Steve Hirshfeld (Managing Director) helps major global corporations understand the complex external forces surrounding their industry, and how to develop winning strategies and new businesses. He is focused on delivering practical solutions that make clients stronger in the marketplace right now while also solidifying future success. He works closely with them to create the foresight needed to master uncertainty in times of rapid global change and industry transformation. Steve covers a wide range of industries including industrial, consumer, technology, healthcare, food & beverage, and service companies in the United States, Europe and Asia. He is the Director of Managing Uncertainty’s Disruptive Events Assessment Program (DEAP).Steve has worked extensively in the area of innovation. Prior to Managing Uncertainty Steve worked for 24 years at Honeywell where he was Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development. Steve led Honeywell’s transformation initiative that defined the company’s future strategic direction and also managed its Corporate Growth Venture Fund. Steve was recognized as the company’s strategic architect and advocate for new ideas and innovative business expansion. Steve has the ability to take a longer term view of macro trends and external forces and the experience to bring these formative possibilities into bottom line results. Steve recently published an article in the Journal of Business Strategy on the use of jazz behaviors as a way to support business strategy renewal and innovation. Steve has a B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa), and an M.A. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and Measurement from the University of Minnesota.

Noël Marts (Managing Director) helps leading corporations master uncertainty in times of rapid global change. She worked for 21 years in The Coca-Cola Company Corporate Marketing Division, where she initiated the renowned Consumer Insights/Trends Department, Noël understands the necessity and the challenges of turning consumer insights into actionable business opportunities. Noël has a unique profile – a B.S. in Sociology, a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice/Urban Life, decades of participating in grass-roots movements, and personal involvement with diverse social groups and ideas. She has lived in the Middle East (starting school in Algeria) and New Zealand, and has traveled the world extensively during her years as a market researcher. She also is a co-founder of a performance troupe dedicated to educating the public about environmental issues. This rich background enables her to blend a number of perspectives (social, psychological, political, artistic, and philosophical) with strong market research, strategic marketing, and business acumen skills. As a global consumer trends expert, author, ethnographer, and consultant with futurists, marketers, and executives, Noël has created a palette of tools and resources that provide practical applications to impact the bottom line. Her lifelong passion is understanding how people think and feel. Her role within Managing Uncertainty blends a broad look at consumer insights, an overlay of creative possibility, and a strategic analysis of macro, industry, and “subject matter” trends to help clients build their current business and envision new growth opportunities.

Greg Schmid is the leader of Managing Uncertainty’s Practical Futures program. This multi-client project looks at the important economic, social, technological and organizational drivers that are transforming the business world. He has spent 35 years in forecasting and consulting, heading a research department at the New York Fed and the Strategic Planning Group at the Institute for the Future. Greg studied history and economics at Yale and Columbia.

Robert Werner, the founder of MANAGING UNCERTAINTY, is an entrepreneur who has established several leading edge consulting firms. He conceptualized and founded The Washington Forum, the first consulting firm in the country to analyze the impact of U.S. and foreign government policy and political decisions on the U.S. financial markets and the economy. In addition he co-founded the economic and financial part of the Gallup (Poll ) Organization. As a result of his various endeavors, Werner maintains relationships with senior officials in many leading U.S. and foreign corporations plus a significant number of foreign governments.He also co-founded an international consulting firm with a former head of the CIA. The foundation of Werner's career was his early concentration on investments and economics : he was the Chief investment Officer and Economist for two banks and also worked on Wall Street for several years.