Mary Louise Starkey began Starkey & Associates, Inc. in January 1981, offering housekeeping and placement services. In November 1989, Mary Starkey created Starkey International Institute for Household Management in response to marketplace requests for trained and skilled professionals. Since its first class offering in January of 1990, the Institute has benefited from the presence of old-world European and American Butlers, experienced service professionals, and Household and Estate Managers from the United States and abroad.
The Starkey Curriculum teaches private service expertise; and an organizational structure which supports the management of complex homes and lifestyles. The curriculum is creative, interactive, and transformational in style and is a method of conceptual and hands-on education that teaches the Household Manager and Personal Assistant to identify and attend to the specific needs or Service Standards of the Principal and household.
The Private Service Management profession in America is in its adolescence but growing rapidly. Our response from the marketplace assures us that we are in the midst of a service explosion and the need for Private Service Management and service experts will continue to grow. It is essential that Private Service Management emerges into the American marketplace as a clearly defined, skilled, and respected profession. The future of this specialized Service Management offers the coveted revitalization of graciousness, etiquette, and a Service Expertise in the heart of fine homes and estates across the United States.
The success of the Starkey International Institute is based on the commitment to redefine the time-honored service profession in terms of the modern, upscale American service and quality-of-life expectations.
