Carl Spetzler

Carl Spetzler PhD is an author, speaker, and consultant on business decision making. He specializes in strategy development, business innovation, and strategic change management, and has directed the development of innovative business strategies in many diverse organizations, such as capital-intensive companies, financial institutions, high-technology manufacturers, and systems businesses.

Dr. Spetzler, the chief executive officer of Strategic Decisions Group, has more than 40 years of experience working with top management and boards of directors to improve the quality of decisions. He has led numerous senior executive retreats, workshops, courses and lectures on strategic decision making and risk management topics. He has conducted and published research on assessing subjective judgments regarding uncertainty and developing a corporate risk policy.

Dr. Spetzler has led numerous organizations in developing and implementing decision quality (DQ). DQ, a systematic framework for finding the greatest value from a decision, is rapidly being embraced, particularly in decision-intensive industries like oil and gas and pharmaceuticals. In 2016, Dr. Spetzler and his co-authors Hannah Winter and Jennifer Meyer published Decision Quality: Value Creation from Better Business Decisions (Wiley).

Beginning at Stanford in 2006, and continuing at The University of Texas and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Spetzler has championed the creation of certificate programs in Strategic Decision and Risk Management. These non-degree programs for mid-career professionals have trained thousands of individuals in the principles of strategic decision and risk management, and more than 1,300 have completed the necessary course work to earn a certificate.

Dr. Spetzler serves on the boards of the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Decision Education Foundation, and the Society of Decision Professionals. In 2004, Dr. Spetzler received the Ramsey Medal, the highest honor awarded by the Decision Analysis Society of INFORMS for lifetime contributions to the field. In 2006, he was inducted into the SRI Alumni Hall of Fame for his contributions to the world of financial services. In 2008, he was named by Treasury & Risk magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in finance. Dr. Spetzler received a PhD and an MBA in economics and business administration and a BS in chemical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a member of INFORMS and a fellow in the Society of Decision Professionals.