Center for Catastrophic Risk Management
University of California, Berkeley
How Organizations Think About the Unthinkable
Presenter Biographies
W. Earl Carnes is the Sr. Advisor for High Reliability for the U.S. Department
of Energy & Liaison with the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. He advises senior
management of both DOE and its contractors on improving safety and performance
across the Department’s total mission portfolio including nuclear defense, environmental
restoration, basic science and research across the broad spectrum of conventional and
alternate energy sources. Earl coordinates with other federal agencies, private industry &
the academic community on high reliability research, theory & practice. As INPO
Liaison he facilitates exchange of operating experience and effective management
practices between DOE and the commercial nuclear industry. He has authored or coauthored a number of technical publications including the DOE Human Performance
Improvement Handbook, the DOE Lessons Learned Handbook, International Atomic
Energy Agency technical documents on knowledge management and human
performance, and for the Deepwater Horizon Study Group he authored the report paper
on “Governance for High Reliability”. Earl is an associate for the U.C. Berkeley Center
for Catastrophic Risk Management.
Louise K. Comfort Ph.D. is Professor of Public and International Affairs and
Director, Center for Disaster Management, University of Pittsburgh. She holds a B.A. in
political science and philosophy from Macalester College, a M.A. in political science
from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale
University. She is a Fellow, National Academy of Public Administration, and author or
co-author of five books, including Designing Resilience: Preparedness for Extreme
Events, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010. She has published articles on information
policy, organizational learning, and sociotechnical systems, and is Book Review Editor,
Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. She has engaged in field studies following
eighteen earthquake disasters in fourteen countries, most recently with Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute’s Reconnaissance Team following the September 30,
2009 earthquake in Padang, Indonesia and an NSF-funded RAPID response grant to
study the transition from response to recovery following the January 12, 2010 Haiti
Earthquake.
Margo Beth Crouppen is Stanford University Press’ Acquisitions Editor in
Economics and Organizational Studies. She is responsible for the Press publishing
strategies in these disciplines and produces approximately twenty five books a year. Prior
to coming to Stanford University Press in 2006 she was Associate Editor at Sage
Publications, Inc., where she helped develop the Press’ flagship program in Research
Methods and Evaluation.
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Richard S. Hartley, Ph.D., P.E. is a principal engineer in the Emergency, Safety,
and Health Division for B&W Pantex in Amarillo, Texas. Dr. Hartley is the primary lead
for developing and implementing High Reliability Organization (HRO) practices at
Pantex, the country’s only nuclear weapon assembly and disassembly plant. Dr. Hartley
complements these efforts with an improved Causal Factors Analysis (CFA) investigation
process for organizationally rich, yet non-consequential events to learn when HRO
practices fall short. Dr. Hartley has written two texts on the subjects as practical guides
for organizations wanting to pursue high reliability and learn as organizations.
Dr. Hartley has conducted HRO and CFA seminars for more than 500 senior
managers at Department of Energy sites, the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board,
world-wide petroleum companies and presented at numerous professional conferences.
Dr. Hartley provided expert testimony at the National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) hearing on the June 22, 2009 subway crash in Washington, D.C. and was invited
to be a keynote speaker at the American Public Transportation Association Rail
Conference in Vancouver British Columbia to explore the application of HRO concepts
to public transportation.
Dr. Hartley received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of
Texas at Austin, his M.S. in Nuclear Weapons Effects from the Air Force Institute of
Technology, and his B.S. in Physics from Texas A&M University. He holds Professional
Engineering Licenses in Environmental Engineering in Ohio and Texas. Dr. Hartley is a
certified Six Sigma Blackbelt.
Peter M. Madsen, PhD,is an Assistant Professor at the Marriott School of
Business, Brigham Young University. His research focuses on how organizations and
their members learn about and attempt to manage uncertainty and risk (including safety,
environmental, and financial risks). His recent work addresses organizational strategies
for learning from failure, especially catastrophic failure, and on designing organizations
for highly reliable performance. This work focuses specifically on organizational
strategies for learning from and preventing crisis and failure, including: learning from
near-misses and other “weak signals” of organizational problems, the effective use of
post-event investigations, and the development of strong organizational safety culture.
