Jeanne S McPherson, PhD
I challenged Dr. McPherson (Jeanne) with assembling a series of team building sessions for engineers….Jeanne met the challenge very well. She is an excellent listener making sure that her development reflected my views and vision while complementing these with her own treasure trove of experience, ideas and energy. She is articulate, poised and flexible when in front of a group which substantially contributed to the success of the programs.
Michael V. Frank, Director, Engineering Services; Washington Closure Hanford, Richland, WA
“I personally have observed/experienced Dr. McPherson’s ability as she worked with my Acquisition Management Leadership team….[S]he guided my team through 3 days of intense effort with the objective of bringing the Team into alignment on a critical effort to transform, reengineer the Forest Service Acquisition Management activity. I can attest to Dr. McPherson’s skills and ability based on this very successful experience with her.
Dr. McPherson has great “people skills”. At the end of the week, the entire Leadership Team gave her a standing ovation as she departed …. Dr. McPherson is very personable and a pleasure to work with.”
Ronald E. Hooper, Director, Acquisition Management; US Forest Service, Washington DC
“Dr. McPherson has sound experience in leadership development, as her résumé illustrates, and has the personal commitment and skills required by such work. Her work for the US Forest Service attests to her leadership skills. The Colville National Forest hired Dr. McPherson to help develop a process to engage the public and county commissioners from three counties in Washington State in collaborative decision making the summer of 2007. Decisions from the public would be presented as recommendations to the Forest Supervisor. She also facilitated the meetings.
The project involved using public collaboration to help develop a five year budget allocation model as well as overall program of work for the Forest. We had just over three months to do it. Dr. McPherson met with various Forest staff and quickly gained an understanding of the project. She met numerous times with county commissioners to gain their confidence as well as learn the commissioners’ concerns over federal land management. During a three county meeting, she got all nine commissioners to develop a public participation plan. From there she developed a meeting design for subsequent public meetings. The effort was a complete success.…
The lessons she taught us plus what she gained from our experience are priceless. A collaborative orientation to leadership needs to be included in federal leadership programs as well as practiced by participants to fully develop the skills of our leaders.”
Donald M. Gonzalez, District Manager; US Bureau of Land Management; Vale, OR
“Jeanne evaluated our leadership program, offering insight into how we might update the training to meet today’s workplace challenges. In addition to working with our managers (providing consulting and writing services for 16 training modules), she presented her 3-day leadership seminar for the 21st century. This challenging program offered three subject areas not commonly found in other leadership programs:
- Leadership perspectives as they have evolved over the past 100 years—as well as how to identify, respond to, and shape others’ perspectives
- Collaborative leadership skills
- Postmodern values and lifestyles, with their resulting impacts on leadership—options for motivating people and dealing with resistance
Jeanne summarized her program through a new leadership model. Feedback showed that participants valued Jeanne’s interactive manner and new concepts. One manager commented that “I haven’t thought that hard in ages!” Others commented on the laughter and engagement throughout the seminar. Her program has a good balance of knowledge sharing, interaction, and skills practice….Her orientation is important to leaders of change, collaborative interactions, cross-disciplinary communication, and other leadership challenges.”
Karen A. McGinnis, Director; HAMMER/Hanford Training; Richland, WA
“Jeanne and I worked together when she was an instructor at Washington State University-Tri Cities and I guest lectured for her on a project with one of her classes. In addition, the City of Richland was interested in utilizing Jeanne to facilitate an organizational development issue that had surfaced in one of our City units. Our interest was peaked based upon the breadth of her resume and her obvious instructional skills. (Unfortunately, funding was cut for this work.) My personal experience observing her in the classroom left no doubt as to her educational acumen.
I am very confident in Jeanne’s ability to provide exceptional instructional services and coupled with her depth of experience in both government and commercial consulting, she would be a welcome addition to anyone’s organization.”
Gordon Beecher, Human Resources Director; City of Richland, WA
“All members of the team were good, but special commendation has to go to Jeanne McPherson. Her contributions to the discussions were focused, and her efforts on the days we were preparing the report were extraordinary. We definitely would not have had the quality of first draft report that we do, had it not been for her dedication and skill.”
James E. French, Standards Specialist; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
