THE CONTRIBUTORS

Rob Cross is a professor of management at the University of Virginia and research director of The Network Roundtable, a consortium of nearly 80 organizations sponsoring research on network applications to critical management issues. His research focuses on how relationships and informal networks in organizations can be analyzed and improved to promote competitive advantage, innovation, customer retention and profitability, leadership effectiveness, talent management, and quality of work life. In addition to top scholarly outlets, his work has been repeatedly published in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Academy of Management Executive, and Organizational Dynamics.

Jean Singer, Ph.D., is an organizational consultant specializing in the use of social network principles and techniques to improve performance. For more than two decades, she has helped companies build cross-functional collaboration, enhance work process efficiency, and foster innovation, particularly in the fields of science and technology.

Sally Colella is an organization and team development consultant who specializes in working with leaders and teams to strengthen their networks. Her clients include a broad range of public and private clients, and her work is highly integrated with business strategy. Prior to becoming a consultant, she was an HR leader with a Fortune 50 company.

Robert J. Thomas, Ph.D., is the executive director of Accenture's Institute for High Performance, a global "think and act" tank with offices in Beijing, Boston, Delhi, and London. In addition, he teaches global leadership and organizational change at the Brandeis University International Business School. He coauthored Driving Results Through Social Networks with Rob Cross.

Yaarit Silverstone is the managing director responsible for organization effectiveness offerings and capabilities within Accenture's Talent and Organization Performance practice. She has more than 24 years of experience in diagnosing complex organizational performance issues and designing, implementing, and sustaining large-scale journey management, human capital strategy, and talent management solutions as well as leadership development programs.

Lauren Ashwell is an organizational consultant and leadership coach. She works with leaders across industries to meet the challenges of expanding or changing roles, and she works with organizations to improve their capacity to realize the intended benefits of bringing on new talent. Her practice is built on 30 years of experience in media and entertainment as well as financial services.

Wendi Backler is a global topic advisor with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she co-leads the firm's Network Advantage topic. Wendi has worked with more than 50 clients to apply the network lens to a range of business strategy and organizational issues. She is also director of BCG's Networks Insight Center and has more recently been spearheading BCG's work in innovation networks, open innovation, and stakeholder ecosystem mapping.

Joe Blasnales is an information security specialist whose work has included cryptographic development, software integrity, network security, and computer forensics. He has been in the business for more than 25 years, working for both private companies and government agencies.

Ivan J. Blum is a global strategy, technology, and operations executive and management consultant with deep industry experience in high technology, complex engineered products manufacturing, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, health care, and government. Adept at building and motivating cross-functional teams, he has held senior positions at three international management-consulting firms and at IBM. He is currently an adjunct professor in graduate business at the University of Connecticut and Albertus Magnus College.

Grady Bryant, VP of Platform Product Development at VeriSign, oversees the development of VeriSign's software for the systems, platforms, and frameworks that enable and protect the world's networked interactions. This includes the Internet Domain Name System (DNS), security certificate validation (OCSP), and storage/processing of extremely large files and datasets. Grady played a key role in the development of the VeriSign Technical Community, which fosters information sharing and innovation for VeriSign's technical staff across geographical and organizational boundaries.

Michel Buffet, Ph.D., is a managing partner at Fisher Rock Consulting, a firm advising and providing solutions to senior leaders on organizational change, human capital strategy, and individual and team assessment and development. For more than 15 years, he has worked with leading global Fortune 1000 organizations across a variety of industries, including consumer products, energy, financial services, life sciences, and retail.

Inga Carboni is an assistant professor of organizational behavior in the Mason School of Business at the College of William and Mary. Her research explores knowledge management and conflict dynamics from a social networks perspective. As a consultant, she works with individuals and organizations to develop leaders and build high-performing teams.

