OMEGA INSTITUTE FOR HOLISTIC STUDIES - Key Persons
Abby Wambach is the all-time leading scorer in international soccer history with 184 career goals. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA Women's World Cup champion, and 6-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Abby was the United States' leading scorer in the 2007 and 2011 Women's World Cup tournaments and the 2004 and 2012 Olympics. After winning the Women's World Cup in 2015, Abby retired as one of the most dominant players in the history of soccer. An activist and author of WOLFPACK, Abby is dedicating the next chapter of her career to fighting for equality and inclusion across industries.
Job Titles:
- Development Communications Writer
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner of the New York Offices of HKM Employment Attorneys
Artemio Guerra is the Managing Partner of the New York offices of HKM Employment Attorneys, and a member of Omega's Board of Directors. Before joining the firm, where he focuses on all aspects of employment law, he spent more than 10 years combating wage theft by representing workers in complex class and collective action litigation against some of the most powerful corporations in the US.
After graduating from law school, Artemio worked as the coordinating attorney of the Immigrant Worker Rights Project at Catholic Migration Services in Queens, where he represented low-wage workers in wage and hour litigation and managed a collaborative effort with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the US Department of Labor to educate workers about their rights.
Prior to his legal career, Artemio worked for more than 15 years as a community organizer and faith-based advocate, working with immigrants, elderly homeowners, and low-income tenants. For more than a decade, Artemio served on the Board of Directors of the Worker Justice Center of New York, a statewide organization that pursues justice for those denied human rights with a focus on agricultural and other low-wage industries. He also served on the boards of New York City's Metropolitan Council on Housing and ABC No Rio, a center for arts and activism in New York's Lower East Side.
Artemio Guerra is the Managing Partner of the New York offices of HKM Employment Attorneys, focusing on all aspects of employment law. Before joining the firm, he spent more than 10 years combating wage theft...Read More
Job Titles:
- Learning Experience Producer
Job Titles:
- Marketing / Strategy & Digital Marketing Director
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
- President and Chief Executive Officer of Omega Institute
Carla Goldstein, JD, is president and chief executive officer of Omega Institute, the nation's premier holistic learning center, offering innovative educational experiences that provide an integrated approach to personal and social change. She is also the cofounder of the Omega Women's Leadership Center, a hub for convening, inspiring, and training women to Do Power Differently®. Prior to joining Omega, Carla worked extensively in city and state government and the nonprofit sector in public interest advocacy. In 2021, Carla was the recipient of the Helen Gurley Brown Genius Grant in recognition of her lifelong commitment to women's leadership, public interest advocacy, and women's rights.
Carla's career highlights include serving as vice president for public affairs at Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC), where she directed the agency's advocacy and strategic communications work. Before joining PPNYC, Carla worked for the speaker of the New York City Council, where she helped craft and advocate for state and federal legislative agendas. While in law school at the State University of New York at Buffalo, she was cofounder and co-editor-in-chief of the state's first women's law journal, Circles: The Buffalo Women's Journal of Law and Social Policy. Carla was an adjunct professor at CUNY Queens College for eight years where she taught about the law and social justice.
Today, she teaches emerging and established leaders how to apply holistic principles at work, at home, and in community. Additionally, Carla serves in an advisory capacity to several organizations on the cutting edge of new ways of thinking about social and cultural transformation, including: Women Without Borders, Ctznwell, Connected Women Leaders, Feminist.com, and Living Room Conversations.
Carla Goldstein, JD, is president and chief executive officer of Omega Institute and cofounder of the Omega Women's Leadership Center. An attorney with 25 years of experience in public interest... Read More
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Programs
Job Titles:
- Development & Membership Associate
Cecile Richards is a nationally respected leader in the field of women's health and reproductive rights.
As president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, she leads a national organization that has worked for nearly 100 years to build a healthier and safer world for women and teens. She is a sought-after speaker and commentator on issues related to women's rights, reproductive health, and sex education.
