There are moments in your career that stay with you forever – not because they were carefully orchestrated – but because they were fueled by passion and a desire to make a real difference.
For R&D Senior Director, Dan Tamburro, one of those moments came shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
A mission born from crisis
If you're old enough, you remember that day and what happened in New York City. It was the day the Twin Towers fell; two planes flew directly into the buildings, and the world watched in horror. Flights stopped. Schools dismissed early. Confusion and fear spread across the country.
The post-9/11 world demanded better solutions. Money laundering had emerged as a critical vulnerability in the fight against terrorism. This was an area where SAS could make a difference. SAS CEO Jim Goodnight decided SAS should help by building an anti-money laundering solution. He tapped a team to jump in and act.
At the time, Tamburro led a cross-functional group including developers, quality engineers, data modeler, a database administrator, business analyst, data scientist and a writer. They partnered with three major financial institutions simultaneously: two of the largest consumer and commercial banks in the United States plus a major investment firm. Their mission was to provide a solution aimed at combating financial crimes by detecting money laundering.
“One of our development partners literally drove an armored truck full of magnetic tapes to our facility,” said Tamburro. “These tapes contained their customer data, account information and transaction records.”
What was the point? To test drive SAS’ pre-beta software on real banking data.
Once they had cracked the code, it was time to showcase SAS® Anti-Money Laundering (AML). These SAS R&D experts brought their innovative ideas to the group of bank compliance executives. They walked them through every detail: how users develop anti-money laundering rules, execute them, analyze results and conduct investigations. When they reached the investigator pages, they showed examples of suspicious behavior, paging through customer profiles. Bank employees took notes.
Then suddenly, "Stop. Go back!"
Multiple voices rang out. The energy shifted instantly. Navigating back to the previous customer's transaction display, there it was: the first real "catch." A North Carolina motorsports athlete whose transactions had triggered the new SAS algorithms. Bank executives and SAS team members realized they’d built something that worked.
“That moment of validation, seeing theory transform into real-world change, remains unmatched in my career,” said Tamburro.
From mission to movement
What began as a desire to do good for society evolved into something far greater. That project, born from tragedy and powered by determination, became one of SAS' most successful software solutions.
Today, SAS anti-money laundering software serves over 300 licensees across 69 countries worldwide. What started with a truck full of magnetic tapes and a room full of hopeful people now protects global financial systems from illicit activity every single day.
Sometimes the best innovations don't come from market research. They come from a simple question: "How can we help?"
1 Comment
Great story! A tragic moment, a transformational opportunity for innovation, and an achievement with profound, positive implications for financial security and national defense. Kudos to Tamburro’s vision and accomplishment!