Home: About The Taos Institute: Institute Associates

Institute Associates

»» Murray Anderson-Wallace
Inter-Logics Limited
http://www.inter-logics.net

and
5 Ancaster Road, Leeds, LS16 5HH, UK
DD: + 44 113 224 9913
M: + 44 7779 304921
mawallace@inter-logics.net

Murray is co-founder and Joint Managing Director of Inter-Logics, the UK based creative organisation consultancy.

Inter-Logics Ltd is multi-professional practice specialising in work around critical communications in complex large-scale strategic development projects and cross boundary collaborations.

Recent assignments include work with corporate giants such as BP Amoco, London Underground and the Mott MacDonald Group as well as extensive engagements within the UK public services. This work has included a number of key modernisation projects within the National Health Service, for the National Assembly for Wales, the Department of Health, the Sector Skills Council or Social Care and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) - Since itís formation in 2005, Murray has also worked as a Strategic Advisor to the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.

As well as working directly with individuals, groups and communities Murrayís work has evolved to include more extensive use of digital media. Over the past three years he has produced and co-directed a number of short films relating to organisational culture, social change and leadership politics collaborating with amongst others, Mike Stubbs, an award-winning international film-maker and video artist.

In the academic domain Murray has presented work in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Australia and North America on issues related to Strategic Communications, Public Engagement and Cultural Change. He is currently an External Advisor and Mentor at the Leeds Business School and an active member of MOPAN, the international research forum for multi organisational partnerships and networks.

»» Jennifer Andrews, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Counseling and Family Sciences of Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, California 92350
http://www.llu.edu/llu/grad/mfam/faculty/andrews-vita.htm

and
Andrews and Clark Explorations
10650 Kinnard Avenue Suite 109
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Phone: (800) 476-1619 
Outside U.S. (310) 446-0061
jenandrews@aol.com

Jennifer Andrews, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Family Sciences at Loma Linda University. She is also co-owner of Andrews and Clark Explorations, a video production company. She practices postmodern therapy and teaches and trains postmodern family therapists at graduate schools in Southern California. As part of developing her teaching curriculum she recognized the need for video tapes that present Solution-Focused, Narrative, and Collaborative Language Systems therapies, the new and unique developing methods. Her intention in developing Andrews and Clark Explorations with her partner David Clark, was to bring together tapes of the therapists who have initiated these new methods. Andrews and Clark Explorations has a full series of tapes available on their website dedicated to Conversations in Social Construction in which thirteen Taos Institute founders, board members and associates are featured.

»» Frank Barrett, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Management and Organizational Behavior
Department of Systems Management
Naval Post Graduate Academy
555 Dyer Rd
Monterey, California 93943
phone: 831-656-2328
email: fbarrett@cruzio.com
Faculty Member, Human and Organizational Development Program, Fielding Institute at www.fielding.edu
Websites: http://www.nps.navy.mil/cpc/director.htm, Human and Organizational Development Program, Fielding Institute at http://www.fielding.edu/hod/faculty/barrett.htm

Frank Barrett, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Management and Organization Behavior in the Department of Systems Management at the Naval Post Graduate Academy. He is also a faculty member of the Human and Organizational Development Program at Fielding Institute. Frank's professional interests and expertise lie in Appreciative Inquiry, improvisation and organizational innovation, organizational learning, spiritual development, social impact of information technology and information revolution, global studies. He is a consultant to organizations in profit, non-profit, and governmental sectors. He has written and lectured widely on social constructionism, appreciative inquiry, organizational change, jazz improvisation and organizational learning. He has published articles on metaphor, masculinity, improvisation, organizational change and organizational development in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science; Human Relations; Organization Science, and Organizational Dynamics as well as numerous book chapters. He wrote "Generative Metaphor Intervention: A New Approach to Inter-group Conflict" (with D. Cooperrider) which won the award for best paper from the Organizational Development Division of the Academy of Management in 1988. Frank was co-author of a paper that won the best paper award in the Organizational Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management in 2003. The paper was titled, "Planning on Spontaneity: Lessons from Jazz for a Democratic Theory of Change". He is co-editor of Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Transformation (Vermont: Greenwood Books, 2001). Frank is also an active jazz pianist. In addition to leading his own trios and quartets, he has traveled extensively in the United States, England, and Mexico with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

»» Saliha Bava, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Houston Galveston Institute
3316 Mt. Vernon
Houston, TX 77006
Email: salihabava@earthlink.net
Adjunct OLLU Faculty
Massey University Online Adjunct Faculty
Ph (713) 526-8390 x317
http://www.talkhgi.com
Dissertation Website: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-01062002-234843/

Saliha Bava, Ph.D. is Associate Director at the Houston Galveston Institute. She is coordinator of the Clinical Externship and training programs, and Instructor for the Practicum, Systemic Therapies, and Research Methodology courses in Psychotherapy. She is a performance theorist and methodologist with 8-10 years of experience in using performance in clinical, training, and research contexts. She has published on performance methodology and has edited a training guide on the use of improv in therapy. Saliha writes and presents extensively on Collaborative Language Systems, Postmodern Therapy, Performance Theory, Creating Learning Communities, and Social Construction Research in Action. In addition to her wonderful background in therapy and consulting, she is also a web designer.

The Houston Galveston Institute (formerly the Galveston Family Institute), is internationally recognized for its innovative contributions to the advancements of theory, psychotherapy practice, and research, and to the development of creative contexts for learning, practice, and research. It has distinguished itself by its unique developments in brief therapy and has been acclaimed for its Collaborative Language Systems Approach with its emphasis on "problem-organizing systems", the role of language, narrative and conversation in therapy, the not-knowing position, and the translation of these concepts into work with difficult life situations. Students and professionals world-wide come to study at the Institute.

»» Theresa Mortimer Bertram
Senior Consultant
Path to Results, Inc.
3751 Cedarcrest Drive
Jacksonville, Florida 32210
Phone (904) 777-5540
E-mail: tbertram@comcast.net 

Theresa Bertram was Chief Executive Officer (January 1980 ­ July 2006) of the Cathedral Foundation, an affiliated group of seven nonprofit organizations providing services to thousands of older and disabled persons in Jacksonville. She is interested in elders and promoting meaningful life for older people, encouraging individuals to explore and participate in new possibilities as they age, and creating expectations by people of all ages that elders have a vital role in society. Theresa is a member of the International Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, America Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Chief Executive Officers of Multi-facility Organizations, and Florida Association of Homes for the Aging. She is a Healthy Florida Foundation delegate and served as commissioner on the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund Advisory Council for Elders and Florida Commission on Excellence in Health Care. She is on the Community Development Advisory Committee for the City of Jacksonville, serving two terms as Chair, and Jacksonville Community Council. She served on the advisory boards of WJCT Channel 7 and the Florida Times-Union. Theresa is a graduate of Leadership Florida, Class XXI and Leadership Jacksonville, Class of 1991. She received an MBA from Jacksonville University in 1992.

