STEPHEN L. COHEN, Ph.D.
Managing Director Human Performance Group
Dove Consulting
Dr. Stephen L. Cohen is a Managing Director of Dove Consulting’s Human Performance Group
that provides custom consulting services and programs in executive and leadership development,
culture and values alignment, learning systems and training experiences that result in improved
workforce performance. With over twenty-five years of experience in human resource
development, he has earned international respect for his professional contributions, and has been
named by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) as one of the industry’s
thought leaders.
He has formerly held positions as Senior Vice President of Product Development for Wilson
Learning Corporation, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Wilson's Interactive
Technology Group, and co-founder and Executive Vice President of Assessment Designs, Int'l. In
these capacities, he has been directly responsible, or associated with, the development and
implementation of over 500 different human resource development programs. In addition, he was
a Professor of Industrial/Organiza-tional Psychology at the University of South Florida.
Dr. Cohen has consulted with well over 300 major organizations in virtually every industry in the
areas of adult learning, personnel selection, training, performance management, and career
development. In the last twenty years his focus has primarily centered on the design and
development of adult learning systems in the areas of business strategy, leadership/management,
sales and marketing, customer service, and creativity and innovation.
He is a frequent contributor to the human resource development industry having given over 100
presentations, and published nearly 200 articles, book chapters and technical reports. One of
works includes a chapter on "The Future in HRD" in the 2nd Edition of AMA's Human
Resource Management and Development Handbook, and his Training and Development article
on "The Challenge of Training in the Nineties" in the early nineties has been included in ASTD's
compendium of most significant contributions during the last ten years in its Best of Workforce
Trends Affecting HRD.
He has served on the Boards of Directors of both ASTD and its Institute for Workplace Learning,
and was the former's Strategic Directions Committee Chair. He also has been the Chair of both
ASTD’s Training & Development magazine’s Editorial Board and its HRD Suppliers
Committee. He received ASTD’s coveted Torch Award for his outstanding continuous volunteer
service to the Society and industry. In addition, Dr. Cohen has served on the Board and as the
President of the Instructional Systems Association.
Dr. Cohen holds a B.S. degree in Psychology from Hobart College, and Masters and Ph.D.
degrees in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Tennessee.
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KEVIN COOK, Ph.D.
Consultant, Staffing and Assessment Practice
Development Dimensions International
Responsibilities
Kevin Cook is a consultant in the staffing and assessment practice. Kevin's responsibilities
include:
Focusing on the development and application of automation in selection and staffing systems.
Educating DDI sales and delivery associates on selection, automated systems, and evaluation of
assessment applications.
Consulting with clients to design complex, integrated selection solutions that meet business
needs.
Designing and implementing measurement and evaluation systems to demonstrate the efficacy of
DDI technology.
Key Capabilities and Experience
Kevin's recent projects involve managing the development and implementation of large-scale
web-based screening systems for Bank of America and Bestfoods. These systems include webbased recruiting and assessment, structured interviewing and in-depth behavioral assessment.
Kevin joined DDI in 1996. He spent nearly two years with DDI-CABER (Center for Applied
Behavioral Research), designing and conducting evaluation, validation, and other types of
research studies. Kevin worked with various clients in his role with CABER, including Shell Oil
(UK), Florida Power Corporation, PPG Industries, and the Whirlpool Corporation.
Kevin has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of South
Florida. He is a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, American
Psychological Association, and the Society for Human Resource Management.
DAVID W. DORSEY, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Personnel Decisions Research Institute
Dr. Dorsey received his Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology in 1997 from the
University of South Florida, with a graduate minor in computer science. He is currently a
research scientist with Personnel Decisions Research Institutes (PDRI) in Washington, DC. Dr.
Dorsey has a broad base of experience in designing, developing, and implementing state-of-theart organizational systems and solutions. Dr. Dorsey has conducted work in areas associated
with performance management systems, job, occupational, and workforce analysis, advanced
information technologies, quantitative methods, and knowledge, skill, and competency
assessment. Dr. Dorsey has served as an invited speaker on issues such as advanced information
technologies and his work has been highlighted in professional journals such as the Journal of
Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology. Dr. Dorsey has also served as an adjunct
professor at George Mason University where his teaching efforts focused on graduate level
applications of multivariate statistics.