He also studies the interplay between risk, environmental, and financial goals in
organizations. His work has been published in top management and safety journals,
including: Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Quality and Safety in
Health Care, and Engineering Management Journal. Dr. Madsens undergraduate degree is
from Brigham Young and his PhD is from the Haas School of Business, University of
California, Berkeley.
Erwann Michel-Kerjan Ph.D. is an authority in the management and financing
of extreme events. He is the Managing Director of the Wharton School’s Risk
Management and Decision Processes Center, a center with nearly three decades of
experience in developing strategies and policies for dealing with catastrophic risks. He
also teaches Value Creation in the Wharton MBA program. He is Chairman of the
OECD Secretary-General Board on Financial Management of Catastrophes, which
advises its 34 member countries on these issues. Dr. Michel-Kerjan was named a Young
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Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum (Davos), an honor bestowed to
recognize and acknowledge the most extraordinary leaders of the world under the age of
40. He currently co-leads the G20 YGL Paris Initiative’s Global Risks under the High
Patronage of President Sarkozy. Dr. Michel-Kerjan is the author of several acclaimed
books, including, most recently, At War with the Weather (MIT Press, with H.
Kunreuther) and The Irrational Economist (PublicAffairs, with P. Slovic). He is a regular
contributor in the media and has given over 100 public speeches. He has studied at Ecole
Polytechnique in France, McGill and Harvard.
Ian I. Mitroff Ph.D.is a University Professor at the Marshall Goldsmith School of
Management. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the College of Environmental Design
and a Senior Investigator in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of
California, Berkeley. His most recent book is: Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick
Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely (Stanford University
Press). His bachelor’s and PhD degrees are in engineering from the University of
California, Berkeley.
Rangaraj “Ranga” Ramanujam Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the Owen
Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University. His research examines the
organizational causes and consequences of operational failures in high-risk work settings,
and the implementation of evidence-based practices in hospitals. His work has appeared
in various journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of
Management Review, Healthcare Management Science, Organization Science, Medical
Care, Journal of Patient Safety, and Implementation Science. Prof. Ramanujam serves
on the editorial boards of Organization Science, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and
the Stanford University Press book series on high reliability organizations. He has
consulted for several organizations including HCA, the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular
Institute, the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative, Pure Safety, the International
Association of Holiday Inns, and Sennheiser Corporation. He received his PhD in
Organizational Behavior and Theory from Carnegie Mellon University.
Karlene H. Roberts Ph.D. is a Professor at the Walter A. Haas School of
Business, at the University of California at Berkeley and Director of the Center for
Catastrophic Risk Management at Berkeley. Roberts earned her bachelor’s degree in
Psychology from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology from the
University of California at Berkeley. She also received the docteur honoris causa from
the Universite Paul Cezanne (Aix Marseilles III). Since 1984 Roberts has investigated
the design and management of organizations and systems of organizations in which error
can result in catastrophic consequences. She has studied both organizations that failed
and those that succeed in this category. Some of the industries Roberts has worked in are
the military, commercial marine transportation, healthcare, railroads, petroleum
production, commercial aviation, banking, and community emergency services.
Roberts has consulted in the areas of human resource management, staffing
policies, organizational design, and the development of cultures of reliability. Recently
she has consulted with the military, in the healthcare industry, in software development,
and in the financial and insurance industries. She testified before the Columbia Accident
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Investigation Board and recently testified to the U.S. National Transportation Safety
Board. Roberts is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association, the Academy of
Management, and the American Psychological Society. She has contributed to policy
formation for the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy,
the Department of Energy, and the Mineral Management Service of the U.S. Department
of Interior.
Emery Roe, Ph.D. is a practicing policy analyst on science, technology, and
environmental issues, associated with UC Berkeley’s Center for Catastrophic Risk
Management. He specializes in identifying better management strategies for critical
service provisions in large technical systems, including electricity and water. His recent
book, co authored with Paul Schulman, is High Reliability Management: Operating on
the Edge (Stanford University Press, 2008). Roe is currently involved in a major U.S.