Since joining Planned Parenthood in 2006, Richards has expanded the organization's advocacy for access to health care and ensured that Planned Parenthood played a pivotal role in shaping health-care coverage and services for women under the Affordable Care Act.
In 2011, she led an unprecedented nationwide campaign to preserve access to Planned Parenthood's preventive care through federal programs. Under her leadership, the number of Planned Parenthood's supporters has doubled, reaching 7 million.
Before joining Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards served as deputy chief of staff for Nancy Pelosi. In 2004, she founded and served as president of America Votes, a coalition of 42 national grassroots organizations working to maximize registration, education, and voter participation. She began her career organizing low-wage workers in the hotel, health care, and janitorial industries throughout California, Louisiana, and Texas.
A regular contributor to the Huffington Post, she also currently serves on the board of the Ford Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Projects Manager
Job Titles:
- Editorial Director
- Press Contact
- Senior Director of Communications
Dan Harris is an authorized lama in an ancient and noble contemplative lineage of overthinkers, overschedulers, and compulsive fidgeters. He used to be a globetrotting, makeup-wearing, teleprompter-reading anchorman as the former co-anchor of the weekend edition of Good Morning America on ABC News, as well as a former correspondent for Nightline and World News Tonight. But then he started meditating and wrote a book called 10% Happier, which turned into a podcast and a meditation app by the same name.
In 10% Happier, Dan tells his story through deep research, tough questions, and a healthy dose of irony. The book is part investigation and part immersive journalism: one man's accidental quest to boost his happiness quotient without losing his professional drive. After learning about research that suggests meditation can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain, Dan took a deep dive into the underreported world of CEOs, scientists, and even Marines, who are now using it to be calmer, happier, and less yanked around by their emotions. His book, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, was released in December 2018.
With meditation and mindfulness now being embraced by executives, athletes, educators and entertainers, Dan has become a leading voice for pushing for the practice into the mainstream, using plain English and dry humor. Now, after spending way too much time with meditative superfriends Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren, he has completely lost his edge, quit his TV gig, and is writing a book about love.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of People & Culture
Job Titles:
- Program Business Director
Devi Brown is a well-being educator and healer, advisor, storyteller, founder of Devi Brown Well-Being, and a member of Omega's board of directors. Passionate about individual transformation that leads to community impact and elevation of consciousness for all beings, Devi's focus is on those who have had complex lived experiences and lead high impact lives. Her work is rooted in sharing tangible, multi-lineage healing practices to support a sovereign lifestyle and holistic well-being.
Devi's teachings are informed by her work in spiritual psychology, advanced meditation, metaphysics, energy healing, and trauma-informed facilitation. Spending over a decade of her life in deep study and practice, the offerings she creates are founded in wellness and infused seamlessly into the tangible human experience.
Through her company, Devi Brown Well-Being, Devi is a trusted voice and advisor guiding organizations such as Chase, Microsoft, Chopra, Overtime, and more, toward better internal and external wellness practices and processes. Devi spent several years serving as the Chief Impact Officer at Chopra Global, the leading education and retreat wellness company founded by the life's work of Deepak Chopra. As the voice of daily meditation on the Chopra app, Devi's widely celebrated, guided meditations have been downloaded over 10 million times globally. At CG, Devi led the charge on its mission of democratizing well-being, leading to an increase in diversity in education enrollment and live events by nearly 500 percent.
As a seasoned storyteller and host of the podcast Deeply Well on iHeart Media's Black Effect Network, Devi holds conscious conversations with leaders and radical healers in wellness around topics meant to expand and support listeners of varied ages and cultural backgrounds.
Devi is author of Crystal Bliss: Attract Love, Feed Your Spirit, Manifest Your Dreams, a founding board member of Charlamagne The God's Mental Wealth Alliance, and most recently joined Dr. Deepak Chopra and NBA Champion Draymond Green on the Amazon Prime docuseries The Sessions: Draymond Green.
