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Eric Lesser

Research Director, North America Leader, IBM
Institute for Business Value

Eric Lesser is the Research Director and North American Leader with IBM's Institute for Business Value, where he conducts research and develops thought leadership in the areas of knowledge, learning, and human capital management. Previously, Mr. Lesser led the Knowledge and Organizational Performance Forum, an IBM-sponsored consortium focused on knowledge and human capital issues. In this role, Mr. Lesser managed multi-client studies on knowledge strategy, communities of practice, knowledge retention and customer knowledge issues. As a consultant, he has worked with clients in the financial services, legal, technology and government sectors on developing knowledge strategies, enabling communities, and implementing knowledge management solutions.

Mr. Lesser has spoken frequently on the topic of knowledge in organizations and has most recently edited (with Laurence Prusak) Creating Value with Knowledge: Insights from the IBM Institute for Business Value, published by Oxford University Press. He has also edited Knowledge and Social Capital and co-edited Knowledge and Communities, both published by Butterworth-Heinemann in 2000.

Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Lesser was a consultant with Mercer Consulting Group, where he worked for Mercer Management Consulting and William M. Mercer's Health Care Provider Consulting practice. Mr. Lesser has also worked as a consultant for Andersen Consulting in its Change Management practice.

Mr. Lesser received his MBA from Emory University, where he was a Robert W. Woodruff Fellow. He graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University in Economics. Mr. Lesser has also studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma. Mr. Lesser is also a visiting instructor at Simmons College, Graduate School of Information and Library Sciences.