Alain Hertz graduated in mathematical engineering and obtained a Ph.D in operations research at the École Polytechnqiue Fédérale de Lausanne. Since 2001, he is professor at the department of mathematics and industrial engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, Canada. He is also member of the multi disciplinary GERAD research group that includes nearly sixty researchers and experts in operations research and discrete mathematics. He is the author of around 200 scientific publications and 4 detective novels. His main research domains are combinatorial optimization, graph theory, algorithmics, and the development of decision aid systems for scheduling and distribution problems. Alain serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals and he is also a member of the executive committee of the European Chapter on Combinatorial Optimization working group. He has organized several international conferences on graphs and optimization. He was president of the Swiss OR Society from 1996 to 2001, during which he dedicated himself to promoting the discipline worldwide.

Professor Terlaky is the director of the Quantum Computing and Optimization Laboratory (QCOL). He served as the Chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Lehigh University, 2008 – 2017. Prior to his appointment at Lehigh U., Prof. Terlaky has taught at Eötvös U., Budapest, Hungary; Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands; McMaster U., ON, Canada. At McMaster he also served as the founding Director of the School of Computational Engineering and Science. Prof. Terlaky has published four books, edited over ten books and journal special issues and published over 220 research papers. Topics include theoretical and algorithmic foundations of operations research (e.g., invention of the criss-cross method), design and analysis of large classes of interior point methods, computational optimization, worst case examples of the central path, nuclear reactor core reloading optimization, oil refinery and VLSI design optimization and robust radiation therapy treatment optimization. Further, his research interest includes high performance optimization methods, optimization modeling, optimization problems in engineering sciences, and Quantum Computing Optimization. Prof. Terlaky is Founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Optimization and Engineering, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications . He has served as associate editor of ten journals and has served as conference chair, conference organizer, and distinguished invited speaker at conferences all over the world. He was general Chair of the INFORMS 2015 Annual Meeting, a former Chair of INFORMS’ Optimization Society, Chair of the ICCOPT Steering Committee of the Mathematical Optimization Society, Chair of the SIAM Activity Groupon Optimization. He received: the MITACS Mentorship Award for his distinguished Ph.D. student supervisory record; the Egerváry Award of the Hungarian Operations Research Society; the Award of Merit of the Canadian Operations Research Society; The Wagner Prize of INFORMS; The Outstanding Innovation in Service Science Engineering Award of IISE. Prof. Terlaky is Fellow of the Fields Institute, Fellow of INFORMS, Fellow of SIAM, Fellow of IFORS, and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Susanne Heipcke is Director of Software Engineering at FICO, where she has led the Modelling Team of FICO Xpress development for more than 12 years. Her team is responsible for the development and design of the modelling tools (Xpress Mosel) and the APIs of the Xpress Optimization software suite, with past tasks including the design of application development toolkits, solution templates, and productized optimization solutions such as FICO Decision Optimizer. More recently, her team’s responsibilities have expanded to include CI/CD, performance testing, and delivery infrastructure for the entire Xpress suite. Before joining Dash Optimization (acquired by FICO in 2008) in 1998, she worked for BASF-AG in Germany. Her Ph.D. research at the University of Buckingham—conducted partly at the MIT OR Center (USA) and the University Aix-Marseille II (France)—focused on solving large-scale industrial problems using a combination of constraint programming and mixed integer programming. Her work centers on all aspects of modelling, particularly through her contributions to the development of the algebraic modelling and programming language Xpress Mosel. She is the author of the book Applications of Optimization with Xpress-MP and numerous papers on different aspects of mathematical modelling. Susanne enjoys teaching mathematical optimization, having participated in teaching the mathematical modelling course in the OR master’s program at the University Aix-Marseille II (2001–2004) and the Computational Mixed-Integer Programming course at the Technical University of Munich in 2020. She regularly organizes specialist training events and conference sessions, such as the “Software for Optimization Modeling and Deployment” sessions at recent INFORMS Annual Meetings (jointly with Bob Fourer), and she is actively engaged in mentoring younger colleagues. Since 2019 she has been a member of the EURO Practitioners' Forum committee (formerly the EURO Working Group Practice of OR), leading the organization of the Forum’s annual meetings in 2020, 2023, and 2026. With more than 30 years of experience in applied OR, she has also contributed to numerous consulting projects worldwide, involving scheduling and planning in manufacturing, personnel staffing, aircraft routing with maintenance planning, portfolio optimization, trading, energy production planning and unit commitment, and retail logistics.Contents of this video:0:00 - Intro1:27 - Family background and early years4:15 - Attending a girls' high school4:58 - Polyglot9:11 - Learning to program during high school11:13 - Moving to Bavaria to study mathematics13:19 - Practical data processing projects14:52 - Learning about OR16:31 - Master's thesis on constraint programming (CP) applied to a problem arising at BASF20:31 - Getting inspiration from a female leader at BASF22:14 - Spending half a year at the MIT OR Center + moving to the University of Buckingham for a PhD25:02 - Adapting to the UK26:06 - Combining MIP and CP to solve production planning and scheduling problems29:19 - Joining Dash Optimization in 199830:32 - Moving to France in 199931:20 - Working form home in an era before Zoom, Git, and similar tools existed32:28 - Maternity and work33:55 - The modelling language Xpress Mosel36:38 - Launching Mosel in 200139:45 - Evolution of Mosel over the years45:16 - Mosel’s long-standing team47:35 - High compatibility across different versions of Mosel 48:16 - Xpress Mosel is a free software since 201849:21 - Favorite contributions to Mosel53:21 - Software engineering and optimization58:20 - AI and optimization software1:01:12 - Organizing conferences, workshops and special sessions regarding optimization software1:03:25 - EURO Practitioners' Forum1:04:52 - Regrets?1:05:18 - Plans for the future1:06:15 - Inspiring takeaway message1:07:22 - Concluding remarks