»» Madelyn Blair, Ph.D.
Pelerei, Inc.
2379 Broad Run Ct.
Jefferson, MD 21755 USA
Phone: 301-371-7100
Fax: 301-371-7957
Email: mblair@pelerei.com
Web: www.pelerei.com

Madelyn Blair is the president of Pelerei, Inc., a firm dedicated to helping clients turn vision into reality. She is also a facilitator, designer of learning experiences, and expert researcher. But her joy is in working with individuals and groups to bring them to another level of accomplishment. From individual advice to building knowledge sharing groups to corporate strategic planning, she brings out the best in her audience. She is one of the founding members of Goldenfleece, the storytelling-in-business group in DC. Her clients include Bank of Canada, The World Bank, Transamerica Reinsurance, American University, and the International Monetary Fund.

Dr. Blair has extensive line management experience. Prior to her work with Pelerei, she was a division chief in the World Bank. Dr. Blair also spent five years as Director of Institutional Research at the Universities of Colorado and Maine. Her most recent work has been in applying appreciative inquiry and helping clients create strong knowledge management strategies through the effective use of communities of practice. In her spare time, she is currently leading an international project to reinvigorate the UN through the use of story.

Dr. Blair received her doctorate in organizational psychology from the University of Tilburg, The Netherlands. She has written extensively and is a regular conference speaker. She is a wife and a mother and enjoys mountain climbing.

»» Chris Blantern, MA
Inter-Logics Limited
c/o 7 Old Hay Lane
Dore
Sheffield
S17 3GN
UK M: + 44 773 996 1080
email: cblantern@inter-logics.net
web: www.inter-logics.net

Chris is Joint Managing Director and co-founder of Inter-logics -- the UK based communications and network relations consultancy. Inter-logics specialises in the development and application of creative approaches (on-line and face to face) for organisations and communities challenged by increasingly dynamic conditions and relations -- like partnerships, networks, cross-boundary collaborations, service integration, stakeholder engagement, participation development etc. Inter-logics is quite well known in the international Social Constructionist and Relational Practice communities -- our practice is based on the application of 'relational stances' to the challenges of every-day work and life.

Recent assignments include work with corporate giants such as BP Amoco, London Underground and the Mott MacDonald Group as well as ongoing engagements within the UK public services. This work has included a number of key modernisation projects within the National Health Service, for the National Assembly for Wales, the Department of Health, the Sector Skills Council for Social Care, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Employers Organisation for Local Government.

In particular Chris has developed approaches to working with organisational processes based on Dialogic and Pragmatic perspectives of the organising capacities of conversational patterns (Patternality not Personality!) and is a published author in this field. He is currently developing this work through a PhD.

In addition to the Inter-logics UK portfolio Chris has also worked for the EU, The Egyptian Government, the Open University in Britain, as well as assignments in Europe (Denmark, Spain, France, Switzerland and Germany) and North America.

Chris is also a semi-professional musician (mando-cello, tenor banjo, tin-whistle) with a liking for Irish and Scottish music.

»» Arthur P. Bochner

University of South Florida,4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620
Phone: 813.974.6821
E-mail: abochner@cas.usf.edu

Dr. Bochner joined the faculty of University of South Florida, Communications Department, in 1984. He served as chair of the department for 8 years while developing the doctoral program. His current projects investigate narratives surrounding aging, especially the aging of family members. He is co-director of the Institute for Interpretive Human Studies, editor of two book series, and serves on the editoral boards of several journals. He teaches courses in Narrative Inquiry, Social Construction of Reality, Writing Workshop, Communicating Close Personal Relationships Art¹s publications include: Composing Ethnography: Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing co-edited with Carolyn Ellis AltaMira Press, 1996 , "Perspectives on Inquiry II: Theories and Stories" Handbook of Interpersonal Communication(2nd edition, eds. M. Knapp and G.R. Miller) Sage Publications, 1994, pp. 21-41, "Relationships as Stories" with Carolyn Ellis and Lisa Tillman-Healy Handbook of Personal Relationships (ed. S. Duck) John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 1996, pp. 307-324.

»» René Bouwen, Ph.D.
University of Leuven
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Department of Psychology
Contact address:
Centrum Organisatie en Personeelspsych.
Tiensestraat 102
B-3000 Leuven
tel.: +32 16 326056
fax: +32 16 326055
e-mail: rene.bouwen@psy.kuleuven.ac.be
http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/cv/u0010333e.htm

Dr. Bouwen is a full professor at the University of Leuven in the Psychology and Educational Sciences Department of Psychology. He is the manager of the research team at the Centre for Organizational and Personnel Psychology

The Centre is dedicated to the study of innovation and change processes in organisations (companies, educational institutions, social welfare organisations): Consulting for change projects, e.g. mergers, implementing autonomous work groups, implementing organisational changes in keeping with new strategies, new forms of work organisation such as telework, shared facilities,... ; diagnosis of organizational culture and employee satisfaction, followed by recommendations; study of managerial roles and working processes in multi-party collaborative settings (alliances, partnerships, networks); research on negotiation flexibility in multi-party conflict situations; research on training programmes for (internal and external) organisational change consultants and other forms of experiential learning; organisation development and change processes in Non-Governmental Organisations; and consulting in Human Resources Management.

»» Rev. Bliss W. Browne
Imagine Chicago
910 W. Castlewood Terrace
Chicago, IL 60640
Phone (773) 275-2520
fax (773) 878-9161;
email: bliss@imaginechicago.org
http://www.imaginechicago.org

The Rev. Bliss W. Browne is founder and President of Imagine Chicago, an innovative civic project founded in 1992 which has inspired a global movement on six continents. She is an ordained Episcopal priest, and was formerly a Vice President and Division Head at the First National Bank of Chicago where she worked from 1975-1991. She gave up her life as a corporate bank executive in 1991 to make a difference in the life of Chicago. What would it take, she wondered, to create a vision and action plan for the city's future that was owned by the people of Chicago? How would it be possible to create a city economy in which no one was wasted, in which everyone's contributions mattered? In 1992 Bliss imagined Chicago as a thriving, positive city making a difference in the lives of residents: Imagine Chicago was born. Imagine Chicago is a non-profit organization that helps people develop their imagination as city creators. It offers everyone, especially young people, the opportunity to invest themselves in the city's future. Through its many collaborations, Imagine Chicago builds intergenerational and intercultural networks of individuals and organizations committed to developing a vital city-wide community.

The core processes employed at Imagine Chicago are:

• dialogue — across cultural, racial, economic and generational boundaries.
• curriculum development — frameworks and organizers to understand, imagine and create projects that build community.
• network formation — to link individuals and organizations committed to developing a positive future for Chicago's children.

