Closing the Engagement Gap Blog

Max Caldwell is the Managing Principal of Towers Perrin’s global Workforce Effectiveness practice. In this leadership role, he helps organizations develop and implement strategies to improve workforce engagement and business performance. Max joined Towers Perrin in 1993 and is based in the firm’s New York office.

In over 20 years of consulting to business leaders, Max has focused on improving business performance through enhancing workforce, human resources and total rewards effectiveness as well as through leadership and organizational change strategies. During Max’s tenure with Towers Perrin, he has served as global change management practice leader and helped to lead the firm’s landmark Global Workforce Study, the most extensive research of its kind on what attracts, retains and engages workers around the world. Max’s prior experience includes serving as CEO of a consulting unit of the WPP Group specializing in change management and internal branding.

Max has worked with operating and HR executives in global organizations across industries. A representative list of recent projects includes:

• Leading the redesign of an integrated performance and succession management process for a global pharmaceutical and consumer products company.
• Designing an employee engagement research and action planning initiative for a leading U.S.-based health care organization.
• Shaping an organizational change strategy for a leading, global beverage company implementing a new human capital strategy.
• Facilitating a leadership and culture alignment process for the executive team of a leading electronics manufacturer.

Max is a member of the advisory board of the Human Capital Institute, a leading global organization dedicated to advancing thought leadership in the area of talent management. He has been a featured speaker at numerous conferences and has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, the BBC and others on a variety of leadership and workforce-related topics. He was also one of the people featured in a 2008 TIME Magazine article entitled “The Rage to Engage” about engaging workers to enhance productivity and performance. He holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Connecticut, Storrs and has completed professional studies in the area of leadership effectiveness.

Based in the Towers Perrin San Francisco office, Tom is a principal in our Workforce Effectiveness practice. He provides consulting services on human capital strategy, employee and organization research, organization governance and business strategy to clients in the consumer products, financial, retail, software, energy, manufacturing and biotechnology sectors, as well as to public-sector organizations.

Tom concentrates chiefly on helping clients improve the people-focused elements of business strategy implementation. He is the author of the book Human Capital: What It Is and Why People Invest It (published by the Jossey-Bass Division of Simon & Schuster in 1999). In his book, Tom discusses why companies should treat their employees not as assets but instead as investors of human capital. Among the topics he covers is the challenge of attracting, retaining and engaging workers (both traditional and nontraditional) in a fast-paced, turbulent environment. Tom also has contributed chapters to Making Mergers Work: The Strategic Importance of People (published in 2002 by the SHRM Foundation); Knowledge Capital: How Knowledge-Based Enterprises Really Get Built (published in 2003 by Oxford University Press); and Building High-Performance People and Organizations (published in 2008 by Praeger Perspectives).

Tom’s comments on human capital management have been quoted in such publications as Fortune Magazine, Harvard Management Update, and Human Capital Strategies & News. He has appeared on CNN and on Moneyworld and made presentations to such groups as The Conference Board, the Wharton School Center for Human Resources, the Human Resource Planning Society, the Society for Human Resource Management, WorldatWork and the Singapore Training and Development Association. His articles have appeared in Across the Board, Management Review, Journal of Organizational Excellence, Employment Relations Today and various general management and strategy publications.
Tom led the development of Towers Perrin’s Total Rewards Optimization (TRO) measurement tool. TRO uses advanced market research and financial techniques to assess employee reward preferences and develop high-ROI reward strategies. He also leads in the development of Towers Perrin’s methodologies for improving the effectiveness of supervisors and line managers.

Tom earned a B.A., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also earned an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley.

Julie Gebauer leads Towers Perrin’s global Workforce Effectiveness Practice  and the global Towers Perrin-ISR line of business. She is a member of the firm’s Human Capital Group (HCG) Operations Council, the leadership body for the HCG business segment. She consults on a broad range of HR issues, including workforce analytics, human capital strategy, talent management and total rewards. She has worked with many global companies on a wide range of HR issues. She assists organizations in evaluating workforce needs and gaps, and developing and implementing talent management and total reward strategies to support business goals.

Ms. Gebauer is the executive sponsor for Towers Perrin’s 2007-2008 Global Workforce Study, a significant research effort aimed at understanding the voice of the global workforce broadly. She is co-author of Closing the Engagement Gap: How Great Companies Unlock Employee Potential for Superior Results. She is a frequent speaker on global workforce management and total rewards for such organizations as the Human Capital Institute and the Conference Board. She has taught executive education seminars at Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin. She is also frequently quoted as an expert regarding the latest trends and developments in HR, talent management and rewards in numerous publications. She has appeared as an expert in these areas on many networks, including CNN-FN, Fox News Online and ABC Morning News.

She has consulted with such organizations as American Express, Avon, Citigroup, ConAgra, D&B, IBM, Prudential, RBC Financial, The New York Times Company, and Time Warner.

Before joining Towers Perrin in 1986, she was with another major HR consulting firm.

Ms. Gebauer received a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Nebraska, where she was honored as a Chancellor’s Scholar. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. She was inducted into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers.

Don Lowman is Managing Director of the Human Capital Group and is responsible for its sales, intellectual capital, marketing and Client Relationship Management (CRM) activities. He joined the firm’s Washington, D.C. office in 1982 as an executive compensation consultant and has served as the Managing Director for the People, Performance and Rewards line of business.

Don consults with some of the world’s most prominent companies on executive compensation matters and is a frequent speaker on strategic compensation and performance management issues. He was designated one of ‘The Top 25 Consultants in the World’ in 2003. Prior to joining Towers Perrin, Don held marketing and management positions in private industry and with a major foundation. He has a B.A. in English from Randolph-Macon College and an M.B.A. in finance from the College of William and Mary.