Kathryn Maloney, M.A. ABS

As a Founder

Theeo Company, (2020-Present). Organisation Change, Systems Design, and Organisation Strategy Consultancy. Elevating organisation potential and expanding human value by delivering tangible organisation and future-facing systems change. We serve global clients, innovators, and leaders intentional about shaping transformative outcomes. Founded Theeo in mid-2020 to pursue a disciplined, innovative change design practice serving leaders, founders, and polymaths committed to system change.

Kathryn Maloney Consulting, (2010-2015). Leadership, Change + Organisation Design Consultancy. Delivered organisation development, growth and change design, and leadership strategy to women founders. Joined The Ready beginning in 2016 to collaborate on a shared build vision.

Rapid River Company, (1994-1998) Retail and Wholesale Company. Built and operated a retail and wholesale company from start up. Sold business in 1998.

In Partnership

The Ready, (2016-2020). Organisation Design, Ways of Working + a Future of Work Consultancy. Multi-year consulting company build from start up. Our original intent was to further the narrative and broaden the container of change management, organisation development, and digital transformation with on eye on the future of work. Over these 4.5 years, we built an alternative, accessible, and usable structure for intervention on changing how work works; delivering white glove, scaled organisation design and change consults to global clients. Departed mid-year 2020.

Kleimann Communication Group, (2005-2010). Organisation Communication Strategy, Information Design, and Organisation Design Consultancy, Multi-year consulting company build from five years on, integrating communication and information design, rigorous qualitative, usability research studies, and organisation design. We curated an alternative practice and engagement framework around communication strategy, policy simplification and clarity, and tapping into a changing technology landscape. Concurrently, we delivered at scale, rigorous qualitative research-based technical communication, organisation design, and change strategy solutions to U.S. Federal Government Agencies, Think Tanks, and Industry Clients. Re-located to NYC from D.C. and opened solo consulting practice.

Change Projects & Org Design Embeds, $5M - $1B Companies

Allstate, (2021). Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design. Allstate is an American, national insurance Company. We designed and facilitated the Organisation Effectiveness Group on a week long Vision + Strategy Offsite to reimagine the team purpose, services offerings, structures, communication, culture, and brand of the Allstate Organisation Effectiveness Division.

UN World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator, (2021-2022). Innovation, Organisation Design, Vision, Growth & Prioritisation, Workflow & Meetings, People & Culture. UN World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator is the first global social impact accelerator housed within UN World Food Programme. We ran a multi-year organisation design, modern ways of working, leadership advisory, operating model change, growth and strategy embed. Coming out of Covid in early 2021 through year end 2022, the team at the Accelerator leaned in to innovation and change on its home turf to consider and grapple with all sorts of transformation and innovation adoptions as a growing and continuously changing organisation itself. 

UN WFP INKA Division, (2022). Vision, Growth & Prioritisation. The WFP Innovation and Knowledge Division housed (1) WFP Innovation Accelerator, (2) WFP Change Management Practice, and (3) WFP Knowledge Management verticals. As a part of the Accelerator embed, we led a session during INKA’s remote all-division offsite session for ~80-100 participants to introduce and share horizontally the organisation design, operating model, and modern ways of working work taking place within the WFP Innovation Accelerator. The intention was to create visibility, open communication, and shared experience on the effort. 

Omidyar Systems + Complexity Division, (2020). Vision, Growth & Prioritisation. Omidyar is a philanthropic investment firm. We designed and facilitated the Global Leadership and Systems + Complexity Team during a week-long Organisation Strategy Offsite, managing the mental and practical implications of Covid lockdown while also holding a vision for a future beyond.

UNFPA, (2019). People & Culture; Vision, Growth & Prioritisation. UNFPA is an agency of the United Nations mission focused on sexual and reproductive health globally. We designed and facilitated a multi-day Global HR Leadership Offsite with ~50 participants with an expressed purpose to build understanding across and envision transforming the functions into a shared operating model and functional design across roles and boundaries. 

