Executive Leadership Team for Center for World Philosophy and Religion

Dr. Marc Gafni – Co-Founder, President, and Lead Scholar

Dr. Marc Gafni is a philosopher, public intellectual, author and social innovator. He holds his doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, rabbinic certification from the chief rabbinate in Israel, as well private rabbinic ordination. He is also ordained and holds a doctorate in religious science. He is the initiating thought leader, together with Ken Wilber, of World Spirituality based on Integral principles, as well as the leading theorist and teacher of Unique Self Enlightenment. He is the director of Center for Integral Wisdom, a think tank he co-founded in 2010 with Mariana Caplan which is creating a body of work to evolve the source code of human existence.A rabbinic lineage holder in Bible, Talmud, and Kabbalah, Gafni self-describes as a “dual citizen” of both integral World Spirituality and classical Hebrew practice. He is a guest editor of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice on issues of Integral spirituality, has been a faculty member of J.F.K. University, and is the author of eight books including the national bestseller Soul Prints, and The Mystery of Love, an exploration of the relationship between the erotic and the sacred. His newest books are Your Unique Self and Radical Kabbalah.

An iconoclastic artist and provocative visionary, Dr. Gafni has led spiritual movements and learning communities as well as created and hosted for several seasons a highly popular national Israeli television program on culture, meaning, and spirit. He is the father of four children (the youngest being two years old), is in committed relationship, and lives in Northern California.
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Dr. Zachary Stein – Co-President and Lead Scholar

Zak Stein‘s work focuses on social justice and education through the lenses of developmental psychology and integral metatheories. He holds degrees in philosophy and religion from Hampshire College, and educational neuroscience, human development, and the philosophy of education from Harvard University. He was a co-founder of Lectica, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to the research-based justice-oriented reform of large-scale standardized testing in K-12, higher-education, and business. He has published in a wide range of outlets including American Psychologist, New Ideas in Psychology, Mind, Brain, and Education, Integral Review, and the Journal of Philosophy of Education. He is currently the Academic Director of the activist think-tank at the Center for Integral Wisdom, and Core Faculty at Meridian University.

Ken Wilber – Co-Founder, Leading Voice on our Wisdom Council, and Lead Scholar

Ken Wilber is the most influential figure in defining the terms of discussion on what constitutes the “Integral” perspective today and he is a leading voice on the CWS Wisdom Council. His corpus of 25 widely translated books has erected an intellectual framework for understanding the nature of converging trends in philosophy, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines. His books have often been bestsellers, and his scholarly books have been the basis for numerous academic programs, master’s and doctoral dissertations.

Revered as the “Einstein of consciousness,” Ken has written over twenty books exploring different facets of human development and cultural evolution. His first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, written when he was only 23, became a seminal text in the emerging field of transpersonal psychology. Among his diverse corpus of writings are a novel, Boomeritis, which provided a groundbreaking critique of postmodernity, and The Simple Feeling of Being, a corpus of mystical, spiritual writings of transcendent and lyrical beauty.

Wilber has also played an active role in supporting and promoting integral thinking. He is a leading voice in support of World Spirituality based on Integral principles and has been one of the founding members of the Wisdom Council of the Center for World Spirituality.

Sally Kempton – Co-Founder, Vice-President, and Scholar

Sally Kempton has been practicing and teaching in a Hindu tradition for 30 years, twenty of them as a Swami, or Hindu monk of one of the Dasnami order of sannyasins. A former New York journalist who wrote extensively for the Village Voice, Esquire, New York Magazine, and The New York Times, she left her career in the early 1970s to study with her guru, Swami Muktananda. In the 1980s, she became one of the key teachers in the Siddha Yoga tradition as well as the first editor of a magazine, Darshan, which aimed at finding the shared truths within different spiritual traditions.Sally has spent many years studying Kashmir Shaivism and yoga philosophy, as well as investigating esoteric mysticism as it appears in different traditions, including Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Sufism. Since 2002 she has lived and taught as a lay teacher of meditation and spiritual wisdom. Her work aims at bringing the wisdom of non-dual philosophy and yoga into the problems and challenges of daily life. Sally’s teaching is based on the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism, on the core texts of yoga and devotional Hinduism, and deeply influenced by Integral theory. She is the author of two books, The Heart of Meditation and Meditation for the Love of It, writes a column, Wisdom, for Yoga Journal, and teaches regular teleconference classes as well as retreats and workshops at conference centers like Kripalu, Esalen and Mt. Madonna.

Kerstin Zohar Tuschik – Editorial Director of the Great Library of CosmoErotic Humanism

Kerstin Zohar Tuschik has served as Executive Director of the Center for many years and has now shifted to the position of Editorial Director of the Great Library, working closely with Dr. Marc Gafni as Senior Editor, Scholar, Researcher, and sometimes co-author for major book projects. She is also a Senior Teacher for Unique Self and Representative for the Center in Germany.

Her professional, academic, and experiential background ranges from professional stage dancing and its didactics, physics, human resources development, project management, coaching, and alternative education to personal and spiritual growth. She has been on a conscious spiritual path for more than 30 years, studying different practices and approaches (including Kundalini Yoga, Trauma Therapy, Constellations Work, etc.) with various teachers.

