Carl Spetzler is an American businessman, author, and academic. He is known for his research, publications, and expertise in the fields of

decision quality Decision quality (DQ) is the quality of a decision at the moment the decision is made, regardless of its outcome. Decision quality concepts permit the assurance of both effectiveness and efficiency in analyzing decision problems. In that sense, de ...

and

decision theory Decision theory (or the theory of choice; not to be confused with choice theory) is a branch of applied probability theory concerned with the theory of making decisions based on assigning probabilities to various factors and assigning numerical ...

Education

Spetzler holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MBA and Ph.D. in economics and business administration from the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

Career

Spetzler’s interest in decision quality began at the

Stanford Research Institute SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...

(SRI) at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

(now known as

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...

), where he worked with decision theory pioneer Ronald A. Howard. While at SRI, Spetzler was instrumental in helping client

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

establish their Cash Management Account (CMA) product in 1977. Revolutionary for its time, the CMA was a great success for Merrill Lynch and inspired its competitors to introduce similar products. Author

Joe Nocera Joseph Nocera (born May 6, 1952) is an American business journalist, and author. He has written for The New York Times since April 2005, writing for the Op-Ed page from 2011 to 2015. He was also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Early ...

describes Spetzler’s key role in the development of the CMA in his book ''A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class''. In 1981, Spetzler and Howard formed Strategic Decisions Group (SDG), a management consulting firm focused on using the principles of decision quality to help organizations improve their strategic planning, innovation, and risk management. Spetzler is the Chairman and CEO of SDG. He also serves as the program director of the Strategic Decision and Risk Management Program at Stanford’s Center for Professional Development.

Publications

Spetzler is the author of
Decision Quality: Value Creation from Better Business Decisions
', written with Hannah Winter and Jennifer Meyer. ''Decision Quality'' explores Spetzler’s decision-making framework, including the six requirements for decision quality, how to apply them, and common pitfalls of decision-making.

''Journal Publications''

''The Development of a Corporate Risk Policy for Capital Investment Decisions,'' Carl Spetzler'','' IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics (Volume: 4, Issue: 3 ), Sept. 1968. ''Probability Coding in Decision Analysis'', Carl S. Spetzler, Carl-Axel S. Staël Von Holstein, (1975),

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

, 22(3):340-358, retrieved September 1, 2016. Larry Neal and Carl Spetzler,
An Organization-Wide Approach to Good Decision Making
,

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

, May 27, 2015.

Honors, memberships, and awards

''Honors and Awards''

* SRI International inducted Spetzler into its “Hall of Fame” in 2006 for his work in decision analysis and his influential work with Merrill Lynch. * In 2004, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) awarded Spetzler the

Frank P. Ramsey Frank Plumpton Ramsey (; 22 February 1903 – 19 January 1930) was a British people, British philosopher, mathematician, and economist who made major contributions to all three fields before his death at the age of 26. He was a close friend of L ...

Medal which honors outstanding contributions to the field of decision analysis.
Treasury & Risk Magazine
named Spetzler to its 2008 list of 100 Most Influential People in Finance.

''Memberships''

Society of Decision Professionals
* Board of Trustees Member, Illinois Institute of Technology * Board Member, Decision Education Foundation * Advisory Board,

The Good Judgment Project The Good Judgment Project (GJP) is an organization dedicated to "harnessing the wisdom of the crowd to forecast world events". It was co-created by Philip E. Tetlock (author of ''Superforecasting'' and ''Expert Political Judgment''), decision scie ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spetzler, Carl Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Illinois Institute of Technology alumni American chemical engineers American business writers American businesspeople