Management Committee

Dr. Gerald Nadler

Gerald Nadler has served as President of The Center for Breakthrough Thinking Inc. since its founding in 1988. Dr. Nadler is the IBM Chair Emeritus in Engineering Management and Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California. He was previously on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Washington University in St. Louis, and Purdue University (where he received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees), and accepted five invited visiting professorships, four abroad.

Dr. Nadler began his career in industry, and has held senior leadership positions as Vice-Presidency - General Operations for a 400-employee company and served 16 years on the Board of Directors of a $300M manufacturing company. Dr. Nadler has led many consulting engagements in almost every organizational sector.

He has written or co-authored over 200 published articles and fifteen books, several of which are translated into eight other languages. He serves on the Los Angeles County Quality and Productivity Commission, the Board of Directors of the USC Credit Union and previously was a three-year elected member of a Board of Education for a mid-size school district in the St. Louis area. He has received over 25 national and international awards for his work.

Dr. William Chandon

William Chandon is a Vice President of the Center for Breakthrough Thinking. He has over fifteen years experience in the fields of organizational development and business transformation. He has consulted with many and varied government, non-profit, and commercial businesses from many industries. Dr. Chandon teaches management at St. Mary's College of California.

He received a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Washington State University (1979), Master of Arts in Behavioral Science-Conflict Management, California State University (1995), and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems, The Fielding Graduate Institute (2000).

Mr. Steven S. Benson

Mr. Benson joined the Center in 2002 and serves as its Vice President - Development. He has held senior leadership positions with both public and private companies; his experience includes positions as S.V.P. of Operations, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President. Mr. Benson combines his knowledge of the Center's methodologies with his successful track record of business leadership in supporting the Center's activities.

Mr. Benson has extensive experience in solving complex business problems including financial turnarounds, financial and operational restructurings, product innovations and new business startups.

Mr. Benson is a CPA, holds a BS in accounting from Eastern Michigan University, a Masters degree in Organizational Development, and is a doctoral student at the Fielding Graduate Institute in Human and Organizational Systems.

George Hathaway

George Hathaway is a Vice President of the Center. He specializes in helping organizations through the creation and execution of leadership development initiatives. He has extensive experience in the design of training curricula and programs in collaboration with leadership initiatives.

Until his retirement in June 2006, he was AIGs Director of Leadership and Executive Development. In that capacity, he had global responsibility for managing the developmental activities and programs for the company's key leaders. He has consulted with (and trained) members of AIG's Board of Directors as well as the company's senior leadership.

Mr. Hathaway was with AIG Corporate Training since December 31, 1987. He spent his early career at the Insurance Company of North America (INA) and the Securities Operations division of Bankers Trust Company. He graduated from Colgate University in 1966 with a BA in Geography and spent the next three years in the Army. He is a member of ASTD and the Society of CPCU (a professional insurance certification) and is past president of the New York Chapter of the International Society for Performance Improvement. He is currently a master's candidate (leadership) at Capella University.

Advisory Committee

Eric Bredenberg - National Sales Manager, Thomson Heinle
Shaun Browne - CEO, Battlefield Sports Inc.
William Chestnut - Systems Analyst, Codesmith Inc.
Noel Coburn - Partner, PraxisNow (Ireland)
Eyal Kaminka - Co-CEO, Center for Breakthrough Thinking Ltd. (Israel)
Michael Rigg - CEO, Operations Associates LLP
Rod White - Manager, Grounds Landscape Operations, University of Washington-Seattle