Professional Background
Jackie Stavros
Jackie Stavros, EDM, possesses eighteen years of strategic planning, marketing, international, and training experience. She has done business in over a dozen countries in Asia, Europe and North America. Dr. Stavros has co-authored The First Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of Change (with David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney) and a new book (with co-author Cheri Torres), Dynamic Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Appreciative Inquiry in Daily Living. Dr. Stavros has spent the last ten years incorporating Appreciative Inquiry (AI) methodologies into her training and consulting work. Appreciative Inquiry is the "art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate and heighten positive potential." It builds upon the positive core of the organization. She uses this process to work with individuals, teams, divisions and organizations to facilitate strategic change initiatives. She works with executives, managers, staff and line teams and an organization’s stakeholders to collaboratively and creatively help them get organized and focused for profitable growth. Through AI coaching, she helps organizations identify and articulate their UVO (unique value offering) and build collaborative teams for inspired action. Her clients include ACCI Business System, Fasteners, Inc., General Motors of Mexico, Girl Scouts of U.S.A., Global Marketing Insights, Inc., NASA, Tendercare Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Centers, Tuffy Mufflers, United Way, FCI Automotive and dozens of educational institutions including both higher education and pre-school through 12th grade.
Jackie Stavros is an Associate Professor for the Graduate College of Management, Lawrence Technological University where she teaches and integrates Appreciative Inquiry in her coursework: Leading Organizational Change, Strategic Management, Effective Executive Leadership, Internet Marketing, Teambuilding and Marketing Strategy. She has over ten years experience in e-learning from course and curriculum design and development to implementation of blended to online learning programs and environments. She has taught at Madonna University, Schoolcraft College, Walsh College, and Michigan State University.
Her industry work includes automotive, banking, computer software and hardware, education, healthcare, government, and professional services. In all her management positions, Dr. Stavros reported directly to the president and was responsible for strategic planning, marketing, sales, training, ISO 9000 and QS 9000 projects and international business development activities. She has co-authored several articles in AI, "Cultivating a Positive Culture Through Appreciative Inquiry" and "Strategic Inquiry with Appreciative Intent: Inspiration to SOAR." She is editor for Taos Institute Publishing in the areas of both AI and Social Constructionism.
Dr. Stavros has worked extensively with the Michigan Small Business Development Center Network. The MI-SBDC is part of a nation-wide SBDC network that provides counseling, training and resources to small-to-medium sized companies. She earned her Executive Doctorate in Management at Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Her Dissertation topic was "Capacity Building Using An Appreciative Approach: A Relational Process of Building Your Organization’s Future." The focus of the topic is capacity building for an organization reminding you that an organization’s driving force is its people. Her dissertation has been cited in several published books and articles in the Appreciative Inquiry field. Her M.B.A. is in international business from Michigan State University, Eli Broad School of Management and a B.A. degree in marketing from Wayne State University.