Dorit S. Hochbaum is a distinguished professor in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) at UC Berkeley. Professor Hochbaum holds a Ph.D from the Wharton school of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests are in areas of discrete optimization, network flow techniques, data mining, image segmentation, supply chain management and efficient utilization of resources. Her work contributed to the analysis of heuristics and approximation algorithms in the worst case, and on average, to the complexity analysis of algorithms in general, and nonlinear optimization algorithms in particular. Her theoretical work focuses on particularly efficient techniques using network flow for data mining and image segmentation including parametric flow for the convex Markov Random Fields problem establishing it as polynomial; the PseudoFlow algorithm for the maximum flow problem and the parametric flow and cut algorithms. Her recent research is on problems relating to machine learning on recognizing bias in labeled data; reducing dependence in training data; using pairwise relationships to enhance clustering methods. Applications include improved yield prediction in semi-conductor manufacturing; devising balanced covariates for experimental design; the maximum diversity and dispersion problem and group rankings and aggregate decision problems.Professor Hochbaum is the author of over 190 papers that appeared in the Operations Research, Management Science and Theoretical Computer Science literature. She served as department editor for Management Science department of Optimization and Modeling, and on a number of editorial boardsProfessor Hochbaum was named in 2004 as honorary doctorate of Sciences of the University of Copenhagen, for her work on approximation algorithms. She was appointed the Pinhas Naor lecturer of the Technion for 2013, and a Research Excellence professor at the University of Vienna in 2007. She is the winner of the 2011 INFORMS Computing Society prize for her work on algorithms for image segmentation. Professor Hochbaum is a fellow of INFORMS and a fellow of SIAM (Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics). In 2024, she was awarded the Khachiyan Prize by the INFORMS Optimization Society, recognizing her for her extensive contributions to optimization, including her work on the design and analysis of algorithms and their applications across various domains.

Kenneth Sörensen obtained his PhD entitled "A framework for robust and flexible optimization using metaheuristics" from the University of Antwerp in 2003 and continued as a post-doctoral researcher at the UAntwerp. From 2006 to 2009, he worked as a postdoc researcher of the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) at the Faculty of Engineering of the KULeuven. In 2009, Kenneth Sörensen was appointed as a Research Professor of the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Antwerp, a position he holds to date.Within this Faculty, he founded the ANT/OR research group, which focuses on applications of operations research and currently consists of three professors and about ten PhD students. Under his supervision, over twenty PhD's were obtained. Kenneth Sörensen has published a large number of articles in international refereed journals and has presented his work at numerous scientific conferences. He is considered one of the world’s leading experts in the field of metaheuristics. Hismain research interest lies in the application of advanced (metaheuristic) optimization methods and in the development and study of optimization methods. Kenneth Sörensen is the founder and current coordinator of EU/ME – the EURO working group on metaheuristics, the largest online platform for researchers in metaheuristics worldwide.

Yoshiko Wakabayashi is a retired professor at Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil. She holds a degree in Mathematics Education and a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from USP, as well as a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Augsburg. Her research interests include combinatorial optimization, graph theory, algorithms, packing problems, and polyhedral combinatorics. She has published more than 50 papers in journals such as Mathematical Programming, Theoretical Computer Science, Journal of Combinatorial Theory: Series B, Discrete Mathematics, SIAM Journal on Computing, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Computers & Operations Research, and Discrete Applied Mathematics. Yoshiko supervised 16 doctoral and 20 master’s students, as well as 7 postdocs. In 2010, she was named a commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit. She was later elected to the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo in 2012 and to the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in 2019. In 2020, she was awarded the prize for scientific merit by the Brazilian Computer Society.

