Emily Altimare is a Principal at FTE Performance Consulting. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology and has conducted original ethnographic research within a variety of industries including: automotive, healthcare, and higher education. Her expertise includes organizational culture, institutional change processes, user-centered design, socio-technical systems and lean manufacturing. Emily utilizes a variety of ethnographic (qualitative) data collection techniques including: participant observation, interview, cognitive mapping, and work process diagramming.

Emily’s research and project experience includes:

• Value stream analysis of the order to delivery process for a custom vehicle manufacturer, identifying over 4 million dollars in cost savings through reduced sales order processing time, engineering time, and improved part availability for production.
• Designed and conducted enterprise-wide cultural assessment of a large international firm, the findings of which were used to design custom interventions to support the organization’s readiness to change.
• Facilitated lean transformation initiatives throughout a complex manufacturing environment with focus on leadership alignment, communications, and organizational structure activities and improvements.
• Conducted a customer focused rapid ethnographic assessment of “car culture” (with a focus on car space as an extension of home) using interviews, focus groups, and in-vehicle observations to explore cultural processes associated with in-vehicle technology use.

Emily’s publications include:

• Altimare, Emily and David M. Sheridan. 2016. The Role of Nonclassroom Spaces in Living-Learning Communities. Journal of Learning Spaces.
• Barnes, Jessica V. and Emily Altimare et al. 2009. Creating and Sustaining Authentic Partnerships with Community in a Systemic Model. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement.
• Altimare, Emily, and Clinton Humphrey. 2007. Beyond ethnography: corporate & design anthropology. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association.

Emily holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Michigan State University, a Masters degree in Applied Anthropology from Northern Arizona University and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Delaware.