Tessie Tzavaras

Anastasia (Tessie) Tzavaras Catsambas is President of EnCompass LLC and brings 25 years of experience in planning, evaluation and management of international programs and activities. Ms. Catsambas is an innovator and practioner in appreciative evaluation methods. Starting in 1998, she experimented with the use of appreciative inquiry in an evaluation of healthcare quality assurance activities in Chile. This became the first published work in appreciative evaluation in the Journal for International Health Care Quality, Volume 14, Supplement I, December 2002. She has continued to refine appreciative evaluation methods through her work with many clients in diverse settings including the World Bank, the United Nations, The Aspen Institute, the US National Academies of Science, the Public Broadcasting Service, CARE International, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and others. 

Ms Catsambas also brings experience in facilitation of large groups, technical negotiations, online communities, and e-learning. She has conducted usability review and designed multi-module e-learning programs in a range of areas: child protection, HIV and AIDS, workplace development, sustainability investment promotion, anti-money laundering and due diligence, and ethics.

Ms. Catsambas brings her rich field experience to her training, and has conducted annual trainings at the American Evaluation Association Annual Conference since 2002. She has coauthored two chapters on appreciative evaluation methods (Preskill & Coghlan, New Directions for Evaluation #100, 2003), and co-authored a book entitled, Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry (Sage Publications 2006).

For four years, Ms. Catsambas is served as a co-Chair of the International and Cross-Cultural Evaluation Thematic Interest Group (of 800 members), serves on the Finance Committee since 2010, and was appointed to the IOCE Board in 2011. Her volunteer work has included supporting a partnership between the AEA and UN Women to build gender-responsive evaluation skills at the AEA and globally.
Ms. Catsambas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from the College of Wooster in Ohio and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. She has trained with the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming in Quality Management. She is fluent in French and Greek, and speaks Spanish.