David Cooperrider

David Cooperrider (born July 14, 1954), is the Fairmount Minerals Chair and Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, and Faculty Director at the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Case. as well as Claremont University, where he is The Peter F. Drucker Distinguished Fellow.

Cooperrider is the founder, together with Suresh Srivastva, of the theory of Appreciative Inquiry.

Early life and education Cooperrider grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, and later completed his undergraduate studies at Augustana College in 1976. He earned a Master's of Science at Sir George Williams University in 1983 and management theory. His work at Case Western Reserve University in the early 1980s on Appreciative Inquiry anticipated and helped bring about the positive psychology movement, strengths-based leadership models, and positive organizational scholarship (POS). Management scholar Robert Quinn, in a 2000 book Change the World declared that “Appreciative Inquiry is revolutionizing the field of organization development.”

In 2000, for his contribution to organizational learning and development, Cooperrider was given the "Distinguished Contribution Award to Workplace Performance and Learning" by the American Society for Training and Development.

In 2004, for his world inquiry with Ron Fry into Business as an Agent of World Benefit, the Aspen Institute gave him the “Faculty Pioneer Award for Impact” in the domain of sustainable development. That work, including his book with Jane Dutton on The Organization Dimensions of Global Change: No Limits to Cooperation, led to the creation of The Fowler Center for Sustainable Value and the ongoing global forum series hosted by Case Western Reserve University in partnership with the United Nations Global Compact and Academy of Management titled “The Global Forum for Business as an Agent of World Benefit.”