Her civic leadership positions have included: Director and Past Chairman of the Center for Neighborhood Technology and of the Mid-America Leadership Foundation; Trustee of the Chicago Sunday Evening Club; Advisory Board member of Public Allies, and board member of Archeworks, Chicago Children's Choir, Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative, the Chicago Board of the Children's Scholarship Fund, and the Community Advisory boards of the Field Museum and the Chicago Historical Society. She also served on the Illinois governor's Public-Private Child Care Council and the Episcopal Presiding Bishop's Consultation on Reconciliation. She was the first women priest ever to preach at Westminster Abbey, in 1979, and has served in parish ministry in Chicago for over 25 years. She was one of 24 members of the Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America, a two-year forum at the Harvard Kennedy School that recognized national innovators in developing social capital. She is a sought after keynote speaker, facilitator, consultant and trainer nationally and internationally.

She holds degrees from Yale (B.A. 1971 in History), Harvard Divinity School (M.Div. 1974 in Theology), and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern (M.M. 1978 in Finance). Awards include: Rockefeller Fellow 1972, Kellogg National Fellow 1988-91, two Eureka Community Awards 1995-96, the Chicago Mercedes Mentor Award 1998, and Chicago Justice Pioneer Award 2003. She is married with three young adult children.

Publications include "Cultivating Hope and Imagination" in Vimukh Shiksha and the Journal of Future Studies in 2001 and "Liberating Imagination about Aging," in Foresight in 2003. She is also author of two books: "Ten Years of Imagination in Action", a conceptual framework for imagination as a social movement and Women Alive: A Legacy of Social Justice.

»» J. Paul Burney, Ph.D.
Private Practice
P.O. Box 159
Conroe, Texas 77305-0159
Office phone: 936 539 1922
fax 936 539 2847
email: pburney@lcc.net

Dr. Burney is currently in private practice in Conroe, Texas. His clinical interest is in family therapy. He is President-Elect and will serve as President in 2005 of the Texas Psychological Association (TPA). Dr. Burney a member of APA's Practice Organization's Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP) and serve on CAPP's Prescription Privileges Subcommittee.

Dr. Burney has received post-licensure training in psychopharmacology and has completed his preceptorship at the Conroe Family Medicine Residency Program. He is adjunct faculty for Our Lady of the Lake University, Sam Houston State University, and the Union Institute. Dr. Burney is also a professional mediator for the Montgomery County Dispute Resolution Center and private clients.

»» Ron Chenail
Nova Southeastern University
3301 College Avenue
Fort Lauderdale-Davie Florida 33314-7796
email: ron@nova.edu

Ron Chenail received his master's degree from the University of Houston in the mid 1980s in counseling. In 1986 he went to Texas Tech to study family therapy. At that time he learned about the ethnographic interview. He conducted a visual ethnography on how kids in a child development school structured their time. He was asked to teach advanced qualitative classes. He became interested in discourse analysis and recursive frame analysis, and for his dissertation studied how families talk with cardiologists. Chenail followed Brad Keeney to Ft. Lauderdale and Nova Southeastern University in 1989 where he is currently Professor of Family Therapy and Assistant to the President for Academic Affairs at Nova Southeastern University. He has just accepted a position as the editor-elect of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. He continues to teach, direct dissertations, and contribute to the qualitative research field. Chenail is the founder, editor, and driving force behind The Qualitative Report, an online journal originally established in 1990. You can access The Qualitative Report at http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/

»» David Clark
Clinician, Department of Psychiatry of Kaiser-Permanente of Southern California
Associate Adjunct Professor at Alliant International University
10650 Kinnard Avenue Suite 109
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Phone: (800) 476-1619 
Outside U.S. (310) 446-0061
jenandrews@aol.com

Andrews and Clark Explorations (formerly Masterswork Productions) creates documents on video of the development of postmodern ideas and practices.

»» Dr. Sara Cobb
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
3330 Washington Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: 703-993-4452
scobb@gmu.edu

Dr. Sara Cobb is Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University. As ICAR provides graduate degrees in conflict resolution, Dr. Cobb works to support both the production of original research, but also the integration between theory and practice. As a faculty, she teaches theory, research and practice-based courses on narrative facilitation and conflict transformation. In her role as Director, she provides liaison between ICAR and other private sector agencies/corporations, at national and international levels.

Dr. Cobb has a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Through her research, she has specialized in the analysis of conflict narratives and has contributed to the critique of "neutrality" in conflict resolution processes. Dr. Cobb has published widely in communication studies and legal studies, supported by Grants from the Ford Foundation and the UN High Commission on Refugees. She has held both administrative and academic positions at a variety of research institutions including Harvard Law School, University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Connecticut. She has consulted to a host of family-owned businesses in North and South America, as well as to public and private organizations, including UN High Commission on Refugees, La Caxia Bank, and Exxon, to name a few. She has conducted training for the American Bar Association, Fox Learning Academy and a number of universities in Europe and Latin America. The blend of academic research, program development, and practice enables Dr. Cobb to offer both systematic critique of traditional methods for conflict intervention, as well as new methods for intervention that focus on the transformation of narratives in conflict processes.

»» Paul Costello
paul@storywise.com
http://www.storywise.com/
The Center for Narrative Studies Washington DC

Paul Costello is an educator and writer from Australia, where he has worked for many years developing curriculum and method in Creative Writing and Religious Education. In more recent years, his work has involved homeless youth where he founded "Rosies-Friends on the Street," a youth-to-youth volunteer corps that continues to work in six major cities along Australia's east coast. Inspired by his study with the founder of Narrative Therapy, Michael White, Paul came to the USA to research narrative method and its application to pastoral counseling, education and community renewal.

Since moving to the USA, Paul has worked with communities and organizations that are in transition, gathering their stories and helping them grieve and move on. He also worked for 5 years with the Shalem Institute for Spirituality where he was part of their unique Group Spiritual Direction Program, and he currently offers spiritual direction to individuals and groups.

He has been a guest lecturer at many colleges, including American University, Catholic University, Trinity College, Loyola College, UVA and Queens University Belfast. He currently directs the Washington-Ireland Program for Service and Leadership (formerly called the Young Leaders Program) that brings over 30 university students from Northern Ireland and Ireland to the USA each summer. He is Founding Director of the Center for Narrative Studies, and holds degrees in Literature, Theology, Education and an MFA in Creative Writing from American University.

Paul is an enthusiast and perpetual student of the narrative idea. He is pursuing projects that harness the new web technology because he believes the web can help resurrect the story circles that used to lie at the heart of vibrant community life, and become an exciting new way to connect people.

»» Sandra M. Cottingham, M.Sc., Ph.D.

