Journey

Childhood

Born in Russia, I grew up in Washington, DC. I played chess competitively and ran cross country throughout my youth. Music was also a big part of my early life—I sang in choirs and developed a deep appreciation for the arts.

College

I attended Cornell University, where I completed a 5-year MBA program. This experience shaped my understanding of both business strategy and quantitative methods, laying the foundation for my future work in data science and analytics.

Early Career

After graduating, I started my professional journey in tech consulting at Capgemini, where I worked on large-scale technology implementations. I then moved to the financial services sector, joining JP Morgan to work on analytics and quantitative projects.

At JP Morgan I gained my first exposure to distributed computing and humongous data sets. I learned what it takes to generate insights at scale versus an MVP or POC; I loved that work, but the process was slow—often 6 to 18 months for approvals—and many initiatives were shut down in committee over day-to-day issues outside my control. I saw greener pastures.

After JP Morgan, I moved to Boston Consulting Group. I joined Gamma, an early business model inside BCG focused on deploying advanced analytics into established multibillion-dollar businesses. It was the fastest growth trajectory I've had; I loved everything about it, and BCG remains my company North Star for what I aspire to build.

Charles River Data

Charles River Data was founded by data scientists from Google and BCG GAMMA. We offer bespoke data science solutions, delivered by top talent on a project-level or ongoing basis. CRD brings together talent from consulting and technology firms to build practical AI solutions that can scale with high-growth clients.

In the past, CRD team members have worked on:

• Personalized marketing
• Optimization
• Fraud detection
• Image recognition
• Natural language processing
• Geo-analytics
• Statistical and causal analysis
• Financial modeling
• And other ML-driven decision tools

After the Great Resignation, many tenured data science professionals gave up on traditional hierarchies in favor of a more impactful career. CRD arose out of this historic moment, and we understand the career priorities of exceptional engineers, allowing CRD to recruit only extraordinary talent.

We are a team of builders and tech enthusiasts, and we use our passion and expertise for data to create exponential results for our clients.

Gleb Drobkov & Mike Dezube founded CRD after leaving BCG and Google respectively. Both went to Cornell University for their undergraduate degrees (Industrial Labor Relations & Operations Research and Information Engineering), and graduate degrees (MBA & Systems Engineering).

What Lies Ahead

Currently, I'm working on several self-built ventures and exploring new opportunities at the intersection of data science, engineering, and entrepreneurship. The journey continues...