Faculty and staff

To support and guide the program the school has a core staff of professional teachers available. They provide the basic training groups, meditations, wake-up-programs, coaching sessions and incidental lectures. The staff is supervised by a dean. Guest teachers complete the Faculty.

The teachers of the core-staff are master-leaders in their own field. They have undergone intensive and extensive personal and spiritual training and are well known spiritual teachers. They bring to the school a lot of practical experience, experience that has created impressive tangible results.

The guest teachers and workshop-leaders are known professionals who are among the best in their fields.

Core faculty members:

Marcel Derkse	Marcel Derkse provides inspiration and guidance in the field of personal purpose seeking and life fulfilment. Marcel has developed a comprehensive methodology that describes and facilitates a process of assessment, acceptance and transformation. In his personal journey Marcel has gained many deep insights in various ancient sources of wisdom. From this he takes inspiration which reflects in his positive and energetic view of the world and his convictions about the creative purpose of mankind. Read further
Carien Everwijn	Worked as a coach/counsellor and trainer for an international bank, is a facilitator for the transformation game and essential peacemaking, and creates workshops with different themes. Carien works with her horse Bella for some years now. On the theme of Leadership Bella is an expert! Leading a little white horse doesn’t seem like a big deal, but will provide many points of interest and crystal clear feedback. In The Edge you will have sessions in which Bella teaches you more about yourself than any verbal session could do.
Judy McAllister	Judy McAllister is a Canadian who transplanted herself to Scotland in 1977 when she became a member of the Findhorn Foundation Community. She has spent the last 25 years living and working in this internationally known spiritual community. Although her first and foremost passion is working with people, Judy also spent more than 10 years immersed in the administrative and leadership aspects of the Foundation. For 12 years she was a Trustee of the Foundation and for 5 years was the Focaliser (read MD/CEO). She served as a Director, and as the Chairperson, with the board of New Findhorn Directions which is the trading and commercial arm of the charity. Read further
Erik van Praag (Dean)	Born 1940, psychologist (graduated University of Amsterdam, 1965), father of three children and grandfather of five. Worked as a teacher and department head at the university, as manager in a psychiatric hospital and as a psychotherapist. Presently he contributes to organization development and -transformation as a management trainer, personal coach and business consultant. He has experience in Germany, the Cszech Republic, Russia, Estonia and in the USA. He organized international summer conferences for managers and professional people, called: New Perspective - 7 days of creation, The Challenge of Unity, A Quest for Personal Leadership (Leading to the Future), Leading to the Edge, and co-facilitated the international workshop “Healing the wounds of War”. Read further
Arnaud de Waij	Arnaud de Waij was born in 1947 in Amsterdam, Holland. He went to Japan to study martial arts when he was 15 years old. Off and on he stayed in Japan all together for more than 6 years, and mastered various martial art disciplines. A couple of years ago he received the Sensei-title (grandmaster) and not too long ago the title of Daimyo Sensei (highest rank). Beside that he is spiritual and Tonglen TBM (Tibetan Buddhist Meditation) teacher. He and his team of teachers support people all over the world in their personal and spiritual growth by working on body, mind, heart and spirit in severe training programs and intensives.
Teachers
Zhenya Alexeeva	Evgeniya G. Alexeeva, MD, worked as anesthesiologist in critical care departments of Moscow children clinics for 14 years. In 1986 she took part in the first joint Russian-American expedition to Caucasus Mountains and became an active participant of the citizen diplomats’ activities between Soviet Union and USA. Since that time she has been actively working for democratic change in Russian society. She quit her medical practice in 1990 to develop empowerment trainings in Russia and NIS countries using Empowerment model worked out by Gail Straub and David Gershon. Since that she has designed, facilitated and co-led over 400 workshops and trainings on personal and social empowerment Read further
Peter Goldman	Director of Centre of New Directions Under the Direction of Peter Goldman, the original College ofPsychotherapeutics became in 1992 the Centre of New Directions. Peter qualified as an Osteopath and Naturopath in London in 1963. He studied with Ronald Beesley from 1965 and worked intensively with him until his passing in 1979. Peter was part of the original research into the therapeutic use of Light and Colour as a Distant Treatment Programme. Read further
