ABA International Fellows
Maria E. Malott
After completing undergraduate work at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Venezuela, Dr. Maria E. Malott immediately began what can only be termed a distinguished career in large scale performance management. After two years as Performance Systems Analyst for the Central Office of Personnel of Venezuela, she entered the graduate program in applied behavior analysis at Western Michigan University, obtaining her Ph.D. in 1987. In 1989 she was hired as production manager at Ronningen Research & Development and within two years was vice-president of manufacturing for that company. In 1993, she began a consulting career, and has consulted in advertising, restaurants, retail, manufacturing, hotels, banks, government, and institutions. Her clients have included General Motors Corporation; Meijer, Inc.; Kellogg’s; Pharmacia & Upjohn; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and the Cancer Prevention Research Institute at the University of Arizona. In all of this work, Dr. Malott combines systems analysis with the analysis of individual behavior within systems and, in the process, has taught dozens of corporate executives to appreciate the power of behavioral principles.
Dr. Malott has been a visiting scholar at 32 universities in 15 different countries and has served as an affiliated faculty member at five universities. She has served on four editorial boards and is the author of a book on organizational change, published in Spanish and in English, and co-author of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of one of the most widely used and often-translated textbooks in behavior analysis: Elementary Principles of Behavior. Dr. Malott was the recipient of the 2003 Award for International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis and the 2004 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Organizational Behavior Management. In 1993, she agreed to serve as part-time executive director of the Association for Behavior Analysis. Within a few short years, the organization rose from near-bankruptcy to a financially stable scientific and professional organization. Her organizational behavior management skills have been applied to every aspect of the operation of the organization, which serves over 4,600 members and as the parent organization of 55 affiliated chapters.