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Global Marketing, (2017-2019). Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Vision, Growth and Prioritisation; Workflow and Meetings, Leadership and Roles, People and Culture; Communication and Technology. BCG Global Marketing is the marketing division serving the regions and country offices (as well as Clients) across ~87 Boston Consulting Group offices. We ran a multi-year modern ways of working, organisation design, operating system, and leadership team embed to bring the Function at the time into the future across technology, ways of working, teaming, culture, structures, and communication strategy. This included working tri-yearly strategy offsite cycles with the Global Marketing Leadership Team and working down into functions, horizontally across functions, and touching outside Global Marketing, for example with Technology or Regional Marketers. 

BCG Global Finance, (2018-2019). Vision, Growth and Prioritisation; Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Workflow and Meetings. BCG Global Finance is the finance division within Boston Consulting Group. We delivered a multi-year modern ways of working and organisation design embed to serve global finance leadership on its purpose, vision, and prioritisation strategy for the future. The group pivoted into more streamlined ways of working, running strategy rhythmically, and applying how their operating change work influenced a five year corporate strategy design in the making.

BCG Corporate Development Division, (2018). Workflow and Meetings. BCG Corporate Deal Team within Boston Consulting Group purchases companies to enhance the portfolio of corporate services. We delivered consulting and advisory services to the Corporate Deal Team on modern ways of working, teaming, technology, and leadership.

Macy's, (2019). People and Culture; Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. Macy’s is a U.S. clothing and department store retailer. Led a one-day HR Director Strategy Offsite to facilitate a group of Senior Leaders into pointed discussions on where they might begin to interrupt and disrupt how their functional lines impeded their ability to lead effectively. This was taking place at a time when Macy’s was beginning to feel the economic forces shifting.

The Boeing Company, (2019-2020). People and Culture; Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; Systems, Structures and Organisation Design; Workflow and Meetings. The Boeing Company is one of the largest aerospace companies in the world. Beginning in early 2019, we kicked off a multi-year organisation design and culture transformation project with the internal Culture and Performance Division to meet the moment when The Boeing Company was the cause of multiple airplane crash crises. Finding partnerships in Engineering, Manufacturing, HR Operations, and IT to pilot advanced team software and ways of working technology stacks as an inroad to root then CEO driven culture behaviors entitled “the boeing behaviors”. When Covid hit in mid-2020, the CEO and culture change priorities had already shifted, but Boeing teams benefitted from architecture built up to that point by the Culture and Performance Division Team to adapt quickly and become dynamically wired remote teams.  

The Boeing Company Culture Alliance, (2019). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; People and Culture; Story, Message, Identity and Brand. The Culture Alliance was a diverse group of ~30 executive leaders chosen to help serve as a horizontal leadership team focused on the brand and operating failures facing the company. Our team co-designed and led a multi-day vision and strategy convention of those ~30 cross-functioning Boeing executive leaders to align on priority outcomes around safety, quality, and integrity (ethics); build a workflow against those outcomes; and design a “how to” on delivery of those outcomes. As a final section of the meeting flow on the final day, the group proposed their plan for real-time feedback to the COO, CMO, CHRO. 

Edelman. (2017). Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Workflow and Meetings; Communications and Technology. Edelman is a global PR and marketing company. Sponsored by the COO, we led a broad culture and operating system assessment to situate a starting line for organisation change and operating model transformation across their highly distributed company with 64 global offices. Several internal change teams launched change initiatives for modernised operating models, more uniform technology stack adoption, more dynamic teaming structures, and progressed information flow and communication ways.

Kaplan Test Prep (KTP), (2017-2018) Leadership and Roles; Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Workflow and Meetings; Vision, Growth and Prioritisation. Kaplan is an education and training services Company. We led a 1-year Senior Leadership Team embed on culture and operating system change, organisation and team strategy cycles/rhythms, and modern ways of working downstream and across into the broader team. The work happened in parallel to a technology platform undertaking to pivot an aging operating model design. 

