Thriving on Complexity

The Chancellor of Meridian University, Dr. Houston is a visionary researcher who has authored over 40 books and worked intensively in even more cultures, lectured in over 100 countries, and worked with major organizations such as UNICEF and NASA. She has been an advisor to numerous world leaders, and the past international consultant for the United Nations. Dr. Houston's book, A Passion for the Possible, was an expansive compliment to her inspiring PBS special of the same name. Dr. Houston has served on the faculties of Columbia University, Hunter College, Marymount College, The New School for Social Research, and the University of California. She holds doctoral degrees in both psychology and religion.

Dr. Khaled ElSherbini, a faculty member at Meridian University, is a transpersonal psychologist and former aerospace scientist. As the visionary founder of "The Consciousness Academy", he dedicates his expertise to the realms of awakening, personal development, and transformation, while leading the Academy as its chairman.

With an eclectic academic background, Dr. ElSherbini holds advanced degrees in Psychology, Business and Innovation Management, Sustainability and environmental sciences, and Engineering. Beyond this, he is a credentialed ICF PCC coach, a Spiral Dynamics Integral practitioner, and an internationally recognized Enneagram Professional.

His global contributions include the creation of widely-respected programs such as "Awaken through Enneagram", "Integral Enneagram", and "Conscious Coaching". In these offerings, he masterfully blends various modalities, drawing from the Enneagram, Spiral Dynamics integral, the Integral Consciousness framework, contemporary psychological insights, and the profound teachings of Sufi spiritual philosophy and psychology, to shed light on the evolution and development of human consciousness.

Dr Rica Viljoen’s research on inclusivity, which was a significant aspect of her doctoral thesis, gained widespread recognition for its potential impact in the field of Management, Spirituality and Religion. In 2008, the Academy of Management acknowledged her model as one of the ten most promising contributions to the field. Since then, this approach, which emphasises listening to the voices of the entire social system, has been successfully implemented in 42 countries, engaging more than 100000 participants.

Due to her contributions, Rica received the prestigious CEO award from the Institute of People Management (IPM), both nationally and internationally. She was further recognised by the South African Board of People Practices for her contribution to the field of study. She is an associate with the Da Vinci chool for Business Leadership and Regenesys University. She supervised more than 100 PhDs and Masters Studies.

Apart from her academic endeavours, Rica was the founder member of Mandala Consulting a respected organisation dedicated to organisational development and research. She worked closely with the late Dr Don Beck and Dr Loraine Laubscher on geo-political trends and their impact on individuals and the organisations they belong too. She established the Centre of Human Emergence: Africa and has become an international recognised thought leader in spiral dynamics and integral research.

She serves on the board of the SABPP as vice chair for the last two terms and was recently selected to the international board of the International Society for the Psycho-analytical studies in Organisations. She also joined the board of the Don Beck Spiral Dynamics Integral with the purpose to further the field of study and is a senior research member in a project to revisit the Graves archives.

Rica published 9 books of which the book Spiral Dynamics In Action is translated in 9 languages. She consults to organisations in relation to Inclusivity, Culture and strategic HR issues. Rica is a sought after Jungian and Integral Executive Coach.

Her purpose in life is to listen to untold stories and facilitate healing.

Martin is a NARM Trauma Informed Integral Relationship Author, Trainer, and Consultant who supports singles and couples in co-creating healthy integral love relationships that make the world a better place.

He moved from Germany to California in the 90s where he trained with Eckhart Tolle as a group facilitator and later became an avid student of Ken Wilber's Integral Philosophy. This allowed him to integrate his relationship experiences into his three books “Integral Relationships: A Manual for Men”, “Sex, Purpose, Love: Couples in Integral Relationships Creating a Better World”, and "Integral Relationship Practice: A Manual for Singles, Couples, Helping Professionals and Group Facilitators" which Wilber calls terrific and groundbreaking. Martin currently lives in Istanbul, Turkey, and California, and consults and teaches online and facilitates experiential workshops and trainings locally and worldwide.

