Laura D. Peterson

PMD, Harvard Business School; S.B. Economics, MIT

Laura Peterson is Ventana’s President and CEO. She provided the funds, equipment and contracts to start Ventana in 1985. Ventana was established to provide an organization the ability to achieve objectives through routinely providing strategic visibility, foresight, and therefore real options. Ventana develops, integrates and tests advanced technology to produce high quality models, and embeds these models in both automated and decision support systems. Over Ventana’s 20 year history Ventana has become a magnet for world class modeling and scientific personnel and has also developed enduring relationships with clients. Prior to Ventana, Laura managed large organizations in the computer industry specializing in advanced automated testing and field service logistics planning and control.

David W. Peterson

Ph.D., S.M., S.B. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT

David Peterson is Ventana’s Chairman and Director of Technology. He is internationally recognized for system dynamics and optimal control modeling expertise in developing systems for business strategy optimization and enterprise-wide decision support. His methodology emphasizes the testing of models with incomplete and approximate data. His over thirty years experience includes successful engagements in R&D management, new market entry, pricing, marketing and service strategies, and control of business enterprises. He holds several patents for features of Ventana's Vensim software which enable semi-automatic detection and prevention of errors, and rapid comprehension of complex results. David is widely published and has presented invited papers at international forums.

William B. Arthur

M.S. Nuclear Engineering, University of Illinois; S.B. Mechanical Engineering and S.B. Industrial Management, MIT

Bill Arthur has been a senior consultant/modeler in Ventana since 1987. Prior to joining Ventana, Bill served in the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power Program, and then spent eleven years as a manager/researcher at the national research facilities in Oak Ridge, TN. His nuclear engineering training supports a specialization in the understanding of corporate data to guide and test decision-support technology. While with Ventana he has developed decision-support models in industries including aerospace, logistics, hospitality, electronics, chemicals, made-to-order manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail, insurance, and housing. Bill’s work in the pharmaceutical industry for one client is overturning traditional, universal practice: through better understanding of their data, the client is systematically pursuing a different product design, launch and life cycle management.

Robert L. Eberlein

Ph.D. Management, MIT; B.A. Economics, University of British Columbia

Bob Eberlein has responsibility for the development and support of Ventana’s Vensim software, the industry standard for the development, testing and calibration of system dynamics models. His ability to respond to customer needs and facilitate new and effective ways of approaching modeling problems is without parallel. His effective management of software development is the result of a deep knowledge of software, combined with extensive experience with applications of the technology to project management, economic development, manufacturing, marketing, telecommunications, equipment maintenance and other areas. Bob is Vice President Electronic-Presence and a past President of the System Dynamics Society, and has been active in the Society since it was founded in 1984. He teaches a graduate course in model analysis techniques as well as running short workshops.

Thomas S. Fiddaman

Ph.D. System Dynamics /Operations Management, MIT Sloan School of Management; B.A. Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth

Tom Fiddaman joined Ventana in 1997 and has twenty years of experience in dynamic modeling. He has applied models to management and public policy issues, including the economic implications of global climate change, strategic electricity sector models for testing pollution reduction strategies, and natural gas supply and demand. Tom's business consulting includes models of next-generation technologies and international consumer markets. For a multi-national consumer packaged goods company he optimized pricing and advertising allocation. For IBM, he examined the future of B2B networks and the thresholds required to make them succeed. His dissertation research, with continuing development has analyzed energy-economy interactions and their implications for climate policy. Recently he has made model-based comparisons of low-carbon technologies and compared carbon taxes and permits. For DOE-NETL, he developed a strategic, top-down multi-pollutant model of the electric power sector in China. At RIVM and MIT in the 90s, he worked on simulation games for climate policy and collaborated on models that became the precursors of Integrated Assessment model components in use today. Tom received the 2006 Forrester Prize, awarded for the best contribution to the field of system dynamics published in the preceding five years.

Daniel R. Goldner

Ph.D. Physical Oceanography, MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program; B.A. Oceanography and Atmospheric Science, Harvard University

Dan Goldner works with clients to build models that provide the maximum aid to decision-making from available data and expertise. He has taught graduate-level modeling for oceanography and environmental science and has received a teaching award from MIT. Dan has helped clients develop and apply simulations of pharmaceutical marketing, electronic commodity pricing, spacecraft engineering, consumer product sales, financial derivatives trading, retail banking, and municipal water supply. He currently leads the National Airspace System Strategy Simulator project for Ventana, modeling US aviation policy, infrastructure, and market forces to support FAA strategy and the design of the Next Generation Air Transportation System.

