Careers in Consulting Psychology

Careers in Consulting Psychology is a free webinar series that will be delivered monthly from September 2017 through January 2017. The purpose of the webinar series is to provide graduate students, early career psychologists and anyone interested in learning more about consulting psychology, with a forum to learn more about opportunities within the field and engage in Q &A’s with experts in the field.  A special guest speaker will be featured for each webinar. A different consulting psychologist will speak about their own vocational journey, how they got into the field, the types of organizations in which they have worked, the kinds of work they do and services they provide, and key insights to help participants to take a deep dive into this unique and rewarding career path.

Learn More About the Presenters

What is Consulting Psychology?

• Focuses on how consulting psychology addresses interventions at the individual, group and organizational levels.

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Greg Pennington, Ph.D. serves as Managing Partner for PC|G. His unique consulting perspective comes from internal and external roles. As a former V.P. Senior Leader Development and Planning for a global multi-industrial company, his team was responsible for enterprise succession planning, leadership expectation models, global senior leadership forums and enterprise accelerated learning program. His experience in human resources, training and development, diversity and inclusion, and executive coaching, include leadership roles with Hay Group, RHR International, and J. Howard & Associates. His recent client engagements include financial services, public accounting, manufacturing, communications, and consumer products. Along with his team, he has provided executive coaching support for one-on-one engagements and for enterprise-wide programs.

He approaches executive coaching and leadership development as a partnership, providing patient yet persistent support to identify critical areas for change and behaviorally specific actions to take. He builds commitment by connecting personally with clients and establishing collaborative relationships within organizations. He works with clients to clarify goals in the context of their business objectives. By integrating a range of feedback, he encourages clients to identify key leadership moments for leveraging strengths and addressing development areas.

Greg holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a B.A. degree cum laude in Psychology and Social Relations from Harvard University. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, President for the Society of Consulting Psychology, and Past President Atlanta Chapter Association of Black Psychologists. Married over 30 years, with two children, his passion-pursuits include drawing, painting, and competitive Judo.

Consulting Psychology Careers

• Focuses on the different types of career paths available to consulting psychologists including counseling, clinical and industrial-organizational psychology.

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Jamie Lewis Smith, PhD is a transformative and accomplished professional with over 15 years experience guiding individuals, leaders, and organizations through change.  She specializes in organizational and leadership assessments, workplace culture change, and leadership development within healthcare about which she has published and presented internationally.  Jamie has helped leaders and organizations as an internal consultant across government, non-profit, and private agencies, and recently made a career pivot into an external consulting role.  

As an Organization Development Consultant for the VHA National Center for Organization Development, she offered a broad array of services, including executive assessment and coaching, senior leadership team development, workplace environment evaluation and intervention, and leading culture change initiatives.  One highly successfully initiative was Civility, Respect, and Engagement in the Workplace (CREW), which was implemented in more than 100 medical centers, with 1,100 employee work groups and 10,000 employees participating in the program.  She was also asked to lead the Servant Leadership culture change within the VA for which she developed a Servant Leadership 360-Degree Assessment and an associated leadership development resources.  As the Organization Development Manager for Nemours Children’s Healthcare System, one of the nation’s largest integrated pediatric healthcare systems, she spearheaded the in-house creation of a suite of customized management development tools and sessions with an emphasis on instilling skills that aligned leaders’ behaviors to the organization’s desired culture, values, and strategic direction.  She also led the design and implementation of a robust, highly-regarded Physician Leadership Development Program to develop existing and high-potential physician leaders.  In her role as Director of Talent Development for MedExpress, a national leader in urgent care services, her team was responsible for development and training across the full employee lifecycle – from hire to retire – with an emphasis on strengthening the leadership pipeline.  In order to have a broader impact on leaders and organizations, she recently launched her own external consulting practice, Lewis Smith Consulting, and founded a second company, Pixel Leadership Group, which offers leadership development solutions for the digital age.

Jamie graduated with honors and Magna Cum Laude with dual majors in Psychology and Sociology from Kent State University.  She earned her MS/PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami, FL and is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Ohio.  She is very active in her professional organization, APA Division 13 Society of Consulting Psychology, as a part of the Annual Conference Planning Committee (2016 – present) and assisting with continuing education offerings.  She and her husband, Curtis, recently celebrated 21 years enjoying traveling, fine art, and craft beer together, and they are now proud parents of a wonderfully unique high-needs two-year-old, Beckett. 

Research Involvement 

• Focuses on how consulting psychologists incorporate research into their practice.

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 A. Dale Thompson, Ph.D is a seasoned business executive and consultant, a licensed psychologist, and Founder and CEO of Leadership Worth Following, LLC (LWF). Established in January 2004, LWF helps organizations identify and develop talent with the capacity, commitment, and character to become top-performing leaders worthy of followership.

