Our Team

Annie White , Sr. Associate

Annie has been working in the field of collaborative design and delivery for the past 10 years. Prior to joining Collective Next, she has had the opportunity to work with companies such as Target, American Express, Limited Brands, and GlaxoSmithKline as a contract facilitator with Capgemini's Accelerated Solutions Environment.  She also worked as a brand manager and marketing associate for a boston-based coffee and tea distributor.

Annie received her undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and Humanities from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her master's degree from Emerson College in the field of Integrated Marketing and Communications.  Annie lives in Brighton, MA with her husband and daughter.

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Brett Saiia , Sr. Associate

Brett joined Collective Next when it was founded in 2003, contributing to all aspects of growing the business. Some may call him a deep thinker yet he is more of a stylish innovator.  He specializes in the art and technology of visual communications and supports clients in the full spectrum of solutions.  Outside of Collective Next Brett can be found performing around Boston as a musician in a local band.

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Erin King , Manager

Erin joined Collective Next in 2004. Her career has always centered around collaboration working with clients in industries ranging from healthcare to retail and in places as far flung as Australia. She took a two year hiatus from CN to work in a kitchen, and feels she really knows the meaning of the words “high performing team.”

Erin’s interests include volunteering for a non-profit girl’s self-esteem organization and playing in her band. She holds a BA in Fine Art from Denison University and lives in Jamaica Plain with her dog.

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Gordon Eby , Manager

Gordon joined Collective Next in 2011 his collaborative facilitation and design background comes from working at Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment and KPMG’s U-Collaborate practice.  Over the last five years, Gordon has worked with a variety of clients in Healthcare, Finance, Publishing, Government, and Retail. Prior to consulting, Gordon worked in the field of negotiation and conflict management, and served as a mediator in Boston’s District Courts. Gordon holds a Master’s Degree in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts and a BA in History from McGill University. He lives in New York with his wife and son.

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Katia Greene , Associate

Katia Greene joined the team in September, 2011. She previously worked for an arts camp in Bridgewater, MA as Office Manager. Katia graduated from Bridgewater State University with a degree in Communication and a concentration in Theatre Arts. When not at Collective Next she can be found working as a special effects makeup artist and “Scream Team” member. She is also a board member and actor of the non-profit company, Star Players of Bristol County.
Katia lives in Bridgewater, MA with her husband.

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Kelly Nealon , Manager

Kelly has more than 16 years of experience in project management and process improvement. Prior to joining Collective Next in January 2011, she spent 14 years at Fidelity Investments providing leadership and strategic direction in the areas of service excellence, process improvement, and both internal and external communication.
 
At Collective Next, Kelly focuses on leading the design, implementation, and management of key strategic initiatives, programs and events, and building best practices by applying her extensive experience in project management and organizational expertise.
 
Kelly lives in Hopkinton, Ma with her husband and two children.

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Kris Henry , Associate

Kris joined Collective Next in 2008 after working with the company as a freelance graphic facilitator. Before joining CN, she managed store operations and visual merchandising at a premiere paperie and retail shop. She has a BFA in photography from the Art Institute of Boston.

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Mason Smith , Sr. Associate

Mason joined Collective Next in October 2011. He is clinically trained in the principles of collaboration that promote individual and organizational excellence. As a clinician and independent consultant for over five years, he has provided collaborative solutions for clients in a wide variety of industries, including retail, healthcare, finance, and higher education. He holds a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and B.A. from MiddleburyCollege. Mason lives in Dedham, MA with his wife and child.

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Matt Saiia , Chief Executive Officer

Matt believes that if you bring the right people together in the right way anything is possible. In 2003 he co-founded Collective Next, a firm specializing in applied collaboration.  He has been fortunate enough to collaborate on hundreds of project with Sr. Executives and CEO’s across a broad range of industries and topics.  Prior to Collective Next, he worked with MG Taylor and at Ernst & Young’s Accelerated Solutions Environment. Matt discovered the true potential of collaboration while attending graduate school at the San Francisco Art Institute and he received his BA from Grinnell College. Matt lives in Boston, MA with his wife and two daughters.

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John Tae Kim , Principal

John joined Collective Next in January of 2004. He began providing project leadership on collaborative consulting engagements in 1997 for Ernst & Young, LLP. For more than ten years, John has been providing consulting services, project management, and innovative facilitation to Fortune 100 companies in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and consumer products. Some of the clients John has worked for include Aurora Health, Exelon, HCSC (BlueCross BlueShield), KeySpan Energy, LG Electronics, Pfizer, QVC, Watson Wyatt, and Unisys.

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Hamilton Ray , Sr. Principal

Hamilton joined Collective Next in January of 2005. After moving from a career as the co-founder and managing director of a theatre company, Hamilton has spent the past ten years designing, facilitating, and delivering collaborative work for a variety of clients across a variety of industries. Memorable clients include Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Cigna Healthcare, Merrill Lynch, U.S. Department of Defense, and Time Warner Cable. He holds a BA in English and theatre and lives in Roslindale, MA with his wife and two children.

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David Rutley , Sr. Principal

David joined Collective Next in 2006. His entire career has been focused on facilitating collaborative work. He began in 1997 working for MG Taylor Corporation helping develop innovative collaborative sessions for clients in the health care, not for profit, and government sectors. He then worked for eight years as an independent consultant to Ernst & Young’s Accelerated Solutions Environment supporting and designing facilitated sessions for hundreds of the world’s premier corporations.

At Collective Next, David focuses on designing and delivering large-scale organizational transformations by applying collaborative principles and facilitating change from within his client organizations.