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RICK HENSE, Ph.D.
Selection Project Manager
Capital One
Rick Hense, Ph.D. is a selection project manager for Capital One, a Fortune 500 financial
services organization. Rick is responsible for developing, implementing, and validating
corporate-wide selection processes. Prior to Capital One, he managed selection and recruitment
for the City of Largo, Florida. During graduate school, Rick held internships at GTE and
Psychological Assessment Resources.
Rick earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in I-O Psychology from the University of South Florida and a
B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida. He has published articles in Social Cognition
and the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
DENNIS MICHAEL, Ph.D.
Vice President of Performance Standards
Watkins Motor Lines, Inc.
Dennis Michael is currently the Vice President of Performance Standards at Watkins Motor
Lines, Inc. headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Watkins is a near billion-dollar transportation
company with 10,000 employees at 133 locations through out the country.
In his current position, he is responsible for the areas of process engineering, continuous quality
improvement, operations system planning, training, and strategic planning at Watkins. Previous
to this position, he was the Director in Human Resources overseeing training, staffing, recruiting,
and HRIS for the company.
Prior to joining Watkins, Dennis was with Eckerd Drug Company for nine years where he served
as the director of such areas as compensation, employee relations, customer service, operations
analysis, and training. Before coming to Eckerd, he worked for GTE Data Services as their
manager of personnel administration and EEO/ Affirmative Action.
Dennis obtained his Masters degree in experimental psychology and his doctoral degree in
industrial-organizational psychology from the University of South Florida. He is a member of
the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology, the American Psychological Association,
the Society for Human Resource Management, ASTD, and the Society of Psychologists in
Management.
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PATRICIA R. PEDIGO, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant in Strategic Change
PricewaterhouseCoopers
300 Atlantic Street
Stamford, CT 06901
860-241-7393 or 610-909-6470 (mobile)
patricia.r.pedigo@us.pwcglobal.com
Pat is a Principal Consultant in Strategic Change at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She has over
15 years of consulting, management, international and industry experience in building
competitive organization designs and governance systems, aligning organization strategies to
market and customer requirements, and leading organizations through significant change.
Pat has extensive experience working with senior executives in building and implementing
solutions. She is an experienced project manager having led significant work efforts in B2B
eMarkeplace, SAP and corporate organization redesign projects. Pat is also a subject matter
expert in the areas of organization strategy including e-business and customer focused
solutions (CRM), organization design and development, strategic alignment, market and
customer analysis, leadership and team development, governance and management programs,
selection and staffing programs, culture change, performance management, and reward
systems. She has extensive experience in the analysis of employee and customer data,
translating those data into effective designs and change strategies, and securing support from
senior executive management for implementation. Pat is a member of the Strategic Change
Leadership team for the East Business Unit and is an instructor in PwC’s Strategic Change eBusiness and Sales/Channel Transformation classes. She has also been an instructor in the
MBA program at the Pace University Lubin Graduate School of Business. Prior to joining
PwC, Pat was an Executive Consultant and Engagement Manager with the IBM Consulting
Group. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology and is a licensed Psychologist.
JILL RISCHALL
HR Consultant
Verizon Workforce Development
Jill began her career with GTE Corporation, now Verizon Communications, in 1984. She has
served in various Human Resources positions in the areas of organizational learning,
management education, and employee development.
In her present position as a HR Consultant in Workforce Development, Jill is responsible for
projects in the areas of e-Learning, New Employee Orientation, 1st and 2nd Level Performance,
and the General Management and Functional training curriculum. One of her main
responsibilities is in the area of e-Learning. She manages the business and professional
development e-Learning library and is project lead on the enterprise-wide launch of Workforce
Development’s e-Learning via NetLearn. The e-Learning strategy supports the company’s
commitment to develop all employees for new opportunities and to keep their skills and
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knowledge at a competitive level by establishing a learner controlled anytime, anywhere
environment whenever it is feasible to do so. She received two Team Excellence Awards (1999
& 2000) for her involvement and contributions in the e-Learning projects.
