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Who We Are

Our Team

Thiagi

Our Associates

Ellen Gehrke

Regina Schindler Rowland

Samuel van den Bergh

Our International Partners

India

Switzerland

[Thiagi's photo] Dr. Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan is the Resident Mad Scientist at The Thiagi Group, an organization with the mission of helping people improve their performance effectively and enjoyably.

Thiagi's long-term clients include AT&T, Arthur Andersen, Bank of Montreal, Cadence Design Systems, Chevron, IBM, Intel, Intelsat, United Airlines, and Liberty Mutual. On a short-term basis, Thiagi has worked with more than 50 different organizations in high-tech, financial services, and management consulting areas. For these clients, Thiagi has consulted and conducted training in such areas as rightsizing, diversity, creativity, teamwork, customer satisfaction, human performance technology, and organizational learning.

Thiagi has published 40 books, 120 games and simulations, and more than 200 articles. He wrote the definitive chapters on simulations and games for ISPI's Handbook of Human Performance Technology, ASTD's Training & Development Handbook, and the American Management Association's Human Resources Management and Development Handbook.

Thiagi currently writes a monthly online newsletter, Thiagi GameLetter. This newsletter, now in its fifth year, features Thiagi's training games and other creative interventions that deliver results quickly and effectively. He served as the editor of NSPI Journal and Performance & Improvement for more than 10 years. He currently edits the simulation/game section in Sage Publication's journal, Simulation & Gaming. He is also a contributing editor of the monthly journal, Educational Technology.

Thiagi has made hundreds of presentations and keynote speeches at professional conferences. At ISPI, Thiagi holds the "records" for making the most presentations, conducting the most preconference workshops, and being invited to make the most Encore presentations. Thiagi is also a regular presenter at Lakewood's TRAINING Conferences and the annual conferences of American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA).

Thiagi has been the president of the North American Simulation and Gaming Associating (NASAGA), International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), and Association for Special Education Technology (ASET). He has received 17 different awards and Presidential Citations from ISPI, including the society's highest award, Honorary Life Member. He also received an Honorary Life Member award from NASAGA as well as its highest award, Ifill-Raynolds Award.

Internationally recognized as an expert in multinational collaboration and active learning in organizations, Thiagi has lived in three different countries and has consulted in 21 others.

[Matthew's photo] Matthew Richter is the Resident Rogue Scholar and President for The Thiagi Group. He is a facilitator, game designer, instructional designer, and management consultant. Matthew has consulted with organizations that include Redwood Trust, CenturyTel, EA, Microsoft, Carolina Power and Light, IGT, Cadence Design Systems, and Sony. He is an expert in the areas of management, leadership, and performance technology. He specializes in employee motivation. Matthew mixes corporate, not-for-profit, academic, and independent experience, enabling him to adapt and best serve his clients.

Matthew is the co-creator (with Scott Rigby of Immersyve, Inc. and Richard M. Ryan of the University of Rochester) of MAPS (Motivation, Assessment, and Performance System), an innovative performance management system that breaks all of the traditional paradoxes of management.

He is a sought-after public speaker and has delivered keynotes and conference presentations for such organizations as the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), Training Magazine, the International Alliance for Learning (IAL), North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA), Influent, and the National Society for Black Engineers. He was the 2006 ISPI National Conference Chair, and has been an encore presenter for the last five years for his presentation Creating a Motivating Environment.

Matthew is a featured author in the 2001, 2002, and 2003 Training and Performance and/or Team and Organization Development Sourcebook, published by McGraw Hill. His most recent articles on learner motivation are published in the upcoming Pfeiffer book, the Trainers' Portable Mentor, due out in May 2008. He has also written several articles on leadership, motivation, instructional design, storytelling, and organizational development.