Devi Brown is a well-being educator and healer, advisor, storyteller, founder of Devi Brown Well-Being, and a member of Omega's board of directors. Passionate about individual transformation ... Read More
Job Titles:
- Media Design / Senior Director of Creative & Art Curator
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor
- Cofounder / Senior Advisor / Ex Officio
- Cofounder of Omega Institute
Elizabeth Lesser is the Cofounder of Omega Institute, recognized internationally for its workshops and conferences in wellness, spirituality, creativity, and social change. She is also the author of several best-selling books, including Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes ; Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow, and Marrow: Love, Loss & What Matters Most. She is one of Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul 100, a collection of a hundred leaders who are using their voices and talent to elevate humanity. In 2011, she gave a popular TED talk called "Take The Other to Lunch," a call for civility and understanding as we negotiate our differences as human beings. She gave her second TED talk in 2016, about the power of truth-telling.
Elizabeth's first book, The Seeker's Guide, chronicles her years at Omega and distills lessons learned into a potent guide for growth and healing. Her New York Times best-selling book, Broken Open, has sold more than 500,000 copies and has been translated into 20 languages. Her third book, Marrow, chronicles the journey Elizabeth and her younger sister went through when Elizabeth was the donor for her sister's bone marrow transplant. Her newest book, Cassandra Speaks, reveals how humanity has outgrown its origin tales and hero myths, and empowers women to trust their instincts, find their voice, and tell new guiding stories.
Elizabeth is also the Cofounder of Omega's Women's Leadership Center, which grew out of the popular Women & Power conference series featuring women leaders, activists, authors and artists from around the world.
Early in her career she was a midwife and birth educator. She's an avid walker, cook, gardener, friend, mother, grandmother, and homebody. She and her husband live in New York's Hudson River Valley.
Elizabeth Lesser
Cofounder/Senior Advisor/Ex Officio
Elizabeth Lesser is Cofounder and Senior Advisor on Omega's Board of Directors. She is the New York Times best-selling author of The Seeker's Guide and Broken Open.
Glennon Doyle is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Untamed, Love Warrior, and Carry On, Warrior. She is an activist, speaker, and founder of Together Rising, a nonprofit organization that has raised over $25,000,000 for women, families, and children in crisis.
Glennon was named among OWN Network's SuperSoul 100 inaugural group as one of 100 "awakened leaders who are using their voices and talent to elevate humanity."
Find out how Glennon Doyle's writing career began.
Jamia is an award-winning feminist activist, writer, speaker, and podcaster. She joined Random House as vice president and executive editor in 2021. As the former director of the Feminist Press at the City University of New York and the former vice president of programs at the Women's Media Center, Jamia has been a leading voice on women's rights issues for over a decade.
Her work has appeared in numerous outlets, including the New York Times, the Today show, CNN, Elle, BBC, Oprah Daily, Refinery 29, Glamour, Teen Vogue, and the Washington Post. She is the author of This Book Is Feminist; Young, Gifted, and Black; the introduction and oral history in Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard Around the World; Step Into Your Power: 23 Lessons on How to Live Your Best Life; Big Ideas for Young Thinkers; ABC's of AOC; and is coauthor of Roadmap for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Advocacy, and Activism for All.
Jamia serves on the Omega Institute, Center for Reproductive Rights, and ERA Coalition boards. She is also the cohost of the Anthem Award-winning podcast, Ordinary Equality.
Jamia Wilson is an award-winning feminist activist, writer, speaker, and podcaster who serves as Vice President and Executive Editor at Random House. As the former Director of the Feminist Press...Read More
Job Titles:
- Founder of the Consciousness Explorers Club
- Writer
Jeff Warren is a writer and a meditation teacher. He is the coauthor, along with Dan Harris and Carlye Adler, of Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, and author of The Head Trip, a travel guide to sleeping, dreaming and waking consciousness.
