About Our Firm

Inception

Bittner and Associates, LLC was created in 2007 by Katherine L. Bittner, Ph.D. for the purpose of providing high-quality management consulting services and building strong client relationships. What distinguishes Bittner and Associates, LLC from many consulting organizations is the genuine care, warmth, and empathy Dr. Bittner demonstrates toward each of her clients, starting with the administrative assistant to the CEO. Our firm capably applies proven behavioral science principles to businesses. Dr. Bittner applies cutting-edge psychological and business principles to ensure accurate assessment, insightful coaching, and value-added management consulting services. Our passion and dedication to serving our clients’ needs result in many long-term partnerships and referrals.

The Future

Bittner and Associates, LLC took a hiatus from 2011-2013 when Dr. Bittner, as an empty-nester, decided to do something different. She joined the prestigious management consulting firm Valtera (now CEB). After working in-house for almost two and a half years, Dr. Bittner decided to re-ignite her business. Being in a small business allows her to take the necessary time to perform high-quality, customized work herself and personally deliver it to clients. In addition, she hires the best and most competent independent psychologists or business professionals from her vast network when projects exceed her capacity.

Scope of Work

We consult with a wide range of commercial, government, and not-for-profit organizations as well as individuals. Typically, we serve mid-size to global organizations, but are open to discussing your needs if you are a smaller organization. In fact, we are a premiere boutique firm performing assessments used for both hiring and promotion, and development. We also have a rich history of developing and conducting assessment centers and individual assessments, providing virtual and face-to-face executive coaching, discussing 360° feedback information, developing competency models, assessing and redesigning performance management systems, and developing and conducting employee or client satisfaction surveys. Dr. Bittner has offered private coaching and assessments to individuals who may be in transition and desire to change careers or jobs.

Convenient Location

Our offices are conveniently located in the northeast (close to Philadelphia). Dr. Bittner has traveled extensively around the globe (which she enjoys tremendously) and will continue to do so in order to meet her clients’ needs.

Our Commitment

We are ready to partner with you in delivering objective, third-party results to your organization with a sense of urgency. At Bittner and Associates, LLC, Dr. Bittner and her associates are seasoned business and leadership development experts who can help you identify and develop leadership capabilities which become a competitive advantage for your organization.

Client Industries Served

Aerospace
Chemicals
Communications Technology
Consumer
Education Associations
Energy/Utilities
Engineering
Financial Services
Food Services
Healthcare
Insurance
Manufacturing
Not-for-Profit Organizations
Pharmaceuticals
Professional Services
Publishing
Technology
Transportation

Katherine L. Bittner, Ph.D.
Principal

Dr. Katherine L. Bittner was Principal of Bittner and Associates, LLC 2007-2010 and then again since January 2013. Prior to reopening her own consulting business, she had worked with CEB Valtera in the Selection and Assessment Group for over two years and has over thirty years of internal and external global consulting experience. Dr. Bittner specializes in leveraging senior executives’ leadership potential and performance. Her specific area of expertise is talent development including executive assessment and executive coaching and development. Regardless of her working with the C-suite, senior executives, middle managers, first-line supervisors, or individual contributors, Dr. Bittner consistently demonstrates warmth, genuineness, acute listening, and keen insight.

Dr. Bittner’s principles and beliefs as a consultant lie in her ability to carefully integrate assessment data to foster a new awareness in leaders that assists them in making well-crafted specific behavioral changes. Her focus is to coach executives for increased effectiveness to be stronger leaders after identifying specifically the behaviors to change and then how to do so in order to achieve their goals. She has worked extensively with clients in technology, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and international oil, telecommunications, utilities, manufacturing, construction, food service, and not-for-profit environments. She has served in a worldwide coaching program in the areas of performance management and career development for two Fortune 50 financial service organizations. For over 20 years, she has served as one of a national network of assessors for a Fortune 50 insurance organization.

Dr. Bittner holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University, an MA in Industrial Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and graduated Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Psychology from Bucknell University. She has served as an adjunct faculty member of four universities in Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the American Psychological Society, and the American Psychological Association and has presented numerous professional presentations. She is the Treasurer of METRO, New York City’s regional SIOP group.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

1982 Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
B.A., Psychology, Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa

1984 Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey
M.A., Industrial Psychology

1990 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
Ph.D., Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Minor: Statistics

Professional Experience

2007 to 2010; Bittner and Associates, LLC, Barto, PA

2013 to present         Principal
A consulting firm founded by Dr. Katherine L. Bittner, Ph.D. specializing in executive assessment and coaching. Conducted numerous psychological assessments and coaching assignments for senior talent in various organizations. Partnered with management consulting firms as a subcontractor and assessor who conducted individual assessments, assessments in assessment or development centers, and coached executives.