District Consultant for Secondary Special Education
School District No. 36, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
cottingham_s@sd36.bc.ca
and
Sessional Instructor
Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
scottingham@dccnet.com

Sandra Cottingham, Ph.D. has twenty years of classroom experience with regular students and with students with special needs. As a consultant in a large British Columbia school district, Dr. Cottingham works with teachers and administrators supporting children with significant cognitive and behavioural challenges.
Dr. Cottingham is an instructor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia and has been a guest presenter for Simon Fraser University. Her doctoral dissertation entitled, Implementing the Mandate of Inclusion, A Model for Moving from Concept to Action was recently published by Tilburg University, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, in the Netherlands where she received her PhD in 2007.
She is actively involved in action research initiatives within special education, and is writing three important new books.  The Appreciative Teacher introduces AI into the teaching and learning dynamic of the classroom. The Unfulfilled Promise of Inclusion uses ongoing dialogue amongst classroom teachers to take a much-needed look at the model of full inclusion showing how it is badly under serving the needs of students with intellectual disabilities. Generation: LEAD dismantles and reframes previous notions about our schools’ challenged learners and delinquent behaviour as brain damage caused by in-utero neurotoxic exposure, while providing urgently needed research and resources to break the cycle of learning disablities, ADHD, declining IQ, behaviour and autism. 
Dr. Cottingham is vice chair of the Surrey Community Council for CLBC  (Community Living BC) as one small part of her committed personal and professional advocacy for people with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Self-described as someone who walks the talk, and moves ideas into action, Sandra Cottingham is also a mother, wife, visual artist and cello student.

»»Sharon Cottor, LISW
Cottor Associates, Ltd.
15029 North Thompson Peak Parkway
Suite B111-625
Scottsdale, AZ 85260-2223
Phone (480) 365-6071
email: rscottor@cox.net

Sharon Cottor has been a psychotherapist, coach and consultant for more than 40 years. She has shared a collaborative practice with her husband, Bob Cottor, M.D., since their move to Arizona in 1971. Sharon has been a leader in marriage and family therapy since her arrival in Arizona. She and Bob founded the Institute for Creative Change in Phoenix in 1980 to provide a forum for practicing professionals to explore and create effective change practices in their work with individuals, couples, families and organizations. Over the past 30 years, Sharon has taught and trained a large number of mental health professionals as well as professionals from other disciplines in a constructionist, collaborative, appreciative and relational-based approach to creative change. She received a special citation for Outstanding Contributions to the Field from the Arizona Association of Marriage and Family Therapy in 1992.

Sharon's current practice focuses on coaching with individuals and couples, consulting with family businesses and nonprofit organizations and promoting positive living, positive aging and healthy relationships. She is known for her highly innovative relational and social constructionist approach to psychotherapy, coaching and consultation. Sharon and Bob co-authored a chapter, Relational Inquiry and Relational Responsibility: The Practice of Change, in the book Relational Responsibility: Resources for Sustainable Dialogue, edited by Sheila McNamee and Ken Gergen and published by Sage in 1998.

Sharon has been actively involved with the Taos Institute since its inception. She has been a Taos Associate since 1996. Sharon serves on the Board of advisors to the Spirit of Enterprise Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She also serves on the Medical Advisory Council of Ryan House, a nonprofit organization in Phoenix that will be offering pediatric palliative care, end-of-life care and respite care in a home-like facility for families with children with life limiting conditions. Sharon, additionally, has been an active member since 1998 of a select business women's group in the Phoenix Metro area, Women At The Top (WATT).

»»The Rev. James M. Day
Professeur, Universite catholique de Louvain, UCL
Faculte de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Èducation
Human Development Laboratory, Unite PSED
& Psychology of Religion Research Centre
Place Cardinal Mercier 10
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve,  Belgium
E-mail: James.Day@psp.ucl.ac.be or James.Day@Boniface.be
Tel. xx32.10.479304 Bureau E107

and
Priest, Church of England (Anglican Communion)
Assistant Curate and Chaplain, The English Church, Oostende, and Assistant Curate, The Church of St. Boniface's Church, Antwerp, Belgium.
Gretrystraat 39 2600 Antwerp/Anvers
http://www.boniface.be 

James Meredith Day, Ph.D. is a developmental and clinical psychologist whose work has contributed to the dialogue between developmental and constructionist paradigms in psychology. He is Professor of Human Development and the Psychology of Religion in the Human Development and Learning Laboratory of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. His published work has appeared in a broad array of scholarly books and journals, and has been the focused on research in the domains of moral development, use of religious language in moral decision making, and gender and cultural differences in uses of moral and religious language. He serves on the editorial boards of several international journals. Professor Day is a graduate of Oberlin College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cambridge University and has been a visiting lecturer at Glasgow, Paris, London, and other universities. James also works as a clinician in the Centre de Neuropsychiatrie et de Phychotherapie, Brussels, and is a priest serving the chaplaincies of Antwerp and Oostende, in the Diocese in Europe of the Church of England. His is married to Birte and has three children. 

View some of James Day's publications on http://www.psp.ucl.ac.be/psyreli/jd-publ.htm

»» Joep C. de Jong
JLS International BV
PO Box 30
3920 DA Elst (U)
The Netherlands
+31 (0)654 396936
joepc@mac.com
joep.dejong@bt.com

Joep C. de Jong is Director of BT's division for eLearning Solutions, and is based in the Netherlands. His team is European 'Thought Leader' for BT¹s eLearning activities, which investigates the (blended) learning of people incorporated with use of new technologies. The team is involved in state-of-the-art learning projects like the EU Prolix project, and he himself is a member of the EU Œbrainstorm group¹ around TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning). Ever since he joined BT he has been using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to facilitate change and innovation of the division and to bring out the best in people. Using AI in the day-to-day business he is particularly interested in the sustainability of AI in organizations and in the use of AI in every day processes (coaching, appraisals etc.). Apart from his work within BT he spends part of his time as an independent AI consultant.

He is one of the founding members of AI Consulting, an international organization promoting the use of AI. On behalf of AI Consulting he has been invited to speak at international conferences (Boston 2002, Miami 2004, Soesterberg 2006), and worked on a large number of assignments for multi nationals like Abbott, SmithKline Beecham (Glaxo), Viasys, Compaq (HP), Apple Computer and Chevron. He has published in Dutch in leading HR magazines like Personeelsbeleid and Avanta. He is frequently invited to speak about the possibilities of AI, especially about its use in the organizational field.

Joep is father of three wonderful children, lives on the water together with his partner, Hanne, is 53 years and holds a BSc degree in Horticulture. He taught at the Central School for Horticultural Engineering, and was involved in training activities with the International Agricultural Centre (IAC) in Wageningen (1978 ­ 1984). He later became Sales & Marketing Manager for the Education division at Apple Computer (1984 ­ 1991). In 1991 he founded JLS International, an organization that provides high-end training and consultancy to organisations in various markets. It was here that he started to use AI as one of the core approaches to organizational development and organizational change. His first formal introduction to AI was by Jane Watkins and Barbara Sloan. He has received a certification in Global Change and Social Innovation from Case Western Reserve University's Global Excellence in Management program [GEM] in 1997.