Marios A. Kagarlis

Ph.D. Physics, University of Pennsylvania; M.S. Physics, Carnegie Mellon University; S.B. Physics, MIT

Marios Kagarlis joined Ventana as Chief Scientist in 2005. A nuclear physicist by training, he is a specialist in simulation systems at the interface among data analysis, mathematical modeling, and software development. As a scientist at international laboratories including Los Alamos and Saclay, an Associate Research Professor at Niels Bohr Institute, and the Simulations Coordinator at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, for over ten years he contributed to fundamental research pioneering experiments, successful theories, and software tools. In the five years prior to 2005 he developed a model of pedestrian behavior and led its implementation in Monte Carlo into a multi-agent system, the standard for large-scale simulations of crowds worldwide, informing the design, operation, and safety of public venues such as railway stations and stadiums. He is the author of thirty refereed publications as well as two patent applications, and the recipient of a Marie Curie Fellowship (EU) as well as grants by the Danish Research Council and French IN2P3. Currently he is developing a model for the U.S. DOE, probing interactions between the economy, the use of energy resources, and the environment.

James Henry Hines

Ph.D. System Dynamics, MIT; MBA Finance and Statistics, University of Chicago; B.A. English and Anthropology, Amherst College

Jim Hines focuses on model-based tools and processes that deepen managers’ wisdom. Prior to joining Ventana in 2005, Jim taught system dynamics for a decade at MIT. His Applications course provided a laboratory for involving clients in modeling and typically accommodated ten to fifteen simultaneous consulting engagements. To make modeling easier and faster, Jim and colleagues developed a component-based technology for “modeling at conversation speed.” And, to help managers extract insight from models, Jim is moving forward eigenvalue-based theory and software. Before MIT, Jim was a senior consultant with Pugh Roberts and then worked independently. Jim has consulted for organizations in North and South America, Europe, and Africa in a range of industries including electronics, aerospace, shipbuilding, finance, software, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, law, government, and publishing. Jim is a past president of the System Dynamics Society.

Martha G. Miller

Ph.D. Social Psychology, Harvard University; B.A. Social Psychology, University of Indiana

Martha Miller heads Organizational Development for Ventana, specializing in the successful deployment and implementation of predictive technology for organizations. She is also expert in cross-cultural and non-verbal communication, in which she has been consulted by a number of leading corporations as well as NASA, the U.S. Foreign Service, and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Prior to consulting full time, she served as Associate Dean at the Yale School of Organization and Management, and the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and taught courses on communication and organizational behavior.

Seth Cordes

B.S. System Dynamics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Seth is a technical consultant and provides Ventana’s IT support. He provides model interface development and data analysis expertise in Ventana’s engagements. His contributions include the interface for the National Airspace System Strategy Simulator, the pharmaceutical marketing model, and public policy modeling (tourism, Social Security, and infrastructure investment).

Ben B. Arthur

MS, Geography, University of Tennessee BA, Economics and History, University of Texas

Ben Arthur provides data analysis and data management support to modeling engagements. His work focuses on data cleaning and data mining, especially with longitudinal and single agent data. Prior to joining Ventana, Ben worked in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. His projects at Ventana have included work in pharmaceuticals and aerospace.

Mary M. Neil

B.A. Business Administration, University of Massachusetts

Mary Martins Neil is Treasurer of Ventana, and is responsible for planning and operations. She came to Ventana in 1985 from a position as operations manager of a software consulting firm. From 1978-1984 she served in logistics planning, supervision, and education at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Ronald L. Suiter

MBA University of Southern California; B.S. Electrical Engineering, Lehigh University

Ron Suiter is responsible for program development and project management in Ventana, primarily in transportation, energy, and complex system management. His many years applying Ventana technology to business strategy problems, first as a customer and for the past six years as an independent consultant, gives him a unique perspective on how and where these tools can be applied for greatest impact. His depth and breadth of project leadership experience is very effective in guiding implementation success. Ron has led the development of Ventana Public Sector projects including for the Federal Aviation Administration and multi-agency Joint Program Development Office, the Department of Energy and National Energy Technology Lab, and NASA Headquarters and Langley Research Center. He has assisted Ventana with projects for major international energy companies. Prior to this Ron was General Manager Product Definition for one of Boeing’s major airplane programs in Southern California capping this phase of his career as an engineering manager and systems designer. At Boeing he led projects using Ventana technology to solve complex system management problems involving airplane design, manufacturing, and logistics. For the past three years he has been a guest lecturer in system design for the MIT School of Aerospace Engineering.