Article: How Learners Are Motivated (975K PDF; requires Adobe Acrobat. To be published in Trainers' Portable Mentor.)
Article: How to Create a Leadership Vision Driven by Intrinsic Motivation (417K PDF; requires Adobe Acrobat. Reprinted from The 2003 Training and Performance Sourcebook. Published by ASTD.)
Interview with Matt Richter by Les Lauber

[Raja's photo] Raja Thiagarajan is the Resident Computer Whiz at The Thiagi Group. He has developed and designed many of our computer game shells and software such as Zingo, PuzzleMaker, and the Thiagi Timers. His technical expertise and innovative mind have added immense value to such clients as Agilent, Cadence Design Systems, and Pfizer. He is an expert game designer and facilitator who has co-delivered programs all over the world for such organizations as ASTD, ISPI, and NASAGA. Raja has also served on the Board of Directors for NASAGA.

Raja is a frequent contributing author. Not only has he co-authored a myriad of books with his father, Thiagi, but he has also co-written dozens of articles for books, periodicals, and magazines. His work has been seen in the likes of Performance Intervention Maps, a collection of articles co-published by ISPI and ASTD, and the Training Sourcebook, edited by Mel Silberman and published by ASTD.

Raja is an amateur astrophysicist and a minor expert in science fiction.

[Tracy's photo] Tracy Tagliati, CPLP, has led a nomadic life: Born in Mildenhall, England, she grew up as a military brat in Europe, Japan, and throughout the United States. Settling in Los Angeles, CA, she founded T&T, an organization that specializes in activities-based training for corporate clients. Prior to that, Tracy was VP of sales and training at Mindset Development, a training franchise of Crestcom International, and a corporate trainer at Mercury Insurance Group. She is active in ASTD (both at the national and the local chapter levels) and the North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA).

[Tom's photo] Thomas F. Pray, Ph.D. recently joined The Thiagi Group as a business consultant and facilitator of his Web-DECIDE Simulation. Tom was a professor of Decision Sciences at the Saunder's College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology and the past chairman of the Department of Decision Sciences and MIS. He also ran the Executive MBA program for many years before retiring.

Tom is the co-developer and primary facilitator for the award-winning business simulation, Web-DECIDE. Web-DECIDE teaches participants cross-functional decision making as they virtually manage their own company for a simulated period of two years. The program covers such areas as strategic planning, finance, quality, managing operations, and leadership. It puts over 25 different managerial variables into practical, transferable context so learners can really draw connections back to their day jobs. He has delivered Web-DECIDE a myriad of times, worldwide, to such clients as: Xerox Corporation, Eastman Kodak, CIGNA, Harris Corporation, Cadence Design Systems, PAXAR, Taconic Farms, Redwood Trust, CenturyTel, and Constellation Brands.

Tom has a master's degree in industrial management, and he earned his doctorate in managerial economics.

[Doug's photo] Doug Johnston is a senior consultant for The Thiagi Group. He provides a unique blend of strategic insight, tactical execution and leadership development. He offers clients a broad base of skills and knowledge including day to day financial management, developing call center processes, effectively managing sales, call center management, systematizing business processes and delivering customer service. Doug is also a strong team facilitator and speaks regularly on leadership topics.

He began his career at Xerox Corporation working in field operations, product marketing, marketing systems, and market research. Since leaving Xerox, Doug has held several NEO roles leading organizations that advise and service major corporations, both domestically and internationally. His broad base of experience includes designing, managing, and growing businesses that provide call centers, technology services, market research, fulfillment, and strategic consulting.

In addition to his work with Thiagi, Doug is a principal and managing partner of NorthCoast Partners, a firm specializing in improving business effectiveness, including the execution of mergers and acquisitions.

Doug has worked with a broad base of clients including IBM, BP Oil, Texas Instruments, Ernst and Young, Ericsson, Epson, Adobe, Armstrong Industries, GE Capital, and many more. Doug is also a former Chairperson for Vistage, (www.vistage.com) the world's leading chief executive development organization. In this role, Doug facilitated a think tank of business owners, CEOs, and presidents, helping them increase their effectiveness and enhance their lives.

