Charles Halpern, currently Scholar in Residence at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, is a public interest entrepreneur, an innovator in legal education, a pioneer in the public interest law movement, and a long-time meditator. From 1989-2000, he served as the founding President of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, stimulating the development of a creative program in the area of contemplative practice. In the early '90s, he hosted meetings of the Working Group on Contemplative Mind in Society, and subsequently has served as the chair of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. The Foundation supported the revival of Jewish meditation, meditation retreats for environmental and social activists, and programs to restore the contemplative dimension in law, journalism, and business.

He was the Founding Dean of the City University of New York Law School at Queens College, a public interest law school with a novel curriculum. Previously, he was a professor at Stanford and Georgetown Law Schools, and a Senior Fellow at Yale Law School. He was the co-founder of the Center for Law and Social Policy (1969), the Mental Health Law Project (now the Bazelon Center for Law and Mental Health) (1971), and the Council for Public Interest Law (now the Alliance for Justice) (1976). After graduating with honors from Yale Law School and Harvard College, he practiced law at Arnold & Porter, in Washington, D.C.. He was chair of the board for Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action, a new think tank in New York City, until 2002 and continues to serve on the board. He has practiced meditation for the past 20 years, with a variety of Jewish and Buddhist teachers.

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David Brown is a founder of Reynolds & Brown and was its president from its inception in 1966 until 1988. David is still a member of its board of directors. Reynolds & Brown develops and manages industrial parks, business parks, and retail and office buildings. He is on the boards of several small companies.

David graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1958.

He is actively involved in non-profit development work in the Third World. He was a founding member of the board of directors of the International Development Exchange, which supports small development projects in less developed countries. He was the chair of the board of directors of Katalysis Partnership for six years and retains a seat on the board. Katalysis is involved in providing micro-credit, very small loans, to poor women for small business projects in Central America. David is the chair of the Boot Strap Fund that is affiliated with Katalysis. It lends money to Katalysis partners for on lending to the poor in Central America.

David started the Hidden Leaf Foundation, which supports organizations that use contemplative practices to further their social or environmental goals. This is a small family foundation that is directed by David and his three daughters.

In his late thirties, with business and family success seemingly assured, David started a process of turning inward for self understanding, life direction and contentment. This inner practice, which is centered on meditation, has continued and intensified through his life. He has been in the Diamond Heart Mystery School as a student of Hameed Ali for twelve years. He is on the board of the institute that runs this school. He practices a Tibetan Buddhist form of meditation and metaphysical inquiry called Dzogchen, which includes a number of yearly retreats.

David recently married his long time partner, Lowell Brook who is an artist and minister. They reside in Berkeley, California.

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As Director of the Center, Mirabai brings a unique background of organizational management, teaching, and spiritual practice. A founding board member of the Seva Foundation, an international public health organization, she directed the Seva Guatemala Project, which supports sustainable agriculture and integrated community development. Also at Seva, she co-developed Sustaining Compassion, Sustaining the Earth, a series of retreats and events for grassroots environmental activists on the interconnection of spirit and action. She is co-author, with Ram Dass, of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service, published by Random House.

Mirabai has organized, facilitated, and taught workshops, weekends, and courses on spirit and action for more than 20 years at institutions including Omega Institute, Naropa Institute, Findhorne, Zen Mountain Monastery, University of Massachusetts, San Francisco Zen Center, Buddhist Study Center at Barre, MA, Insight Meditation Society, and the Lama Foundation. She has a special interest in the uncovering and recovery of women's spiritual wisdom to inform work for social change. She has taught women's groups with Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Sharon Salzberg, Joan Halifax, Margo Adler, Starhawk, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Vicky Noble, and other leaders.

Her spiritual studies include meditation study at the Burmese Vihara in Bodh Gaya, India, with Shri S.N. Goenka and Anagarika Munindra; bhakti yoga with Hindu teacher Neemkaroli Baba; and studies with Tibetan lamas Kalu Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Kyabje Gehlek Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and others. She also did five years of intensive practice in Iyengar yoga and five years of Aikido with Kanai Sensei. Her earlier religious study included 20 years of Catholic schooling, ending with Georgetown University graduate study in medieval literature. She holds an ABD in American literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Before entering the foundation world, Mirabai was the first professional woman to work on the Saturn-Apollo moonflight at Cape Canaveral and later co-founded and directed Illuminations, Inc., from 1973 to 1985 in Cambridge, MA. Her innovative business approaches, based on mindfulness practice, were reported in Newsweek, Inc., Fortune, and the Boston Business Journal. She has also worked on educational programs with inner-city youth of color.

Mirabai has trekked, traveled, and lived in many countries, including Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, India, Nepal, Morocco, Ireland, England, Scotland, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Italy, Pakistan, and the Caribbean. She is an organic gardener in Western Massachusetts and the mother of one adult son, Owen.

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Bio coming soon.

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Norman is a Zen priest and abbot, a husband, father, and a poet, a teacher with wide-ranging interests and passions. During almost 30 years at San Francisco Zen Center, he served as director, tenzo, tanto, operations manager and other positions. Norman retired as abbot of Zen Center in 2000 to take his teaching out into the world. He continues his involvement with the Zen Center as a senior Dharma teacher.

