Faculty

Iris Bagwell, M.Ed., is an organizational consultant and executive coach with an independent practice in Newton, Massachusetts.  Ms. Bagwell has over twenty-five years of experience working with individuals, groups and organizations in a variety of contexts.  She combines a strong clinical background from her extensive work as an individual, group and family therapist with a more recent intensive emphasis on organizational learning.  Her current practice includes a focus on executive coaching and working with organizations to build effective learning teams.

Philip McArthur is a partner and co-founder of Action Design.  Since 1980 he has provided consultation to individuals, groups, and organizations, and educated change agents in the field of organizational learning.

Phil earned his doctorate in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard University, and was trained as a family therapist at the Family Institute of Cambridge. He is a contributor to the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook and The Dance of Change, by Peter Senge et al. He also helped design Activating the Fifth Discipline, Volume 1, a multimedia CD-ROM on mental models and systems thinking, in collaboration with Arthur Andersen and The Learning Circle.

Robert Putnam is a partner and co-founder of Action Design.  He consults to senior leadership groups to facilitate productive discussion of contentious issues and to help develop the understanding, skill, and quality of relationship to perform at a high level.  He also conducts professional development workshops for change agents and for those who work in fast-paced, project focused environments.

Bob earned his doctorate in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard University.  He is co-author of the book Action Science with Chris Argyris and Diana McLain Smith and has written several articles on reflective conversation, action science, and organizational learning.  (Publications)
 

Associate Faculty  

(Some of the following individuals will participate in the November 2001 program.)

Mark Cannon is Assistant Professor of Organization Studies at Vanderbilt University. He received a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University, where he studied with Chris Argyris. His research interests include methods for assessing organizational functioning and providing useful feedback to the top management teams, and methods of capturing learning from failures. His teaching interests include conflict management and negotiation, organizational learning, and work team management.

Julia Sullivan has been an independent consultant since 1984. Her specialty is in helping clients introduce breakthrough technologies, define new strategies, or solve problems neither they nor others have previously faced. Since 1995 Julia has been working closely with Dr. Jerry Porras of the Stanford Business School, as the lead consultant for Jerry Porras Associates, the consulting group that supports the implementation of principles described in Built To Last by Dr. Jerry Porras and Jim Collins. In association with Action Design, Julia has led case analysis workshops for senior executives attending Transition to General Management offered by Columbia University and Leading and Managing Change offered by Stanford University.

Kristen Jacobson is a senior consultant at Catalyst Consulting Team. Her practice includes strategic planning and large scale change, team and leadership development, offsite planning and consulting, individual coaching, and conflict resolution. Kristen lives with her husband Doug and children Tory and Kyra in Aptos, California. They spend their free time skiing and mountaineering in Kirkwood, California.

Scott Peppet is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and a Senior Fellow at Harvard's Program on Negotiation. He has taught negotiation, communication, and relationship management workshops for all sorts of corporate and non-profit clients both within the U.S. and abroad. He also works as an executive level coach. In his spare time he goes mountain climbing and reads transcripts of his conversations with himself.

John Van Zwieten has a consulting practice in The Bay Area of California where he coaches executives to improve the productiveness of their conversation and works with executive teams in internet start-ups as a temporary Chief Operating Officer. "I learn about life from life itself, about love from a single kiss: I can teach nothing save that I have lived." Neruda.

Larry Wallace is an organizational and management development consultant based in London. He works with clients in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia. His consulting practice is focused on helping organizations develop leaders and manage change in the areas of business strategy, organizational processes, and team and individual development. He holds a doctorate in organizational behavior from Harvard University.

Robert Witherspoon is the founder and president of Performance & Leadership Development Ltd. Robert's primary focus is coaching and developing executives. He also assists clients in strategy and organizational change. Formerly a partner at Arthur Andersen, he has over 30 years of experience in business and consulting. Robert is the lead author of Four Essential Ways that Coaching Can Help Executives (1997), a bestseller from the Center for Creative Leadership, and a contributor to Leadership Coaching: How the World's Great Coaches Help Leaders Learn (Jossey-Bass: 2000). He lives and works out of Washington, DC.