Jeff's specialties as a meditation guide-i.e., those things he has the most personal experience with-are obsessive over-thinking, dysregulated mood swings, emphatic-overwhelm, and ADHD-style attention-hijacking. For all these reasons, his favorite meditative principle is equanimity. He can talk forever about equanimity and frequently does, thus strategically introducing the challenge of sleepiness in all who accidentally listen to him.
Jeff is founder of The Consciousness Explorers Club, a nonprofit meditation adventure group based in Toronto. He has taught meditation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, United States Army cadets, Arizona police, Google executives, distractible teens, suspicious journalists, burned-out caregivers, formerly incarcerated youth, and every other conceivable demographic of freethinker, including squirmy 6-year-old kids. He is passionate about democratizing and destigmatizing meditation and other mental health practices, both Eastern and Western, for a world that needs them.
Jennifer Adler, CPA, an experienced leader both professionally and in her community, is Omega's chief financial officer. Read More
Jennifer Adler, CPA, an experienced leader both professionally and in her community, is Omega's chief financial officer. She holds a degree in accounting and computer information systems from Manhattan College. For more than 30 years, she has worked with nonprofit organizations in both private and public practice in New York City, Long Island, and Dutchess County.
Job Titles:
- Senior Administrator to the President & CEO
- Senior Business Advisor
Joel Levitan, Omega's senior business advisor, holds a degree in accounting and business administration and has worked as both a senior auditor and assistant comptroller in the banking and... Read More
Joel Levitan, Omega's Senior Business Advisor, holds a degree in accounting and business administration and has worked as both a senior auditor and assistant comptroller in the banking and hospital industries. He also has served as a software developer and consultant. For the past 25 years, Levitan has worked at mission-based nonprofits devoted to personal development and health, including serving as Omega's former Chief Financial Officer for 18 years. He practices yoga and is an avid outdoorsman and multi-sport athlete.
John Todd is cofounder of several foundations and companies with ecological missions, including the New Alchemy Institute (now called The Green Center, Inc.), Ocean Arks International, and John Todd Ecological Design, which uses principles of ecological design and environmental engineering to design and operate revolutionary treatment facilities known as Eco Machines™. With the largest number of completed projects in the field of ecological water purificaiton, John Todd Ecological Design's goal is to create simple, cost effective, and aesthetically pleasing systems for the treatment and reclamation of water.
John Todd was the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Award winner in 2008 and received the Bioneers Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. Todd and his wife, Nancy Jack Todd, received the Lindbergh Award in 1998, in recognition of their work in technology and the environment. In the late 1990s, Todd won two EPA awards in for his innovations with Eco Machines™.
Todd is author of more than 200 technical and popular articles on biology and planetary stewardship, and author of The Village as Solar Ecology; Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address; Reinhabiting Cities and Towns: Designing for Sustainability; and From Eco-Cities to Living Machines. He is currently a professor at the University of Vermont and serves on a number of environmental and technical boards.
Job Titles:
- Designer
- Owner
- Design Studio Manager
Kathleen Laucius is a designer, fine arts curator, and senior director of creative & art curator at Omega Institute.
She brings more than 30 years of design experience to Omega and leads a team that is responsible for creating and maintaining the organization's visual brand online, in print, and at Omega's conferences, events, and initiatives on- and off-site. Drawing on her studies in contemporary design in Denmark, Kathleen infuses the projects she leads with a strong sense of balance and a modern perspective.
For nearly two decades, Kathleen's boutique advertising agency in Hoboken, New Jersey, served a diverse group of clients, including the YMCA, HypoVereinsbank (Munich and New York), Equis Corporation, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., Constantin Consulting (Paris and New York), and Daimler Chrysler.
As a gallery owner, Kathleen curated exhibits that included works by artists of note, including Robert Motherwell, Alice Aycock, and Robert Rauschenberg. Her gallery in Beacon, New York, was featured regularly in the New York Times. At Omega, Kathleen continues to connect people to art by curating pop-up art exhibits that both educate and inspire.
She also serves as vice president of the board of directors of the Women's Studio Workshop.