Maria is an Organisational Psychologist, passionate about activating the magic and catalysing power of synergy in teams and organisations as well as within, as a place of perception, interdependence and action. She is deeply connected to her Hellenic roots while working in multicultural contexts for many years. She designs and artfully applies participatory processes that create conditions for collective creativity, collaboration and transformative learning in organisations and community. Maria is the initiator of Synergy – Rhodes and co-founder of the Next Stage World initiative as well as a constant learner and practitioner of systemic change and radical, profound hospitality.

Markos Perrakis, PhD, is leadership development & process facilitator, psychologist, speaker and founder of Fractality -EU Training & counselling provider. During the last 20 years he has been working with eclectic systemic appreciative approaches, participatory design methods and Spiritual Intelligence worldwide. He is also Scientific Assistant of SOL (Society of Organisational Learning) and EUMU (European Union of small and medium enterprises) in issues of Strategic Planning, Human Resources Development, Dynamic Governance and European Programs in Greece. He provides training, supervision and facilitation for Professionals, HR Experts, local communities, politicians and NGOs, helping citizens express and transform themselves to a co-creative transition. His works with people who are sensitive with environmental and societal issues with values and their actions bring a positive social impact to the world.

Pier Luigi Lattuada, MD, PhD, PsyD, a faculty member at Meridian University, is the President of the Integral Transpersonal Institute and the Director of the Transpersonal Psychotherapy School in Milan, Italy. He is a Medical Doctor with a PhD in Behavioral Studies and a PsyD in Clinical Psychology. Additionally, he is a Psychotherapist and the founder of Biotransenergetics. The Transpersonal Psychotherapy School in Milan has been recognized by the Ministry of Education University and Research since 2002.

Dr. Paddy Pampallis, a faculty member at Meridian University, is an educationalist, integral psychologist and IntegralU coach who has immersed herself in human consciousness and development. The founder/CEO of Integral Africa (Institute); The Coaching Centre (TCC, 2003); Integral African Conference (2019 IAC) and Ubuntu Coaching Foundation. She partners Susanne Cook-Greuter co-teaching on Leadership Maturity globally. Her unique application of Wilber’s AQAL theory, into the IntegralU Practice of Leadership & Coaching™, from an Africa perspective, has met with Wilber’s acclaim. Hundreds of students have graduated through the ICF accredited programme (IPCP), and many leaders have benefitted from integrative transformational work with individuals, teams and organisations towards consciousness, mastery and impact.

Marco Antonio Robledo Ph.D. is a faculty member at Meridian University, where he teaches courses on entrepreneurship and the transformation economy. Marco is a Professor at the Department of Business and Economics at the University of the Balearics where he serves as the Director of the MBA Program, Director of the School of Tourism EUTFM, and Vice-director of the Laboratory of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation.

Transformation is the common thread in everything he does. In fact, he defines himself as a change agent that helps organizations and individuals in their transformation towards higher levels of development and consciousness.

His research focuses on Strategic Management, Quality Management, and Organizational Theory with a special interest in the study of New Organizational Paradigms and the Future of Work. His expertise includes perspectives and models such as teal organizations, holacracy, sociocracy 3.0, conscious capitalism, the economy of the common good, and B corps.

In 2020 he published a book on 3D Management which pioneers the application of Integral Theory to business. His theory of 3D-Management is the first integrally evolved management metatheory. This disruptive theory denies the imperialism of the bottom line and replaces it with a harmonic triumvirate that takes equally into account profit, people, planet, and purpose.

Finally, he is a pioneer in the study of the Transformation Economy, which empowers the consumer’s need for self-actualization through authentic and meaningful experiences that makes them stretch, learn, and grow into new ways of being and engaging with the world.

Melissa Schwartz, Ph.D. is the Chief Academic Officer at Meridian University where she guides integrally-oriented programs in Education, Business, and Psychology. The Director of Meridian’s Center for Transformative Learning, Melissa is dually licensed as both a psychologist and as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). She serves as a reviewer for the American Psychological Association’s Journal, Psychology of Women Quarterly, and the California Psychological Association’s Office of Professional Development. As well, she serves as a Subject Matter Expert for California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences in the continual development of the state’s MFT licensure examination. Melissa’s research interests are in the areas of adult development, the psychology of women, integral transformative assessment, and the role of culture in transformative learning.