National Science Foundation initiative looking at the interconnections between critical
infrastructures in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region, an area subject to earthquakes,
storms, and global climate change.
Paul Shrivastava, Ph.D., is the David O’Brien Distinguished Professor and
Director of the David O’Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at the John Molson
School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal. He also serves as Senior Advisor at
Bucknell University and the IIM-Shillong, India, and leads the International Chair for
Arts and Sustainable Enterprise at ICN Business School, Nancy, France.
Dr. Shrivastava was part of the team of professionals who helped to found
Hindustan Computer Ltd., one of India's largest computer companies. He founded the
non-profit Industrial Crisis Institute, Inc. in New York, and published the Industrial
Crisis Quarterly. He founded Organization and Environment, (published by Sage
Publications). He was founding President and CEO of eSocrates, Inc., a knowledge
management software company, and the founding Chair of ONE Division of the
Academy of Management.
Dr. Shrivastava received his Ph. D. from the University of Pittsburgh. He was
tenured Associate Professor of Management at the Stern School of Business, NYU, and
held the Howard I. Scott Chair in Management at Bucknell University. He has
published 15 books and over 100 articles in scholarly and professional journals. He has
served on the editorial boards of leading management education journals including the
Academy of Management Review, the Strategic Management Journal, Organization,
Business Strategy and the Environment, and the International Journal of Sustainable
Strategic Management. He won a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. His work has been
featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Christian Science
Monitor, and on the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour. He co-organized the Steelman Triathlon
2005, 06, 07, the Passionman Triathlon 2008, 09 and DJed of the World Tango Music
show on WVBU, 90.5FM, Lewisburg, PA.
Kathleen Tierney Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Sociology and the
Institute of Behavioral Science and director of the Natural Hazards Center at the
University of Colorado at Boulder (http://www.colorado.edu/hazards). Tierney has more
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than 30 years of experience in conducting research on the societal dimensions of hazards
and disasters. The Natural Hazards Center, which is funded by NSF, FEMA, NOAA,
NASA, and other agencies, is a key clearinghouse and knowledge transfer organization,
specializing in social science knowledge on hazards, disasters, and risk. Staff and faculty
at the Natural Hazards Center conduct research on a range of hazard-related topics;
current studies focus on warning systems for extreme weather events, housing issues
following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the community and psychosocial impacts of
technological disasters, including the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Exxon Valdez and
Deepwater Horizon oil spills, and the TVA coal ash spill of December, 2008. Other
projects include studies on disaster resilience conceptualization and measurement and
disaster governance in the U. S. and other nations. Center research is funded by several
NSF programs and, the Community and Regional Resilience Institute, and the
government of the Netherlands.
Timothy Vogus, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Management and Organizational
Studies at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. His research focuses
on how organizations create and sustain highly reliable performance. Specifically, he
examines how leaders, culture, and the capabilities of frontline work to ensure reliable
performance. His work has primarily examined medical error and patient safety in health
care, but he has also studied software development organizations, and more recently,
social entrepreneurship. His research is published or forthcoming in leading management
and health services journals and as a book from Stanford University Press. Vogus teaches
courses on leading teams and organizations, and on negotiations. He was recently named
one of the top forty business school professors under forty by PoetsandQuants.com and
received the James A. Webb, Jr. Award for Teaching Excellence in 2007 (and was a
finalist in 2006, 2008, 2009, and 20120). In 2002 he received the Gerald and Lillian
Dykstra Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in 2002-2003. He has consulted with Mayo
Clinic, the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, Vanderbilt University Medical
Center, IU Health, Trinity Health, Kansas University Medical Center, and the
Connecticut Hospital Association.
Karl E. Weick Ph.D. is Rensis Likert Distinguished Professor of Organizational
Behavior and Psychology at the Ross School of Management at the University of
Michigan. His research interests include collective sensemaking under pressure, medical
errors, handoffs in extreme events, high reliability performance, improvisation, and
continuous change. He is co author (with Kathleen Sutcliffe) of Managing the
Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty (Jossey-Bass). Weick’s
master’s and doctorate degrees are from Ohio State University.
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