- Home
- Who We Are
- Consulting Services
- Philosophy of Organizational Change
- Would You Like Some Free Advice?
- Publications & Links
- Contact Us
"Liberate the leader in everyone, and extraordinary things happen."
- Jim Kouzes and
Barry Posner
TransForum Consulting, Inc.
TransForum Consulting, Inc. specializes in transformation, organizational change and leadership development. For over fifteen years, the principals of TransForum Consulting have worked with schools, school systems, colleges, universities, large companies, small companies, and not-for-profit organizations. We bring a unique blend of business, education, theory and practice to our work.
The Power of Action Learning
The approach and philosophy of the work undertaken to produce change in organizations and to develop leaders is based on action learning methodology. We work with individuals and organizations to anchor key intellectual concepts and to devise the appropriate approaches that will engage the concepts in relevant work activities and produce concrete results.Our work often starts with the leader of an organization, with whom we identify the desired changes and the targeted leadership development goals. Based on the leader's direction, we then create customized processes to produce concrete results. TransForum Consulting is committed to delivering an energizing and exciting process that will produce measurable results for individuals and organizations.
Who We Are
Maria and Jeannette have been consulting together for over fifteen years, and they draw upon a unique blend of business and education in their practice. Maria J. Coolican earned her B.A. from The University of Virginia and began her career in banking and finance. Jeannette L. Jackson earned her B.A. from Smith College and began her career in investment banking. Quickly discovering that their interests were much more associated with how people learn and how organizations are structured, they both pursued graduate degrees and careers as organizational change agents. Jeannette received her MBA from The University of Michigan and then began to work with a network of organizational change consultants. Maria became a high school teacher, earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and then spent some years as a high school principal. Maria is currently on the faculty of the University of Michigan, and both Maria and Jeannette teach in the Leadership Program at Smith College and occasionally in the University of Michigan Business School Executive Education Program. They are both published in the fields of professional development, leadership and organizational transformation.
Maria and Jeannette currently spend the majority of their time consulting together in the areas of organizational culture and leadership development. Both Maria and Jeannette are committed to assisting organizational leaders to create the internal structures and processes that allow both the organization and the individual within that organization to thrive. They focus equally on helping individuals craft the type of personal leadership development skills that enhance one's ability to make healthy choices in the work/life balance equation. Their work is embedded in an action-learning framework and draws heavily on the emerging work of positive organizational psychology. Both have been board members of several educational and non-profit organizations.
Maria and Jeannette reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In their free time, they both enjoy reading, travel, dinner with friends and spending time with their families. Jeannette and her husband, Robert, have two children, Madeleine who is 15 and John who is 13. Maria also has two children, Liam who is 9 and Mary Katharine who is 6.