Ivan Pupulidy, PhD retired as the Director of the U.S. Forest Service, Office of Innovation and Organizational Learning (IOL), where his team continues to build communities of practice focused on sensemaking, innovation, learning and relationship building. Ivan created the Learning Review, which began as a human-centric process replacing traditional accident investigation and has expanded into a framework for organizational learning and cultural change.

Ivan's ability to integrate academic research with real world application comes from his varied life pursuits, which have included work as a mine geologist, exploration geophysicist, and a U.S. Coast Guard pilot for rescue and law enforcement missions. Ivan served in the U.S. Air Guard and Air Force Reserves, where he flew the C-130 Hercules as a MAFFS tanker pilot on wildland fires. He also served on active military operations for combat and humanitarian support in Iraq, Afghanistan and Central Africa.

Ivan earned a Master's of Science Degree in Human Factors and Systems Safety at Lund University, Sweden, under the direct supervision of Professor Sidney Dekker, and completed his PhD in Organizational Transformation, in 2015. Ivan is currently a Professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, where he teaches New View Concepts in the Advanced Safety Engineering Management Master's Program.