Job Titles:
- Information Technology Manager
Laura Weiland is the former director of the Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OCSL), and creator of Omega's 4-week Ecological Literacy Immersion Program.
Weiland has lived, studied, and worked across several countries and the United States over the past two decades, starting as a student in an agricultural high school in Ambato, Ecuador. She has been imagining, designing, and creating nontraditional educational experiences for herself and others since the age of 15, with studies and experience from biology, farming, permaculture, and regenerative frameworks, to eco-social design, community organizing, and climate education. Weiland holds a master's degree in sustainable development with a focus in community development.
In 2018 Weiland and the OCSL team organized the first Drawdown Learn Conference in partnership with the Project Drawdown organization to explore how we can more deeply activate a solutions-oriented approach to climate education and engagement through schools and community participation. The 2nd Drawdown Learn Conference doubled in size and featured over 80 presenters and numerous breakouts session topics. Through the development of Omega's climate initiative, Weiland enjoys strong involvement in regional, national, and global networks and relationship building to bring about the change needed to ensure the health of our ecosystems and the possibility for all communities to thrive. She is part of the coordination team for the Education, Communication, and Outreach Stakeholders (ECOS) community of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Job Titles:
- Founder of Narrative Healing and Author of Narrative Healing
Lisa Weinert is the founder of Narrative Healing and author of Narrative Healing: Awaken the Power of Your Story. She has taught and lectured on the power of storytelling at institutions such as Wesleyan University, Everytown Gun Safety, School for Visual Arts, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and Fortune 500 media companies.
Beginning her career in literary publishing, she eventually became a certified yoga instructor with a specialty in trauma-informed, therapeutic and restorative yoga. She combined her professional training with her own experience with trauma to create Narrative Healing™, a writing program that seeks to release our stories in a way that is accessible and empowering. Instead of putting pen to paper immediately like most writing programs, Narrative Healing begins with the body and provides anyone-not just writers-a comforting and inclusive pathway to heal by first searching within.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Omega Institute
Manuela Roosevelt is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Omega Institute and Former Chair of the Stewardship Council. Manuela has been a book publisher since the early 90s... Read More
Manuela Roosevelt is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Omega Institute and Former Chair of the Stewardship Council.
Manuela has been a book publisher since the early 90s, running companies in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and now in the United States. Throughout her publishing career, she has overseen the publication of more than 300 illustrated nonfiction titles on the subjects of science, history, spirituality, biography, current affairs, art history, and gift titles. She has also authored eight books, which have been published in several languages. She serves as Vice President, Associate Publisher, and Editorial Director at Callaway Arts & Entertainment, a publishing and multi-media company headquartered in New York City. Callaway recently launched the Georgia O' Keeffe One Hundred Flowers immersive exhibition in Atlanta and Las Vegas and published The Beatles: Get Back, the companion volume to Peter Jackson's exhaustive documentary for Disney+.
From 2000 to 2003, she edited Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan's last book, In Search of the Hidden Treasure. This work led to a treasured friendship with Pir Vilayat, who is one of Omega's cofounders, and ultimately to her many years of association with Omega.
Manuela was born in Bern and raised in Lugano, Switzerland, where her family can trace its patriziato lineage to the year 1400. On a family trip to India and the Andaman Islands when Manuela was 15, she was exposed to meditation for the first time and its impact was so profound that it resulted in a daily meditation practice that Manuela has since sustained for almost four decades.
Manuela obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University. She speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, and French fluently. She has lived in six countries, and has traveled extensively. In addition to her commitment to Omega's board, Manuela also serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Partnership, the Board of Directors of The Sustainability Laboratory, and the Board of the Dutchess County Human Rights Commission. She lives with her family on the Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, where Franklin D. Roosevelt was born and lived and that is now a National Park Service Historic site. She also spends time at her homes in Switzerland and Spain.
