Jackie's passion is working with others to discover their strengths, identify opportunities and create a plan with meaningful results for positive change! She is internationally recognized for her creation of SOAR. SOAR is a profoundly positive approach to strategic thinking, planning, and leading that focuses on strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results in strategic conversations (www.soar-strategy.com). The heart of the SOAR framework is Appreciative Inquiry (AI), one of the most popular approaches to positive change - that is bringing out the best in people, their organizations, and communities. For over 25 years, Jackie has been integrating these strengths-based, whole system practices into her research, teaching, training, coaching and consulting work to strengthen relationships, impact performance, and create meaningful change.She works with organizations to help them get organized and focused for sustainable growth. Through executive coaching and whole system change methods, she helps organizations identify and articulate their values, vision and mission statements, strategy, and strategic initiatives and build collaborative teams and communities for results-oriented action. She has worked across all sectors including for-profit, non-profit, governmental, and a wide spectrum of industries. Jackie is a professor at Lawrence Technological University (LTU) College of Management and has been honored with the LTU Inaugural Presidential Research Award. She is also Senior Appreciative Inquiry Strategist for Flourishing Leadership Institute and a member of the Appreciative Inquiry Council of Practitioners for the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry and Taos Institute. Prior to joining LTU, her industry work includes manufacturing, automotive, banking, technology, education, healthcare, government, and professional services. Jackie has co-authored many books, book chapters, and articles including: Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leadership of Change, Dynamic Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Appreciative Inquiry in Daily Living, Thin Book of SOAR: Building Strengths-based Strategy, and upcoming book, Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement. She has presented her research and work in over 25 countries. She is a keynote speaker on AI, SOAR, positive approaches to leadership development and change. Jackie earned her Doctorate in Management from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Her Dissertation topic: Capacity Building Using an Appreciative Approach: A Relational Process of Building Your Organization's Future. Email: jstavros@comcast.net
Cheri Torres, Ph.D. Cheri's passion is helping people learn to create miracles in their relationships, organizations, and communities by engaging in conversations worth having. She specializes in leadership and team development, emphasizing the art of productive and meaningful engagement. Leaders working with her learn to create the kind of relational dynamics that ignite the full potential of their teams and organization, resulting in high performance, innovation, and goal achievement. She also partners with communities and organizations for whole systems change and strategic planning, bringing all stakeholders together for planning, design and collaborative action. She has worked across all sectors: corporate, government, education, and social profit/NGOs, supporting their capacity for learning and innovation, shared leadership, teamwork and collective impact. She has trained thousands of trainers and teachers in the use and practice of Experiential Learning, Appreciative Inquiry, and other strength-based processes. In addition to North America, she has worked in India, Mexico, Canada, South America, and Europe. In 2009, Cheri founded Collaborative by Design, reflecting her commitment to collaborate with clients and other consulting groups for positive change. She currently is a founding partner or Associate with a number of such groups, including NextMove, Corvo Consulting Group, Innovation Partners International, Insight Shift, the Taos Institute, the Center for Appreciative Inquiry, and UNITE WNC. Cheri holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Collaborative Learning from the University of Tennessee. She also holds an MBA, a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology, Level 2 certification in Cultural Transformation Tools/Barrett Values Centre, and Level II certification in Spiral Dynamics Integral. She has authored or co-authored numerous books and articles including The Appreciative Facilitator: Accelerated Learning Practices and Dynamic Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Appreciative Inquiry in Daily Living. Her latest book, Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement will be published by Berrett Koehler late spring 2018. She co-designed and patented Mobile Team Challenge, an award-winning, portable low ropes course. She lives in Asheville, NC with her husband, Michael, their two dogs, Logan and Annabelle, and two cats, Ziggy and Lucy. Email: ctorres@innovationpartners.com