Sarah Goudsmit	Sarah Goudsmit (1962) was a teacher at Waldorf schools in the Netherlands during 15 years and has worked with young teachers in South Africa and Eastern Europe. She is a graduate of the Pulsar Academy of deVoorde. At the Vrije Hoge School in Zeist she worked with students who broke off their studies to find a new direction. At present she gives courses at deVoorde and at other locationsfor people who want to broaden their horizon or feel uncertain about the course of their life. She has her private practice for those who have questions about themselves, their work and relation to others. Her aim is to start people on a course that will let them discover themselves and live more fully in harmony with this. Read further
Mary Inglis	Born in Scotland, grew up in Nigeria and Lesotho, did high school and university (English and Politics) in South Africa. Started as a journalist in South Africa, and worked a.o. as personnel manager and director of Findhorn Press in the Findhorn Foudation, Scotland. At present faculty member of the Findhorn Foundation and Findhorn College and managing director and trainer of Innerlinks UK. Areas of expertise include: Leadership, creative writing, alle versions of the Transformation Game. Worked in many countries all over the world.
Gail Straub	Has been a teacher and activist for over 20 years. She is considered a pioneer in the field of empowerment, and co-founded the company Empowerment Training Programs, in 1981. Since then she has offered training to thousands of people throughout America, Europe, Russia, China, and East Asia. With her husband David Gershon, she co-authored, Empowerment: The Art of Creating Your Life As You Want It. The book, currently in its tenth printing, has been translated into five languages and is used worldwide as the basis for empowermentsupport groups. Read further
Ronald Veronda	Ronald Veronda is an educator, author, and speaker dedicated to improving society by raising and educating the next generation in a wiser way.While many of our educational programs have been reduced to teaching what "has been," he strives to help students learn the skills needed to create what "can be." Traditional leadership programs develop the skills to manage the world as it exists today; Ron prepares true leaders to take people where they've never gone before.His specialty is helping others pull away from the mainstream thought patterns that constrict their view and reduce their potential.He offers actual solutions to some of the largest problems facing society today and invites others to help lead the next generation to a healthier and happier world. Read further
Guest teachers
Peter Blom	Born: 3 maart 1956 in Leiden. Education: studied economy at Free University, Amsterdam Since 1980, the year of its foundation, employed by Triodos Bank. Originally as accountmanager , since 1989 as director and since 1997 as president and CEO.
Wessel Ganzevoort	Wessel Ganzevoort joined KPMG as a consultant in 1970. He studied Business Administration, Economics and Behavioural Sciences. Since 1982 he occupied within KPMG various management positions, like Chairman of Dutch Consulting, Chairman of KPMG Consulting Europe and Vice Chairman worldwide. In the nineties he also was Chairman of the Council of Organisational Consultancy firms. Read further
Jan Paul van Soest	Jan Paul van Soest (1955) has been in environmentalism since highschool, when he was triggered by ecology and biology. On a bike tour through the South of France, having read the first report to the Club of Rome, and lying on his back enjoying the beauty of the stars and the universe, he decided to devote his professional carreer to solving environmental problems. He studied environmental engineering at Wageningen University, and followed a course in journalism as well. He joined CE Environmental Research and Consultancy in Delft, and was appointed director in 1990. Last year, he decided to start working as an independant consultant for sustainability. He has written dozens of books and articles on environment, nature and economy, and a book Het Leven een Spel (Life as a Game) toghether with Erik van Praag. Jan Paul is married and father of two daughters.
Herman Wijffels (photo by Sjaak Ramakers)	Dr. Herman H.F. Wijffels, born 1942, governor World Bank, former chairman of the Dutch Social and Economic Council (SER), a central platform of negotiation and consultation for government, employers and unions in The Netherlands. He acquired his degree at Tilburg University. Among other functions he has been CEO of Rabobank, one of the main banks in Holland. At present he is also chairman of The Association for Conservation of Monuments of Nature and member of the Innovation Platform. He is a member of several non-executive boards, both in the corporate world as in the not for profit field. Quote: "Leadership is about leading people to new, unknown territory. To be able to do that it is necessary to know oneself. A leader has to be in touch with his/her inner source of wisdom and to have an insight about his/her own role and destiny."