General Electric (GE) (2016-2018) Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Innovation; Leadership and Roles; Workflow and Meetings. GE is a global manufacturing company. Worked with the CIO of GE Core Technology Division on multiple organisation leadership and organisation design projects to modernise aspects of its operating model, decisioning, technology, and ways of working functioning. This work happened during the Immelt tenure who envisioned and invested in a more nimble and progressive future GE, which ultimately failed.

Health and Human Services of U.S. Government (HHS), (2008-2010). Communication and Technology; Innovation; Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. HHS is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. Government responsible for enhancing and protecting the wellbeing of Americans (via Medicare, Medicaid, FDA, DCD, NIH etc.) Asked by HHS to compete on a contract focused on shaping health privacy with the advent (during the Bush administration) of electronic medical records. Winning on our proposal, we led a technical, qualitative study, demographically representative of the entire US, to understand and advise on safe-to-try strategies for comprehension and usability of emergent health policy frameworks. We led the project in tight partnership with the Founding Director of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology who led innovation on national policy development to use technology to improve healthcare delivery and support consumers in their health.

Fannie Mae, (2008-2009) Innovation; Communication and Technology; Systems, Structures and Organisation Design. Fannie Mae, or the Federal National Mortgage Association, is a U.S. Government sponsored enterprise and publicly traded company formed to provide stability and liquidity to the mortgage market. Led a mortgage product viability and market positioning strategy project of alternative mortgage instruments. We spent significant time building and deploying rigorous protocols to interview C-suite executives at banks like Countrywide, Washington Mutual, and Wells Fargo along with the C-Suite at Fannie Mae. The project ended with our "no-go" recommendation, per considered research and analysis on the instrument designs, financial environment, sub-prime realities, and government system intent. 

Internal Revenue Service of the U.S. Government (IRS), (2005-2010). Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Communication and Technology; People and Culture; Workflow and Meetings; Story, Message, Identity, and Brand; Leadership and Roles. The IRS is the agency responsible for tax collecting, enforcing tax laws, and administering various regulations. With a multi-year blanket purchase agreement (BPA) in place, we worked across diverse and a continual pipeline of projects within many teams and across many functions on organisation design and strategy, ways of working, information design, and technical communication strategy for an earlier version of the agency’s simple notice initiative. The outcome intent was more plain language communication for a better taxpayer experience of the >170M notices sent annually.

Internal Revenue Service of the U.S. Government (IRS), (2008-2009). Leadership and Roles; Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design. Designed, piloted, and delivered executive leadership 2-day strategy offsites across key verticals on a rolling basis for over one year. The design purpose and outcome intent for each was to align vision and strategy, confront communication and information flow breakages, and knit leaders and their team members for more effective deployment while also creating a horizontal leadership baseline. 

Federal Trade Commission of the U.S. Government, (2005-2007). Innovation; Communication and Technology; Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; Story, Message, Identify and Brand. The FTC is the U.S. agency tasked with promoting consumer protection and enforcing antitrust laws. Catching up to the data sharing moment, Chief Counsel of the FTC convened a cross-agency team of economists, lawyers and regulators to study the consumer understanding of data sharing and their rights per the notices required from any financial institution. The project led to our shaping and designing an alternative standard privacy notice for inclusion as an institution’s policy and changes to the two (old and outdated) federal laws that govern U.S. data practices. As well, the cross-agency team led by FTC counsel proposed privacy statute regulatory changes to Congress per the rigorous qualitative research study, validated quantitatively, that amended standing privacy law.    