Integral Theory has helped her to connect the dots. Through her dedication to this field, she met Dr. Marc Gafni in 2011 and connected deeply to his vision of a World Spirituality based on Integral Principles and his trans-lineage-path Dharma of Unique Self, Eros, Outrageous Love, and the New Enlightenment. Working and studying with him while working with this international trans-lineage sangha (our band of Outrageous Lovers) is a deep Pleasure and Joy for her.

Krista Steenbergen – Executive Director

She is the Executive Director of the Center and also serves as the Outrageous Love Ambassador, bringing excitement and enthusiasm for our shared practice: loving our way to enlightenment through writing Outrageous Love Letters.

She graduated as a Religion Scientist, focussing her studies on sexuality & gender. In 2009 she was initiated as a Priestess during a Vision Quest as part of a three year training. Next to that she has studied with many tantric teachers, including two intensive Tantra Teacher Trainings.

Suzette Messa – Board Secretary

Suzette Messa is the Board Secretary for the Center for Integral Wisdom and functions in various executive roles within the Foundation for Conscious Evolution and Sefer, Inc., including running the technology for the weekly One Mountain, Many Paths gatherings, managing Dr. Marc Gafni’s vibrant schedule and helping wherever is needed.

Suzette is a Business Consultant for a Fortune 100 company and holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from California State University.

Her professional career and passion are focused on bringing innovative solutions and technology into the world. She was instrumental in launching three start-up companies and helped revolutionize an industry through the co-creation of the first online travel application.

Dr. Kristina Kincaid – Director of the Outrageous Love Project

Dr. Kristina Kincaid is the Director of the School of Integral Evolutionary Tantra (IET) in New York City. IET teaches, coaches and mentors individual to take the next step in self-transformation. IET was created to develop cutting edge Leaders, Projects and Initiative of conscious collaboration in the world. IET understands that in order to respond to the challenges that face our planet today, it is imperative to create a WE-space, where we as individuals, and individual systems, realize that enlightened consciousness is beyond ego, and is the essential next stage of self-transformation.

The School is an affiliate division of The Center for Integral Wisdom (CIW), a non-profit activist think tank founded in 2010 by Marc Gafni, Mariana Caplan and a leadership team that has expanded to dozens of the most respected spiritual teachers, leaders, authors and activists in the world. CIW is articulating and advancing a spiritual movement that is moving across the globe in the hearts of people everywhere. Evolving the source code of human existence is the urgent need and great planetary adventure of these times. Kristina is a CIW Scholar and a member of the Board of Directors.

Kristina is on faculty at The Institute of Core Energetics and holds an M.A. in Energy Medicine and a Doctorate in Theology from Holos University. A graduate of the Institute of Core Energetics and the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, she also holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin.

She is also a Senior Teacher of the Unique Self Enlightenment Process. Her Eros and passion for the Unique Self work, includes not only the depth and heart of the teachings but also the visceral, bodied realizations that are transmitted through the dharma and grounded through physical practices. The teachings allow a process of real, radical transformation. She is honored and excited to be part of bringing out into the world, this cutting edge transformational work pioneered by Dr. Gafni.

Kristina is also the Chairperson and creator, along with Dr. Gafni, of the OutrageousActsofLove.com, OutrageousLoveLetters.com and OutrageousEroticLoveLetters.com Projects. Outrageous Love Projects are community writing and art projects being utilized to birth the inner Rumi, the inner Outrageous Lover, in every man, woman and child. A grass roots movement that was birthed from Dr. Gafni’s creation of a community practice of writing outrageous love letters. The movement’s intention is to literally democratize enlightenment, empowering everyone to radically participate in the very evolution of love itself!

Lastly, Kristina has traveled extensively studying indigenous healers around the world and documented her findings in a film series called “In Search of Healing.” Her passions include the deep mysteries of the body, genetics, and evolution. Her journey has taken her into deep explorations of the feminine and healing around sexuality. She has a Healing practice in New York City.

Claire Molinard –  Unique Self Institute

Claire Molinard M.Sc, PCC, Vice-President of CIW France, is an Integral master Coach™ and the Co-Founder of Unique Self Coaching Collective. Along with Barbara Alexander, they have designed a Unique Self Coaching process that facilitates Unique Self emergence based on the Unique Self teachings and Integral theory. Initially trained as an Acupuncturist, with graduate Studies in Chinese Medicine, Philosophy and literature, Claire has lived and worked in various places of Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the US. Her spiritual journey spans from studying Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga in her early twenties to Ken Wilber’s philosophy and Integral Theory. As a Unique Self lineage holder, Claire is committed to coaching individuals and change agents to embody their Unique Self. As a long term Zen practitioner, Claire feels deeply sourced by both transmissions, and is most at home in the trans-lineage movement articulated by Ken Wilber and Marc Gafni at the Center for World Philosophy and Religion.