Norman believes in the possibility of "engaged renunciation": living a fully committed religious life that does not exclude family, work, and a passionate interest in the world.

His own spiritual practice exemplifies this. In addition to his traditional zen practice and study, he collaborates with his friend Rabbi Alan Lew at Makor Or, the new Jewish Meditation Center in San Francisco. He has been been quite active for many years in the national and international avant garde poetry world (he has published nine volumes of poetry, the latest of which is called "Slowly But Dearly" Chox Press, Tuscon, AZ); has worked with business people on spiritual issues in the workplace, and taught at the Yale School of Business; and has taught and mentored young people, resulting in his new book "Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up" (Harper San Francisco, 2003).

Norman is also active in interreligious dialog, joining His Holiness Dalai Lama at many national and international conferences, and is one of the authors of "Benedict's Dharma: Buddhists Comment on the Rule of St Benedict" (Riverhead, 2001). His book of Zen-inspired translations of the pslams is "Opening to You: Zen-inspired Translations of the Psalms" (Viking Penguin, 2002).

In addition to his teaching with the Everyday Zen sangha in the Bay Area, Norman is guiding teacher to four other groups, the Bellingham (WA) Zen Practice Group, the Mountain Rain Zen Community (Vancouver, B.C.), Mar de Jade (Mexico), and The New York Zen Circle (New York City).

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Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D., became Director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in 2002. Before that time, she was the Joan Negley Kelleher Centennial Professor in the English Department at the University of Texas, as well as a Piper Professor and a member of the University's Academy of Distinguished Teachers. During her years at the University of Texas, she also served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Director of the Plan II Honors Program.

Flowers is a native Texan with degrees from the University of Texas and the University of London. Her scholarly publications include a book entitled Browning and the Modern Tradition and articles on Donald Barthelme, Adrienne Rich, Christina Rossetti, poetry therapy, writing and other subjects. Her annotated edition of Christina Rossetti's complete poems was published in 2001 in the Penguin Classics Series. She also edited Daughters and Fathers with Lynda Boose, as well as four books in collaboration with Bill Moyers: "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth," "A World of Ideas," "Healing and the Mind," and "Genesis." She has published three books of poetry: "Four Shields of Power" (with three other poets), "Extending the Shade" and "Blue Lioness" (2002).

Flowers was consultant for the nationally televised series, "The Power of Myth" as well as a host for the radio series "The Next 200 Years". Her 10-part television series, "Conversation with Betty Sue Flowers," was aired on the Austin PBS affiliate, KLRU. Flowers has served as a moderator for executive seminars at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, as a consultant for NASA, as a member of the Envisioning Network for General Motors, as a member of the vision team for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and as a Visiting Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. In 1992, and again in 1995, 1998 and 2001, she worked with an international team to write Global Scenarios for Shell International in London-stories about the future of the world for the next 30 years. She has edited a book in conjunction with Joseph Jaworski on the inner dimensions of leadership, Synchronicity, and is finishing another with Jaworski, Peter Senge and Otto Scharmer on "Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future." Flowers was the editor of global scenarios for sustainable development and scenarios for the future of biotechnology, both sponsored by the World Business Council in Geneva.

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Joan Konner is Professor and Dean Emerita of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She served as Dean from 1988-1997 and as Publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review from 1988-1999.

Before going to Columbia, Ms. Konner worked in both public and commercial television for 26 years. During that time she produced and wrote more than 50 documentaries and served as Executive Producer of several major public affairs series. Her work has been honored by almost every major award for broadcast journalism, including 16 Emmys, the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Television and Radio. As President and Executive Producer of Public Affairs Television Inc., in partnership with Bill Moyers from 1986-1988, Ms. Konner produced Moyers: In Search Of The Constitution, God And Politics, and Joseph Campbell And The Power Of Myth.

During her 12 years as a writer, director and producer with NBC News from 1965-1977, she produced such documentaries as Danger! Radioactive Waste; Mary Jane Grows Up; Marijuana In The 70's; Of Women And Men; The Search For Something Else and New World Hard Choices: American Foreign Policy In 1976. In recognition of her body of work, she was awarded the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism's Alumni Award in 1975 and the New Jersey Press Women's Association Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in 1990.

In 1977, Ms. Konner joined WNET/13, public television in New York, as Executive producer for National Public Affairs Programs. She served as Executive Producer of Bill Moyers Journal until 1981. From 1981 to 1984, she was Vice President, Director of Programming and Executive Producer for the Metropolitan Division of WNET/13. Among the programs she conceived and produced were New York & Co; Hizzoner; My New York; Walt Whitman And Friends; Innovation and Currents. Under her leadership, the station earned numerous honors, including 11 Emmy Awards.

A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Ms. Konner began her journalism career as a reporter, editorial writer and columnist for The (Bergen) Record, Hackensack, NJ. For 10 years, she served as chairman of the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Awards, as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board and as a juror for the National Magazine Awards. She is currently chair of the John Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Reporting. She also served as an advisor to the Markle Commission on the Media and the Electorate and on several committees of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Ms. Konner has also been a Trustee of Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, the Rockland Center for the Arts, Radio and Television News Director's Foundation and the Religion Newswriters Foundation. At present she is a Board member of the Providence Journal, Providence, RI. She is also a trustee of the Florence and John Schumann Foundation.