2010 to 2013 CEB Valtera Corporation, Rolling Meadows, IL (now CEB)
  Senior Consultant in the Selection Group
  A human resources consulting firm specializing in selection, assessment, coaching, and surveys. As a member of the Selection team Dr. Bittner wrote proposals, conducted job analyses and competency modeling, performed individual assessments, participated as an assessor in assessment or development centers, and coached executives.

2002 to 2007              Human Resources Consulting and Research Inc.,
Philadelphia, PA
Vice President
A consulting firm founded by Dr. Jeffery McClafferty, Ph.D. specializing in assessment and coaching. Conducted numerous psychological assessments and coaching assignments for senior talent in various organizations. Partnered with Applied Research Corporation as a subcontractor; an assessor who conducted individual assessments.

1996 to 2002              PsyCor, Inc., Fort Washington, PA
Senior Consultant
A consulting firm founded by Dr. Gilbert Hoffer, Ph.D. specializing in assessment and coaching. Conducted numerous psychological assessments and coaching assignments for senior talent in various organizations. Led and participated in research projects including a criterion-related validation of a selection system. Partnered with Applied Research Corporation as a subcontractor conducting individual assessments and as an assessor in an assessment center.

1992 to 1996              Organizational Development Consulting, Inc., Coopersburg, PA
Principal
A consulting firm founded by Dr. Katherine L. Bittner, Ph.D. and Dr. Ronald Stoffey, Ph.D. specializing in organizational development. Dr. Bittner developed and implemented executive/middle management leadership planning and development plans (including succession plans), individual assessment at the executive level, team and management development programs, a learning needs assessment, and performance appraisal training and evaluation of performance management systems; leadership skills workshop; and administered and scored entry level police selection tests and promotional firefighter exams.

1990-1996 Teaching Experience
Taught undergraduate industrial and organizational psychology, general psychology at Kutztown University (1995-1996), organizational theory at Muhlenberg College (1994), and industrial and organizational psychology at Lehigh County Community College (1993); taught an MBA course on organizational behavior, and undergraduate classes in industrial psychology and job motivation at Moravian College (1990-1991)

1990-1996                   Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
  Human Resources Consultant
Human Resources Development Department
Taught Leadership Through Teamwork (LTT) course and performed data analyses on LTT surveys; taught The New Manager course; helped re-design a training course entitled Leadership: Beyond the Basics; responsible for a research study measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of an updated performance management system including training and the performance appraisal form as compared with the older version; streamlined the performance appraisal form; developed a questionnaire as part of a research study evaluating Diversity Training.

1993-1994                   Integra Consulting, Inc.
Organizational Development Consultant (Subcontractor)
Responsible for conducting a large scale data analysis survey project (including factor analysis and canonical correlations) analyzing approximately 1000 survey questionnaires. Assessed organizational climate and leadership dimensions; facilitated a group of senior managers at a four day off-site retreat to discuss re-engineering business processes while simultaneously addressing underlying group dynamics. Facilitated meeting of sales/service individuals to re-engineer team model concept; designed team leader training for financial investment firm.

1991 Assessment Alternatives, Inc.
Human Resources Consultant (Subcontractor)
founded by Dr. Richard Reilly, Hoboken, NJ
Designed a supervisor/subordinate role play exercise as part of a high level management developmental Assessment center for a telecommunications firm; participated as an assessor in the pilot program of the aforementioned assessment center (INSIGHT II); was an assessor for an estimating and design selection system, and an administrator and assessor for a first-line supervisory assessment center for utilities.

1988-1990 Philadelphia Electric Company
Research Consultant
Worked in the Personnel Research Division and the Staffing Division; and Organizational Development and Training Departments
Responsible as part of a task force to design, develop, and implement a performance management process for management, supervisory/professional/technical populations. Developed and recommended the company-wide approach to the use of assessment centers based on success criteria gathered from nuclear, transmission and distribution, and commercial operations departments. Co-led a project to determine the selection, training, development, appraisal and compensation for first-line supervisors in the organization.

1984-1988 The Pennsylvania State University
Research Assistantships
Planning Studies and Applied Research Laboratory (ARL)
Conducted research studies and performed data analysis. Revised an employee handbook for ARL.

1982-1984 American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T)
Research Consultant
Non-management selection
Designed exercises for an assessment center and conducted validation studies. Revised a simulated leaderless group discussion exercise for the Assessment and Development of Middle Managers (ADMM) assessment center; analyzed data using extensive univariate and multivariate statistical techniques to validate an engineering selection module and other tests; conducted telephone and face- to-face interviews for the Management Assessment Program (MAP) study of career women; performed qualitative content analyses of MAP and picture- phone meeting studies. Conducted research on expatriates. Worked under the direction of Dr. Richard Campbell, Dr. Joel Moses, Dr. Richard Ritchie, and Dr. Mirian Graddick.

