Russell L. Ackoff

Russell Lincoln Ackoff (12 February 1919 – 29 October 2009) was a Professor of Social Systems Sciences at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and one of the most prolific and most respected thinkers in management for half-a-century. Ackoff was a pioneer in the fields of operations research, systems thinking and management science. Ackoff was also a high-level consultant to a wide variety of organizations first from the Anheuser-Busch Center at Wharton, then at The Center for Interactive Systems Design

In 2000, the University of Pennsylvania established the Ackoff Collaboratory for the Advancement of the Systems Approach (ACASA) maintained within the University's Organizational Dynamics Program