SAS Customer Recognition — Rex Pruitt
Manager, MIS Profitability and Risk
Premier Bankcard
Since 2005, Rex Pruitt has worked for Premier Bankcard, the 11th-largest issuer of MasterCard credit cards in the US (February 2012, Issue 989, Nilson Report). In his current role, he's responsible for marketing analytic support, portfolio data mining, predictive modeling, staff management, and project management.
A resident of Sioux Falls, SD, Pruitt is very active in SAS® user group leadership, serving on special interest, regional, local and internal boards of directors, including IFSUG, MWSUG, SDSUG and PBSUG. He holds a BS in marketing management from Bellevue University in Nebraska, and his passion is studying corporate data and turning it into a revenue source.
How long have you been using SAS?
Twenty-six years.
What SAS products have you used in the past, and what products and solutions are you currently using?
Base SAS and all related procedures; SAS/ETS®, SAS/GRAPH®, SAS/AF®, SAS/FSP®, SAS/ACCESS®, SAS/CONNECT®, SAS/STAT®, SAS macro, SAS® Enterprise MinerTM, SAS® Enterprise Guide®, SAS Enterprise BI Server, SAS Forecast Server, SAS Forecast Studio.
Tell us about a problem you've solved using SAS.
Recently, during SAS admin training, I automated the metadata backup process using Base SAS and the metadata registration process with PROC METALIB in Base SAS.
What's the most innovative way you've used SAS?
Most recently, I wrote a Base SAS process to perform a line-by-line subversion (TortoiseSVN) audit comparing the subversion stored processes library files to the SQL 2008 stored process production code, of which there are around 2,000 programs.
Share with us your most memorable SAS moment.
Riding on the SAS corporate jet twice with Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS, was an outstanding opportunity and just plain fun.
How has SAS changed in the time you've been using it?
SAS has moved from programming solutions focused on automation of processes to solutions focused on strategic business decision making support. While the latter has always been supported by SAS technology, only in the last 10 years has the focus been organizationally redirected to solution-oriented decision support.
Has your work with SAS been influenced by any other members of the SAS community?
Yes – the MWSUG board and local-level support with the establishment of SDSUG.
If you could point a new SAS user to one resource, what would it be?
Volunteering at and participating in the local and regional SAS user groups would provide the most resource leveraged value to a new user.
