Media Release
Mangaluru, Mar 24: Women in India are becoming the leading voices in transformational initiatives globally. At this opportune time, the collective voices of women, not only in India, but globally, is at once scholarly, influential, and practical. At the noble Transformational Change & Development Forum Zimbabwe, scheduled for March 31, Mangalore University associate professor, Dr Preethi Keerthi D’Souza, will be recognized as one of the influencers and pace-setters of transformational change and development in Zimbabwe.
The Transformational Change & Development Forum is curated by Centre for Organization Leadership & Development (COLD) Zimbabwe. As an affiliate of the International Society for Organization Development & Change (ISODC), COLD is an international organization development and change advisory and consulting services provider supporting organization in Zimbabwe, across Africa, and Asia, and USA. Dr Preethi Keerthi D’Souza is an active member of Organization Leadership and Development Network (OLDN), which is an affiliate of COLD, Zimbabwe.
Dr Preethi will be recognized for her leadership, mentorship, and people development work through OLDN, and the work that she is doing in India and globally. According to COLD/OLDN CEO Dr Justine Chinoperekweyi, as a people-centric scholar-practitioner, Dr Preethi’s work demonstrates fundamentals of transformational change and development. He added that Dr Preethi’s lived experiences and career progression should be touted and documented as an inspirational story for women, not only in India, but globally. We initiated the documentation through profiling and publishing, in detail, 43 practitioners, he said.
Dr Chinoperekweyi said, “As to be published in the 2023 Transformational Change & Development Handbook, on March 31, Dr Preethi has a deep source of inspiration that should ignite real transformation among mission-critical professionals, both men and women”. He added that OLDN as a global community of organization development and change practitioners has and continues to benefit from Dr Preethi’s professional membership and knowledge-sharing.
As a role model of academic impact and social entrepreneurship, Dr, Preethi received numerous awards, published over 62 peer reviewed articles in reputed journals, organized four national and international conferences, and has conducted over 250 workshops for staff and students, both nationally and internationally.
Dr Chinoperekweyi added that “the diversity of Dr Preethi’s social entrepreneurship activities warrants special recognition and global profiling. Some of her amazing initiatives, demonstrating her passion and heart, include Freston Knowledge Foundation, Persona Series, her work with the fisherwomen on Dakshina Kannada, and her research on Jasmine cultivation”. Dr Chinoperekweyi added that, we are attracted to her work, as a scholar-practitioner, because it manifests the true values and identity of real organization development. He said, Dr Preethi presented some of her work through the OLDN Generative Dialogue Sessions, hence the inspiration she has in Zimbabwe. “Her profile and personality is greatly valued in our community of transformational change and development practitioners. She is a role model of academic impact and social entrepreneurship.”
Through the published Handbook of influential practitioners, Dr Preethi will be recognized among distinguished scholar-practitioners such as Prof David W Jamieson, Dr Yabome Gilpin-Jackson, Charles Mulele, Dr Joanne C Preston, Shingirirai Chizanga, Dr Dotun Moses Jegede, and Mercedes E Martin. The handbook profiled a total of 43 practitioners from Zimbabwe, across Africa, and internationally.
As profiled in the 2023 Handbook, Dr Preethi was quoted providing word of counsel to OD and HRD practitioners. She said, “Do not rely on previous bank balance of laid down knowledge of your field. Innovate, improvise and collaborate with other streams too. Knowledge of other streams integrated with the practices of HR will create magic and you will be a knowledge superpower, with the right mix of knowledge, skill and practice of interventions which are here to stay. Hence collaborate, consolidate and make things simple yet effective.”