Mary Ann Allison is a futurist who conducts research into the nature of community and social change and a principal of the Allison Group, a New York-based international consulting firm which works with businesses, governments, and NGOs to improve their capacity to generate positive results in rapidly-changing environments.  Her approach combines skinned knees (real business experience ranging from Citigroup VP to directing an Internet start-up) and rigorous scientific theory.

Dr. Allison's research is into the nature of societal change and changes in community, with a focus on virtual community.  She has developed a robust model which enables individuals, groups, and organizations to understand and ground themselves in the current changes taking place in Western society. The model has shown itself to be highly predictive and she is now exploring these capabilities.

Allison's experience includes internal and external management, strategic planning, and product development and delivery.  Allison was with Citibank for 16 years where she worked with emerging technologies on a global basis.  She was part of the team that took the credit card division, now a major contributor to Citicorp's profits, from near bankruptcy to profitability. Allison was also part of the team that developed banking by personal computer.  She opened the first virtual branch bank and created Citibank's global banking-by-telephone line of services. 

In 1996, she co-founded Human Ordered Technology, an Internet start-up company specializing in the development of branded Internet services and intelligent agent software.

Allison co-wrote The Complexity Advantage:  How the Science of Complexity Can Help Your Business Achieve Peak Performance, which the Wall Street Journal described by saying: "Anyone who grasps the concepts in The Complexity Advantage will have the power to change a business in startling ways. ... These are big ideas."

In addition Dr. Allison has presented numerous articles and papers, as well as writing Managing Up, Managing Down, a practical book on middle management techniques.  She is active in various cultural institutions and is a guest lecturer at universities, schools, and professional organizations.

Allison's first book, Through the Valley of Death (Doubleday 1983), is a murder mystery which she co-wrote with her husband, Eric Allison. She is a certified New York City Artist in Residence for her poetry.

She has both an M.B.A. and a Ph.D., the latter in Culture and Communications from New York University.

Among the groups she has spoken to previously are:

Let's Talk Business Network

LoBue Technology

Long Island University

New England Complex Systems Institute

New York University:  Stern Business School

Sachs Communications

Scient

Scottish Enterprise

State Street Corporation

University of Carolina Global Business Forum