Chahat Corten –  Treasurer

Chahat Corten, spiritual teacher, is one of the founding members of the Venwoude Integral Practice community in Holland. She stood with her partner Ted Wilson in the development of spiritual contexts and in the founding and development of Venwoude. Chahat is well-trained and thoroughly cooked in sacred communal living and many modalities of spiritual practice. Gentle and holy laughter and ecstatic creativity merged with penetrating wisdom — unique teachings in the realms of relationship and sexuality — embodied practice and the formation of evolutionary WE-space, rooted in her realization of emptiness and fullness — is what she offers from her heart. Chahat has been empowered as a World Spirituality teacher.

Terry Nelson – Vice President and Board Liaison

Terry Nelson writes, “In my 30 years working as a Lifespring trainer, I have coached thousands of people all over the world to be more successful in fulfilling their commitment to becoming fully human. I think the work of CIW, to provide us human beings with a new and powerful lens through which to view our spiritual journey, will help all of us greatly. Hopefully, this wisdom will also reduce the likelihood of bad things being done in the name of religion. I am not a fan of crusades or suicide bombers. Enough!”

Terry is currently an executive development coach. He is a former Vice-President of Lifespring, a personal development training company. He worked as an analyst for the Congressional Budget Office and was a Peace Corps Volunteer and Training Project Director in Thailand. For the last 11 years, he has coached his kids’ basketball and soccer teams. Terry lives in Mill Valley, California, with his wife and two children. He holds a B.A. from U.W. at Madison and an M.P.A. from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell.

Thomas G. Goddard, J.D., Ph.D. – Vice President

Thomas Goddard is the President and CEO of The Integral Company, a firm dedicated to helping individuals and organizations to operate consciously and joyfully in the world. In his work with organizations, Dr. Goddard brings his expertise in Integral Theory and industrial and organizational psychology to diverse organizations, primarily in the health care sector.

His work with organizations has taken him throughout the United States and to Latin America, the South Pacific, and the Middle East. In his work with individuals, Dr. Goddard empowers his clients to live full, conscious lives.

Dr. Goddard has earned a law degree and master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology. He has received specialized training in emotional intelligence, Respectful Confrontation, shadow work, Tantra, the Shalom process, and consciousness studies. A founding member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute, he has led mindfulness and Integral Theory trainings and workshops for the National Institutes of Health, Shalom Mountain, The Omega Institute, The Chrysalis Group, and the Center for Creative Therapies and the Arts. Dr. Goddard serves as one of the three members of the Executive Council of Shalom Mountain, Inc., a retreat center in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

Tom writes, “My spiritual journey throughout my adult life has been marked by a yearning for a global, transformational conversation at the ‘deep end of the pool,’ where the mystics of all the great spiritual traditions meet in deep resonance with one another. The Center for Integral Wisdom has drawn my support because it offers the best opportunity for such a conversation I’ve seen in nearly 40 years of searching.”

Venodhar Rao Julapalli, M.D.

Venodhar Rao Julapalli, M.D. is founder and president of Integral Gastroenterology Center, P.A., an active private practice in gastroenterology. Inspired by the works of Ken Wilber, he started his practice in 2005 with a passion to bring an AQAL approach to patient care. With extensive experience on the front line of the American health care system, he has engaged in the best of what traditional allopathic medicine can offer and lamented the vast flatland of unconscious healthcare. His mission, with his brother Vinay, is to consciously co-evolve the practice of medicine. Venu graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. with Distinction in Biological Sciences. He was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He completed medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, with election to Alpha Omega Alpha. He underwent medical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he continues to serve as a volunteer clinical instructor. He practices in north Houston. Venu’s spiritual stream has flowed from his mother’s traditional Hindu rituals to Ken Wilber’s writings, from Vipassana to Adyashanti, and now to Marc Gafni’s Unique Self insights. He believes the Unique Self holds the key for all stakeholders in healthcare to enjoy lives well lived.

Vinay Rao Julapalli, M.D., F.A.C.C.

Vinay Rao Julapalli, M.D., F.A.C.C. is founder of Integral Cardiovascular Center, PLLC. He has been active in private practice in cardiology for the last five years and intends to integrally transform the future of medicine. He sees that healthcare is at a pivotal juncture in its transformation from acute care of disease to the promotion of wellness, a shift that can flourish only by transcending and including old paradigms through integrally informed and validated injunctions. “Medicine is suffering a broken heart. To make it whole, we need to co-create and implement leveraged actions on the front lines of community practice that entail win-win, conscious solutions for all — our community, employers, physicians, and other healthcare providers. The result will be no less than the grand unfolding of a new, integrated future of health and well-being.” In solidarity with his brother Venu, Vinay’s Unique Self has called him to help enact this mission. Vinay graduated from medical school at the University of Texas (San Antonio) and completed medical training in internal medicine, cardiology, and interventional cardiology at the University of Texas (Houston), home to the largest medical center in the world. During his medical training, he helped create and implement changes in protocols that have transformed the way acute myocardial infarction is treated in the community. He practices in north Houston and is on staff at Memorial Hermann – The Woodlands Hospital and Houston Northwest Medical Center. He was recently elected Chairman of Cardiology there for 2013-2014.