John P. Girard, Ph.D.

John Girard is an associate professor of management at Minot State University where he teaches graduate and undergraduate management courses. John is researching the relationships existing between information anxiety, organizational memory loss, and contemporary knowledge management theories. John is co-founder and Chief Knowledge Strategist of Sagology (www.sagology.com), a US-based consulting firm focusing on knowledge management, leadership, and social technologies.

After 24 years as an officer in the Canadian Forces John, his wife JoAnn, and their two dogs moved to Minot, ND. Throughout his military career, John had the pleasure to serve in a variety of command and staff positions in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, gaining experience as a leader, trainer, policy officer, human resource manager, and project manager in the Public sector environment. In 2004, whilst acting as Director of Knowledge Management at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, he accepted an Associate Professorship at Minot State University, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

 John is a graduate of TUI University, where he completed a PhD in Business Administration and an MBA, and of the University of Manitoba where he achieved a BSc with a Computer Science major.  In addition, John is a graduate of Canadian Forces College, Toronto and the Royal Military College of Science in the United Kingdom. 

 John speaks regularly on subjects such as knowledge management, social media, transformation, and innovation.  He has spoken in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America at such events as KM World, APQC’s Knowledge Management Conference, the World Congress on Intellectual Capital, KM Australia, InfoVision India, and many other events. John has undertaken training and consulting assignments for clients such as the Department of National Defence, Canadian Forces College, Canadian International Development Agency, US Department of Labor, Job Corps, Ark Group, Success Steps, and the Dubai Municipality.

 John is actively engaged in research, having written more than twenty articles and chapters for peer-reviewed or trade journals and books. John’s first book, an edited volume entitled Building Organizational Memories: Will you know what you knew?, was published by IGI Global in March 2009.  John is the lead author of A Leader’s Guide to Knowledge Management: Drawing on the Past to Enhance Future Performance, to be published by Business Expert Press in May 2009.  At present, John and JoAnn are writing a follow-on book entitled A Leader’s Guide to Knowledge Management: Social Media Strategies for Building Real Competitive Advantage, which will be available from Business Expert Press in early 2010.

 Prior to returning to his passion of teaching, John gained experience as a university administrator and demonstrated his ability in a variety of senior positions including: Dean of Enrollment Management, Director of Enrollment Services, Chair of the Business Information Technology department, and Director of the an Executive Management Program.

 The City and Guilds of London Institute awarded John their Insignia Award for his research into the application of robotic technology and subsequently appointed him a member of the City and Guilds Institute (MCGI).  In 2003 John received the Chartered Manager (F. CIM) designation from the Canadian Institute of Management.  In 2004 John earned the Best Academic Paper award at 7^th  Annual World Congress on Intellectual Capital and Innovation.