Matt Johnson
President, Head of Motivation Science
Matt currently serves as President & Head of Motivation Science at MotiveX. Matt leads the development of our motivation solutions portfolio, strategic partnerships and consulting activation. Matt founded MotiveX in 2015 because of his passion for behavioral science and lack of industry solutions to drive sustainable behavior change.
Prior to MotiveX, Matt was a top producer and strategic consultant in enterprise engagement and performance improvement. Matt’s clients included GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Shire Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda), Endo Pharmaceuticals, AmerisourceBergen, Johnson & Johnson and DuPont. Matt has a BA in Management from Gettysburg College and MBA from Pennsylvania State University.
Joseph Luzi
Board Advisor
Joe is an accomplished pharmaceutical, technology, and healthcare executive focused on research-based solutions, public and HCP training and education, and health equity initiatives. He founded his latest company, Social Health Research (SHR), on the premise that every American, regardless of age, sex, gender identification, or skin color, deserves an equal chance to be as healthy as possible. Joe's vision for SHR combines community engagement, research, data analysis, technology, and innovation to define barriers to healthcare, identify unmet community needs, and create efficient bespoke solutions.
Joe has founded three other successful pharmaceutical, consulting, and data and technology companies, including Advanced Health Media (acquired by IQVIA in 2018). He began that grassroots start-up in a spare bedroom of his partner's house and turned it into a $450M enterprise. His ability to craft solutions, motivate teams, and create effective management processes has resulted in successful partnerships with dozens of medical device and bio-pharma companies, including 18 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies. Joe holds a BA in Management from Gettysburg College.
Katina Sawyer, Ph.D.
Chief Talent Scientist
As Co-Chief Talent Scientist at MotiveX, Katina Sawyer, Ph.D. leverages her consulting experience, as well as her academic knowledge of motivation and engagement, to design and validate motivation assessments. By balancing academic knowledge with practical applications, she supports the team in delivering high-quality, effective, user-friendly solutions to drive employee and sales engagement.
Katina joined the MotiveX team because of her passion for talent management, leadership, and motivation. In her prior experiences consulting for companies like Corporate Executive Board (formerly SHL), her clients such as Kraft, Pfizer, Carl Zeiss, UGI, and Hertz often lacked solutions for increasing engagement. She witnessed a need in the marketplace for an assessment that would truly help leaders understand their direct reports and create more enriching and meaningful workplaces for employees worldwide.
MotiveX provides the perfect blend of psychological science and applied practical knowledge. Katina is an assistant professor of management at the University of Arizona. Over the years, Katina has published numerous peer–reviewed articles and book chapters about talent development, leadership and various ways of driving employee engagement. Katina holds a dual-Ph.D. in Industrial Organizational Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Villanova University.
Christian Thoroughgood
Chief Talent Scientist
As Co-Chief Talent Scientist at MotiveX, Christian Thoroughgood, Ph.D., utilizes his wealth of expertise as an industrial-organizational psychologist to design and validate assessments and other talent management solutions.
Christian joined MotiveX because of his background and interests in employee selection and assessment, motivation, and leadership. In designing employee assessments, performance management systems, and assessment centers for various organizations, such as Johnson & Johnson, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Aerosoles, UGI Corporation, and Penn State University, Christian understands the challenges that all employers face when seeking to better select, assess, motivate, engage, and retain their employees.
Christian is an Assistant Professor at Georgia State University in the Graduate Programs in Human Resource Development. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology (with an emphasis in research methods and statistics) from The Pennsylvania State University and a B.A. in Psychology and Economics from The University of Maryland, College Park.
Christian has published over twenty peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in the field of Industrial-Organizational Psychology and presented his research at various academic conferences, including the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the Academy of Management. His research has also gained media attention from various outlets, including The Washington Post, Bloomberg Business Week, The Atlantic, Psychology Central, Live Science, and Buzzfeed.