Jill graduated with distinction from Illinois’ DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois with an MA
in Curriculum Development. She is originally from the Midwest and has lived in Hurst, Texas
for almost 17 years with her husband of 25 years.
PAUL E. SPECTOR, Ph.D.
Professor and Program Director
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, University of South Florida
Paul has been on the faculty of the psychology department at USF since 1982. He is currently the
director of the industrial/organizational psychology doctoral program. He has been an active
researcher and contributor to the literature of the field. His research interests involve the health
and well-being of employees, including the areas of counterproductive work behavior, employee
well-being, job satisfaction, job stress, cross-national comparisons, and turnover. His work
appears in many of the leading journals of the field, including Academy of Management Journal,
Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Psychological Bulletin. He is an
associate editor for Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, and the
point/counterpoint editor for Journal of Organizational Behavior. He has written five books,
including an I/O psychology textbook. He was listed as one of the 50 highest impact researchers
(from over 102,000) in psychology worldwide in a 1991 study by the Institute for Scientific
Information. He received his Ph.D. in I/O psychology from USF in 1975.
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JAMES N. THOMAS, Ph.D.
Staffing and Assessment Team Leader
Development Dimensions International
Responsibilities
James Thomas is a staffing and assessment team leader in DDI’s Atlanta, Georgia regional
office. Jim’s responsibilities include:
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Managing a team of consultants supporting projects throughout eastern North America.
Managing the development and implementation of large-scale staffing and assessment
programs.
Consulting with clients to determine appropriate staffing and assessment strategies.
Developing and implementing assessment processes that combine assessment center
technology with computer-based delivery systems.
Conducting research to support the effectiveness and defensibility of assessment
technologies.
Key Capabilities and Experience
Jim has extensive experience managing large and complex staffing and assessment system
projects. These projects involve the development and implementation of systems throughout
North America and around the world. Recently, Jim was assigned to lead a team of more than
100 DDI associates that developed and implemented a recruitment and staffing system for a
major pharmaceutical firm. To date, this process has screened approximately 50,000 candidates
for positions throughout North America.
Jim has extensive experience designing and implementing staffing and assessment systems for
large industrial facilities around the world. He has developed a wide range of assessment tools
and techniques including work simulations, paper-and-pencil tests, and video-based assessment.
His experience includes work with organizations in the following sectors: materials
manufacturing, mining, automotive manufacturing, aerospace, automotive sales and service,
chemicals, insurance, healthcare, and financial services.
On a recent project, Jim was on international assignment to support the start-up of a major
petrochemical refinery complex. He helped structure and staff the Human Resources department,
designed and developed all staffing processes required to fill the organization’s 850 vacancies,
and managed the implementation of the staffing system that drew candidates from Asia, Africa,
and Europe.
Before joining DDI, Jim was a project director for Wilson Learning Corporation in Orlando,
Florida. Jim also worked as a research psychologist for the U.S. Department of the Navy. Jim
received his doctorate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of South
Florida in Tampa. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Society
for Industrial/Organizational Psychology. He has presented at numerous regional and national
forums. He also co-authored a chapter for the Job Analysis Handbook that discusses multimethodological approaches to job analysis.
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RICHARD M. VOSBURGH, Ph.D.
Vice President, Human Resources
Compaq Computer North America
Rich Vosburgh is Vice President-Human Resources for Compaq Computer Corporation’s North
America division. He has responsibility for 17,000 employees who produce $21 Billion in
revenue (and roughly half the corporation’s earnings). Prior to that, Rich was Director of
Organization Effectiveness for the corporation—During a time of great change, when the
integration of Tandem and Digital were in process and the CEO and most of his staff were let go
by the Board.
