CV

Download a PDF version of my resume:   CV (2 pages)   Resume (1 page)

Experience

Economist — Pricing & Demand Analytics

Digonex (Pricing Optimization Consultancy)  |  Indianapolis, IN  |  Jul 2023 – Nov 2025

Served as primary economist and strategic advisor across a portfolio of 20+ ongoing client accounts in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, delivering pricing strategy, demand elasticity analysis, and product recommendations across the full engagement lifecycle.

  • Generated $27M in cumulative incremental revenue (+34.6% over the engagement period) across 20+ ongoing client accounts through demand elasticity estimation, discrete choice analysis, and profit-aware pricing optimization.
  • Delivered $4.2M in pricing impact for a single client over three months by implementing dynamic pricing against real-time demand signals. Identified willingness-to-pay above the client's internal price ceiling, built the counterfactual case for lifting it, and earned expanded advisory scope as a result.
  • Grew a client's annual revenue from $15.5M to $23M in 2025 by calibrating pricing dynamically to product value enhancements introduced during the year, adjusting recommendations as new demand data accumulated over the year.
  • Designed a segmented pricing experiment that produced an unexpected cross-segment revenue lift. Discounts targeted at one customer group drove higher purchase volume from a second group, producing net revenue growth that exceeded single-segment projections.
  • Built a centralized pricing analytics infrastructure integrating 100+ datasets across the entire client base, substantially reducing turnaround time on reporting and counterfactual analysis. Designed and executed A/B testing protocols to validate pricing recommendations causally before full deployment.

Doctoral Researcher, Department of Economics

Iowa State University  |  Ames, IA  |  Aug 2018 – May 2023

Dissertation: "A Dynamic Model of U.S. Beef Cattle" — dynamic structural estimation, rational and naive price expectations, counterfactual simulation, policy impact analysis.

  • Developed dynamic structural economic models of the U.S. beef cattle industry integrating agent optimization, biological constraints, age and gender distribution, and market clearing conditions across 14 datasets.
  • Designed a semi-genetic optimization algorithm combining biological population dynamics with market equilibrium conditions to calibrate the structural model.
  • Produced 10-year demand and pricing forecasts outperforming USDA benchmark projections by 5%, enabling scenario-based policy analysis for disease outbreak response and national traceability program design.
  • Estimated short-run and long-run producer surplus impacts of a mandatory national animal identification and traceability system under varying cost-sharing programs and adoption rates, providing quantitative guidance for agricultural policymakers.
  • Led three end-to-end research projects from structural estimation and counterfactual simulation design through publication and presentation at three national economics conferences (WAEA 2022, AAEA 2021, AAEA 2020).

Software Developer & Data Analyst

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach / Department of Agronomy  |  Ames, IA  |  May 2014 – Jul 2018

  • Developed two web-based market analysis tools in Java and SQL for beef and pork producers, deployed and used daily across the U.S. and nine international countries. Improved product performance by 15% through systematic code review and debugging.
  • Conducted cost-benefit analysis on 15,000 records identifying pricing adjustments that improved revenue by 2%. Designed experiments and statistical methods contributing to three industry-facing publications.
  • Recommended statistical methods and designed experiments for researchers across multiple departments, improving the analytical rigor of research studies.

Systems Engineer, Business Platforms

Infosys Limited  |  Hyderabad, India  |  Mar 2012 – Dec 2013

  • Led a team of six engineers on an online banking software product as project lead, assigning responsibilities, developing modules alongside the team, and coaching members through systematic test case reviews.
  • Presented business analysis findings to senior management and secured project funding. Automated enterprise application deployment into production, increasing team productivity by 10%.

Education

  • Ph.D., Economics — Iowa State University, 2018 – 2023
    Dissertation: "A Dynamic Model of U.S. Beef Cattle" — Dynamic structural modeling, demand estimation, counterfactual simulation, agricultural policy analysis
  • M.S., Statistics — Iowa State University, 2016 – 2018
  • M.S., Information Systems — Iowa State University, 2014 – 2016
  • B.Tech., Electronics and Communication Engineering — CVR College of Engineering, India, 2007 – 2011

Research & Publications

Working Paper

  • Poddaturi, D.R. (2026). Profit-Aware Pricing in Two-Sided Marketplaces: Demand Elasticity, Cost Uncertainty, and Customer Lifetime Value in Brazilian E-Commerce. Working paper. Details  |  PDF  |  SSRN

Conference Presentations

  • Paper Presentation, Western Agricultural Economics Association – Santa Fe, NM, June 2022. A Dynamic Assessment of the Economic Impacts of a Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreak on the U.S. Beef Cattle Industry. PDF
  • Poster Presentation, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association – Austin, TX, August 2021. Implementing a National Animal Identification and Traceability Program: Economic Assessment using a Dynamic Model of U.S. Beef Cattle.
  • Paper Presentation, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association – Virtual, August 2020. A Dynamic Model of U.S. Beef Cattle.

Industry Publications

  • Poddaturi, D.R., Dahlke, G., Euken, R., Schulz, L. (2018). Development of a CRUSH Margin Calculator for Beef and Pork Markets. Iowa State University Animal Industry Report. ASL R3221.
  • Dahlke, G., Poddaturi, D.R., Loy, D. (2017). ISU Beef Feedlot Monitor version 3. Iowa State University Beef Center. AS 13A.
  • Dahlke, G., Poddaturi, D.R. (2017). ISU Sheep Feedlot Monitor. Iowa State University Beef Center. AS 7.
  • Poddaturi, D.R., Dahlke, G., Johnson, S. (2016). Management Minder — A Web Based Data Management Application (Concept). Iowa State University Animal Industry Report. ASL R3052.
  • Poddaturi, D.R., Dahlke, G., Johnson, S. (2016). Management Minder — A Web Based Data Management Application (Technical Details). Iowa State University Animal Industry Report. ASL R3051.
  • Poddaturi, D., Johnson, S., Dahlke, G.R., Blasi, D.A., Hanzlicek, G. (2016). Development of a web-based calendar tool for scheduling beef cow management activities. J. Anim. Sci. 94(Suppl5):277-278. doi:10.2527/jam2016-0586.

Technical Skills

Econometrics & Methods
Demand elasticity estimation, structural econometric modeling, causal inference, discrete choice models, A/B testing, propensity modeling, CLV modeling, counterfactual simulation, panel data methods, profit optimization, dynamic pricing, sensitivity analysis, scenario planning

Programming & Tools
Python, R, Stata, SQL, Java, LaTeX, Git, RStudio, Visual Studio