Federal Reserve Board, (2005-2007). Innovation; Communication and Technology; Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; Story, Message, Identify and Brand. The Federal Reserve is the Central Bank of the United States Government. Counsel and Economists from The Federal Reserve led the cross-agency privacy policy work with the intention to understand and analyse needed changes to the two standing (1970’s) privacy and data laws and the articulation of those laws to the American people. that had been rigorously tested and validated over the course of 2 years. 

Securities and Exchange Commission of the U.S. Government (SEC), (2005-2007). Innovation; Communication and Technology; Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; Story, Message, Identify and Brand. The SEC is a U.S. government agency regulating and overseeing the securities industry, including stock exchanges, broker-dealers, investment advisors, and mutual funds. Counsel and Economists from the SEC led a cross-agency information design and privacy policy strategy project to inform and effect change on understanding and usability of privacy and security legislation within privacy notices (at the advent of data sharing). The project concluded with regulatory changes to federal privacy law and an alternative, required privacy notice design that had been rigorously tested and validated over the course of 2 years. 

Cross-Agency Team Also Included Legal and Economist Representatives from:

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) 

• U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury)

Rand Corporation, (2007). Communication and Technology; Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Story, Message, Identity and Brand. Rand Corporation is a global policy think tank. Led a health research strategy initiative sense making, simplifying, streamlining and drafting a CDC nursing home federal policy and care instrument that had ineffective and otherwise dangerous results because it failed around comprehension, usability, and clarity measures. The failures caused care eligibility and federal funding reimbursement problems needing fixing.

Ally Bank, (2008) Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Communication and Technology; Innovation. Ally Bank is an American Bank rebranded in 2010 from its former name, GMAC Bank, having been bailed out by the federal government after the 2008 financial crisis. Led a project to integrate policy expectations and applied use norms (of customer personal data) across Finance, Legal, Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Customer Service Divisions. The project resulted in an aligned and (as told) truthful corporate and security practice policy across verticals, and a simplified and clearly articulated transmission of those policies. 

Consultancy affiliations for (1) Project Clean Ups, (2) Co-competes, (3) Sub-contracts, and (4) Co-projects with:

• Accenture

• Deloitte 

• Booz Allen

• Oliver Wyman

• Hay Group

Change Projects & Org Design Embeds $0-$5M Companies

Streamline Family Office, (2012-2024). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; People and Culture; Workflow and Meetings; Leadership and Roles; Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design. Streamline is a family office providing integrated infrastructure for 14 UHNW families. Multi-Year Organisation Strategy, Organisation Growth + Change Consulting, and Leadership Advisory.

Language Dept, (2015-2017). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. Language Dept is a brand and graphic design practice. Multi-year Founding Partners advisory and organisation strategy consulting.

Freshy's West Seattle, (2015). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. People and Culture. Freshy’s is a local Seattle coffee shop and cafe. Founder advisory, organisation design, and expansion prospecting.

Hotel Particulier, (2013). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. The Hotel Particulier concept was for a modular fine art, event, and dining space. Start-up ideation, proof of concept advisory.

Home Grown Books, (2011-2014). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. Home Grown Books was an early readers, fine art book publisher. Leadership advisory on business start-up concept, early business product iterating and market positioning strategy.

Bija Kids, (2010-2014). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation; People & Culture; Systems, Structures, and Organisation Design; Workflow and Meetings. Bija was a yoga school for kids. Multi-year organisation design and business advisory on day-to-day operations, product and services growth, and operating model.

Mala Yoga, (2010-2012). Vision, Growth + Prioritisation. Mala Yoga was a Yoga Studio. Advised three Co-Founders on partnership, operating model, organisation strategy and design.

Pochron Studios, (2012-2015) Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. Pochron Studios is a Museum/Gallery Fine Art Print Studio. Advised Co-Founders on partnership, through Hurricane Sandy crisis, and on operating model. 

Benson Educational Consulting, (2011-2013). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. Benson Educational Consulting is an Elementary/Middle school Tutoring Practice. Advised Founder from start-up after a 20-year career in NYC Schools as a lead teacher.

