Dr. Samuel Blacher - background & Media

About & Bio:

Diverse QA Experience from Leading Startups & Fortune 100 Firms across Sectors. Examples:
- VP of Quality Assurance, Mimic Networks (Oct 2023-Oct 2025):
  Established and led the QA function, tools, processes, and team from scratch for the leading cybersecurity startup.
- Director of Test Engineering, McDonald's/IBM (Jan 2020-Feb 2022):
  Established from scratch and led the QA function, tools, processes, and later also the UAT function, for the voice & AI-based startup organization acquired by McD and later by IBM.
- Senior Quality Engineering Manager, Apple (Feb 2022-Oct 2023):
  Led a large group of leads and engineers for the AI-based Ads Platform.
- QA Lead, Palo Alto Networks (earlier):
  Established and led the QA function, tools, processes, and team for a new mobile-devices product in the initial idea/experimentation phase and through successful releases.
- QA Manager, Checkmarx (earlier):
  Established and led the QA function, tools, processes, and team for the (back-then) early-stage startup.
Additional Value-Adding Experience:
- Software Developer in Startups.
- Customer Support Experience in Startups.
- Ex-Founder and CEO of a Startup.
Diverse Technical, Management, and Leadership Educational Background:
- BSc - Computer Science Major
- MSc in Engineering & Technology Management
- PhD in Leadership
Published on Respected Outlets (see below).
IQ: 131 / 99.74th Percentile, Globally Normalized | EQ: Top 10% (reports available on request)

Rates: $100-150/Hour (according to the level and type of engagement)

TV interview on innovation and organizational culture, aired in April 2026:

Lecture on leadership, convincing, collaboration, and more, at the global leader of resin-based home and garden solutions:

Articles in CIO Magazine:

Computerworld shared my article with their ~1 million followers on LinkedIn:

The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) featured my articles in their weekly newsletters and social media:

Featured on Shoutout DFW:

2025 British Academy of Management Doctoral Symposium Poster Presentation:

2025 European Conference on Management, Leadership, and Governance Paper and Poster:

ChatGPT & Gemini Dub my Research as One of the First and Few Academic Studies about Workplace Skip-Level Meetings:

Dr. Blacher occasionally posts ~5-minute-read articles on organizational behavior, culture, and leadership.

You are welcome to join the newsletter and get alerted about new articles Here, or read through them below:

See here

Original Research:
- PhD Dissertation (reviewed & approved by leading scholars & professionals, as described in its acknowledgments section):
  Skip-Level Meetings: Perspectives of Skipped First-Tier U.S. Tech Leaders
- Skip-Level Meetings in Tech Empirical Study (under journal review)
- Skip-Level Meetings Conceptual Framework and Review Study (under journal review)
- Short Paper in the 2025 European Conference on Management, Leadership, and Governance Proceedings: Being Bypassed: Uncovering Skip-Level Meetings from U.S. Frontline Technology Leaders’ Perspectives
- Research Poster Based on the Above: Skip-Level Meetings: Surprising (and less so) Findings on a Little-Studied Topic
- Additional Empirical & Theoretical Studies in the Pipeline.
Peer-Reviewer:
- Empirical Study Peer-Review for Management Research Review (a Q1 journal)
- Two Conference Panels Peer-Review for the 2025 Midwest Academy of Management conference
Conference Presentations
- Presented a Research Poster at the 2025 British Academy of Management Doctoral Symposium
- Short Paper Publication and Research Poster Presentation at the 2025 European Conference on Management, Leadership, and Governance

Web of Science: NKQ-3018-2025

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