Lia A. DiBello Ph.D.
President & Director of Research
As Research Director for WTRI, Dr. DiBello has developed many innovative (non-verbal) methods of assessing skill and business judgment among executives. She is the innovator behind the FutureView™ Profiler, which has been recognized as a theoretical and methodological breakthrough in knowledge elicitation and executive intelligence. It was also awarded an Innovative Technology Award by TechAmerica in 2008 and funded by research awards from the National Science Foundation.
DiBello is best known for the development of a particular kind of activity-based “strategic rehearsal” approach that has been shown to greatly accelerate learning through cognitive reorganization. Studies of over 7000 people at all levels exposed to DiBello’s methods indicate that learning was accelerated by several months in all cases. Other studies indicate that unprecedented performance improvements and significant competitive advantages were achieved by companies using DiBello’s methods. The method is now used globally in four continents in industries as diverse as mining, transportation, financial services, IT implementation, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals as well as others. Numerous articles have been published on its business benefits and theoretical significance in cognitive science.
DiBello received her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at CUNY Graduate School in New York. She studied under the late Distinguished Professor Sylvia Scribner, a well-known pioneer in the area of workplace cognitive and the author of many now classic works Since she started directing the research at WTRI, she has been the recipient of 17 basic research funding awards from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and The Russell Sage Foundation.
Currently, both the assessment approach and the learning model are being tested by DiBello’s team in 3-D virtual world settings. Dr. DiBello has led over six virtual world development projects since 2007 that link advanced technology to Virtual Worlds for the purposes of business performance improvement and increased cognitive agility. This work has led to recognition from and formal research partnerships with virtual world developers, such as Linden Labs and SAIC. She also has several formal research partnerships with other scientists working to develop business applications that take advantage of advances in cognitive science.
In addition to her applied work in industry, Dr. DiBello has authored numerous journal articles, book chapters and presentations and, as a visiting professor, has taught several courses on the development of expertise, technology deployment and design, and accelerated organizational change. She is frequently invited as a speaker at conferences and professional meetings.
David M. Lehmann Ph.D., P.E., CIRM
Vice President & COO
Dr. Lehmann has successfully built businesses from $10 million to $2 billion annual sales. As a leader and member of the management team he has experience in many aspects including strategy development and business investment, research and product development, engineering, operations, supply chain innovations, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), sales and marketing, overhaul and repair, and customer services. He has experience with multiple distribution and sales channel strategies from technology licenses to prime product direct sales and value added reseller channels. He has conducted business in 28 countries for firms as large as General Electric Co. and Caterpillar and Solar Turbines Inc, A Caterpillar Co. (1998 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipient) and as small as the steam turbine business of Worthington Corporation, (now IR- Dresser Rand).
He has experience in managing various financial structures from the most entrepreneurial small incubator size start-ups assisting in the Small Business Administrations program for the Minority Small Business Investment Corporation (MESBIC program) while with Sun Oil Company, the development of early production and eventual licensing of heat transfer technologies for the emerging Micro Turbine industry while with Solar Turbines, the management of fundamental commodity companies in the gray and ductile iron casting industry, to mega size transactions for the largest Fortune 20 Companies. He is known for his total dedication to the development of the management team members while setting high expectations and absolute accountability for managing for results. He is also known for looking with a wide view for new solutions and innovative ways to create high performing profitable organizations with sustainable value propositions and business models.
E. Sterling Chamberlain III
Vice President & Senior Technologist
Mr. Chamberlain is Chief Technology Officer for WTRI proprietary software products and the chief architect behind our key solutions, such as the Profiler, the FutureView Event Generator and a number of automated data collection systems for measuring business performance. He is regarded as having a unique ability to deploy state of the art, leading-edge technology for measurable business value. Chamberlain began his career success in the early 1990’s, when he was the only executive to successfully deploy and design an enterprise technology with measureable financial benefits for New York City Transit. The gains were measured to be in excess of $300 Million the first year. His contributions to virtual world business solutions and the automation of cognitive science applications have won him numerous awards in recent years, including three awards for innovations in IT.
