“Managing Relationships with Challenging Clients and Bosses” Panel Discussion with Eric Christoph, Saul Gass, John Kettelle, and Doug Samuelson

Date: Thursday, July 27, 2006
Location: General Dynamics in Rosslyn

OR/MS analysts often complain about clients or bosses who don’t appreciate what we do, who don’t state clearly what they want, who do state what they want but then complain when they get it, and who annoy, frustrate, and sometimes appall us in many other ways. This panel will lead a lively discussion about how to handle or, better, circumvent these situations. Audience contributions are encouraged; however, please refrain from identifying specific providers of learning opportunities, and keep the focus on methods to improve similar situations in the future.

Eric Christoph is the Vice President of Puma Systems, Inc., a small woman owned consulting business serving federal clients. He is a consultant and trainer who spends his days attempting to help clients implement OMB guidelines and mandates such as PMBOK processes and earned value management (EVM) within large federal projects or Program Management Offices.

Saul Gass is currently Professor Emeritus at the Smith School of Business, U. MD. He served with the Air Force’s Directorate of Management Analysis (Pentagon), the organization in which linear programming was first developed. Later, for IBM, he was an Applied Science Representative, Manager of the Project Mercury Man in Space Program, and Manager of IBM's Federal Civil Programs. He has served as a consultant for and to a number of firms and governmental organizations. He is a past President of ORSA and Omega Rho, a Fellow of INFORMS, and the recipient of numerous awards.

John Kettelle’s 50-year professional career has taken him into many situations involving complex policy decisions and the accompanying political and psychological complications. His entrepreneurial career started with his partnership with Daniel Wagner and culminated with Ketron, an OR company with over 300 employees. He has been active in MORS, Chairman of MAS, a founding member of the Management Science Roundtable, and editor of numerous books published by ORSA/INFORMS.

Doug Samuelson, moderator, has served for many years and with some success as a Federal policy analyst, private consultant, and high-tech inventor and entrepreneur. He is currently a senior analyst with the Homeland Security Institute, author of the long-running “ORacle” column in OR/MS Today, and just starting his third (non-consecutive) term as President of WINFORMS.

“A Communication Model for Crisis Response” by Marjorie Greene, SAIC

Date: Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Exchanges of information among decision-makers during the early stages of a crisis do not always follow pre-determined plans, especially if the unexpected, evolving, and interdependent nature of the information places a greater emphasis on natural language communication. We will describe an approach developed for the analysis of military command and control during crises that may be relevant to the response to an infectious disease outbreak. ProMEDmail is an Internet-based system dedicated to rapid global dissemination of information on outbreaks of infectious diseases and acute exposures to toxins that affect human health. It is a candidate for the application of the command and control approach and could benefit from further analysis by the WINFORMS community.

Ms. Marjorie Greene, is a Senior Program Manager with SAIC and has been a contractor with the Office of Naval Research Operations Analysis Program since 2002. She previously held positions with the Center for Naval Analyses, ANSER, and several organizations in the UK, where she pursued her interest in exploiting operational data for future planning. She has B.S. and M.A. degrees in mathematics and has completed course work for her PhD. in Operations Research at Johns Hopkins University.