BOARD OF  DIRECTORS

Rinaldo Brutoco. Rinaldo has had a long career as corporate executive, futurist, author, and lecturer. He is founder and President of, the World Business Academy, a collaborative network of mindful individuals collectively exploring the leading edge of business and a pre-eminent publisher of new paradigm business literature. He has also served on numerous non-profit boards, including The Gorbachev Foundation, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, State of the World Forum, the Center for Earth Concerns, Omega Point Institute, and the Brutoco Family Foundation. He was co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the nation’s first pay cable television operation, Optical Systems Corporation, as well as Chief Executive Officer of Universal Subscription Television, one of the first companies to offer over-the-air television transmissions of major motion pictures. Rinaldo has served on the board of The Men’s Wearhouse for over a decade and was CEO and Chairman of the Red Rose Collection, which served, for the last twelve years of Mother Teresa’s life, as the sole distributor of her personally endorsed biographical motion picture.

Deborah Ingstad. Deborah is the CEO of 50 Entertainment, Inc. She has an extensive background in the radio industry, and has been involved in the purchase, operation, marketing, and sale of multiple market radio stations throughout the United States.  She owns and operates Monarch Broadcasting, which currently owns several radio stations in the Southern U.S. Deborah also owns and operates Ingstad Realty, LLC, and is a partner in the Spider Lake Lodge. The bed and breakfast, located in Hayward, Wisconsin, has been featured in multiple national publications as well as in the book Rustic Revisited by Ann S. O'Leary (Watson-Guptill, 2006).

Marjorie Mann. Marjorie, a physical therapist and social entrepreneur, founded TheraCare in Chicago during the 1980s, providing nursing and rehabilitation services to children and mothers in underserved neighborhoods and to Medicare patients throughout the region. At The National Easter Seal Society from 1991 – 1994, first as a Regional Manager and later as Director of Easter Seal Select, she learned first hand non-profit management and program coordination across the nation.  Fascination with the role business can play to improve the quality of life for consumers while advancing advocacy for core concerns of human suffering and environmental threats has shaped her career and volunteer efforts. This mother of three children, retired from corporate healthcare in 1999 while maintaining a private practice in Rhode Island that includes energy medicine.

Martin Mohammed. Martin provides expertise as a program developer, management expert, and community capacity builder. He is founder and executive director of the USA-African Chamber of Commerce and a member of board of directors of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. Martin has initiated and managed several unique and culturally-sensitive community projects for immigrant populations throughout Minnesota and is interested in creating a “Global Expatriate Philanthropy” organization for immigrants. In particular, he spearheaded the creation of the Immigrant Women’s Business and Economic Development Center as well as the New American Program with the Rotary Club. Prior to coming to the United States, Martin, a native of Somalia, worked in Kenya for eight years helping in the resettlement of refugees from Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. Martin holds a MBA in Business Management and certifications in Financial Management, Credit Management, and Islamic Financial Management.

John Robbins. John is widely considered to be one of the world's leading experts on the dietary link with the environment and health. John's work has been the subject of cover stories and feature articles in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Life, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and many of the nation's other major newspapers and magazines. His life and work have also been featured in an hour-long PBS special titled “Diet For A New America”. He is the author of the international best-seller, Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth, as well as The Food Revolution -- How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World, The Awakened Heart -- Meditations on Finding Harmony in a Changing World, and Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing. John is the founder and Chair Emeritus of EarthSave International, a nonprofit organization that supports healthier food, environmental preservation, and a more compassionate world. He is the recipient of the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, and the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award.

Jeffrey Weisberg. Jeffrey is an experienced Mediator, trained in Conflict Resolution and Non-Violent Communication. He serves as a volunteer in the Florida Court system working with juveniles and adults. Jeffrey has been leading personal growth programs for over 15 years; is a Facilitator of Men's Work, Gender Healing Workshops; and is an Inspirational Breath Facilitator & Trainer.

STAFF

Dorothy J. Maver, Ph.D. Dot is an educator and peacebuilder whose keynote is inspiring cooperation on behalf of the common good. She is President/CEO of Peace Partnership International, and her work in education, politics, and grassroots community organizing is focused on applied peacebuilding and the global call for ministries and departments of peace. Dot served as Executive Director of The Peace Alliance and Campaign for a US Department of Peace and was the National Campaign Manager for Kucinich for President 2004. She is a co-founding member of the Vermont Peace Academy and a founding board member of the Center for Cooperative Principles. An innovative educator with a teaching background in Health, Physical Education, Psychology and Philosophy at both the high school and university levels, she is on faculty with Polaris College, Denmark, and Graduate Institute in Connecticut, USA, and taught for two years at Norwich University in Vermont, USA. Dot is active in community coalition building with her youth/adult partnership model based on shared responsibility and shared leadership. In the world of fast-pitch softball Dr. Dot is known for her revolutionary fast-pitch hitting technique, The Maver Method: Secrets of Hitting Success, and is co-author of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom.

Michael H. Abkin, Ph.D. Mike is Director of Operations for Peace Partnership International, working nationally and globally to increase public awareness of and support for a culture of peace and structures in government for a culture of peace. He previously served as Special Projects Coordinator for The Peace Alliance and its Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace. In his former academic and private sector technical career, Mike applied systems analysis and simulation modeling for international agricultural development and air transportation, including projects that took him to Nigeria, Korea, Austria, and Venezuela. Then, at the Foundation for Global Community, Mike designed and facilitated courses related to personal and cultural transformation and sustainability, developed a vocational training program in Afghanistan, and was project manager for the Foundation’s program at the 2004 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona. Mike taught high school French and mathematics with the Peace Corps in Nigeria and has volunteered at home with local nonprofits, city government, and political movements. He enjoys traveling in the world, walking in nature, and musing in prose and poetry.

Anne Creter. Anne is a social worker passionate about “spiritual-politics.”  In her welfare protective services career, she witnessed social injustice at the micro-level.  Following Jane Addams’ dictum that working systemically at the macro-level for peace is the most fundamental social work, Anne became New Jersey State Co-Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Peace Campaign. At the United Nations she represents the World Peace Prayer Society, co-chairs the “Culture of Peace” Working Group of the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, and sits on the UN Values Caucus. In addition to serving as UN liaison for Peace Partnership International, Anne outreaches for the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace through the project to create a UN General Assembly resolution calling for governmental structures supporting the culture of peace.

Theresa McGallicher. Theresa is a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia. In her 20-year career with the U.S. Government (for both the Defense and State Departments in communications and, currently, human resources), she has lived and worked in Syria, Germany, Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba, Nepal, and Niger. She is the 2004 recipient of the Secretary of State's Award for Volunteerism Abroad. Theresa has worked as a volunteer with Peace Partnership International since 2005, developing and managing the Peace Registry, assisting with web-based networking, and contributing to research into how the Department of State and the proposed U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence would or could relate to one another. She holds a B.A. in Russian Studies from Old Dominion University and a M.A. in International Relations from Boston University. A wife and mother, Theresa’s hobbies include yoga, African drumming, snow skiing, dancing, and reading.