He is an author of several publications on the application of technology to improved business performance publishing several papers in scholarly journals on his methods. He considers day-to-day shop floor operations, employee education and state-of-the-art technology as critical elements to a large-scale decision support technology implementation.
In order stay abreast of technology innovations, Mr. Chamberlain is an active member of the technology community and holds a number of technical certifications from Microsoft.
Professional Affiliations:
6/03 – Present San Diego Small Business Server Users Group
4/00 – Present Member Transit Managers Curriculum Committee sponsored by the National Transit Institute.
2/99 – Present Member Task Force on Professional Capability Building sponsored by American Public Transportation Association Committee on Research and Technology.
5/99 – National Register Who’s Who in Executive and Professional.
8/96 – 8/98 Fellow National Transit Institute fellows program sponsored by Federal Transit Administration through the Transit Research Board.
Patricia Seemann, M.D.
Executive Advisor
Dr. Patricia Seemann has more than 15 years of experience as an adviser of leading executives of multinational organizations throughout the U.S. and Europe. She provides counsel on those issues that CEOs often find most intractable: people (in particular, the executive team), organizational culture, reputation and relations with Boards of Directors.
Her background includes marketing, strategy, organizational learning, corporate communications and developing organizational culture. She has successfully restructured and reoriented corporate departments, improved core processes, managed major crises through effective communications. With in-depth knowledge of the pharmaceutical and financial services industries, Dr. Seemann has served as an adviser to CEOs and Senior Executives of large multinational corporations on all soft aspects of organizations, such as talent, culture, brand, governance, etc.
Since 2012, Dr. Seemann is a member of the Board of Directors of Population Action International (PAI) and a member of its audit and finance committees. As a matter of principle, Dr. Seemann does not disclose names of her clients, but here are two examples that she has been permitted to share.
From 2008 to 2012 Dr. Seemann was the key adviser to the CEO of Swiss Re. During this time the firm recovered from an extremely difficult situation, tripled its share price and returned to its position as one of the leading firms in its industry. Dr. Seemann focused on advising the CEO about leading his executive team and managing his relationship with the Board of Directors, while at the same time designing a major cultural transformation program that has made the company more agile and able to perform at a higher level.
Dr. Seemann also has experience as a Senior Executive herself. From 1997 to 2000, she was the key strategic adviser to the Chairman and CEO of Zurich Financial Services. She joined the Group Management Board from 2000 to 2002 and was responsible for the organization’s global Group Communications. In this capacity, she managed all corporate communications activities during one of the most serious crises the firm had ever faced. She oversaw organizational learning, branding, internal communications, media/public relations and corporate intranet/internet activities.
Prior to joining Zurich Financial, Dr. Seemann advised executives on intellectual capital issues as the founder of Group 21, a successful consulting firm. She also was a Principal and head of Knowledge Management with Ernst & Young, where she was instrumental in working with the team to develop the firm’s successful knowledge management practice.
Dr. Seemann dedicated the early years of her career to various management roles within the pharmaceutical industry. She first assumed the position as group product manager with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, with responsibility for global marketing of diverse pharmaceutical products. For the next two years, she headed the Corporate Regulatory Affairs and Scientific Documentation divisions of Ares-Serono Pharmaceuticals. She then joined F. Hoffmann-La Roche Pharmaceuticals, where she pioneered intellectual capital processes to streamline global drug development in her role as head of Knowledge Systems.
After earning a doctoral degree in medicine in 1981 from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, Dr. Seemann pursued four years of training in orthopedic surgery at the State Hospital, St. Gallen, Switzerland, and in biomechanics research at the Laboratory for Experimental Surgery in Davos, Switzerland.
Dr. Seemann is the co-author of Social Capital: Securing Competitive Advantage in the New Economy (2001) and a frequent speaker and lecturer on the topics of corporate governance, value creation and intangible assets, as well as on power, trust and the effective CEO. She holds Canadian citizenship, resides in Switzerland and is fluent in English, German, Swiss German and French.
