personnel profile

Research Statement

Dr. Matheson, Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of SmartOrg, Inc., is a world-recognized leader in the development and application of decision analysis. In recognition of his career, Dr. Matheson was awarded the Ramsey Medal, the highest honor in the field of decision analysis, by the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS). He received the medal for managing and developing the world’s first decision analysis group and for decades of contribution to the principles and applications of decision analysis. He is also a Fellow of INFORMS.

During and after college Dr. Matheson worked at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories where he was on the design team of an early process control computer and where he co-developed their first digital solutions to magnetic and electrical field problems that revolutionized the analysis and design of many products. Here he carried out several of the earliest application of decision analysis to Westinghouse R&D project investment decisions.

In the mid 1960s, Dr. Matheson created and directed SRI International’s Decision Analysis Group, which for 15 years led the profession of decision analysis consulting. He personally supervised many pioneering application and research programs, which produced the first large-scale decision tree processing systems, early energy system planning tools, and the models for applications of decision analysis in corporate and R&D strategy, marketing, acquisition, and capital investment. He also led initial the development of R&D portfolio analysis for major industrial and pharmaceutical firms. He personally co-invented influence diagrams, which have become a standard professional tool for capturing the interrelationships among decisions, uncertainties and values. Much of this body of work is documented in the important reference work he edited in collaboration Ronald Howard in 1984 entitled: Readings in the Principles and Applications of Decision Analysis.

In 1981, Dr. Matheson co-founded the Strategic Decisions Group, where he has been a key member of the management team including being the initial President and Chair of the Executive Committee, which served as the CEO function. He also directed the Decision Analysis Practice, the R&D Practice, supervised the Real Options Practice and for two years was Managing Director of the Boston Office. He most recently held the position of Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, and he now serves on SDG’s Advisory Council. He also founded and directed the R&D Decision Quality Association, which brings together leading R&D organizations to pursue the common goal of better decision-making. Aimed a building client capabilities, this organization is a seminal predecessor and now part of our new company, SmartOrg, Inc.

Since his pioneering application of decision analysis to R&D project strategy in 1964, Dr. Matheson has continued to expand the concept to address project, portfolio, and technology strategy. His investigation of the role of R&D strategy in creating economic value has led to new benchmarks of best practices and foundational principles for transforming organizations to create more value. He has applied advanced R&D concepts in such high-tech industries as information, electronics, and pharmaceuticals, as well as in basic industries such as metals, chemicals, and energy. He has recently coauthored, with David Matheson, the highly acclaimed book The Smart Organization: Creating Value through Strategic R&D (Harvard Business School Press), which was based on extensive experience and research in strategic decision-making and management.

Degree	Discipline	Year	School
PhD	Electrical Engineering	-	Stanford University
MS	Electrical Engineering	-	Stanford University
BS	Electrical Engineering	-	Stanford University

Academic Honors & Awards

• Ramsey Medal, 1995
• INFORMS Fellow, 2004