Rick partners with his clients to help them work, learn and change together to achieve the results they desire. His approach supports organizations in making better use of the capabilities of their leaders and employees as they define and implement new strategies.
He has led successful initiatives to improve performance in retail, manufacturing, research and development, and professional service organizations of all sizes. Some of his work has focused on individual teams or departments. Other efforts have involved hundreds of people across multiple functions, locations, and countries. Among his clients are Archstone-Smith, Cabot Corporation, FMC, GlaxoSmithKline (UK/US), Halifax/Bank of Scotland (UK), HP Hood, Johnson and Johnson, WK Kellogg Foundation, National Starch, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Ropes & Gray. His work in organizational change for the Halifax, plc won international recognition as the recipient of the Learning Organization Award from UNISYS and Management Today.
For ten years, Rick has focused his own action
research and learning efforts on improving the conduct of meetings to engage participants more effectively as they discuss difficult
issues. He has facilitated meetings intended to bring multiple groups together around project issues, organizational restructuring,
and difficult societal issues. Among the organizations in which he has led significant meetings are: McDonald’s (management
development), UNICEF (country-wide health crisis), Ashland (design-build contracting), ArchstoneSmith (organizational change), the
WK Kellogg Foundation (strategy and vision), Johnson & Johnson (post-merger alignment) as well as various civic, religious, and
nonprofit groups.
Rick continues to work on developing techniques for engaging organizations and communities in achieving better results. With co-authors Jim Van Patten and Tom Phair, he recently described a dramatic turn-around in “Creating a World Class Manufacturer in Record Time” (B. Bunker and B. Alban, The Handbook of Large Group Methods, Jossey Bass, 2006, pp 112-124). His article “Combining Future Search and Open Space to Address Special Situations” appeared in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.
Prior to starting his own business, Rick led international consulting and training organizations for Omega Performance Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation and the University of Maryland. He received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation and continued his studies in organizational learning and development.