He has deep experience with employee compensation.  He has helped a number of major companies to develop an overall corporate rewards strategy that reflects business needs.  He has worked with many companies to develop variable pay incentives that reinforce unit performance.  He also has consulted extensively on compensation systems that reward employee knowledge, skills, and competencies.

Gerry has worked with many organizations to develop comprehensive approaches to improving organizational performance.  He has considerable experience in developing high performance work systems, especially in new manufacturing operations.  He has worked with organizations that have adopted a complex set of changes aimed at increasing the performance orientation of their culture.  For example, in a large insurance firm, he led a project that developed a package of nine changes including employee incentives, business literacy training, performance management changes, a new recognition system, and changes in work design. 

Professional Background

From 1998 to 2003, Gerry was a leader at Sibson  Consulting.   He served  as Senior  Vice President and National Practice Leader for Employee Effectiveness, the largest Sibson practice.  Previously, he was Research Professor at the Center for Effective Organizations, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, where he was a key contributor from 1982 - 1998. 

Education

Dr. Ledford received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.  He received a B.A. in Psychology (with Distinction) from the George Washington University. 

Professional Affiliations, Awards, and Intellectual Contributions

Gerry is active in several professional societies, including the Human Resource Planning Society, WorldatWork, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and the Academy of Management.  He is past chair of the Organizational Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management.  His awards include the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM’s) Yoder-Heneman Personnel Research Award. 

Gerry has published extensively in both academic and practitioner-oriented outlets.  He is the author of over 90 articles and chapters and ten books and monographs, including The Rewards of Work: The Employment Deal in a Changing Economy (2003).  He is a frequent speaker for such groups as WorldatWork, the Human Resource Planning Society, SHRM, and the Human Resource Executive Network.  His research and opinions have been cited in many print and broadcast media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and PBS.