PI Worldwide - Scientific Advisory Board
PI Worldwide provides cutting-edge, scientifically validated solutions to our clients around the globe. To maintain our leadership position in this field, we maintain a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), consisting of international experts in the fields of consulting, research design, quantitative methods, and industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology. By partnering with this group (as well as other academic researchers), PI Worldwide is well positioned to deliver solutions to our clients’ talent management challenges that are accurate, measurable, legally defensible, and have bottom-line business impact. SAB members provide PI Worldwide with academically rigorous, best-in-class counsel with regard to product development and validation, co-author technical reports and white papers, and collaborate with PI Worldwide in-house science staff, headed up by Todd Harris, Ph.D., on a variety of research projects.
Todd Harris, Ph.D. - Director of Science
Dr. Harris has served as the Director of Research for PI Worldwide since October, 2002. Todd advises senior executives on the creation and deployment of enterprise-wide talent management strategies, and is responsible for the scientific rigor that underpins all PI Worldwide toolsets.
Todd has provided services to Fortune 100 companies in areas such as competency modeling, executive assessment and coaching, leadership team effectiveness, personnel selection, organizational assessment and re-design, and succession planning. Todd’s previous experience includes professional stops at IBM and at Liberty Mutual Insurance Group. Dr. Harris is a member of professional societies including APA, ASTD and SIOP.
Dr. Harris along with his team at Predictive Success in Toronto has completed validation studies across Canada. Leading companies whom have used Predictive Index® for a study of top performance in role include: Bell Mobility, a large national recruiter, Ranstad, Midland Transportation Group, Bell Retail group and for the Duke Pubs, Imago Group, one of Canada’s most progressive restaurant chains. Dr. Harris is a featured guest commentator in the National Post, Canada wide and has spoken at the Canadian Credit Union Organization national conference in Toronto and recently to a large health care association at a summit in Halifax.
Todd holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Connecticut and serves as a visiting faculty member in the psychology department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Claire Rickards, Ph.D. Associate Director of Science
Dr. Claire Rickards will be serving as the Associate Director of Science at PI Worldwide located in Wellesley Hills, MA, starting in October, 2011. PI Worldwide www.piworldwide.com, is the creator of the Predictive Index (PI), a personality assessment used by over 8,000 clients in 143 countries.
Prior to her arrival at PI Worldwide, Claire spent ten years working across numerous industries and in varying capacities as a business consultant and manager. She worked in the field of management consulting for Accenture, APT Metrics, Granitar Incorporated, and PrimeGenesis on projects to align corporate strategy with human resources, business processes, and technology. She provided services to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of job analysis, competency modeling, executive assessment and coaching, leadership techniques, climate/culture evaluations, work process re-design and alignment, 360 Degree feedback, and personality assessment and feedback. Claire also worked as project manager of systems in both the securities lending and health care industries.
Claire holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Connecticut, where her research focused on the areas of personality assessment and feedback for selection and developmental purposes, organizational culture, and leadership. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and another in Educational Psychology from the University of Connecticut.
While completing her Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology, she gained additional experience and skills in psychological and intellectual assessment, writing and communicating feedback, and providing counseling. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), and the University of Virginia Alumni Association. Claire has presented her work on personality research at SIOP and at many other academic and professional conferences. In addition, she taught psychology, assessment, and research methods courses at the University of Connecticut.
Gwenith Fisher, Ph.D. – University of Michigan
Dr. Gwenith Fisher is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and has worked in a research capacity for IBM in Armonk, NY. Dr. Fisher has more than 15 years of experience designing and implementing surveys, with expertise in survey research methods and analysis, psychological measurement, and the study of occupational health and well-being. She has provided services to a variety of organizations in which she designed and implemented talent management solutions.
Dr. Fisher has published more than 25 scientific articles and book chapters which have appeared in journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and Handbooks related to employee well-being, occupational health, retirement, and cognitive aging. In addition to her primary research faculty role at the University of Michigan, she is an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Detroit Mercy, and regularly presents research at national and international conferences.
Dr. Fisher received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Allison Tracy, Ph.D. – Wellesley College
Dr. Allison Tracy has over 15 years experience as a research scientist and methodologist in the social and behavioral sciences. She currently works as the staff methodologist at the Center for Women at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. In addition to her work with PI Worldwide, Dr. Tracy consults to various universities, research centers, and for-profit companies across the United States. These include ChildTrends in Washington, DC; McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School Affiliate; the Trauma Center at the Boston University School of Medicine; and Management Sciences for Health in Cambridge, MA.
Dr. Tracy received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Human Development and Family Studies, with a minor in Statistics, from Pennsylvania State University in 1998.