About Us 
Our History
Founded in 1988, Strategic Programs began with the vision of improving the human ecosystems of organizations and helping companies build on the strength of their human capital.
Timeline of Product Evolution & Major Turning Points
Humble Beginnings
The son of Lithuanian immigrants, Rim Yurkus became an entrepreneur when his curiosity about human behavior and his love of research evolved into his professional mission. As co-founder of the International Institute of Foods and Family Living in Chicago, Rim had conducted market research and studied human behavior to predict consumer buying habits. In 1980, he became fascinated by the research methodology for 360 feedback developed by Jerrold Zoloto, Ph.D., a coach to Fortune 100 executives. Rim found industrial and organizational psychology more meaningful than the marketing research he had mastered in his first business, and he passionately committed to the former as his new career direction.
Diane Irvin owned Options Unlimited, a training company that combined her teaching background with her entrepreneurial bent. Her experience in public education had begun by teaching in a segregated Black school in the South, after which she worked as a journalist, an Associate Editor, and newspaper columnist - all focused on communication in order to inform and motivate people about opportunities where they could make a difference in sociological change and human development. After earning a BA in Sociology from Colorado State University, she was a Social Services caseworker in the suburbs of Denver Colorado. The common thread throughout her career has been her passion for making a difference in the personal and professional development of individuals.
Meaningful Work
In 1988, Rim Yurkus and Diane Irvin merged 360 and organizational research capabilities and her training and people development experience to co-found Strategic Programs, Inc. Their vision was "To improve the human ecosystems of organizations…"
They saw how client-specific employee satisfaction surveys could measure, among other dimensions, the employee experience with immediate managers, and opinions about their own performance review process. When top-down performance reviews were viewed as inadequate, they proposed piloting 360 to evaluate it as a product and process, in addition to evaluating individual performance. Collecting quality multi-rater input depended on adapting the process to the degree that the client felt it was both safe and confidential.
Building trusting client relationships was essential to achieving high capture rates for organizational assessments and for individual 360 surveys was highly suspect - particularly, because Strategic Programs offered the first electronic data collection using these instruments. Listening to clients and adapting each step in the process - from instrument design, to research protocols, through data collection, to report delivery and action planning, with data-driven solutions - is client-specific.
From 1988 to the present, each new Strategic Programs product has been designed in response to clients' needs as they have evolved over time, and in partnership with clients for research and development. As a company, we take pride in, quite simply, listening and delivering.
Our Vision, Reflected in Measurable Results
In 2004, research showed Boyd Bros. to be one of the worst trucking companies to drive for. When they received their first Strategic TurnOver Program™ report delivery, they were appalled by the hard truths about how their people experienced their jobs. By partnering with Strategic Programs and making a commitment to continuous improvement, Boyd Bros. implemented a series of improvements in benefits, compensation and leadership training initiatives that affected every driver in the organization. In 2010, Boyd Bros. received the award of Best Company to Drive For.
The solutions that Boyd Bros. implemented to turn around their company not only positively impacted their employees, but their employees' families. They, in turn, doubtless extended their positive experience to their communities. We believe that, together, we can positively impact the world - one organization at a time. Thank you, Boyd Bros., for your contribution.