Laura Markos, PhD, MBA

Laura Markos contributes articles on change management to IRMI.com.

Dr. Markos is an independent consultant. Her consulting practice focuses on change agency, encompassing culture, strategy, partnerships, process, systems, and results. She has worked with organizations in manufacturing, financial services, food, pharmaceuticals, retail, consumer products, infrastructure, education, nonprofit, and government. Her vision is to engage the whole person in work and to optimize business-community partnerships.

In her practice Dr. Markos draws on 30 years' international experience as a consultant, change agent, and corporate executive. Before becoming an external consultant, she worked with Avery Dennison as vice president, ethics and business conduct, establishing global approaches to corporate policy development, education, compliance, and information security. Previously she was vice president, risk management, leading risk and insurance management, and implementing global safety, loss prevention, and crisis management. Prior to joining Avery, Dr. Markos produced and serviced Fortune 1000 property and casualty risk financing, and worked in risk management, manufacturing operations, production accounting, production estimating, and production planning management.

Dr. Markos has served on state and municipal blue-ribbon commissions; on California Insurance Commissioner Garamendi's environmental insurance task force; as an advisor to the Center for Insurance Education and Research at California State University, Northridge; and as Citizens' Advisory Commissioner for Risk Management to the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. She has served in leadership and directorship roles on local, national, and international trade associations and nonprofit boards including the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), the International Federation of Risk and Insurance Management Associations (IFRIMA), the American Red Cross, and the United Way. She has published professional manuals in risk management, taught professional courses including the associate in risk management (ARM), and is a frequent speaker and facilitator at local, national, and international conferences. Her latest publication is Building an Age-Friendly Workplace, in P.T. Beatty & R. M. S. Visser (Eds.). (2005). Thriving on an Aging Workforce: Strategies for Organizational and Systemic Change. Melbourne, FL: Krieger.

Dr. Markos earned her PhD in human and organizational systems from Fielding Graduate University. Her dissertation examined the glass ceiling as an issue of social class mobility. She also holds an MA in organizational development, an MBA with an emphasis in marketing, a BA in business administration and psychology, the CPCU and ARM designations, and attended the Wharton school's financial executive program at the University of Pennsylvania, and UCLA's leadership and organizational development laboratories. A long-term member and former officer of the Risk Management Research Council, her work has earned an Institute Award for Risk Management from the Insurance Institute of America, a distinguished service award from the International Committee of RIMS, a Chapter Chairman's Award from the American Red Cross, and the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award.

In addition to her consulting practice, Dr. Markos is founding co-editor of the Journal of Transformative Education, a quarterly, peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by Sage, focusing on individual, organizational, and social transformation. She also owns WrittenHouse: Coaching Compelling Written Voice, which provides writing coaching, editing and presentation services for business and scholarly writers. WrittenHouse clientele span North America, Europe, and Asia, in disciplines such as clinical psychology, conflict resolution, critical pedagogy, education, human development, management and leadership, organizational development, political science, social change, and transformative learning. Dr. Markos serves as doctoral leadership faculty, dissertation chair, and mentor in organization and management in the School of Business and Technology at Capella University. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Articles on IRMI.com

Management & Sales: Change Management

Systems: The Realization and Sustainability of Change (June 2002)

Aftermath: Coping with and Implementing Urgent, Radical Change (December 2001)

Energy: The Catalyst of Change (June 2001)

Imaging: The Vision of Change (March 2001)

Disruption: The Impetus for Change (January 2001)

Understanding and Managing Change (September 2000)