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Jennifer Rutley , Sr. Principal

Jennifer has more than 12 years of experience in management consulting and large group facilitation. Prior to joining Collective Next in 2005, she led Capgemini’ s Accelerated Solutions Environment on the West Coast, where she designed and facilitated collaborative work sessions to help global and Fortune 100 clients build and implement business solutions. Prior to that, Jennifer spent three years as a consultant with Ernst & Young, where she worked on projects focused on process re-engineering, shared services implementation, and financial systems implementation. Jennifer holds a BS in mathematics and management engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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Geoff Amidei , Principal

Geoff joined Collective Next in January of 2006. He began his career in collaborative design and facilitation in 1997 as an independent contractor working with Ernst & Young’s Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE). While associated with the ASE, he had the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients including Boeing, Genentech, Hewlett Packard, and Starbucks.

Prior to that, he worked in public relations, environmental consulting, and biomedical research administration. He holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA in performance studies from Northwestern University.

Geoff lives in Hingham, MA with his wife and two children.

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Kathy Clemons , Principal

Kathy joined Collective Next in 2007. Prior to this return to collaborative work, she was the director of operations at Edison Pharmaceuticals, a startup in San Jose, California. Her experience with collaborative work began in 1996, with Ernst & Young's Accelerated Solutions Environment. While there, her clients included Wal*Mart, ABN Amro, Ernst & Young, GE Capital, and Motorola.

Kathy completed her MBA at the Mills College Graduate School of Business in 2005.

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Mike LaRhette , Principal

Mike joined Collective Next in July 2009. For twenty years he has been providing collaborative consulting solutions for such clients as State Street, MasterCard Worldwide, Microsoft, Kodak, and BMW. Working with firms such as Sapient Corporation, PDI and AchieveGlobal, Mike has applied his design, delivery and client management skills to solutions targeting business transformation, talent strategy, and organizational development. He holds a M.Ed degree from Boston University and B.A. from Boston College. 

Mike lives in Hingham, MA with his wife and two children.

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Sarah Shrimplin , Sr. Principal

Sarah co-founded Collective Next, LLC in February of 2003. Prior to that, she worked with Ernst & Young for eight years designing, facilitating, and delivering collaborative work for a variety of clients across a variety of industries. Her clients include Honda, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, and the Department of Defense.

Sarah holds a BA from the University of Michigan. She lives in Needham, MA with her husband and two daughters.

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John Colaruotolo , Manager

John joined Collective Next in April 2006. He was first introduced to collaborative work in 2000, when he began working as an independent graphic facilitator and collaborative designer for clients in a variety of industries, including biotech, retail, finance, energy, and healthcare.

At Collective Next, John focuses on designing and delivering collaborative learning experiences for clients.

He holds a BM in music composition and an MA in music composition and philosophy, both from the University of North Texas College of Music.

John lives in Allen, TX with his wife, two small children, and their dog.

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Mary Choi Smith , Sr. Manager

Mary Choi joined Collective Next in 2006. Before joining CN, she freelanced in collaboration consulting since 1999. During that period she worked primarily with Capgemini, where key clients included Fortune 100 companies in healthcare, insurance, retail, transportation, and technology.

Prior to that, she spent ten years in sales and operations in the software training field and complementary health industry. Mary lives in the Chicago area with her husband. She holds a BA in economics from University of Delaware.

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Tricia Walker , Manager

Tricia joined Collective Next in March 2006. She began her career in collaborative design in 1998, working as a contractor for Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment and MG Taylor Corporation. During her nearly ten years of experience in this field, and as a freelance graphic artist, she has worked with a diverse group of clients including Coca-Cola, DuPont, Motorola, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Limited Brands. 

Prior to that, she worked as an art teacher and a corporate sales representative for a major telecommunications company. She holds a BFA in visual design/illustration from the University of Massachusetts.

Tricia lives in Arlington, MA with her husband.

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Cricket Hannan , Sr. Associate

Cricket joined Collective Next in 2007. Prior to her return to collaborative work, she spent two years as the lead designer at Corsair Studio, a New York based graphic design firm specializing in brand/identity and web design and development. She began her career in graphic design and collaborative facilitation in 1998 contracting for Capgemini's Accelerated Solutions Environment. Some of the clients Cricket has worked with include FedEx, Rockefeller Foundation, Avon, MasterCard, and Merrill Lynch.

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Kate Dwyer , Associate

Kate joined Collective Next in 2009 after working as an independent graphic facilitator and designer. Prior to that, she worked in the non-profit sector as a Project and HR Manager for a children's healthcare quality improvement organization.

An entrepreneurial spirit, Kate also participates in juried craft shows selling handmade greeting cards and homemade all natural dog biscuits.

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Joe Saiia , Chief Financial Officer

Joe joined Collective Next in December of 2005 and is responsible for the financial, human resources, systems, and administrative functions of the firm.  Prior to joining CN, Joe specialized in providing these services to a variety of firms in the manufacturing, distribution, financial services, and real estate industries.  Joe is currently on the endowment committee of an independent school where he had been the treasurer and a board trustee for five years.  He also served for ten years on the board of directors of a startup consulting firm until its sale to a major regional bank.  He holds a BBA, with a major in finance, and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.  Joe lives in Delafield, WI with his wife Barb.

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Andy Saiia , Accounting Manager

Andy joined Collective Next in January of 2007. Prior to that, he worked as a skilled tradesman in the stone fabrication industry. He has a BFA in sculpture from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and is interested in a wide array of artistic forms. Andy lives in Milwaukee, WI with his wife Cindy.

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