Laura D. Peterson
Program for Management Development, Harvard Business School; S.B. Economics, MIT
Laura Peterson is a founder and the CEO of Ventana. Laura has worked closely with clients from a spectrum of organizations over Ventana's 30-year history. Prior to Ventana, Laura held management positions in the computer industry in Field Service, including logistics planning and advanced automated testing. In 2007, Laura received from the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative an award as a Champion of Innovation for her work in decision support for complex systems.
Benjamin B. Arthur
MS, Geography, University of Tennessee; BA, Economics and History, University of Texas
Ben Arthur performs statistical modeling, data analysis, and information management to support modeling engagements. His work focuses on time series, 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 finance, pharmaceuticals, energy, technology, and aerospace.
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.
Thomas S. Fiddaman
Ph.D. System Dynamics and 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 multipollutant 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.
Andrew P. Hill
B Sc. (Hons) Applied Statistics, Hallam University Sheffield
Andy Hill is a Director and founding member of Ventana Systems UK. He has been a practitioner of system dynamics since 1992, originally focusing on military and defense engagements. Over the last decade he has applied his expertise to pharmaceuticals, aviation, manpower planning and the economic impact of changes to marine populations. Andrew teaches several Vensim & system dynamics training courses each year in the UK, and has also provided training internationally, most recently at the World Economic Forum, Geneva.
Lee C. Jones
M Sc. Operational Analysis, London School of Economics; B Sc., (Hons) Geology, University of Liverpool
Lee Jones is a founder and the Director of Ventana Systems UK, Ltd. With 18 years experience in modeling, Lee is responsible for medium to long term planning within Ventana Systems UK. His main expertise is the application of system dynamics to the analysis of operational and strategic problems. He undertakes modeling assignments in the UK, Europe and the United States, in the pharmaceutical, construction, manufacturing, petrochemical, retail and aerospace industries. Lee also provides Vensim modeling and interface development training courses throughout Europe.
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 between data analysis, mathematical modeling, and software development. For over ten years, he contributed to fundamental research pioneering experiments, successful theories, and software tools 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. Before joining Ventana he developed a model of pedestrian behavior and led its implementation into a multi-agent system, the standard for large-scale crowd simulations informing the design, operation, and safety of public venues worldwide. Marios is the author of over thirty refereed publications and several patents, as well as the recipient of a Marie Curie Fellowship (EU) and grants by the Danish Research Council and French IN2P3. He is the lead inventor of RPX(TM), the foremost residential real-estate Index owned by Radar Logic(TM) and used as the basis of products offered by major financial institutions, and has developed a model for the U.S. DOE, probing interactions between the economy, the use of energy, and the environment.
Tony Kennedy
B Sc. (Hons) Mathematics, De Montfort University, Leicester
Tony Kennedy is a co-founder of Ventana Systems UK and is the Technical Director, responsible for UK software development and technical support to projects. His background includes computer-based simulations using both system dynamics and discrete event simulation techniques. He has extensive experience in computer simulation, mathematical modeling, software development, client/server database design and analysis, GUI design and development and Web page development. Tony helped form Ventana Systems UK in 2001. He has applied models to war-gaming, manpower, capacity planning, and maintenance issues. He is also the developer of Sable, a GUI builder for Vensim. Tony's business consulting includes models of European air traffic controller recruitment, pilot recruitment, ERP capacity planning and logistics & equipment support. Tony has taught Vensim and system dynamics across Europe. He was the lead developer for technology to allow a major networked simulation of war-games of land, air and maritime warfare.
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.
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.
David W. Peterson
Ph.D., S.M., S.B. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT
David Peterson is Ventana’s Chairman. 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, global marketing strategies, new market entry, pricing, customer 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.
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 invited to be a guest lecturer in system design for the MIT School of Aerospace Engineering.
Karl von Laudermann
B.S. Computer Science, Northeastern University
Karl joined Ventana's product development team in 2013. He is a senior software engineer with strong product development experience and a skilled object-oriented designer with an emphasis on user friendly GUI design, and clean, robust code architecture. Karl was a key contributor to the development of the Jitia System Dynamics simulation system at PA Consulting. He also has extensive experience with data acquisition, media composition, and project management systems.
Larry Yeager
MBA, Northeastern University, S.B. Management Sciences, MIT
Larry Yeager is the Head of Development and leads the future development and support of Ventana’s Vensim® software. He joined Ventana Systems in 2010. He previously served as Vice President of Development and member of senior management in several software and technology development companies. He led the development of Jitia, a System Dynamics modeling package developed and used at PA Consulting. He also led the development of many commercial software products for the banking and route distribution markets. In addition, he managed the development of handheld computers and peripherals for National Datacomputer. He has led the development of many successful applications in the areas of decision support, project management, financial planning, accounting, wafer sorting, automated test equipment, and factory automation.