HUMAN SYNERGISTICS INTERNATIONAL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Account Manager / Author Bios
Allan Stewart is the President of Human Synergistics Canada and a leading expert on organizational culture and leadership. His unique background combines a successful general management career with extensive workshop training experience, and a varied academic career.
He has been featured on several television programs, as well as a key-note speaker at many conferences. He has taught workshops across Canada and around the world.
For over 40 years, Allan has led workshops and coached executives and helped individuals, teams and organizations make lasting change. His book, Get Your Head in the Game, takes a unique approach to developing leadership skills and establishing a Constructive organizational culture.
Andrea Macko is the Marketing/Communications Specialist with Human Synergistics Canada. Andrea holds a Bachelors Degree in Journalism and Communications, which originally led her down a path of business-to-business journalism and community news. Presently, her skill set is employed in social media, graphic design, public relations, photography and events. Being highly visual, Andrea appreciates the graphic effectiveness of The Circumplex. In her downtime, Andrea lends her talents to non-profit causes while trying to hone her tennis talents, including teaching aspiring young players.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Chief Client Officer
Job Titles:
- Director of Research
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Member of Human Synergistics' Research
Dr. Boglarsky is a member of Human Synergistics' Research and Product Development team. She is responsible for maintaining the scientific integrity of HSI products, including the development of organizational culture surveys and group and individual development assessments. She is an expert on research design and methodology, measurement, and statistics, as well as small group processes. She has extensive experience facilitating group training sessions, and brings many years of teaching experience to her training-related vita. She is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy. Dr. Boglarsky's academic training is in social psychology, and she holds a doctorate in psychology from Wayne State University. Her B.A. is in psychology, with a minor in sociology, from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Job Titles:
- Customer Experience Specialist
Dr. Lorraine F. Lafferty led Human Synergistics International as the former Chairman and CEO from 1997 to 2004. Dr. Lafferty's professional focus is on helping individuals and organizations develop and grow to improve their effectiveness and productivity. She is a recognised expert on the effects of stress on individuals and organizations. She designed an executive development coaching programme and has conducted more than two thousand intensive sessions with key executives. As a senior management consultant at HSI, Dr. Lafferty designed and conducted training programmes for Texas Utilities, Control Data, Honeywell, Inc., Dow Chemical, Ford Motor Company, Nash Finch, Dayton-Hudson Corporation, General Foods, and the American Association of School Administrators, among many others.
Through her extensive research in the area of stress management, Dr. Lafferty was a primary developer of Human Synergistics International's System for Creating Organizational and Personal Effectiveness (SCOPE) programme. She facilitated corporate SCOPE programmes and conducted SCOPE Train-the-Trainer workshops.
Dr. Lafferty is the co-author of Perfectionism-A Sure Cure for Happiness, published in 1996 by Human Synergistics International. With her late husband, she examined more than 9,000 cases of perfectionism, a demanding syndrome that contributes to sickness and unhappiness. The Laffertys' book presents the causes, the consequences, and the correction of perfectionism and has been praised by the national media in numerous reviews.
Dr. Lafferty received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Marygrove College in Detroit and her master's and doctorate in clinical psychology from Wayne State University. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, a former officer of the Michigan Psychological Association, and a member of the American Society for Training and Development. Dr. Lafferty has received numerous awards and recognition for her work and is listed in the Year 2000 edition of the Marquis Who's Who in the World.
Job Titles:
- Software Development QA Analyst
Helen leads our UK and Ireland operation and develops and facilitates our UK and EMEA accreditation workshops. Helen and her team proudly serve both the business and academic communities. Clients include the public, private, and not-for-profit organisations, human resource and organisational development professionals, internal and external consultants, and educational institutions.
Helen joined HS/UK in February 2006 to open our UK office which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Human Synergistics International. She has worked with Human Synergistics full suite of instruments for over 17 years, and brings with her a wealth of experience gained from working for Human Synergistics and from her consulting background. In 2009, on behalf of Human Synergistics International, Helen commenced the set up of our Human Synergistics InterConnext companies and is spearheading the development of various projects for the company across EMEA.
Prior to working for Human Synergistics/UK, Helen owned her own Consulting Business and held various internal positions in Project and Operations Management and Business Development Consulting. Her most recent role was working for a Global Compliance Business as Group Marketing and Organisational Development Manager.
Helen has worked in the UK, Africa and The Netherlands, undertaking consulting projects with clients in various industries which include Compliance, a Charitable Trust, Education, Financial Services, Housing, Pharmaceuticals, Stock Broking, Waste Management and Utilities. She has also trained several hundred accredited practitioners and facilitated workshops in the UK, India, France, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
Educated in the UK and The Netherlands, Helen holds a BA (Hons) in Tourism Management & Marketing, and an MSc in International Business, specialising in Cross-Cultural negotiations and Culture. Helen is a Chartered Marketer.
A pioneer in the psychology of achievement and human effectiveness, Dr. J. Clayton Lafferty founded Human Synergistics in 1971 to provide organizations and consultants with research-based materials for individual, leadership, and team development. Dr. Lafferty's background in clinical psychology, both practical and theoretical, and his knowledge of organization and leadership in ancient and modern cultures, provided him a broad and unique perspective for addressing the problems facing contemporary businesses, managers, and society in general.
He and his associates researched and developed a multi-level series of diagnostic instruments - focusing on self-assessment, achievement thinking, and responsible decision making - that encourage effective personal and leadership behaviour. Perhaps the best-known diagnostic is the Circumplex-based Life Styles Inventory™, measuring individual thinking and behavioural styles. Dr. Lafferty also developed the Desert Survival Situation™, the innovative team-building simulation demonstrating synergy, which has since evolved to become one of the most widely used training tools in the world.