Our Associates

[Ellen's photo] Ellen Kaye Gehrke, in addition to being an Associate of The Thiagi Group, is a professor of International Business and Management at Alliant International University in San Diego in the United States International College of Business. She has been with the University since spring of 1997 teaching undergraduate, graduate and doctoral courses in such subjects as management, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, cross cultural management, international business, import-export and small business management. Prior to that she spent eight years in Europe, teaching, consulting, and studying various cultures. Before heading off to Europe she worked as a management consultant for 5 years in Washington, DC., had served as a Dean of Continuing Education in San Diego for five years, had earlier worked in Montana for an environmental group and even before that, she studied black bears under a National Science Foundation Grant in Yosemite National Park.

Dr. Kaye Gehrke has a PhD in Organizational Behavior and Strategy from George Washington University, an MBA in Marketing from National University and a BSc. in Natural Resource Management from the University of California Berkeley. She lived and worked in Europe for more than eight years teaching and consulting to eastern european countries helping to resolve the social and economic challenges that resulted from massive privatization and the transition from centrally planned to market driven economies. She spent several years on the staff at the european foundation for management development (efmd) in Belgium as Director of European Business Schools and Research. When she is not at AIU or keeping up with Thiagi, she is working on research that integrates her interests in interactive teaching and the gentling and training of wild horses. Ellen lives on a small horse ranch in Ramona, California with her nine horses, mule, three dogs, four cats AND her husband, Carsten, a computer systems consultant, who she met while working in Munich.

[Sam's photo] Sam (Samuel van den Bergh) has been the Swiss associate of the Thiagi Group since 1998.

Sam is the founder of the Centre for Cross-cultural Competence at the School of Communication at Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland. He is also the founder of his own training and consulting company, van den Bergh Thiagi Associates GmbH, which specializes in cross-cultural communication, management, and teambuilding.

Sam studied English and German linguistics at the Universities of Zurich and at Berkeley (California). Since 2000, he has been training managers from multinational corporations and the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs and participants from Executive MBA programs on cross-cultural competencies. He also offers consulting and coaching services related to intercultural issues.

[Regina's photo] Regina Schindler Rowland, a native of Austria, Resident Interculturalist and Meister Doodler, supports the Thiagi Group with her expertise in transcultural dynamics and visual facilitation. She consults internationally, and teaches at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California. Her expertise includes creative engagement for evolutionary leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and personal excellence.

Regina also lends her expertise to the creation of systemic sustainability, for instance in form of large-scale interventions in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe with hundreds of political and religious leaders who participated in dialogues on important global issues. In these projects, Regina uses interactive strategies for communities to work creatively toward social change. She is frequently invited to speak at conferences and seminars on the effectiveness of interactive visual facilitation for difficult cross-cultural conversations and for visual story telling.

Regina has earned certifications as an Intercultural Communication Practitioner (from the Intercultural Communication Institute in Portland, OR) and as NLP Master (from NLP Marin, CA). She holds a doctorate in consciousness and transformation (from the California Institute of Integral Studies) with an expertise in the co-creation of meaning in culturally diverse populations.

Our International Associates

These partners sponsor workshops by Thiagi in their countries. They also act as exclusive distributor of the Thiagi Group products and services.

India

Oranje Training, Baroda, India

Oranje Training provides learning solutions to address people development needs of its clients. Our basic philosophy of business is to help our clients achieve results through people. Our process ensures that we create strategic integration between training and business issues and set the context and create relevance for the training to take hold.

Oranje Training brochure (440K PDF).

Switzerland

van den Bergh Thiagi Associates GmbH, Neftenbach, Switzerland

An increasingly interdependent and complex world requires increasingly sophisticated minds.

This organization does training, consulting, coaching, and research in the fields of cross-cultural competence development, cross-cultural management and leadership, diversity and inclusion, change and transition processes, human performance technology, multicultural team and trust building. They do it differently.