Mirabai Bush is Director of the Center on Contemplative Mind in Society (http://www.contemplativemind.org), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage contemplative awareness in American life in order to create a more just, compassionate, and reflective society. Mirabai formerly directed the Seva Foundation Guatemala Project, which supported sustainable agriculture and integrated community development. She is co-author, with Ram Dass, of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service.

Michele McDonald has taught Insight meditation for twenty-six years. Beyond her commitment to the Vipassana Hawai'i Sangha in Honolulu, she has taught extensively throughout the United States, and regularly teaches in Canada, Burma, and elsewhere around the world.

Steven Smith is a founder of Vipassana Hawai'i (1984) and Kyaswa Valley Retreat Center in Burma (1995). Anchored in the Theravadan Buddhist Burmese lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw since 1974, he was trained by revered monk and meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita.

President, Media for Development International (Colorado, USA); Chairman, NESsT Board of Directors; Advisor, FilmAid International; Vice President, DSR Computer Sales and Service (Maryland, USA)

Marc Cohen is the President of C.C.C. Restaurant Corporation in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has been the President of the board of Vipassana Hawaii for the past ten years, as well as having done work with the boards at The Contemporary Museum and the Academy of Art here in Honolulu.

His academic background is that of an Asian Philosophy scholar with a strong emphasis on Buddhism and Taoism, along with editorial work on numerous publications in both fields.