Michael Chavez is a regional managing director for Duke Corporate Education, overseeing client work for the Western U.S. and Asia-Pacific region. For more than 17 years, Michael has helped global companies, particularly in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and technology sectors, build a wide range of organizational capabilities, including strategic thinking, team collaboration, and innovation. Prior to Duke CE, Michael was a founding member of the executive team of a successful B2B software start-up, leading both the professional services and marketing teams. His broad professional experience also includes consumer marketing, strategy consulting, and organizational development and learning consulting for a Fortune 100 company.

Barry Dayton leads 3M's Knowledge Management Program Office (KMPO), which is based out of Corporate Strategy and serves as a corporate center of expertise and internal consultancy for improving 3M's business performance through the mindful application of KM tools and practices. KMPO currently has more than 20 engagements spanning all functions, several businesses, and more than 40 countries.

Steve Denning is the author of The Leader's Guide to Storytelling (Jossey-Bass, 2005) and The Secret Language of Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2007). Formerly the program director of knowledge management at the World Bank, he is currently a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University, UK.

Christie Dowling, PE, PMP, is an environmental engineer with a passion for enhancing connections between people and groups to streamline work processes and increase reapplication of knowledge. She uses network analysis to expose key connections and identify sectors in need of support.

Kristi Droppers is the president of Collective Know-How, LLC, a consulting firm that collaborates with clients on meetings to create greater understanding, strategic planning, communication, and innovation. Prior to creating her own consulting firm, Kristi was executive vice president at Davis & Company, an award-winning internal communications firm. Kristi is an experienced facilitator and speaker at conferences, covering topics such as helping leaders and managers communicate, creating culture change, creating and sustaining a culture of innovation, and helping teams plan strategic communication programs.

Ana Dutra is the chief executive officer of Korn/Ferry International's Leadership and Talent Consulting, based in Chicago. With more than two decades of experience in management consulting, her expertise lies in helping boards, CEOs, and senior management in global companies to identify and align around transformational and growth strategies, particularly in the areas of innovation, disruptive growth, culture transformation, and mergers and acquisitions across various industries.

Kate Ehrlich, Ph.D., is a senior researcher at IBM Research, where she uses social network analysis as a research and consulting tool to gain insights into patterns of collaboration in distributed teams. Kate has published academic papers on her research in CHI, CSCW, software engineering, and management science at premier conferences and in journals.

Angelique Finan is a program manager in VeriSign's CTO organization, where she manages the VeriSign Technical Community program and the development of community building and networking capabilities across the company. Previously, she led knowledge-sharing initiatives in various Fortune 500 companies and the federal government, founded an e-commerce startup during the dot.com heydays, and obtained her technical background as a Java developer and Oracle DBA.

Christiane Frischmuth is an executive coach, a team coach, a facilitator, a process consultant, and a trainer who specializes in building capacity to lead and learn effectively to create results for individuals, groups, and organizations. She has worked and lived in Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America. She integrates mind, body, heart, and soul into her practice and draws on creative processes from many areas to achieve lasting impact and change.

Maria Gallegos is a learning specialist at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. She oversees training and learning development for nearly 200 staff in the Environment and Social Development department. Maria has designed and implemented the department's onboarding program as well as corporate training programs on environment and social sustainability.

Peter Gray is an assistant professor at the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia. He leads the Technology Enabled Networks group of The Network Roundtable, a consortium of leading organizations sponsoring research on network applications to critical management issues. His research and consulting focus is on the collaborative impact of social technologies, organizational networks, virtual teams, online communities, and knowledge management systems.

Mara Green is a project director at Duke Corporate Education. She engages in a wide range of activities, from conducting research to writing proposals to designing and creating content to managing client engagements. She has worked with a range of global companies to deliver high-impact and innovative educational experiences in both face-to-face and virtual formats.

Victor Gulas, Ph.D., is a leading practitioner of organizational network analysis in corporate environments. Recently retired, in his former role as chief people and knowledge officer at one of the world's leading global environmental engineering/construction companies, he introduced, nurtured, and applied ONA in knowledge management, organizational efficiency and design, innovation, financial transactions, and numerous other applications.

