Mary M. Tjosvold earned her Ph.D. in Education Administration from the University of Minnesota and later completed the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School. Prior to this, Mary T. taught math and science in Illinois and Minnesota. She founded Mary T. Inc., a family owned organization that manages residential and social services in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Arizona.
Since its beginning in 1976, the Mary T. Inc. companies have grown steadily and now have annual revenues of over $25 million with 800 full- and part-time employees.
Mary T. is an advocate and supporter of women in business and has been recognized in several publications as a leading Minnesota businesswoman. Active in community affairs, she serves on task forces and executive boards, and is past Chair of the Board of the American Refugee Committee. Mary T. resides in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, and enjoys outdoor sports, gardening, traveling, and her dogs.
A leader in her field and a nationally known speaker, Mary T. has given presentations and conducted workshops on productive conflict, cooperation and competition, team organization, entrepreneurship, ethics and corporate culture, and other topics for clients in diverse industries.
Mary T. has co-authored several books with her brother, Dean Tjosvold, and has published extensively on management, productive conflict, and sex bias, including:
- Working with Mentally Handicapped Persons in Their Residences (Free Press, 1981)
- Working with Elderly in Their Residences (Praeger, 1983)
- Love & Anger: Managing Conflict (Team Media)
- Leading a Team Organization: How to Create an Enduring Competitive Advantage (Lexington Books, 1992)
- Emerging Leader: Ways to a Stronger Team (Lexington Books, 1993)
- Psychology for Leaders: Ideas and Skills to Have an Impact (Wiley, 1993), which has also been translated into Simplified Chinese for distribution in China
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Located in Sante, Bamenda, Cameroon, West Africa, the Margaret Tjosvold Nursery & Primary School opened in 2002. In May 2008 they celebrated their first graduating class of sixth graders. In the 2008 National Examination, the top five students in the area who took the test were all from the Margaret Tjosvold School - quite an accomplishment for the students, teachers, and community.