»»Dr.Klaus G. Deissler, PhD
Marburg, Germany
tel. +49-6421-590870
Email: dialog@deissler.org

http://www.deissler.org (personal professional website)
http://www.mics.de (education program in systemic therapy and consultation)
http://www.marburger-beratergruppe.de (MBG = Marburg Consultation Group)

Klaus G. Deissler, PhD, is one of the pioneers and mentors of systemic and postmodern forms of consultation and therapy in Germany. He is the edtior of Zeitschrift für systemische Therapie und Beratung since 1992.

His main publications in German are

• ´Die Wertschätzende Organisation, 2004, ed. together with Kenneth J. Gergen, (engl.: the Appreciative Organization)
• ´Phil und Sophie auf der Couch — Die soziale Poesie therapeutischer Gesprächeª 2000, ed. together with Sheila McNamee (engl.: The social poetics of therapeutic conversations),
• ´Sich selbst erfinden? — Von systemischen Interventionen zu selbstreflexiven therapeutischen Gesprächenª (1997) (engl.: Self-inventing?),
• ´Menschenskind, wie kann man systemische Therapiekontexte konstruieren?ª (1988) (engl.: How to construct systemic contexts of therapy),
• ´Beiträge zur systemischen Therapieª (1985) (engl.: Contributions to systemic Therapy)

(A variety of articles have been translated into English, see his web-page).

He is the director of the Institute for Systemic Education viisa in Marburg, Germany
Since 1999 he has been guest professor at the Medical Highschool in Havanna.
Since 1976 he has been working as a consultant, psychotherapist and a trainer in systemic therapy.

»» Carolyn Ellis, Ph.D.
Prof. of Communication and Sociology
Department of Communication
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CIS1040
Tampa, Fl. 33620-7800
Phone: 813-974-3626
Fax: 813-974-6817
E-mail: cellis@cas.usf.edu

Carolyn Ellis is currently a Professor of Communications at the University of South Florida. With interest in emotions, narrative inquiry and autoethnography, Ellis has contributed to both the disciplines of Sociology and Communications. Her use of experimental ethnography and discussions of the Self are some of the ways in which she relies on and contributes to symbolic interactionism.

Ellis has three sole-authored published books: Fisher Folk: Two Communities on Chesapeake Bay (1986); Final Negotiations: A Story of Love, Loss, and Chronic Illness (1995); and The Ethnographic "I": A Methodological Novel About Doing Autoethnography (forthcoming). To name just a few of her additional accomplishments, Ellis has edited at least five collections, given at least twenty-five invited talks, published over twenty-five articles, over twenty-five book chapters, at least twenty reviews or review essays, and presented over fifty papers at professional meetings. She has published articles in the journal Symbolic Interaction including, "Speaking of Dying: An Ethnographic Short Story" (1995), and "Sociological Introspection and Emotional Experience" (1991). Her article "Emotional Sociology" (1991) was published in the journal Studies in Symbolic Interaction.

With an impressive and prolific list of contributions to Sociology, Communications, and Symbolic Interactionism, Carloyn Ellis is a key contemporary thinker in the paradigm of symbolic interactionism.

»» Ronald Fry, Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University
Weatherhead School of Management
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7235
216-368-2060
http://www.weatherhead.cwru.edu/faculty/faculty.cfm?id=5430 ronald.fry@case.edu

Dr. Ronald E. Fry is professor of Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University. Ron is also Director of the Masters Program in Positive Organizational Development and Change. He has developed and conducted a Certificate Program in Appreciative Leadership and Organizational Capacity Building for over 150 leaders of voluntary social change organizations in over 30 countries. With Professor David Cooperrider, he co-directs the CASE Weatherhead Certificate Program in Appreciative Inquiry for the Betterment of Business and Society. He is Editor and Chief of the Case Center for Business as Agent of Work Benefit's global inquiry and directs the Center's Institute for Advances in Appreciative Inquiry. He was part of the group that originated the Appreciative Inquiry approach and continues to both apply and study the applications of AI in the Field. He has also served as a visiting faculty to Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand, Katholieke University in Leuven, Belgium and to the Administrative Staff College of India.

Ron has consulted in the areas of human resource development and organizational change for the past twenty-five years with organizations including Ford, General Electric, Northern Telecom, Key Services Corporation, Mittal Steel, MSNBC, Greater Houston Mental Health Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the US Navy, World Vision and Roadway Express. ). He currently oversees AI applications in a variety of systems including World Vision, Lubrizol, Roadway Express, and the US Navy.

Dr. Fry is widely published in the areas of Organizational Development, Appreciative Inquiry, Team Building, Change Management, Executive Development and the role and functions of the CEO. His most recent work is part of the Taos Institute Focus Book series - Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Approach to Building Cooperative Capacity with Frank Barrett. He has recently co-edited Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Transformation: Reports from the field (Quorum, 2001). Another of Ron's recent publications is, Executive and Organizational Continuity: Managing the Paradoxes of Stability and Change (Jossey-Bass) a volume co-edited with Suresh Srivastva.

»» Diane R Gehart, Ph.D., LMFT
Dept. of Educational Psychology and Counseling
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8265
(805) 405-8248
dgehart@csun.edu
http://www.dianegehart.com
http://www.csun.edu/edpsy/people/gehart.html

Diane Gehart is Associate Professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy at California State University, Northridge, Faculty Member at the Marburg Institute, and has practiced psychotherapy for over 15 years. She co-authored Theory-Based Treatment Planning for Marriage and Family Therapists with Amy Tuttle (Brooks-Cole; 2003), co-edited Collaborative Therapy: Relationships and Conversations that Make a Difference with Harlene Anderson (Brunner-Routledge; 2006), and has published numerous articles in the area of family therapy. She is an internationally sought-after speaker, having presented on numerous topic including:

• collaborative and postmodern therapy practices,
• applications of mindfulness and Buddhist philosophy in therapy,
• qualitative research methods,
• collaborative play and family therapy,
• couple and gender issues in therapy, and
• client perspectives and experiences in therapy.

She is an active leader in the field of marriage and family therapy, having served on numerous state and national boards in family therapy. She was also appointed to the Sexual Misconduct Review Board for the Catholic Diocese of Fresno as a consultant on sexual abuse issues. She has studied Buddhism for over 20 years, having read original texts in Classical Chinese and Tibetan. Her current research and writing focuses on integrating mindfulness into therapist training to enhance therapeutic presence as well as exploring points of connection between postmodern therapies and Buddhist psychology.

»» Lorraine Hedtke MSW, ACSW, LCSW
1009 E. Pennsylvania Avenue
Redlands, CA 92374
www.rememberingpractices.com

Lorraine Hedtke MSW, ACSW, LCSW specializes in working with people who are dying and families after a loved one has died. She is employed by VITAS Innovative Hospice Care as a Bereavement Services Manger for the Inland Empire in California. She regularly teaches nationally and internationally about death, dying and bereavement and narrative therapy and will appear as a panelist on the Hospice Foundation of America's national teleconference in 2007. Her articles have appeared in numerous professional and trade publications and newspapers. Along with John Winslade, she is the co-author of Re-membering Lives: Conversations with the Dying and the Bereaved (Baywood Press: 2004). Her recent children's book, My Grandmother is Always With Me, is co-authored with her teen aged daughter, Addison.

