine-learning that came second in the Annual Wharton Analytics Conference.

He also founded a scheme to deliver higher education for Whitbread employees.