Rich has over 20 years’ post-Ph.D. experience in many highly respected organizations. His
experience encompasses specialist and generalist HR; domestic and international; field and
headquarters; internal and external consulting; and spin-off, start-up and fix-it assignments. He
has been Vice President of Human Resources for a division of Campbell Soup Company and its
spin-off, Vlasic Foods International; for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts; and for Mervyn’s, a division
of the Dayton Hudson Corporation. He spent ten years within two foodservice companies of
PepsiCo (Taco Bell and Pizza Hut), in corporate Management Development and Training and as
a division director of HR in the field. Rich was an organizational development executive with
Volkswagen at their headquarters in Germany and was instrumental in improving customer
satisfaction globally. He also reported to the President of The Gallup Organization and both sold
and serviced employee and customer satisfaction accounts and talent assessment accounts.
Rich’s Ph.D. is in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, from the University of South
Florida (1979). He has been married nineteen years with a daughter (15) and son (11). He
enjoys professional writing, having authored numerous national journal articles and one book
published by Van Nostrand Reinhold (1987), Career Development for Engineers and Scientists.
Rich served on the Human Resource Planning Society’s 2000 Conference committee and is
currently Co-Chairing the HRPS 2002 Conference committee.
BRUCE WERTHEIMER, Ph.D.
Verizon Workforce Development
Management Education and Employee Development
Since May 1996, Bruce Wertheimer has been a manager in Workforce Development at Verizon
(formerly GTE) in Florida. For several years, he managed the development of the core curricula
for all management and front line hourly employees. The program combined organization
development, training, & business communications and was delivered to all 15,000 management
level and 40,000 hourly employees in GTE Telephone Operations. The program included a
feedback mechanism to senior management and re-connected management and hourly
employees. He also had oversight of the training of second line managers who facilitated the
program's sessions with the hourly employees.
In his present position, Bruce manages the development of the leadership skills courses for all
levels of management employees up to senior executives. One of the courses has on-line pre-
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class work, in-class, and on-line post-class follow-up. This main purpose of these courses is to
drive initiatives and action plans from the upper level courses down to the lower level ones in
order to improve execution of Verizon's strategies back on the job. He also is responsible for the
Center for Lessons Learned, an on-line web site with a searchable collection of success stories
and best practices from within the company.
Bruce has a doctorate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of South
Florida (class of 1989). He lives in Lutz, Florida with his wife and their two precocious children,
ages six (the girl) and three (the boy).
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DAVE WESTON, Ph.D.
Consultant
Dave Weston received his Ph.D. from USF. His 18 years of post-graduate experience encompass
a wide range of activities spanning the breath of Industrial Organizational Psychology and
Human Resources. Specialty areas include measurement and assessment, process redesign, and
change management. He has been called to consult with senior executives during several
corporate mergers and reorganizations and has served as project manager on several large
technology implementations. In his role with Advantage Hiring, Inc. Dave led the professional
services team to customize and implement web bases screening and assessment tools as well as
new product development and deployment. He has published and presented in the areas of
interview techniques, test development, job analysis, learning, performance management,
personnel assessment, and mobile computing. Dave serves as a member of the Virginia Board
of Psychology Examination Committee for licensure. An advocate of the virtual workforce,
Dave resides and works in Virginia Beach.
AMY POWELL YOST, Ph.D.
Selection Manager
Capital One
Dr. Yost received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Southwestern Oklahoma
State University and her Master of Science degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University.
She earned her doctorate degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of
South Florida in 1991.
Dr. Yost is currently a Selection Manager at Capital One Financial Corporation, where she
oversees the development, validation, and use of the company’s selection systems. Prior to
joining Capital One, Dr. Yost was a Senior Project Director at Psychological Assessment
Resources, a test development and publishing company. As a graduate student, she worked as a
Selection Consultant for GTE (now Verizon) and taught several senior-level undergraduate
courses, including Tests and Measurement, Social Psychology, and Industrial Psychology. Dr.
Yost also completed internships at the City of Clearwater Human Resources Department, where
she was involved with the design and development of selection tests and programs, and at the
Jack Eckerd Corporation, where she designed and conducted employee surveys.
A published test author (The Self-Directed Search Career Explorer with Dr. John Holland and
the Self-Directed Search (SDS) Professional User’s Guide and the SDS Technical Manual with
Dr. John Holland and Dr. Barbara Fritzsche), Dr. Yost has also co-authored articles published in
the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Journal of Personality
and Social Behavior.
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