Ici Restaurant, (2012-2014). Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. Ici Restaurant was an early arrival of the Farm-to-Table Restaurant concept + Wedding Event Space. Founder advisory on operating model, operations, services diversification, and Hurricane Sandy crisis.

Kananshree Interior Designs and Renovations, (2014-2015), Vision, Growth, and Prioritisation. Advised Kanan, an architect and interior designer, on her solo practice vision and strategy.

A consulting advisor and organisation designer to leaders, founders, and teams for 25 years, Kathryn weaves systems change vision and initiatives into strategy, priorities, and operating from outcomes. From her wheelhouse, she taps into how you communicate, relate, operate, work, lead, and group think; infuses presence, power, and self-awareness onto broad, prioritised organisation strategy; and designs tangible change to elevate your system's potential and expand its human value.

In a world that can feel deeply disconnected in its connectivity, a quickening pace that meets so much headwind, and the greatest access to intelligence in human history, she spends much of her time working with leaders to bridge organizational worlds, design companies and functions that will thrive in a 4th industrial revolution landscape, learn new org and leadership languages, and transition from former leadership paradigms to become more comfortable, adaptable, and resilient in current ones.

• Understanding and applying methodologies and technologies without holding too tightly to them and projecting unreasonable expectations onto them is a large part of her professional charm.

Having worked for over twenty years in the spaces of strategy, transformation and change, leadership, org design, and culture with companies as large as Boeing, Boston Consulting Group, Edelman, and GE; government agencies and NGOs like the United Nations (World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator, UNFPA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Reserve, IRS, and Health and Human Services; educational and research companies like Kaplan and Rand Corporation plus start-ups and female-founded businesses, Kathryn is excited by and cautious about this moment in time.

• Kathryn has an academic background in the Applied Behavioral Sciences, is conditioned with a systems thinking lens, influenced by the org development and systems pioneers of the 20th century, and trained as a process and systems design consultant for organizational (as opposed to family) systems.

• She has deep research and data analysis chops and the rare experience of designing and executing large-scale, rigorous qualitative (human-centered, user-centered design) studies and facilitating the application of grounded results into organizational and public policy changes.

• She is trained and practiced as an executive/systems coach and master facilitator.

• Kathryn did her undergraduate work in Italian Language, Literature, and Art History. The blessing of studying art history, language, and culture as an undergrad is a bedrock of her practice and teaching today.

• Her graduate work in Applied Behavioral Science (applied practice of consulting on leadership and change in organizational systems) through an experiential program (Leadership Institute of Seattle, LIOS) within a naturopathic college (Bastyr University) also gave her a practitioner tapestry far beyond a traditional theory education.

• A student of Vedic meditation, yoga, and eastern philosophy for well over a decade, Kathryn blends many minds - to include the one in her own belly - to bring wisdom and insight to all the moments.

Easy fixes are few and far between.

Focus, presence, and a committed and applied progressive change approach will always win the race.

One of her favorite places is silence. Another is the sound of brilliant - and loud - music.

Travel, beautiful food and wine, art, design, sunshine, the beach, sunsets, good people, grappling with ideas, solving riddles, and enjoying the moments by not taking it all too seriously make her days feel like good ones.

And while the education, professional and life experiences have taught her plenty, Kathryn's best motivation and most favorite teacher has always been her son, Sean Simonds. He is a kind, deeply insightful, and passionate human who dabbles at the intersections of strategy, the financial markets, research, and writing for UBS in NYC.

• M.A., Applied Behavioral Science; Organisation Change & Leadership in Human Systems

• B.A. Italian Language & Art History; Sociology Minor

• Vedic and Eastern Philosophy; Vedic Practice of Meditation; Yoga

• The Woman Mystics Across the Spiritual Traditions

• Neuroscience; Quantum Physics; Psychology; Anthropology

• Natural Systems & Science