Richard Karash is a consultant and facilitator covering the broad range of Learning Organization disciplines, with special emphasis on Systems Thinking. He consults, leads meetings, develops and conducts training programs, and delivers speeches and corporate events for a wide range of organizations.

Mr. Karash's current focus, and the thrust of much of his work, is in developing internal capabilities in client organizations. He creates custom training programs, conducts train-the-trainer sessions and provides coaching. With his technical background and executive experience, he is effective at all levels, including work with executives, working teams, and internal consultants.

Mr. Karash is a contributor to The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization. He has been a regular presenter at the annual Systems Thinking in Action conference and a contributor to The Systems Thinker. He is the creator and moderator of an internet mailing list discussing the learning organization.

From 1991 through September 1995, Mr. Karash was a senior staff member at Innovation Associates, a leading firm in the field of organizational learning, and he continues as an Adjunct Consultant with the firm.

Prior to joining IA, Mr. Karash spent nearly twenty years as an executive in technology-based companies. In 1970, he co-founded a highly successful computer software firm, Management Decision Systems, Inc., which pioneered decision support applications particularly in the consumer marketing industry. His professional experience there includes information technology, market research, new product development, and computer simulation modeling. From 1983 through 1986, he was chief operating officer of a company developing artificial intelligence applications software for the financial services industry and later was VP - Marketing as part of the turn-around team at Symbolics, Inc., a computer workstation vendor. He spent several years as an independent consultant working on business strategy and strategic planning for software and other high-tech firms.

Mr. Karash holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master of Science from MIT's Sloan School of Management, with concentrations in Marketing and Operations Research.