Lorraine's work represents a departure from conventional ways in which death and grief are thought of. Her teaching and writing embodies innovative post-modern theory and practical applications about "re-membering conversations". This relational way of thinking about grief affirms that our stories can potentially transcend our physical limitations as living points of strength, resource and love. Further information and articles can be found at www.rememberingpractices.com.

Hospice Foundation of America's 14th annual teleconference, "LIVING WITH GRIEF: BEFORE AND AFTER THE DEATH", airs March 22, 2007. For more information, visit www.hospicefoundation.org/teleconference

See a sample of the beautifully illustrated children's book, My Grandmother is Always With Me www.rememberingpractices.com

»» Allan Holmgren, MA
DISPUK
Stationsvej 13
3070 Snekkerstern, Denmark
email: holmgren@dispuk.dk
http://www.dispuk.dk

»» Carsten Hornstrup
Director MacMann Berg, Denmark
email: ch@macmannberg.dk
www.macmannberg.dk
phone: +4586761344

Carsten has an MSc in Political Science and an MSc in Systemic Leadership and Organization Studies. He works as an organzational consultant, and is author and co-author on a number of books and articles on Leadership issues. In his work he occupied with bringing AI further, both as a theory and an organizational practice. Kenneth Gergen, Humberto Maturana, Gregory Bateson, Peter Lang and others inspire the work on theory. His practice focus is to develop Appreciative Inquiry to be a constructive way of working with important and difficult conversations in organizations and - on the other hand, as a powerful approach to innovation activities.

»» Marie Hoskins, PhD
Professor and Graduate Advisor
University of Victoria, School of Child and Youth Care

mhoskins@uvic.ca
(250) 721-7982
http://www.cyc.uvic.ca/people/mhoskins/index.php

Marie Hoskins is an Associate Professor in the School of Child and Youth Care in the Faculty of Human and Social Development. Her teaching focus has been in the area of human change processes and various modes of interpretive inquiry. Building on her doctoral work which focused on how cultural discourse shapes the self identities of individuals, she continues to publish and research in this area. She has extended this topic to various contexts, including change through mediation, recovery from eating disorders, and transformative learning in educational settings. Most of her research uses qualitative methodologies, such as narrative, poststructural analyses, and hermeneutics. She is a member of the International Advisory Committee for Constructivism and the Human Sciences, and the National Training Institute for Adolescent Health.

»» Roberta Rehner Iversen, Ph.D., LSW
University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Work
3701 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6214
phone: 215-898-5529, fax: 215-573-2099
e-mail: riversen@ssw.upenn.edu.

Roberta Rehner Iversen, Ph.D., LSW, known to most as "Bobbie," is an associate professor of social work and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. She recently completed a grant-funded five-year ethnographic research project in which she reported the findings in the form of extensive narratives that she called "family stories." The narratives were constructed from multiple voices and have resulted in major workforce and welfare policy and program changes for low-income families across America. After she finishes a book on this project, tentatively entitled Jobs Aren't Enough: Low-Income Families and Economic Mobility, to be published by Temple University Press, she plans a book on the social construction of work. Bobbie has given presentations at several Taos Institute/ Houston-Galveston Institute conferences in recent years, one with Ken Gergen of the Taos Institute and Stan Witkin, Professor of Social Work, University of Vermont

»» Seth Kahan
President
Performance Development Group, Inc.
Box 380
Glen Echo, MD 20816
V: 301/229-2221
F: 301/229-6661
Email: Seth@SethKahan.com
Website: www.SethKahan.com

»» Ralph Kelly, M.Div
Appreciative Inquiry Unlimited
3 Thorpe Ct
Williamsburg, VA 23188
Phone: 757-259-9942
email: ralphfkelly@cox.net
web: www.appreciativeinquiryunlimited.com

For 30 years, Ralph was priest in the Episcopal Church, focusing on the development and redevelopment of congregations. Prior to that he was employed in the corporate area in management and training in customer and client relations. His work in the church focused on helping people create meaningful relationships and creative, healthy communities. He served as consultant to congregations and judicatory organizations in areas such as stewardship, church growth and development, education and congregation life.

His work with Michael Dwinell's Imaginal Transformation; with Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' transitions; and as a trained experiential learning facilitator have shaped his work with people. For two decades he created his own learning laboratory by founding and then directing camping experiences for the multiply handicapped, a community which teaches patience, flexibility and the capacity to embrace and appreciate difference and diversity as great gifts.

He founded a medical mission to Honduran villages for the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, traveling there to share the gift of physical health in exchange for great lessons in the common humanity of all people.

He has applied Appreciative Inquiry in his work, helping organizations, groups and individuals focus on the creative and generative in their lives. Ralph, with Jane, has created a retreat for couples that is grounded in the perspective offered by Appreciative Inquiry. Currently he is developing other retreats for the "FOCUS" series ­ discernment, families, and for those who wish to write.

»» Sandra Kensen
Sioo - Inter-university Center for Organizational Change and Learning
Admiraal Helfrichlaan 1
3527 KV Utrecht
The Netherlands
phone: +31 30 291 3000
email: kensen@sioo.nl
www.sioo.nl

Since October 1st, 2006, Sandra Kensen has worked at Sioo - Inter-university Center for Organizational Change and Learning in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Together with other lecturers and trainers, she develops learning programs for professionals related to organizing, intervention, and change. Before working at Sioo, she worked at Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Roskilde University (Denmark), and Tilburg University (the Netherlands). She has conducted research into topics of organizing, intervention and change. First as a theorist and observant, later as an interaction researcher (for instance, see Playing with Boundaries as Democratic Scholars, at: http://www.taosinstitute.net/manuscripts/manuscripts.html which is published in: Administrative Theory and Praxis, 2003, no. 3, pp. 327-350). In the Sioo program Local Leadership, for instance, Sandra works with twenty Chief Executive Officers of Dutch local governments in order to search into possible ways of leading processes of change which connects different fields that make up one local society. At Sioo, theoretical deepening, systematic expansion in change methodologies, and pragmatic professional development are ever combined in playful, but relevant ways.

»» Peter Lang, Ph.D.
Kensington Consultation Centre
2 Wyvil Court
Trenchold St., London SW8, 2TG, U.K.
phone (+) 71-793-0148
email: 100541.2325@compuserve.com
http://www.kcc-international.com

Peter Lang is a leading teacher and consultant with the Kensington Consulting Centre, London. His work spans the European continent, with a special emphasis on constructionist and systemic orientations to organizational change.