Betsy Hudson, M.Ed., is an organization development consultant with the U.S. Department of Defense who seeks ways to use social network concepts to help people connect across hierarchical and technological boundaries. Her areas of focus include knowledge management, retention, and innovation.

Gregory A. Janicik, Ph.D., is a principal in Korn/Ferry International's Leadership and Talent Consulting group, based in the firm's New York office. He is also the global leader for board effectiveness. He has worked on talent management initiatives with clients across a wide range of industries, including financial services, media and entertainment, retail, and pharmaceuticals.

Brigitte Lippmann is a talent management leader in a Fortune 50 company focusing on optimizing human capital. Social and organizational network analysis are key tools that she applies from leader onboarding to talent development to organizational alignment. Brigitte was a strategic management consultant for 10 years before joining leading firms in the health care and investment-banking industries.

Carrie Newberry is a research and development manager for a global consulting firm, specializing in operational strategy. She has more than 12 years of experience in consulting and industry, helping clients with their organization design, diagnosing and developing organizational culture, and managing large-scale strategic initiatives.

Myra Norton is a leading thinker on the application of social networks within communities, speaking and writing on this subject in a variety of venues. As the CEO of Community Analytics, Norton is advancing the firm's tagline, The Power of Human Networks—a succinct statement of the company's vision of authentic customer engagement. This commitment is driving the company's strategy among many Fortune 1000 companies as well as top colleges and universities.

Giulio Quaggiotto is a senior program officer at the World Bank. He has 12 years of professional experience in knowledge management and information dissemination in the private and nonprofit sector. His current interests include the applications of social media for the development sector. Giulio regularly blogs at psdblog.worldbank.org.

Dan Ranta is the director of knowledge sharing at ConocoPhillips, where he is accountable for the strategic implementation of knowledge sharing and networks for the 31,000-person integrated oil and gas company (a top 10 global company in total revenue terms). Prior to joining ConocoPhillips in 2006, he consulted in knowledge management. In total, Dan has worked in various knowledge management roles for more than 14 years.

Betsy Smith Redfern earned a bachelor's degree in English literature and a master's in curriculum design. She is a lifetime teacher of children, adolescents, and adults with more than 30 years of experience in the discovery, design, and implementation in the art and science of learning.

Katy Strei is a seasoned leadership and organizational development executive. For more than 20 years, she has partnered with line leaders in multiple industries to build strong leadership cultures that drive business performance. She is currently a vice president for leadership and organization development at MedImmune, the biologics division of AstraZeneca.

Guillermo Velasquez is the technology manager for Halliburton in the North Africa/Middle East region. He was the manager of the Knowledge Management (KM) program at Halliburton from 2001 to 2005. At that time, he pioneered the use of organizational network analysis to develop communities of practice. The success of these communities has been recognized by the various KM awards Halliburton has earned. Guillermo has been in the oil and gas industry for more than 30 years, working in a variety of roles in many countries around the world.

Carlota Vollhardt, Dipl. Psych., has more than 20 years of international experience as an organizational and clinical psychologist, helping leaders and teams acquire capabilities and knowledge essential for sustainable business performance, organizational momentum, and personal effectiveness. A major focus of her work over the past 10 years has been senior executive transitions and knowledge and innovation transfer. Before launching her own firm, Carlota was an organization development and knowledge management leader in a Fortune 50 company. Her current clients include internationally based Fortune 500 firms and nonprofits.

Terry G. Williams, MBA, is an organizational transformation principal consultant with Galloway Consulting, specializing in helping large organizations dramatically improve service, quality, and economic performance. He uses the Accelerated Corporate Transformation (ACT) methodology and ONA in his work to accelerate results and buy-in. Over almost 20 years, his 300+ clients have included large and midsize organizations in health care, government, and the private sector.

Adrian (Zeke) Wolfberg leads the Knowledge Laboratory, an enterprisewide platform for behavioral change, at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He focuses on improving leadership behavior, problem solving, teamwork, and change implementation.