Job Titles:
- Information Technology / Information Technology Associate Director
Job Titles:
- Content & Marketing Strategist
Meggan Watterson is a feminist theologian with a master of theological studies degree from Harvard Divinity School and a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University. She is a best-selling author whose books include Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & The Christianity We Haven't Tried Yet; The Sutras of Unspeakable Joy; How to Love Yourself (And Sometimes Other People); The Girl Who Baptized Herself (forthcoming); and The Divine Feminine Oracle: A 53-Card Deck & Guidebook for Embodying Love.
Meggan is the creator of The House of Mary Magdalene, an online spiritual community of radical love with monthly sermons and soul-voice meditations. Her work has appeared in media outlets such as the New York Times, Forbes, Huffington Post, TEDxWomen, Marie Claire, GOOP, and Spirituality & Health.
Patty Goodwin attended her first Omega workshop in 1980 and has been a part of Omega ever since. After joining Omega's Stewardship Council, she chaired the groundbreaking event for the Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OCSL) and joined the Board of Directors shortly afterward.
Patty works as a writer and content strategist in New York City and in the Hudson Valley. Previously, she cofounded Broadstreet, an internationally recognized creative services company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and London, where for more than 20 years she was Executive Vice President and Creative Director.
In addition to event, video, print, and web work for such prestigious corporate clients as Time Warner, Blackstone, Pfizer, and Viacom, Patty has created informational videos for nonprofits, including the Alzheimer's Association, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Empowerment Institute. She was Executive Producer and Creative Director for New York City's 2012 presentation to the United States Olympic Committee, which helped New York City win its bid to become America's nominated host city for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Cherishing her roots in the Hudson Valley, and deeply committed to fostering sustainability in the region, Patty is a former Chair of the board of Sustainable Hudson Valley, and she sits on the board of the Woodstock Land Conservancy and on the Advisory Board of Feminist.com.
Patty Goodwin attended her first Omega workshop in 1980 and has been a part of Omega ever since. After joining Omega's Stewardship Council, she chaired the groundbreaking event for...Read More
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Officer
- Chief Digital Content Officer
Racquel "Rockie" Joseph is the chief digital content officer of Omega Institute. An experienced marketing and content executive, Rockie heads Omega's marketing and digital teams and partners across the organization to bring the unparalleled on-campus experience to digital channels for a global audience.
Racquel "Rockie" Joseph is the chief digital content officer of Omega Institute. An experienced marketing and content executive, Rockie holds a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing and journalism from Baylor University. Read More
Job Titles:
- Staff Relations Assistant Director
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Production Assistant
Job Titles:
- Web Developer & Digital Strategist
Robert "Skip" Backus is CEO Emeritus of Omega Institute, the United States' premier holistic learning center, offering innovative educational experiences that provide an integrated approach... Read More
Job Titles:
- Customer Service Supervisor
Roxane Gay is an author and cultural critic whose writing is unmatched and widely revered. Her work garners international acclaim for its reflective, no-holds-barred exploration of feminism and social criticism. With a deft eye on modern culture, she brilliantly critiques its ebb and flow with both wit and ferocity.
Words like "courage," "humor," and "smart" are frequently deployed when describing Roxane. Her collection of essays, Bad Feminist, is universally considered the quintessential exploration of modern feminism. NPR named it one of the best books of the year and Salon declared the book "trailblazing." Her powerful debut novel, An Untamed State, was long listed for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. In 2017, Roxane released her highly anticipated memoir, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, as well as a collection of short stories titled Difficult Women.
Roxane is a contributing op-ed writer for The New York Times, was the co-editor of PANK, and formerly was the non-fiction editor at The Rumpus. Her writing has also appeared in McSweeney's, The Nation and many other publications. She recently became the first black woman to ever write for Marvel, writing a comic series in the Black Panther universe called World of Wakanda. Roxane fronts a small army of avid fans on social media and when she finds the time, she dominates the occasional Scrabble tournament.
Job Titles:
- People & Culture Associate
Job Titles:
- OWLC Administrative Coordinator
Sheryl Lamb joined the Peace Corps fresh out of college and has been active in service work ever since, focusing on issues of health and nutrition. For three decades, she held positions of responsibility and influence in the natural foods industry, including Vice President of Sales for Silk Soymilk.
Today, Sheryl volunteers throughout the world for Surgicorps, an international organization that provides surgical and medical care to disadvantaged individuals in developing countries. A staunch defender of the earth, Sheryl believes in the power of the heart to influence the mind, and her life is an expression of this belief.
Sheryl Lamb joined the Peace Corps fresh out of college and has been active in service work ever since, focusing on issues of health and nutrition. For three decades, she held positions of...Read More
Job Titles:
- Development Information Systems Strategist
Tobias Esch, MD, is a leader in holistic general medicine and expert in the neurobiology of happiness, and a member of Omega's board of directors. He received his medical degree from the University of Göttingen in Germany, is a Harkness Senior Fellow in Healthcare and Policy Practice at the Commonwealth Fund (New York), and a tenured professor of medicine and Director of the Institute for Integrative Health Care at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany.
Dr. Esch shaped mind-body medicine as well as integrative medicine/health promotion in Germany and as Visiting Professor at Harvard Medical School and Associate Neuroscientist at the State University of New York. He has published more than 300 scientific works-on everything from basic research to structuring doctor-patient communication. With a background in primary care, neurobiology, and positive psychology, he has focused his work on health promotion, patient activation, and behavior change.
Dr. Esch is author of 10 books, including The Self-Healing Code, which was nominated "the science book of the year" in German-speaking countries and The Better Half, the number one non-fiction best seller in Germany in 2019. In addition, he has contributed many chapters and sections to books authored by others. Dr. Esch is Associate Editor at Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, Global Advances in Health and Medicine, and Complementary Medicine Research, and serves on the editorial board of several other medical journals. He has received numerous national and international awards for his work.
Tobias Esch, MD, is a leader in holistic general medicine and expert in the neurobiology of happiness. He received his medical degree from the University of Göttingen in Germany, ...Read More
Internationally recognized biologist John Todd is considered a global leader in the field of ecological water purification. Developer of Eco Machines™, he was named one of the 20th century's top 35 inventors by the Lemelson-MIT Program for Invention and Innovation, and a "Hero of the Earth" by Time magazine in 1999.
John Todd is cofounder of several foundations and companies with ecological missions, including the New Alchemy Institute (now called The Green Center, Inc.), Ocean Arks International, and John Todd Ecological Design, which uses principles of ecological design and environmental engineering to design and operate revolutionary treatment facilities known as Eco Machines™. With the largest number of completed projects in the field of ecological water purificaiton, John Todd Ecological Design's goal is to create simple, cost effective, and aesthetically pleasing systems for the treatment and reclamation of water.
John Todd was the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Award winner in 2008 and received the Bioneers Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. Todd and his wife, Nancy Jack Todd, received the Lindbergh Award in 1998, in recognition of their work in technology and the environment. In the late 1990s, Todd won two EPA awards in for his innovations with Eco Machines™.
Todd is author of more than 200 technical and popular articles on biology and planetary stewardship, and author of The Village as Solar Ecology; Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address; Reinhabiting Cities and Towns: Designing for Sustainability; and From Eco-Cities to Living Machines. He is currently a professor at the University of Vermont and serves on a number of environmental and technical boards.
Tricia Hersey is a multidisciplinary artist, activist, writer, and theologian. She is the founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that examines rest as a form of resistance and reparations by curating spaces for the community to rest via rest activations, immersive workshops, and performance art installations. She holds a bachelor's degree in public health from Eastern Illinois University and a master of divinity degree from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Her research interests include Black liberation theology, womanism, somatics, and cultural trauma. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto and The Nap Ministry's Rest Deck: 50 Practices to Resist Grind Culture will be published in 2023.
Job Titles:
- Rhinebeck Programs Assistant Director