For more than a decade, Michael Hepperlen has combined his interests in leadership and research to help clients create tailored selection systems. Michael excels in partnering with clients to better understand selection and development needs, conduct job analyses, and recommend optimal talent management solutions. While Michael is a self-professed education junkie with two masters degrees and a Ph.D., his clients and colleagues appreciate his inquisitive, perceptive, and down-to-earth nature.

Michael joined MDAs talent management practice in 2005, with a focus on leadership selection and executive coaching. Prior to that, he worked as a senior consultant for PreVisor (formerly known as ePredix), where he helped design and implement selection systems for more than 40 Fortune 500 companies. Michael began his career with the City of Omaha Personnel Department, where he helped develop and administer assessment centers and testing tools for police and fire department selection and promotion decisions.

Michael has a broad background in psychology and counseling. He graduated with honors from Gustavus Adolphus College with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in music. His advanced degrees include: an M.A. in counseling from the University of North Dakota; an M.A. in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha; and a Ph.D. in I/O psychology from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Away from the office, Michael enjoys spending time with his wife and two young children. He loves to travel, swim, and fish. He has ridden on RAGBRAI (a 600 mile bike ride across Iowa) twice and hopes to experience other bike tours around the country when his kids get older. He can frequently be found spending his vacation time at his family’s cabin on Rainy Lake near International Falls, Minnesota, where he helped build a traditional Finnish wood-burning Sow-Na.

Favorite Work:

Helping business leaders make smart hiring decisions