MaSSSoftech

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Mary Harper, a senior technology leader, has joined Abt Associates as Vice President and Chief Information Officer and a member of the Senior Executive Team. In her new role Harper will be responsible for leading the company's information technology and management information systems functions, overseeing technology infrastructure, investments and deployment.

Harper joins Abt Associates from General Electric, where she spent 13 years in a variety of technology management roles. Most recently she served as Executive Director of the GE/Penn State/Oracle Software Center of Excellence. In a succession of increasingly responsible positions at General Electric, Ms. Harper implemented systems to drive business growth, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction; delivered large-scale, global software and hardware programs and solutions; instituted sustainable process changes; and built a number of highly successful global teams.

"The effective management and deployment of technology to support our growing global business is critical to serving our clients and staff," said Wendell Knox, President and CEO. "Mary will lead the effort to ensure we have the robust technology in place to support our knowledge intensive business."

Harper explained, "I am looking forward to applying my experience, and to leveraging processes -- including such proven tools as Six Sigma and LEAN -- to help drive change and promote business growth at Abt Associates. As a global, knowledge-based business, Abt's ability to fully leverage technology for advantage is a key success factor."

Abt Associates' new CIO earned a B.S. in computer science at Yale University.

Abt Associates, an employee-owned company, applies scientific research, technical assistance, survey, and consulting expertise to a wide range of social, economic and health policy issues; international development; clinical trials and registries; and complex business problems. Founded in 1965, the company provides services to U.S. federal, state and local governments; universities and foundations; media; and major corporations. In fiscal year 2009, the company had revenue of $264 million. Its staff of over 1,300 is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Atlanta, Georgia; Bethesda, Maryland; Durham, North Carolina; Lexington, Massachusetts (Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions, Inc.); New York, New York (Abt SRBI); and in Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.