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Onboarding Pace

Why manager onboarding?

At Unifai, we know that onboarding a new manager can be a challenging experience for everyone involved - the hiring manager, direct reports, organizational peers, and especially the new manager themselves. That's why we've developed a solution that is tailored to help managers succeed from day one.

Our innovative Feedback Alignment Model is a data-driven solution that helps organizations drive faster time-to-effectiveness rates and improve retention rates. By overcoming information gaps and cognitive biases during the onboarding period and beyond, Unifai empowers new managers and all key stakeholders to build strong connections, navigate organizational dynamics, and drive better outcomes.

Unifai automates feedback loops from all stakeholders and illuminates gaps between manager perceptions and stakeholder perspectives. This helps new managers to feel more confident in their ability to navigate individual and organizational dynamics, and to drive better outcomes for their team and the enterprise.

We're committed to making the manager onboarding experience seamless and empowering, helping organizations to save time and money while building a stronger team. If you're looking for a better way to onboard new managers and maximize your team's potential, contact us today to learn more about how Unifai can help.

Leadership Team

Doug Kitani
Chairman

Doug Kitani is founder and Executive Chairman of Unifai, the industry’s leading software company devoted to solving event-driven, leadership challenges. Doug previously served as CEO of Erickson and CEO of IAP Worldwide, global aerospace and defense companies where he led their turnarounds. His prior experience includes leading corporate development as an executive at Honeywell and as a private equity operating executive in the aerospace and defense industry with companies affiliated with Veritas Capital and Cerberus Capital. Doug currently serves as an advisor to private equity firm Astara Capital, is a member of the Cerberus Operations Advisory Corporation (COAC), and is CEO of Trillium Flow Technologies, a portfolio company of First Reserve.

He learned to fly helicopters in the U.S. Army where he served as a pilot, while completing 11 years of service. He is active in flying, martial arts, CrossFit, skiing, travel, spending time with his family and friends in Oregon, and supporting various organizations aligned with veteran causes. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and Business Executives for National Security (BENS).

Doug holds a senior black belt in the martial art of Kajukenbo and earned a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, where he was captain of the Army martial arts team. After active duty, he was awarded an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and served as an advisor to the Belfer Center, Kennedy School at Harvard University for the 2020 class of National Security Fellows.

Mike Mack
Mike Mack
Chief Product Officer

Mike Mack is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Unifai, a software company focused on providing innovative tools for leadership development. Mike brings a wealth of experience to his role at Unifai, having worked in product leadership positions at companies such as Amazon, where he led product teams for Amazon Prime and Physical Retail Technology. Mike’s earlier career experience includes time at Starbucks, Ariba, and Accenture. He is passionate about leveraging technology to help people leaders at all levels of an organization overcome obstacles and achieve their professional goals.

Mike holds a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. In his free time, he enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with his family and two dogs. Although he has lived in Seattle for over a decade, he remains a die-hard fan of Pittsburgh sports teams.

Alyssa Birnbaum
Alyssa Birnbaum
Management Science Advisor

Alyssa Birnbaum is an organizational psychologist, researcher, and survey expert. She spent her early career working in marketing, first as a strategist for Bayer Healthcare brands, and then as Director of Product Marketing for an AI tech startup. She shifted careers to pursue organizational psychology because she wanted to help employees flourish at work. She leverages her survey expertise, research-orientation, and passion for helping leaders and employees to support Unifai’s proprietary diagnostic survey tool.

Alyssa holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a MA from Claremont Graduate University (CGU), and she holds a PhD in Positive Organizational Psychology at CGU. Her research specializes in remote/hybrid work, burnout, employee engagement, leadership development, and high-quality connections at work.

A serial globetrotter, baking enthusiast, and workout junkie, Alyssa enjoys Sunday morning walks along the California coastline with her husband and their delicious Australian/German shepherd.

Our Team Values

We are a team of leaders and builders who are passionate about serving our mission of growing the practice of leadership development through software. With roots in the Pacific Northwest, our team spans the country.

How we perpetuate our organization

Audacity. We must always retain the ability to adapt and overcome obstacles, to reinvent ourselves, and demonstrate the audacity and agility to move quickly on decisions that would otherwise bog down our competition. This defines how we respect and protect our precious position in the hearts and minds of our customers: agile, customer-focused with a bias for action.

How we treat all people

Empathy for all. We value the inherent humanity in our people, our customers, and society. We are all flawed and carry some baggage through life, doing our best to survive or thrive in a challenging world. However, we exist to serve each other beginning with deepening the understanding and appreciation of our humanity. Importantly, we want our employees to improve as humans through their time with Unifai. This defines how we treat all people.

How we treat ourselves

Grit. Each of us must have the self-discipline to work on developing the inner strength to push forward even when there is pressure, uncertainty, fear of failure, and other mind games that affect our ability to perform, to lead or follow; we must summon the individual and team grit to overcome what challenges come our way. This requires meditation, introspection, study, and practice. Therefore, we view personal development as important as professional development. This defines how we treat ourselves.

How we do business and make decisions

Integrity. We expect that we are all committed completely to one another and that we will always act with honor and integrity. Our empathy combined with integrity allows for the transparency to go a step further: we must always be on the hunt for the truth of a matter through first principles logic, transparency, sharing, questioning, and teamwork. This defines how we agree to do business and make decisions.

How we promote diversity of thought

Perspective. We promote a diversity of ideas by encouraging contributions from all levels of the organization. We accept dissenting opinions and we promote respectful debate. We expect our leaders to guide their teams to openly consider alternative voices. However, once a decision has been made, there are no winners and losers; only a unified team that has committed to an agreed upon path. This defines how we adopt a growth mindset while maintaining the fabric of humanity and collegiality among our teams.

Private Equity Experience