»» Judith A. Levin, MS,RN,CS,NP
301 E. Bethany Home Road
suite C-296
Phoenix, AZ 85012
602-280-9505
j.a.levin@cox.net

Judith A. Levin is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult Mental Health Nursing and a certified Adult/Geriatric Nurse Practitioner. She has been a psychotherapist in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona for 25 years. Judith trained with Bob and Sharon Cottor at the Institute for Creative Change and has participated on their faculty for the past 10 years. She collaborates with her clients to co-create balance of their body-mind-spirit relationships. Judith is co-author of Experiential Learning Exercises in Social Construction, A taos Institute Publication.

»» Susan Levin, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Houston Galveston Institute
3316 Mount Vernon, Houston, TX 77006
phone: 713-526-8390 x 205
email: sue@talkhgi.com
http://www.houstongalvestoninstitute.org/

Susan Levin is the Executive Director of the Houston Galveston Institute (formerly the Galveston Family Institute). The Institute is internationally recognized for its innovative contributions to the advancements of theory, psychotherapy practice, and research, and to the development of creative contexts for learning, practice, and research. It has distinguished itself by its unique developments in brief therapy and has been acclaimed for its Collaborative Language Systems Approach with its emphasis on "problem-organizing systems", the role of language, narrative and conversation in therapy, the not-knowing position, and the translation of these concepts into work with difficult life situations. Students and professionals world-wide come to study at the Institute.

The Institute, a private, non-profit organization, was founded in 1977 to meet the demand for mental health professionals seeking to increase their understanding of families and their skills in systems-oriented therapy with individuals, couples, families, and groups. The Institute formalized the research effort pioneered in Galveston with Multiple Impact Therapy in 1954 at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, one of the earliest federally funded family therapy projects in the United States. Harlene Anderson, Ph.D., Paul Dell, Ph.D., Harold Goolishian, Ph.D., and George Pulliam, M.S.W founded the Institute.

»» Sylvia London, M.A., LMFT
Therapist, teacher, supervisor and consultant
Founding Member: Grupo Campos Eliseos
Campos Eliseos 430-401
Polanco, 11560, MÈxico D.F., MÈxico
Pone: (52) 55-5291-4561 (Home); (52)55 5291-9503 (work)
sylvialondon@prodigy.net.mx

Co-founder of Grupo Campos Eliseos a free standing Institute in Mexico City, affiliated to the Houston Galveston Institute dedicate to training, consultation and supervision through a postmodern and social constructionist approach.
http://www.grupocamposeliseos.com

Faculty at the Houston Galveston Institute
Co-founder of Entresujetos an interdisciplinary group (psychology-philosophy-literature and the arts) dedicated to promote multidisciplinary spaces and conversations.
entresujetos@yahoo.com

Sylvia has been a therapist and consultant for more than 20 years and holds a private practice in Mexico City, where she works with families, couples, adolescents and children and consults for schools, institutions and organizations. She teaches at Universidad de las Americas in MÈxico City, Universidad del Mayab in Merida Yucat·n, MÈxico, Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio Texas, USA.

She frequently presents in National and International Conferences on topics related to postmodern and social constructionist ideas applied to a variety of fields and projects. As a teacher, presenter and consultant

Member of the Mexican Association for Marriage and Family, Mexican Council for Marriage and Family Therapy Therapy, AAMFT, She is a licensed therapist in the state of Texas (LMFT) and currently serves as President of the Multicultural Committee at TAMFT. At the moment she is working on the Chronic Pain Project at Grupo Campos Eliseos, A multidisciplinary approach to training therapist on dealing with pain and stress using collaborative therapy, biofeedback and relaxation techniques.

Sylvia is recognized for her dynamism, enthusiasm, creativity and passion, all her endeavors are done in innovative and creative ways.

»» Jim Lord
Philanthropic Quest International
28050 S. Woodland Road 
Cleveland, Ohio 44124
phone: 216-831-3727
email: Lord@lord.org
http://www.lord.org

Appreciative Inquiry and the Quest: Jim Lord is the Director of Philanthropic Quest International, an exciting new paradigm for human development and social innovation. By asking positive question, new images of the future can be generated -- images evoked by the best of the past and present. These powerful images -- of ourselves, our organizations and the world -- can inspire action and innovation. Philanthropy, as the concrete expression of our "love of humanity," can provide an ideal vehicle.

»» Alexander J.J.A. Maas, Ph.D.           
University for Humanistics
Contact address:
Van Asch van Wijkskade 28
NL 3512 VS Utrecht           
tel.: +31 30 239 01 05
fax: +31 30 239 01 70
e-mail: ajja.maas@uvh.nl
http://www.uvh.nl/

Dr. Maas holds as professor the Humanitas endowed Chair in Humanising of Care at the University for Humanistics (UvH) in Utrecht (Netherlands). Besides, he is Associate Professor of Organisational Change and Social Integration at the Rotterdam School of Management of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (RSM/EUR, Netherlands).
Alexander did his BA Sociology in Tilburg, his MSc. Business Administration in Delft, and his PhD in Organisation Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has published and (co-) edited a dozen of books (in Dutch) and articles, in English as well as in Dutch journals, in the fields of Organisation Studies and Change Studies. Social constructionism, organizational theory, change theory are his primary research interests.

His current research and practice interest include storytelling, and changes & innovations in the life and care of older people. Besides, Alexander is an active member of MOPAN, the international research forum for multi organisational partnerships and networks. He love to teach in various graduate (Business Administration, Change) and post-graduate programmes (Information Documentation Management, Public Controlling, and Executive Change Management). His (MA) course titles of interest are: Theories on Change – Differences and Similarities, Cross-Cultural Management Euro-India Relationships (at EUR), Introduction to Organization, Change & Intervention (at UvH). He is and has been active as consultant, reflective practitioner as well as mediator in actual change processes in the public and private domain in the Netherlands. Finally, Alexander has three wonderful children (Stephanie, Robin-Paul and Alexander jr.) and is married to Kitty de Hey.

»» Ada Jo Mann
5411 41st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20015
(202) 363-9292
Email: adajo@innovationpartners.com

Ada Jo, a principal in Innovation Partners International, has over 35 years of experience collaborating with clients using strength-based approaches to strategic planning; program development and evaluation; inter-organizational partnerships; team building, and training. She is a founder and co-owner of Appreciative Inquiry Consulting, and for seven years was Director of the GEM Initiative, a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). A pioneer in the field of Appreciative Inquiry, she has advised or trained over 800 leaders and has directed or participated in assignments in over 50 countries. Current and past clients include: Academy for Educational Development, ADRA, Arlington County, Virginia HR Department, CARE, Chemonics, John Snow International, Pact Inc., Save the Children, Social Impact, US Agency for International Development, US Peace Corps, and World Vision. Ada Jo is based in Washington, DC and when she is not out being walked by her Cocker Spaniels, she enjoys ballet at the Kennedy Center and snorkeling beautiful reefs wherever her travels take her.