Dr. Lafferty attended Hillsdale College and earned his doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan. He received numerous awards, most notably the 1983 American Society for Training and Development Award for Excellence in Professional Competency for his work with a Fortune 500 company. Dr. Lafferty was also listed as an honored member in the 1991 edition of U.S. Registry's "Who's Who in Leading American Executives." He was a member of the American and the Michigan Psychological Associations (serving as President of W.P.O.), the American Management Association, and the American Society for Training and Development.
Dr. Lafferty passed away in 1997, but his dedication to creating materials and programs that promote excellence in organizations has earned him an enduring international reputation. With the support of Human Synergistics International, Dr. Lorraine Lafferty established the J. Clayton Lafferty Chair in Leadership with the Dow Leadership Center at Hillsdale College in honor of her late husband.
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Associate
- Senior Research Associate for Human Synergistics, Inc
Dr. Janet Szumal is the author of the book, Creating Constructive Cultures, in which she uses extensive research and a variety of case studies to illustrate how organizational leaders around the world create more productive workplace cultures. She is also the co-author of Management/Impact® (M/I), which assesses the influence of leaders and managers on people and culture.
Dr. Szumal received her PhD in Human Resource Management from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her recommendations and research on organizational culture, leadership, and group problem-solving have appeared in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Psychological Reports, Training Magazine, Talent Management, The Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate, and Mel Silberman and Patricia Philips' Team and Organization Development Sourcebooks.
In addition to developing assessments, Dr. Szumal has written a variety of business simulations, feedback reports, and guides that are used internationally by consultants, facilitators, leaders and managers, and university professors. Included are the Organizational Change Challenge™, Project Management Challenge™, Performance Management Challenge™, Cultural Change Situation™, the Organizational Culture Inventory® and Organizational Effectiveness Inventory® Feedback Reports, the Leadership/Impact® Facilitator's Guide, the leader's guides for the AMA DISC Survey™ and the Challenge Series, the OCI® Interpretation and Development Guide and the MEPS Self-Development Guide. She has also designed and led numerous workshops for facilitators, consultants, and internal change agents as well as has spoken at conferences in different countries about the influence of leaders and managers on the culture of their organizations.
Currently, Dr. Szumal continues to work on spreading the word about creating more Constructive cultures through her research, writing, and speaking.
Job Titles:
- Creative Manager & Workshop Facilitator
Job Titles:
- Director of Technology
- Member of the Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Integrated Marketing Specialist
Kate has served as a Director at Human Synergistics for nine years. In addition to holding a Bachelor of Arts degree, Kate has a wide variety of practical management experience in a range of industries including retail, finance, labour and more. Kate values making a positive difference in people's lives, whether this is assisting with self-actualization and reaching goals, or seeing the impact that Human Synergistics has on an organization's culture. In her downtime, Kate enjoys giving back to her community and volunteering with youth in a variety of ways.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Director of Leadership
Job Titles:
- Accounts Payable / Finance
Job Titles:
- Director of Client Services
- Member of the Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
- CEO and Director of Human Synergistics International and Associate Professor Emeritus of Management at the University of Illinois at Chicago
- Our CEO
Our CEO, Robert A. Cooke, Ph.D., was one of the first researchers to propose that organizations have cultures. Cooke developed the Organizational Culture Inventory®, the most thoroughly researched and widely used culture survey, to help organizations measure, understand, and shape culture. Culture results are displayed on the Circumplex-the same graph utilized for our leader and team assessments-providing you with a common language and visual to cascade across all organizational levels.
Robert A. Cooke is CEO and Director of Human Synergistics International and Associate Professor Emeritus of Management at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Cooke was previously an Associate Research Scientist at the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center (Institute for Social Research) and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behaviour from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, where he was a National Defense (Title IV) and Commonwealth Edison Fellow.
Dr. Cooke specialises in the development and validation of surveys used for individual, group, and organization development. His surveys include the Organizational Culture Inventory®, Organizational Effectiveness Inventory®, Leadership/Impact®, and Group Styles Inventory™. These instruments have been translated into numerous languages and used throughout the world by consultants and trainers for organizational development and research purposes. Cooke personally has used his materials with hundreds of organizations, including GE, Motorola, Ford Motor Company, the U.S. Department of Defense, and CINergy.
Cooke has served as Study Director on numerous research projects on management, organizational change, and human subject experimentation. His research has been supported by such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the National Center for Health Services Research, the National Institute of Education, and the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects. He has conducted applied survey research projects for various corporations and government agencies including Ford Marketing Institute, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Merck, the Federal Aviation Administration, Northwestern University's Readership Institute, and the U.S. Government Accountability Organization.
The author of more than 75 articles, chapters, and technical reports, Cooke's research has appeared in such journals as Psychological Reports, Science, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Educational and Psychological Measurement, and Group & Organization Management.
Cooke's research has been selected for the William Davis Memorial Award for outstanding scholarly research and the Douglas McGregor Memorial Award for Excellence in the Applied Social Sciences. His teaching has been recognised with the MBA Professor of the Year Award and the Alumni Award for Outstanding Teaching at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Software Quality Assurance Analyst
Job Titles:
- Administrative Coordinator
- Finance
- Project Manager
Rose Wynands serves as the Administrative Coordinator, Finance, Project Manager and is often new clients' first point of contact with Human Synergistics Canada. In addition to her education in executive administration, Rose has more than 25 years of administration and financial experience in manufacturing, inventory, and merchandise analysis. Rose takes immense pride in building loyal and committed relationships with customers to provide quality service and support, ensuring success for our clients. Rose also enjoys developing youth in sports, church and home school groups.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Director of Professional / Services
Shaun McCarthy, Chairman and Director of Human Synergistics Australia and New Zealand, talks about the interrelated nature of Leadership and Culture