Dale’s more than thirty years of business, consulting, and leadership experience have focused heavily on helping individual leaders, groups, teams, and organizations address critical talent-related issues including top leadership selection, development, and succession; Board and CEO-team effectiveness; and creating sustainable leadership systems and processes. His most recognizable clients have included prominent global firms such as 7-Eleven, AIG, BNSF, Boeing, Federal-Mogul, Freescale, Rackspace, Texas Instruments, and Walmart, as well as dynamic domestic companies such as Advance Auto Parts, H-E-B, Neiman-Marcus, NuStar Energy, PetSmart, SCAN Healthplan, USAA, and Valero Energy, to name a few.

His varied business experiences include co-founding a truckload transportation company in 1986 that served as a test bed for then cutting edge Global Positioning technology and operations-research driven business models; directly leading and supporting a leadership consulting-firm’s aggressive global expansion to more than 30 markets in 14 countries and ultimately leading all of its North American operations throughout the 1990’s; and in 2001 co-founding a significant competitor to IBM’s Global Services consulting business. He founded LWF in 2004.

Beyond consulting, Dale has made a number of recognized contributions to the fields of business and psychology. In 1986, he published what has been acknowledged as the first formal study of executive coaching. His pioneering research focused on evaluating the emerging practice of executive coaching and its effectiveness, and identifying “who changes, how much, and why” among coaching participants. In 2008, he was first author of the landmark article, “The Search for Worthy Leadership;” one of the most downloaded articles in the leadership literature since it was published. And in 2010, he was co-author of “The Character to Lead: A Closer Look at Character in Leadership;” a critically acclaimed study showing that character in leadership can be reliably defined and measured – and that character in leadership is directly related to important leadership and business outcomes.

Dale’s professional contributions were acknowledged in 2004 when The Society of Consulting Psychology presented him with the prestigious RHR International Award for Excellence in Consultation. His contributions to leadership theory and practice were acknowledged by the Society of Psychologists in Management when he was named The 2011 Distinguished Psychologist in Management; and by The Goolsby Leadership Academy at The University of Texas at Arlington when he was named its 2011 Distinguished Visiting Leader.

Dale received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is a Member and Past-President of The Society of Psychologists in Management, and was a founding member of the Advisory Board of the Goolsby Leadership Academy at the University of Texas-Arlington. He has been affiliated with the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, and the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Programs at the University of North Texas and at The University of Texas at Arlington. He is a Licensed Psychologist in the State of Texas, and a member of the American Psychological Association, The Society of Consulting Psychology, The Society of Psychologists in Management, and Dallas Executive Connection.

Career Path: External Consulting

• Focuses on external consulting careers such as individual coaching.

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Dr. Fox is a Consultant with Leadership Development Worldwide, LLC, operating out of San Diego, California. Since 2005, Anjali has worked both in industry and as a consultant. Her experience lies with global organizations ranging in size from Fortune 500 to start-up organizations across a variety of industries; these include technology, bio-technology, entertainment, consumer goods, automotive, retail, and non-profit. Anjali's focus areas include executive assessment, executive coaching and development, organizational cultural assessment, and executive team building. Anjali earned a Dual Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational /Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, San Diego. She holds a B.A. in
Psychology from the University of California, Irvine. She serves on the Board of Directors for Cents of Relief, a non profit organization dedicated to empowering victims of human trafficking, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Human Resources Strategy Forum. Anjali held an adjunct faculty role at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and is active member of the American Psychological Association Consulting Psychology division.

Career Path: Internal Consulting

• Focuses on internal consulting careers such as talent management and organizational development. 

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Dr. Matthew Del Giudice is a consulting psychologist with nearly 15 years combined experience as a consultant, HR professional and clinician. Since 2014 he has worked internally at PepsiCo in several positions focusing on leadership and organizational development. In his current role as talent management lead for PepsiCo’s growth categories, Matthew is responsible for delivering human capital solutions that enable product innovation and global brand building. Previously he worked as program lead for PepsiCo’s Senior Leader Development Center (SLDC), a comprehensive assessment and development process to increase readiness for c-suite roles. In this capacity Matthew led the expansion of SLDC across the enterprise and provided assessment feedback and development coaching to SVP’s in GM, commercial and functional roles. He also led the design of new initiatives that now supplement PepsiCo’s executive assessment architecture. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Matthew was a consultant with the Veterans Health Administration’s National Center for Organization Development, where he oversaw its executive coaching program and provided OD consultation to hospitals and program offices nationwide. In this role Matthew worked extensively with members of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES) on initiatives to build leadership capability and high performing teams.

Matthew is a member of the Society of Consulting Psychology and Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology. He has published in the academic literature on a diversity of topics including personnel selection, executive coaching, group leadership dynamics, and motivational interviewing. Matthew graduated from Bucknell University with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science. He holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and an MBA from Widener University. Upon completion of these degrees he received his program’s Outstanding Graduate Award.