Alexander Christakis: Founder
Aleco Christakis, Founder, Institute for 21st Century Agoras
Born 1937 in Athens, Aleco came to the United States in 1956, and attended Princeton University with the vision of becoming a theoretical physicist. After completing his Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics at Yale, he returned to Greece and joined the world-class architectural firm of Doxiadis Associates. His responsibility was to apply rigorous scientific principles borrowed from the physical sciences to developing the science of “human settlements.” It is in this setting, in the late 60s when the American cities were “burning,” that Aleco realized the major distinction between the “hard” and “soft” sciences. Most people believe that the physical sciences are “hard,” meaning difficult, and the social sciences are “soft,” meaning easy. He discovered that “soft is hard,” and dedicated the rest of his career to the study and design of social systems.
In 1989, he founded and became the CEO of CWA Ltd. (www.CWALtd.com), a consulting firm dedicated to the application of the Interactive Management discipline with governments, businesses and non-profit organizations. The reusability and robustness of this structured dialogue paradigm to interdisciplinary dialogue have been verified in the domains of Environmental and Natural Resource Stewardship; Social, Economic, Educational, Professional, and Cultural Development; Healthcare Systems, Biomedical Research, Development and Regulation; and Technology, Capital, and Knowledge Management.
Dr. Christakis has served on the faculties of Yale University, Georgetown University, University of Athens, and the University of Virginia. He also spent five years at George Mason University as the Director of the Center for Interactive Management. A keynote speaker at several international symposia, he is also the co-author of two books on “Technology Assessment,” and the co-founder of the Club of Rome. He has published over 100 papers on the management of
complexity in refereed journals.
He serves on the Editorial Boards of Systems Research and Behavioral Sciences, Systems: Journal of Transdiscplinary Systems Science, and the International Journal of Applied Systemic
Studies. He has received numerous awards and distinctions including the “DEMOSOPHIA Award,” the “Creative Programming Award” from the National University Continuing Education Association, and the 2007 metal from the Hellenic Systemic Studies Society (HSSS) for distinguished service in the systems field, to name a few. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Americans for Indian Opportunity (the only non-Native American board member) and as an Advisor to their Ambassadors Program for indigenous people leadership training, and as a Board member to the World Futures Center, established by Dr. Yiannis Laouris in the Republic of Cyprus, which is dedicated to the application of the science of Structured Dialogic Design (www.harnescollectivewisdom.com).
In 2002, Dr. Christakis served as President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (www.ISSS.org). His latest book titled “ How People Harness Their Collective Wisdom and Power to Create the Future,” was published in 2006