»» Imelda Colgan McCarthy Ph.D.
Department of Social Policy and Social Work
University College Dublin
Belfield,
Dublin 4 Ireland
Office: +353 1 716 8146
Office Fax: +353 1 716 1197
Email Imelda.mccarthy@ucd.ie

Imelda Colgan McCarthy, PhD. MSocSc (Social Work) is director of the PhD program in families and systemic therapies, a senior university lecturer, a systemic therapist and supervisor. She is based in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University College Dublin and has written and presented both nationally and internationally in 20 countries on the topics of Women, Child Sexualised Abuse, Poverty and Spirituality and Therapy.

From 1981 - 1995 she was a member of a clinical team, the Fifth Province Associates whose work along with her own has been translated into eight languages. She is also a co-founder of the Irish Family Therapy Association and Ireland's first professional training programme in family therapy at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin.

Currently she is directing the Spiritually Based Collaborative Therapy Training Program at Blue Star Holistic Centre, Trinidad, West Indies.

She is on the editorial boards of The Journal of Family Therapy, Human Systems, the Irish Journal of Social Work Research, The Journal of Community Work and Narrative Therapy.

»» Maureen McKenna
Suite 412
1 Balmoral Ave
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M4V 3B9
Phone: 416 921 3204
Email: maureenmckenna@sympatico.ca
Webpage: www.thesumoexperience.com

Maureen (Mo) McKenna, is an organizational development coach and facilitator and a principal of The SuMo Experience. At the heart of The SuMo Experience is the belief that the conversations that take place in any organization help shape that organization and its ability to be successful. She has more than 8 years of experience using appreciative inquiry in Strategic Planning, Executive Retreats, Executive Coaching, Teambuilding and other organizational development interventions. She is a respected and dynamic facilitator, helping organizations (corporations, government, education and not-for-profit) engage in conversations for possibility on the topics that are most important to them. Mo co-facilitates the AI Foundations Workshop with Jane Magruder Watkins (author of Appreciative Inquiry -- Change at the Speed of Imagination).

»» Christine Meier, Ph.D.
Director of Centro al Dragonato,
Via Lugano 11, 6500 Bellinzona,
Canton Ticino, Switzerland
http://www.dragonato.ch
email: dragonato@swissonline.ch

Christine Meier enjoys co-constructing social realities within the postmodern tradition in particular within the sociopsychiatric networks of the Canton Ticino in Switzerland and itís neighbor Italy. Constructionist and narrative principles have been incorporated into the center which she directs, the Centro al Dragonato, where people with psychiatric diagnoses, their families and all those who come into contact with the situation are offered the relational space and conceptual framework which allows for flexible perspectives and new prospects, alongside the practical opportunities necessary for reorganizing their life situations.

In her attempts to avoid the creation of pathologically defined realities through awareness and caution in language use and description, Christine teaches constructionist and narrative principles in various schools and Universities, is Consultant to a large number of staff teams and institutes where she is sharing with success her newly acquired enthusiasm for Appreciative Inquiry. She is also the Director of a school for Postmodern Counselling and a Didactic psychotherapist. Her doctorate concerned the pragmatics of psychiatric pathology in particular, the social construction of schizophrenia.

»» Mary Blanca Moctezuma, Ph.D.
Guadalupe 112
Lomas de San Angel Inn
Mexico D.F. 01790 Mexico
phone: 011-5255- 5-6830171
email: terapiabreve@laneta.apc.org

»» Anne Brediger Morrison
Associate Professor (NTT)
College of Education, Health and Human Services
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio 44242
amorriso@kent.edu

Outstanding Teaching Award Recipient 2004
Northeast Ohio Council for Higher Education Teaching Excellence Award Recipient 2005
Ohio Teaching Excellence Award Recipient 2005
As an undergraduate student in psychology and sociology at Bowling Green State University I discovered a desire in me to grow old on a college campus. After many years and several careers this desire brought me to Kent State University where I earned a Masters in Community Counseling and a Ph.D. in Counseling and Human Development. I began teaching Educational Psychology while working on my doctoral degree and realized that relational learning was pulling me to the university setting. I became interested in the social construction of knowledge where the learning-teaching relationship is egalitarian in nature. This collaborative approach to teaching and learning creates space where knowledge expands in the back and forth conversation of everyday experience. Presently, I am considering the possibility of extending this sort of collaboration to a relational approach to leadership. An interest in international study has taken me to Cuba, Norway, Italy, Russia, Ireland, Sweden, and Finland. I especially appreciate working with students on international study abroad. We have created an educational psychology class to the Kent State University’s Florence campus at Palazzo dei Cerchi in Italy for Summer I Semester.

»» Ken Murrell, Ph.D.
Empowerment Leadership Systems
3149 Deep Water Circle
Milton, FL 32583
phone: (850)474-2308
email: kmurrell@uwf.edu
website: http://www.pamij.com/murrbio.html

Kenneth L. Murrell is presently on the faculty of Management at The University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida and president of Empowerment Leadership Systems.

Professor Ken Murrell
University of West Florida , Management and MIS dept
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola , Florida   32514

Ken is co-author of Empowerment in Organizations: How to Spark Exceptional Performance and has written over eighty articles, technical papers, chapters, book reviews and research reports. In addition, he is developing new programs using the Action Empowerment model he created. "The Organization" simulation is being used in several universities and as a management training tool.

For many years Dr. Murrell devoted his time and attention to working and traveling in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. His most recent U.N. work took him to the Republic of Slovenia and Somalia, East Africa as senior associate and founder of the consulting firm Development Management Associates.

»» Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Memphis
Memphis, TN 38152-6400
Phone: (901) 678-4680
Fax: (901) 678-2579
Check out the resources and publications on my web site at:
http://neimeyer.memphis.edu/

Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D., holds a Dunavant University Professorship in the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, where he also maintains an active clinical practice. Since completing his doctoral training at the University of Nebraska in 1982, he has conducted extensive research on the topics of death, grief, loss, and suicide intervention.

Neimeyer has published 18 books, including Meaning Reconstruction and the Experience of Loss (American Psychological Association), Lessons of Loss: A Guide to Coping (Brunner Routledge), and Dying: Facing the Facts, and Treatment of Suicidal People (both with Taylor & Francis). The author of over 200 articles and book chapters, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process.

Neimeyer is the Editor of the respected international journal, Death Studies and served as President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (1996-1997). He presently serves on the American Psychological Associationís Task Force on End-of-Life Issues, where he is helping implement a research and practice agenda for psychology in this critical area. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, he has been granted the Distinguished Research Award (1990), the Distinguished Teaching Award (1999), and the Eminent Faculty Award (2002) by the University of Memphis, elected to the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement (1993), designated Psychologist of the Year by the Tennessee Psychological Association (1996), made a Fellow of the Clinical Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association (1997), and given the Research Recognition Award by the Association for Death Education and Counseling (1999). Neimeyer currently serves on the Committee on End-of-Life Issues of the American Psychological Association, the Scientific Advisory committee of the Grief Research Program of the Center for the Advancement of Health, and the Evaluations and Outcomes Committee of Last Acts, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.