Biography of Mary Ann Allison

  She is chairman and chief cybernetics officer of The Allison Group, a New York-based international consulting firm specializing in improving organizational architecture, behavior, and overall effectiveness. Using proven principles from complexity science, Ms. Allison combines business experience and the latest in scientific learning to develop results-oriented solutions to organizational performance challenges and problems.

 Ms. Allison speaks to companies in the financial services, technology, biotechnology, and healthcare industries, as well as to government agencies and professional organizations. 

Allison co-wrote The Complexity Advantage:  How the Science of Complexity Can Help Your Business Achieve Peak Performance (McGraw-Hill 1999, a BusinessWeek Book). 

Ms. Allison's experience includes internal and external management, strategic planning, and product development and delivery.  In 1996, she co-founded and was president of Human Ordered Technology, an Internet start-up company specializing in the development of branded Internet services and intelligent agent software.  Ms. Allison was with Citibank for 16 years where she worked with emerging technologies on a global basis. She was part of the team that took the credit card division, now a major contributor to Citicorp's profits, from near bankruptcy to profitability.  Ms. Allison was also part of the team that developed banking by personal computer, opening the first virtual branch bank, and she created Citibank's global banking-by-telephone line of services. 

In addition to her most recent book on complexity theory, Ms. Allison has presented numerous articles and papers, as well as published Managing Up, Managing Down, a practical book on middle management techniques for supervisors (Simon & Schuster 1984).

Ms. Allison's experience extends to her involvement with educational and cultural institutions.  She is a frequent guest lecturer at universities, school and professional organizations.  Her first book, Through the Valley of Death (Doubleday 1983), is a murder mystery which she co-wrote with her husband, Eric Allison. 

In addition to global speaking engagements, consulting, and writing, Ms. Allison scuba dives, studies karate, enjoys art, theater and film; and writes poetry.  She is currently conducting research on virtual community. 

Ms. Allison delivers customized programs and workshops that help business executives understand the practical ways in which the science of complexity can help them transform their businesses into more effective organizations.  She also delivers speeches on virtual community, mainly to academic audiences and professional organizations.  She is highly sought after both as a speaker and as a thought leader. 

Among the groups she has spoken to previously are:      

Alliance for Public Technology
American Society for Training and Development
Avis Rent a Car
Chicago Regional Transportation Agency
Citicorp
Comdex
The Conference Board
Edinburgh School of Business
Hewlett-Packard
Ideascope
Let's Talk Business Network
LoBue Technology
Long Island University
New York University:  Stern Business School Sachs Communications
Scient Scottish Enterprises
State Street Corporation
University of Carolina
Global Business