Andrea J. Simon, Ph.D., corporate anthropologist, is President and Founder of Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC), a consulting company focused on helping companies grow through change. With over twenty years of experience as a senior executive with financial services and healthcare institutions and her academic research and experience as an anthropologist studying change, her vision is to help companies discover new ways to “see, feel and think” about their businesses.  Andi applies the theoretical approach of Blue Ocean Strategy® to help companies better identify unmet needs among nonusers and create demand in new market space.  A trained, certified facilitator in InnovationGames®,  she uses meaningful  play and gaming to work with companies—and even with communities-- to develop  creative solutions to respond to changing business environments
Additionally, she often finds that during changing times corporate cultures are out of sync with the need to transform a company’s business ventures. Applying approaches well-researched and validated, she is particularly effective at understanding how to help companies diagnose and change their culture. Using a proprietary ChangeMap™ process, SAMC helps companies develop their change strategy and implement it effectively.
Previously, Andi was an Assistant Professor and director of the School of American Studies at Ramapo College in New Jersey and in 2006 a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis.  Her work has received numerous awards and recognition for her branding and marketing, and she has appeared on ABC Good Morning America, Bloomberg Television, in Business Week and the Washington Post discussing her approach to change.  She speaks widely on “Change Matters” having presented over 140 speeches and workshops for Vistage International, Tec, and a wide range of associations from Family Firm Institute, to Marketing Organizations, National Association of Electrical Distributors, and the American Bankers Association, among others.