Dr. Craig S. Fleisher to Join Aurora WDC as Chief Learning Officer, Launch Intelligence Kinetics and Analytical Fitness Program

[Derek Johnson]

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I am delighted to announce that Dr. Craig S. Fleisher will join Aurora WDC as Chief Learning Officer this summer to lead our Learning, Training and Development program with a specific focus on Analytical Fitness and Intelligence Kinetics.

Craig is a prolific author and world-renowned expert on intelligence analysis, former SCIP President and Meritorious Award winner and will be speaking on the future of intelligence in business at the SCIP 2011 meeting in Orlando next week.

We thought you might like to listen in on some of the highlights from a conversation I had recently with Craig and Aurora WDC's founder and chairman, Arik Johnson. If you click the video screen above you can view the HD version of the discussion on our YouTube channel.

Let me know if you have any questions about today's announcement and I hope to introduce you to Craig personally in Orlando next week. If you can't make it in person, you can also meet Craig at the SLA Conference in Philadelphia in June where he will be the Master of Ceremonies at SLA's CI Division Open House, which Aurora is proudly sponsoring. Please feel free to comment, share the video with colleagues or forward the official press release below, announcing Craig's move to Aurora.

Meanwhile, please join me, Craig and more than 1,700 other members from over 80 countries worldwide on the CI Ning community at www.CI2020.com and stay on top of all the latest about intelligence in business.

Derek L. Johnson, CFA
Chief Executive Officer
Aurora WDC

[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]

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Dr. Craig S. Fleisher to Join Aurora WDC as Chief Learning Officer, Launch Intelligence Kinetics and Analytical Fitness Program

May 5, 2011 - Madison, WI

Aurora WDC, a longtime leader in global competitive and market intelligence, announced today that Dr. Craig S. Fleisher has been named Chief Learning Officer and will join the fast-growing professional services firm on July 1, 2011.

Dr. Fleisher will lead Aurora’s Learning, Training & Development Operations focused on Analytical Fitness & Intelligence Kinetics, a breakthrough approach to developing elite intelligence analysts and programs through highly customized training. Dr. Fleisher's training agenda and program design will focus on optimizing business impact of intelligence analysis on the client's specific organization. The offering will be made available first to Aurora’s current clientele and later in the year to the intelligence marketplace at large.

Dr. Fleisher is a world-renowned scholar, researcher and instructor, has published several books and hundreds of academically refereed papers on the subjects of intelligence, analysis and competitiveness in business. He has recently served as the Dean and Professor of Management, School of Business and Public Affairs, College of Coastal Georgia, in Brunswick, GA, USA.

"The intelligence field has not done as well as it could in teaching managers and executives how to use intelligence to solve real, meaningful business problems," Dr. Fleisher said. "After more than 25 years studying intelligence in business, many spent researching organizations and intelligence teams on the concept of Analytical Fitness, I am thrilled to be joining Aurora's team where I will have a platform to elevate analyst performance the same way world-class athletes train for international competition."

Aurora’s CEO, Derek Johnson, explains the move into professional development as groundbreaking, not only for his firm, but for the whole field. "Too often we see the same limited set of intelligence methods and analytical techniques used across situations where better tools would be more appropriate. The problem is, most intelligence teams have relatively little experience applying them to their organization's specific circumstances. Analytical Fitness, working within the broader framework of Intelligence Kinetics - or how information is transformed into action - overcomes this dependence on so-called best practices. We believe this approach will help Aurora's clients focus more effectively on the most urgent business problems confronting their organization." Johnson adds, "Craig’s focus on performance measurement and improvement will also ensure that our clients can point to a tangible ROI on their intelligence investments. And, our current research clients are already seeing an immediate elevation in Aurora’s own analytical fitness within our project deliverables."

Dr. Fleisher is a Fellow and past President of the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals society, where he also won SCIP's highest honor, the Meritorious Award (2009) for lifetime contributions to the CI field. He served as the inaugural Chair of the Competitive Intelligence Foundation and was the Founding Editor of the Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management (JCIM).

Dr. Fleisher is leading a session on the future of intelligence in business at SCIP's annual international conference and exhibition in Orlando, FL on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. Dr. Fleisher will also be guest of honor at Aurora's annual Rock & Dance Party the evening of Wednesday, May 11, 2011 open to everyone attending SCIP's annual conference.

About Aurora WDC:

Founded in 1995, Aurora offers clients of every kind global primary research, competitive and market analysis, monitoring and training services, software and systems consulting, counter-intelligence, integrated program development and a network of third-party solution partners to intelligence teams and their clients worldwide. For more information visit http://www.AuroraWDC.com or call 800-924-4249.

[Ira Stening]

Congrats!
Analytical Fitness & Intelligence Kinetics - sounds good. Sounds also like a brilliant way to bring forward analytic skills and the entire profession.