I have forty-plus years of experience as an educator, organization development consultant and coach in a wide range of organizations. Twenty years as an internal to city government and the international petroleum industry; and twenty as an external. The breadth of what I have garnered greatly exceeded my expectations as a public school educator entering this new world of work. I lived and worked internationally. I worked hands on, in board rooms, on shop floors and in castles. I worked aboard Navy aircraft carriers, underground in coal mines, and rode side saddled with police and firefighters. I collaborated with UN representatives in a G20 extension summit on women’s equality. Clients across these varied sectors consistently remark about my gifts and how I bring them, with intention, generosity and relevance.
That I seem to follow very specific assumptions/beliefs about people, purpose, change and my place….. helping to address the current contexts, and when they are open to it, embracing the whole of each situation; guiding people on their walk and organizations on navigating the ever-changing world where uncertainty has become the new reality; the global order; changing demands of workers and markets; defining and adapting to the impact on businesses and societies.
As an elder, wisdom-keeper and teacher; my offering is a unique integration of experience, knowledge, spiritual presence, and fluency for envisioning possibilities. I look forward to being an evocateur with Wicked Company; joining other voices to shape our growth and others in organizations.
Mary Ann is an organizational effectiveness consultant, executive coach, and teacher spanning a range of sectors in North and Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Her executive experience includes Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness and Vice City Manager. Continuous learning, holism and inclusion are the philosophical underpinnings of her work and writing.
Mary Ann is Adjunct Faculty in the Executive MBA Program at Loyola University Chicago and faculty in the Strategic Agility and Innovation Program sponsored by Yale School of Management and Yale New Haven Hospital.
She is Programme Dean of NTL Institute’s Global Organization Development Certificate Program in Oxford, England and co-founder and co-chairperson of the International Gestalt Organization & Leadership Development (iGOLD) Program and co-founder of the Gestalt OSD Program in Ghana.
She is a pioneer in the application of Appreciative Inquiry as a large group intervention. Her professional affiliations include Board member: NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Science; Organization Development and Change Division, Academy of Management Association; and Gestalt Institute of Cleveland; Fellow, Kurt Lewin Center; and Organization Development Network.
Mary Ann and her husband have two sons and live in Chicago.
Robert J. Marshak, Ph.D. is Distinguished Scholar in Residence Emeritus at American University in Washington, DC, and has consulted with executives around the world for more than 40 years. Bob is widely recognized for his pioneering work on organizational covert processes, the use of metaphors and symbolic meaning in organizational change, and the conceptualization, along with Gervase Bushe, of Dialogic OD.
He is the author or co-editor of three books and more than 100 book chapters and articles addressing organizational consulting and change. Among his many honors and awards, he received the Organization Development Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Distinguished Educator Award from the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management. A chapter about him and his work is included in The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers (2017).
Gervase (pronounced Jervis) Bushe is the Professor of Leadership and Organization Development at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
His career spans close to four decades as a clinical researcher and consultant working with leaders who want to create great teams and organizations, transforming organizational structures, cultures and processes away from command and control toward more collaborative work systems.
He is an award winning authour of over 100 papers and three books on organizational change, leadership, teams and teamwork. His book Clear Leadership has been translated into 6 languages. With Bob Marshak Gervase is developing theories of Dialogic Organization Development and Generative Change. In 2016 HR Magazine added him to their list of the 30 most influential HR Thinkers. In 2017 he was ranked 7th. A chapter on his life and work appears in the Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers.