ADVISORY BOARD
Our Advisory Board ~ Wisdom Council:
Jim Drescher is a naturalist with a Master's Degree in Ecology to support his seven decades of nature observation. As a forester, farmer, construction worker and business person, he has considerable experience in how things are built — and how they grow naturally. As a student, practitioner and teacher of mindfulness-awareness in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, he knows inner leadership work. For the past 27 years, Windhorse Farm has been his practice ground: in business, in community and in the rocks and flowing water of a pristine forested landscape. As a teacher, mentor, coach and organizational change artist, Jim's work now focusses on leadership and culture change with individuals, and with a variety of enterprises. Jim is providing valuable mentorship for the formation of The Sanctuary of Peace.
Rev. Jacob Watson, D.Min is the founding Abbot of the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, an Interfaith Minister Training School. He has been a grief counselor, Hospice Chaplain, staff member of the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Center, and designed the Volunteer Training Program for the Center for Grieving Children. Broken hearts and wounded spirits - and a fire that damaged his counseling office - compelled him into ministry. He devotes his life to teaching, writing and prayer. Jacob is the author of Enso Morning: Daily Meditation Gifts and Essence: The Emotional Path to Spirit. He works with groups and individuals who are seeking to develop and deepen their spiritual lives. Jacob is a trusted Guiding Light for The Sanctuary of Peace.
Martin Rutte, a dynamic international speaker and consultant, is president of Livelihood, a management consulting firm, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. The company’s areas of service include: strategic vision, corporate spirit, performance management, facilitated dialogue, and creative leadership. Martin has worked with many corporations assisting them to expand their outlook and position themselves for the future. In the US he has worked with: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Southern California Edison, Virgin Records, Apple Computer and Marion Merrell Dow. He was co-founder and Chair of the Board of the Centre for Spirituality and the Workplace, Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada, and has served as a board member of Money Concepts Canada, Global Family, and The Hunger Project Canada. Martin is also a member of the The Transformational Leadership Council and was a recipient of the ‘Excellence in Leadership’ award. He is co-author of The New York Times Business Bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, translated into over 20 languages. For over 15 years he has been exploring peoples’ vision for the kind of world they deeply long for – Project Heaven on Earth. He sees Heaven on Earth as the new story of what it means to be a human and what it means to be Humanity. Martin brings heart, humor, and business-spiritual expertise to our Wisdom Council.
Lee Irwin is a full Professor in the Religious Studies Department at the College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, where he teaches world religions with an emphasis on Native American traditions, western esotericism, hermeticism, contemporary spirituality, mystical cosmology, and transpersonal religious experience as related to dreams and visions. He is the Vice President of the Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE) and a board member of the Sophia Institute; he is also a Guiding Voice for the Seven Pillars House of Wisdom program. He has been a public speaker, workshop leader, and group facilitator for over twenty years, particularly in the areas of visionary cosmology and the development of the sacred human. He is the author of many books and articles, including: The Dream Seekers; Visionary Worlds; Awakening to Spirit: On Life, Illumination, and Being; The Gnostic Tarot; The Alchemy of Soul; Coming Down From Above: Prophecy, Resistance, and Renewal in Native American Religions; and Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History.
Lee will be assisting us in creating our youth and student intern programs.
