Zachary Mays

Data Science Leader & Business Cofounder

I lead applied data science in regulated healthcare environments and build ventures that translate analytics into operational outcomes. My work combines production ML delivery, cross-functional leadership, and healthcare revenue cycle expertise.

zachary.a.mays@gmail.com LinkedIn

Executive Bio

Zachary Mays is Cofounder of The Ann Arbor Appeal Corporation, a Michigan venture building technology to improve healthcare revenue cycle outcomes, including denied claims resolution, prior authorization support, and patient education. He concurrently leads data science teams in industry roles, shipping enterprise ML systems and operating MLOps workflows for complex data products in regulated settings.

His background spans federal technology contracting, utility analytics, healthcare market analysis, and genomics research. That breadth allows him to align technical delivery with operational strategy, executive communication, and policy-aware healthcare innovation.

Leadership Impact

100M+ Records processed daily in production ML claims workflows
>20% Model performance improvement versus legacy human-led processes
98% Accuracy delivered in member risk and opportunity prediction
$100M+ Annualized value impact from healthcare predictive modeling initiatives

Ventures & Cofounder Work

The Ann Arbor Appeal Corporation

  • Cofounded a platform focused on denied pharmacy and medical claims, prior authorization, and patient support.
  • Engaged Ann Arbor SPARK and the University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship as early ecosystem partners.
  • Built cross-functional communication channels with state and federal stakeholders to advocate for patient-centered policy improvements.

Featured Portfolio Products

  • Planted — product initiative in Zachary's portfolio.
  • Bookshelf — product initiative focused on useful digital experiences.

Selected Projects

Medicare Claims ML Pipeline

  • Led end-to-end feature engineering and model deployment in AWS SageMaker and Glue at enterprise claims scale.
  • Operationalized monitoring workflows to track model performance drift and inform stakeholders.

Member Risk & Opportunity Modeling

  • Built a production model for ACO populations that reached 98% accuracy and replaced a costly external workflow.
  • Translated analytical findings into executive-ready recommendations for quality and cost improvement.

Core Expertise

Data Science Leadership & Team Development
Healthcare Revenue Cycle Analytics
Machine Learning in Regulated Environments
MLOps, Model Monitoring, and Lifecycle Governance
Stakeholder Alignment and Executive Communication
Python, SQL, PySpark, SageMaker, Tableau, Power BI

Condensed Experience Timeline

Cofounder — The Ann Arbor Appeal Corporation

July 2026 – Present

Building a technology-enabled revenue cycle platform for claim denials, prior authorization, and patient education.

Senior Data Scientist — Consumers Energy

June 2026 – Present

Delivered outage prediction MVP, launched team Git enablement resources, and supported analytics standards rollout planning.

Senior Data Scientist — GDIT

September 2022 – May 2026

Led high-impact Medicare predictive modeling and production ML delivery at national-scale claims volume.

Market Analyst — Innovista Health Solutions

July 2021 – September 2022

Developed and socialized risk models for large populations, influencing C-suite decisions on in-house analytics strategy.

Publication

Peer-reviewed research on insect-associated bacterial genomics: View publication.

Education

  • University of Michigan — Master of Health Informatics (in progress)
  • UT Austin — Postgraduate Program in AI and Machine Learning
  • Texas State University — M.S. Bacterial Genetics, B.S. Biology

Contact

For leadership opportunities, advisory work, or collaboration on healthcare analytics and revenue cycle innovation, reach out directly.

zachary.a.mays@gmail.com · LinkedIn