Professional Memberships and Leadership Activities

·         METRO Executive Board
·         Treasurer (2014-2015)
·         Secretary (2013-2014)

·         Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Member)
·         SIOP Reviewer of Submissions: 2005 to 2012

·         American Psychological Association (Member)

·         American Psychological Society (Member)

·         President and Co-founder of Lehigh/Delaware Valley Industrial/Organizational Psychology Group (1990-2005)

Honors and Awards

·         Phi Beta Kappa, Bucknell University, 1982

·         Mortar Board Member, Bucknell University, 1981

·         Psi Chi, National Honor Society in Psychology, Lycoming College, 1978

Technical Reports

Bittner, K. L. and Stoffey, R. W. (1996, February). Report on assessment of the current performance management process for the nuclear department in a utility. Technical Report, Allentown, PA.

Bittner, K. L. (1993, December). Report on data analysis project for a financial investment Corporation. Technical Report, Wayne, PA.

Bittner, K. L. (1991, December). Report on the evaluation of the Performance Planning, Review, and Development (PPRD) System. Technical Report, Allentown, PA: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Bittner, K. L. (1990, March). Report on the performance management process and system at Philadelphia Electric Company. Technical Report, Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Electric Company.

Tippins, N. T., Bittner, K. L., and Solberg, E. (2011, July). Report on job analysis and competency modeling for a healthcare organization. Technical Report, Dallas, TX.

Tippins, N.T., Bittner, K.L., and Solberg, E. (2012, August). Report on the development of performance descriptors (“teasers”), “tones,” and development suggestions for use in the performance management system at a healthcare organization. Technical Report, Dallas, TX.

Professional Presentations

Bittner, K. L. (2014, March). METRO Career Day. Participated as a panelist in a half-day session designed to help I/O graduate and undergraduate students with their career decisions.

Bittner, K. L. (2013, April). SIOP: Dilemmas in Assessment: Insights on Solutions and Best Practices. Roundtable discussion/conversation hour at the 28th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Houston, TX.

Bittner, K. L. (2013, April). SIOP: Boutiques to Big Boxes: How I/O Consulting Jobs Are Evolving. Panel discussion at the 28th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Houston, TX.

Bittner, K. L. (2012, April). SIOP: Assessment Nightmares and Lessons Learned: What keeps assessors up at night? Panel discussion at the 27th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego, CA.

Bittner, K.L. (2009, April). SIOP: Sisterhood of the traveling careers: I-O women psychologists’ successful transitions. Panel discussion at the 24th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, New Orleans.

Bittner, K. L. (2001, May). Leadership: What’s age got to do with it? Paper presented at a quarterly ExecuNet Meeting, Villanova, PA.

Bittner, K. L. (2001, April). SIOP: Leadership: What’s age got to do with it? (Chairperson). Paper presented during a symposium at the 16th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego.

Bittner, K. L. (1991, June). The interacting effect of feedback sign and frequency on feedback-seeking behavior (Doctoral Dissertation). Paper presented at the 3rd annual American Psychological Society Conference, Washington, D.C.

Bittner, K. L. (1987, April). The effects of a flex-time system on arrival and departure times, tardiness, absenteeism, and overtime: A time series approach. Paper presented at the 8th annual Industrial Organizational/Organizational Behavior Conference, Knoxville, TN.

Bittner, K. L. (1986, April). The relationship between interrole conflicts and women managers in dual career marriages (Master’s Thesis). Paper presented at the 59th annual Eastern Psychological Association Conference, New York City, NY.

Bittner, K. L. and Stoffey, R. W. (2001, April). Lessons learned from a large scale organizational development project. Paper presented as part of a symposium at the 16th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego.

Farr, J. L., Schwartz, A. C., Quinn, J. C., and Bittner, K. L. (1989, April). The consequences of feedback-seeing behavior for supervisory performance ratings and attributions. Paper presented at the 4th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference, Boston, MA.

Landy, F. J. and Bittner, K. L. (1987, October). The history of job satisfaction. Paper presented at the Job Satisfaction: Advances in Research and Applications Conference, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH.

Janet Aspinwall
Administrative Assistant

Janet is responsible for scheduling, travel arrangements and administrative details for the firm.

Prior to joining Bittner and Associates, LLC in 2015, Janet began her career as a programmer and systems analyst at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. Later, she became the manager of the Electronic Banking Systems department at M&T Bank in Buffalo. She was a systems analyst with a private consulting firm in New York City and then joined Applied Research Corporation in 1997 as Manager of Assessment and Development Services until 2014. She spends her leisure time acting in plays and short films.

Janet earned a BS degree in drama and an MA in mathematics at Syracuse University. While studying there, Janet also worked for the Policy Institute of the Syracuse University Research Corporation, which dealt with government policy as it relates to education.

﻿﻿﻿About Our Firm﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