Erling D. Andersen is co-founder and CEO of the Danish company MOSEK ApS which is the vendor of the Mosek optimization software package. In 1993 Erling received a PhD in Economics from Odense University (Denmark). The main research interests of Erling are computational linear and convex optimization. In particular, he has focused on conic optimization and is one of the leading developers of software for that class of optimization problems. Erling has co-authored several articles published in major optimization journals such as Mathematical Programming, Informs Journal on Computing, and SIAM Journal on Optimization. Since 2024, Erling has been an honorary member of the Danish OR society.

Louis-Martin Rousseau is a Full Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, where he has been a faculty member since 2003. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Healthcare Analytics and Logistics, and is known for his applied research at the intersection of operations research, artificial intelligence, and healthcare systems. His early work focused on logistics and workforce scheduling, both in industrial and healthcare settings. Over the years, his research has evolved toward developing decision-support tools with real-world impact, particularly in the planning and optimization of health services. Outside academia, Louis-Martin has co-founded and advised several mission-driven organizations, including Gray Oncology Solutions, IVADO Labs, Kaster, and PemPem. He serves on multiple boards and is an active member of Anges Québec and Creative-Destructive Labs, where he supports science-based ventures focused on societal impact.

Laureano Escudero received his PhD Degree in Economic Sciences from Universidad Comercial de Deusto, Bilbao, Spain, 1974, and a degree in Computer Sciences from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, 1972. ORCID: 0000-0002-1196-7124. He has taught Mathematical Statistics and Decision Theory at the Computer Science School, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 1974-1977, and Mathematical Optimization at the Mathematical Sciences School, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1992-2000. He has been full professor of Operations Research at the Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche (Alicante, Spain), 2000-2007 and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Móstoles (Madrid), Spain, 2007-2013. Currently, he is a Research Fellow ad honorem on Statistics & Operations Research and a retired Full Professor in URJC. He has been a Scholar Visitor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh (PA, USA), 2014, and at Northeastern University (NEU), Shenyang (China), 2018. He has worked at IBM Research, Scientific and Development Centers in Madrid (Spain), Palo Alto (California), Sindelfingen (Germany) and T.J. Watson Research Center (Yorktown Heights, NY), 1972-1991. He has work in the IBERDROLA group (one of the biggest electric power generation and distribution company in Europe), 1994-99. In 1987 he was appointed member of the New York Academy of Sciences. In the period 2003-4 he was the President of EURO (Association of European Operational Research Societies). He is the author of 5 books and a co-author of another one. He has published over 160 peer- reviewed scientific papers in leading journals. In 1986 he has been awarded the "Cruz al Mérito Aeronáutico con Distintivo Blanco, Primera Clase" by the Spanish Ministry of Defense for his work on Mathematical Optimization for the Spanish MoD. He is a holder of a 2020 medal by the Spanish SEIO and a 2024 medal by ALIO (Asociación Iberoamricanana de Investigación-Operativa). In 2024, SEIO jointly with Fundación BBVA awarded a prize to the "mejor contribución metodológica en el campo de la Investigación-Operativa" to the European Journal of Operational Research EJOR 2023 paper "On solving large-scale multistage stochastic optimization problems with a new specialized interior-point approach", jointly co-authored with J. Castro and J.F. Monge.

Héctor Cancela holds a PhD. degree in Computer Science from the University of Rennes 1, INRIA Rennes, France (1996), and a Computer Systems Engineer degree from the Universidad de la República, Uruguay (1990). He is a Full Professor at the Computing Institute at the Engineering School of the Universidad de la República (Uruguay), which he lead in two periods: 2006-2010 and 2017-2023. He was Dean of the Engineering School of the Universidad de la República (2010-2015). He is a Researcher at the National Program for the Development of Basic Sciences (PEDECIBA), Uruguay. His research interests are centered in network models and stochastic models, applied jointly with optimization methods for solving problems in different areas (reliability, communications, transport, production, biological applications, agricultural applications, etc). He has published more than 100 full papers in international journals, indexed conference proceedings and book chapters. He has supervised more than 20 Ph.D. and M.Sc. thesis. He has been General Chair and Program Chair of several international events, and a member of the Program Committee of more than 50 international conferences. He participated in the development of accreditation standards for MERCOSUR engineering programs. He was member of the task force which prepared the ACM/IEEE Computing Curricula 2020 report (ACM/IEEE CC 2020). He is associate editor of the journals International Transactions in Operations Research (ITOR), RAIRO Operations Research (RAIRO-OR), Mathematical Methods of Operations Research (MMOR), Computational and Applied Mathematics (COAM), and member of the editorial board of the journals Pesquisa Operacional (Brazil) and Ingenieria de Sistemas (Chile). Between 2010 and 2019 he was editor-in-chief of CLEIej, the electronic journal of the CLEI association. He is an IEEE Senior Member, also a member of ACM. He is a former President of CLEI (Centro Latinoamericano de Estudios en Informática – 2016-2020), and a former president of ALIO (Asociación Latino Ibero Americana de Investigación Operativa – 2006-2010. He is currently president of IFORS (International Federation of Operational Research Societies, 2025-2027).