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Doug Randall is a senior practitioner at GBN and co-leader of the consulting practice. He focuses on managing uncertainty, business strategy, and decision-making using tools such as scenario planning. He works with large corporations in a variety of industries including information technology, consumer electronics, financial services, transportation, and energy, as well as with governments, nonprofits, universities, and research organizations to address complex business, social, and environmental challenges.

Doug has also published articles, book chapters, and white papers on scenario planning, decision-making, the environment, the Internet, and electronic commerce, and has lectured at the Wharton School of Business, Stanford University, and Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He has also appeared in interviews on the BBC and in several magazines and journals. Recently, he coauthored with Peter Schwartz a report for the Pentagon on the potential impact of abrupt climate change, subtitled Imagining the Unthinkable, and a cover story for Wired magazine titled How Hydrogen Fuel Can Save America.

As a senior research fellow at the Wharton School, Doug collaborated with professors Paul Schoemaker and George Day to study tools and techniques for managing uncertainty. There, he developed the ABC Framework for assessing an organization's approach to uncertainty, building competencies to overcome weaknesses, and choosing tools effectively.

After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Doug became a partner at Palo Alto Ventures and head of its strategic planning consulting business. He managed relationships with Philips Electronics, leading projects on the future of storage, consumer electronics, audio, television, and displays, and setting technical and general strategies for the organization and several business units. Subsequently Doug served as a vice president at Snapfish, a photo-processing company with a strong Internet presence, where he was responsible for consumer acquisition. While there, he signed over 50 strategic partnerships, achieving a customer acquisition growth rate of 30 percent monthly, and built the company's sponsorship and sales group. Doug was also a member of the senior management team, responsible for the company's direction and day-to-day management.

Doug received his B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Wharton. At Wharton, Doug was a leadership fellow and a teaching assistant in the entrepreneurial management department, as well as a research assistant at the Huntsman Center for Emerging Technology. He practices Ashtanga yoga and meditates daily.

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Bob Shapiro is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Monsanto Company and the former Chairman of Pharmacia Corporation.

He became Monsanto's President and Chief Operating Officer in 1993; Chairman and CEO in April 1995; and was appointed Chairman of Pharmacia Corporation in April 2000 following the merger of Monsanto Company and Pharmacia and Upjohn, a position he relinquished in February, 2001.

Previously, he was Vice President and General Counsel for General Instrument Corporation and served as an attorney with the New York law firm of Poletti, Freidin, Prashker, Feldman & Gartner and as a professor of law at Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Mr. Shapiro served in government as Special Assistant to the General Counsel and later to the Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. He also has been a consultant to state and local government of law enforcement, service delivery systems and transportation policy.

Mr. Shapiro has served under previous appointments on the President's Advisory Committee on Trade Policy under President Clinton; White House Domestic Policy Review of Industrial Innovation under President Carter; the Civil Aeronautics Board Advisory Committee on Procedure; and the Massachusetts Governor's Task Force on Transportation.

Mr. Shapiro is a member of the American Society of Corporate Executives and The Business Council. Mr. Shapiro received the 1999 Emerging Markets CEO of the Year Award, the John R. Miller Award as the Outstanding Corporate Marketing Executive of 1984, and the Special Citation for Outstanding Achievement from Sales and Marketing Management Magazine.

Mr. Shapiro is a 1959 graduate of Harvard College and a 1962 graduate of Columbia University of Law. He has four children and lives in Chicago

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Charles is currently President of Terry-MacGregor Associates, Vice Chairman of the Whidbey Institute and Director of the Project on Wealth and Philanthropy, and an Associate of Family Philanthropy Advisors. He was formerly Director of Philanthropy at the Rockefeller Family Office and Rockefeller Financial Services in New York City, and as President of The Philanthropic Collaborative, a public charity developed by the family office to promote and facilitate philanthropy for individuals and families. In these positions, he was responsible for advising and overseeing approximately $60 million of grantmaking annually.

Charles has had extensive experience in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, serves and has served as a trustee and advisor to a number of charitable trusts, foundations and nonprofit boards, has served as Chairman of the Council on Foundations Annual Family Foundations Conference, was a director of the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, and has been a speaker, consultant, and facilitator at conferences, professional meetings, family and foundation meetings.

Prior to his work with the Rockefeller family, Mr. Terry was Vice President of the International Center for Integrative Studies, a nonprofit organization promoting greater communication and collaboration among leaders in diverse disciplines, and served as an ICIS delegate to the United Nations. Prior to that, he helped to found and served for 10 years as the Executive Director of The Door - A Center of Alternatives, an internationally recognized multi-service health, education and arts center for youth, serving 5,000 inner city teenagers annually.

Charles is an honors graduate of both Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. Following law school, he practiced law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in New York City, and subsequently practiced urban, community and poverty law in New York. For eight years he was a Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he founded and directed the Urban Law Clinical Program.

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