About Scott

Who Is Scott Simmerman?
     Dr. Scott J. Simmerman is the creator of Square Wheels, a series of clever illustrations that are extremely effective communications tools and several internationally-known team building exercises, including his flagship game,
The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. 

Scott is Managing Partner of Performance Management Company, a consulting company he founded in 1984 focused on customer service and organizational improvement. Over the past 14 years, the focus has shifted to creating, manufacturing and distributing his teambuilding and OD products worldwide and training others to use them effectively. 

He is a Certified Professional Facilitator by the International Association of Facilitators and has delivered keynotes and presentations to audiences in over 30 countries. 

One of Scott's premises is that if people enjoy a learning experience, they will more readily retain key learning points and he designs his products and presentations to fit this principle. 

When he's not presenting, marketing and developing, he is also a frequent writer and contributor to numerous learning groups as well as adjunct professor at Furman University's Center for Corporate and Professional Development. He is a former board member of North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA). 

Consulting and presentation opportunities in dozens of countries have given Scott a base of experience and humor that is both polished and practical. He is always among the top-rated presenters at international conferences based on participant feedback. His presentation skills are exceptional, his approach low-key, and his style is engaging and involving as opposed to lecturing. 

As a former psychology teacher and professor bored with the classroom, Scott Simmerman began consulting in performance improvement in 1978 after a teaching stint at Furman University and a University Teaching Fellow position at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 

He joined Edward J. Feeney Associates and spent several years developing his skills as a consultant working with client organizations including First Chicago, Bell of Pennsylvania, Borden's and a diverse group of other organizations. 

After serving as an internal consultant for The Home Silk Shops, a chain of retail fabric stores, Scott accepted their offer to become Human Resources Manager and became more actively involved in the training community. 

He was then hired as Senior Vice President of Operations for The Wherehouse, a large chain of music/video stores based in Los Angeles with operations in 6 states. It was here that his perspective on using training for performance improvement changed as he gained practical experience in implementing organizational development as a business improvement tool. 

In 1984 he relocated to the Greenville, South Carolina area and beganPerformance Management Company as a consulting business with a focus on service quality improvement. He started the Upstate Chapter of the International Customer Service Association and began presenting at ICSA and other international conferences. He was also the chair of the American Society for Quality and was regularly a top-rated presenter at conferences for the Association of Quality and Participation. 

His creation of the Square Wheels One illustration and its impact as a metaphor for "How organizations really work" led to the development of what is now more than 300 illustrations, sold worldwide and packaged in PowerPoint presentations and exercises. 

Following the success of Square Wheels, he became interested in supporting teamwork and collaboration and began publishing PMC's flagship team simulation, The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. Dutchman has become one of the leading team building exercises in the world and has evolved into versions set in a variety of locales and languages such as The Silk Road Adventure (Chinese) and Zipangu (Japanese). One good idea leads to others and he continues to create exceptional team building exercises. 

Performance Management Company expanded into publishing and distributing his materials and actively supports a large network of consultants and trainers. Current clients include a global mix of multinational organizations as well as hundreds of small businesses, schools and universities and independent consultants worldwide. 

PMC has contractual arrangements with consulting firms in Japan, China, India, Switzerland, Romania and elsewhere and continues to develop products that meet global needs for organizational development tools. 

Since Scott began sharing Square Wheels, he's delivered workshops, retreats and seminars all over the U.S. and in such countries as South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Dubai, UAE and South Korea. He enjoys traveling to other countries on other people's funding! 

Born in New Jersey in 1948, Scott attended Allegheny College (Meadville, PA), got his Master's Degree in Psychology from Iowa State University and completed his doctorate in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He remains a most avid Tar Heel fan! 

Scott relaxes while gardening (he's the King of Gladiolas with a developing interest in hybrid Day Lilies), building and reading. He is an accomplished pool player (and a certified billiards instructor for cruise ships), enjoys bike riding, speeding about on his Honda CBR motorcycle, traveling to foreign lands, walking and hiking, all interests he relished passing on to his son and daughter during their growing years.  

Our Store

Dear Scott:

I wanted to express my sincere appreciation to your for introducing (us) to "Square Wheels." This easy to understand program has paved the way for my associates to share their ideas for continuous improvement and quality. "Square Wheels" has also helped my company to begin to take down the barriers to effective communication, not to mention it is FUN.

I have also had the opportunity to use "Square Wheels" with our customers as a way of developing a continuous improvement process as part of our partnership. On several occasions, I used this program as a sales tool at the beginning of our proposal presentation.

We were able to generate valuable feedback to problems that our potential customer was having with our competition, the concept of "Square Wheels" was instrumental in gaining new business.

The return on investment has been greater than I ever imagined and you created a "Raving Fan" with (us).
Again, thank you and good luck.

Ryan Hendley
CEO of a Building Services Company