Kathryn Britton - Online Resume

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Silicon Valley Change Executive Coaching,  2014 - Present

As a member of the Silicon Valley Change network of professional coaches, I offer short-term high-impact coaching for executives and middle managers looking to evolve their careers, become better managers, contribute more fully to the business, and reach greater fulfillment at work.

THEANO COACHING LLC, Chapel Hill, NC,  2006 – Present

Self-employed professional coach and speaker. Working with professionals and business groups to envision flourishing futures, take steps to attain them, and become more effective at work.  Help people set goals and take action to move toward them.

Writing coach.  Helping people pursue writing goals ranging from blog posts to books.  Run writers' workshops where people help each other build skill and confidence in writing.

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY NEWS DAILY 2007 – Present

Associate editor and author for Positive Psychology News, an online publication about applications of positive psychology research to business, family, schools, and individual well-being. The publication has had than 150 authors, more than 1400 articles, and is partly translated into Chinese, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Have also co-edited three books containing selected collections of articles, one on building resilience, one on the benefits of gratitude, and the third on character strengths.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK, MD 2008 – 2016

Adjunct faculty teaching graduate-level course,  Managing Project Teams in the Project Management Department in the Clark School of Engineering.  This course helps engineers grow in self-awareness and learn concepts from positive organizational scholarship that improve their work engagement and productivity.

IBM, Research Triangle Park, NC 1981 – 2007

Positive Organization Advisor, part-time (2006 – 2007):   Taught teams ways to increase productivity, effectiveness, and job satisfaction by applying concepts of positive psychology and positive organizational scholarship.  Coauthored guide for developing diversity in the technical leadership pipeline.

Senior Technical Staff Member (2000 – 2006):  Usability leader; architect, designer, and technical team leader for various products and technologies.  

Software Engineer (1981 – 2000):  Designer from concept through system test for various technologies; Instituted streamlined patent procedures that greatly increased patent submissions; Team leader for software development teams ranging in size from 6 to 50 people;  architect responsible for requirements definition and negotiation with products.

NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY (NRL), Washington, DC 1977 – 1981

Participated in software engineering research and technology transfer to operational Navy.

EDUCATION

Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP), University of Pennsylvania. Member of the inaugural class. Capstone research published in International Coaching Psychology Review.  

Coach Training from Coach Training Alliance and Breakthrough Enterprises

MS, Computer Science, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

MS Library Science, UNC-CH. Research: Automated selection of index terms. Beta Phi Mu Librarian’s honorary

BA, English, Stanford University. Phi Beta Kappa

PUBLICATIONS

7 technical and memorandum reports for NRL, sections of 4 IBM and 2 X/Open manuals, 4 IBM research reports, 3 technical papers in refereed journals, 4 positive psychology papers, 4 positive psychology books, chapter in positive psychology book..  Selected publications:

Polly, S. & Britton, K. H. (2018).  Acting "As If" in executive coaching.  In R. F. Summers & D. V. Jeste, Positive psychiatry: A casebook.  Washington, DC:  American Psychiatric Publishing.

Yeager, J. & Britton, K. H. (2018).  Positive psychology coaching for sports leaders.  In A. Brady & B. Grenville-Cleave, Positive Psychology in Sport and Physical Exercise, 243-255.  New York: Routledge. 

Polly, S. & Britton, K. H. (Eds.) (2015).  Character strengths matter: How to live a full life.  Positive Psychology News Series.

Shaar, M.-J. & Britton, K. H. (2011). Smarts and Stamina: The busy person’s guide to optimal health and performance. Philadelphia: Positive Psychology Press. ISBN-13 978-0615529684.

Britton, K. H. & Maymin, S. (2010). Gratitude: How to appreciate life’s gifts. Positive Psychology News Series. ISBN-13: 978-1453878675

Maymin, S. & Britton, K. H., Eds. (2009). Resilience: How to navigate life’s curves. Positive Psychology News Series. ISBN-13: 978-1449919375

Britton, K. H. (2008). Increasing job satisfaction: Coaching with evidence-based interventions. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 2(1), 176-185. Refereed journal; Invited to submit by journal editor.   

Choong, S. & Britton, K. H. (2007). Character strengths and type: Exploration of covariation. International Coaching Psychology Review, 2 (1), 9-23.

Britton, K. H., Atterstam, T., Judge, E., & Ufberg, M. (2006). A values-based authenticity model: Implications and interventions. 2006 Gallup Leadership Institute Summit, Washington DC. 

Britton, K. H., & Edelman, S. (2007). What people with diabetes want their doctors to know. Insulin: A clinical journal for health care professionals, 2(3), 146-147.

Britton, K. H. (ongoing). More than 80 articles in Positive Psychology News Daily on a wide range of applications of positive psychology in daily life.  Recent article:  Think of It as an Experiment. 

Britton, K. H. (ongoing). Positive Psychology Reflections: a blog on applications of positive psychology to daily life. Most frequently accessed articles are on motivation, self-efficacy, effective feedback, and gratitude.

Computer Science

Schmidt, D. & Britton, K. H. (2007). Avoiding pitfalls in project planning: Learning from anti-patterns and scheduling for quality. IBM Internal report.

Morris, T., Wojtowecz, S. & Britton, K. H. (2007). Developing a diverse technical leadership pipeline: Guidelines for creating personal action plans. IBM Internal Report.

Britton, K. H., et al. (2000). Transcoding: Extending eBusiness to new environments. IBM Systems Journal, 40(1), 153-178.

Samaras, G., Britton, K. H., Citron, A., & Mohan, C. (1995). Two-phase commit optimizations and tradeoffs in the commercial environment. Distributed and Parallel Databases, 3(4).

Heninger, K. (1980). Specifying software requirements for complex systems: New techniques and their application. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-6 (1). Reprinted in numerous textbooks. Most recently published in D. Weiss & D. Hoffman (2001), Software fundamentals. New York: Addison-Wesley.

PATENTS AND AWARDS

22 patents awarded and around 6 pending; 3 recognized for special significance to IBM;  Named a Master Inventor in 1996

Two Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards and an Ovation Team Award for technical and leadership excellence; Finalist for IBM 2007 Frances Allen mentoring award.