Sylvia Smetana was born in Austria and studied business administration in Vienna. She met Andrew in 1994 at a talk he gave in Vienna and inspired by the integrity, humanity and purposefulness of Andrew’s teaching decided to move to Germany in 1997 to join the group of people who had started a center to support Andrew Cohen’s teaching in Cologne. Sylvia is also founding partner of the German edition of the award-winning magazine What is Enlightenment?

In 2001 she moved to the world center in Lenox, USA and has been working as a finance manager for EnlightenNext since then. She is also supporting the development of the EnlightenNext Center in Frankfurt and is very interested in bringing the teachings out in all German speaking countries.

Eric Allodi a rencontré Andrew Cohen en 1999. Appréciant la portée de l'enseignement d'Eveil Evolutif, il a co-fondé EnlightenNext Paris afin de travailler avec d’autres à développer et stabiliser de nouveaux niveaux de conscience, individuels et collectifs.

Ingénieur de formation, il a occupé depuis 20 ans des postes de chef de projets, consultant, risk manager, responsable communication ou top manager dans de grands groupes comme IBM ou Bouygues, et a travaillé auprès de l’OTAN et de la Commission Européenne.

Il intervient désormais auprès des entreprises, sous la forme de prestations de conseil ou de coaching, pour faciliter leur transition vers des entreprises « intégrales » respectueuses de l’être humain, de l’environnement, davantage conscientes de leurs responsabilités et porteuses d’une culture globale capable d’assurer leur avenir et de transformer le Monde.

Il a choisi de devenir instructeur du cours d’Eveil Evolutif afin d’éclairer le plus grand nombre sur le potentiel que nous possédons tous et la responsabilité que nous avons de créer un futur radicalement meilleur pour les générations à venir.

Mike Wombacher has known Andrew Cohen since 1994 and has been associated with him in a variety of capacities. In 2002 he left his former teacher, with whom he had been very closely associated for thirteen years, in order to dedicate himself more fully to Cohen's Evolutionary Enlightenment teachings. He currently lives in Berkeley and is active in EnlightenNext's northern California group.

Wombacher has a master's degree in international relations with a specialization in economics. He worked for eight years in the international shipping and transportation industry before starting a variety of small businesses, including his current business of dog training in the Bay Area. In this capacity he has written two books on dog training, is a court-certified expert on dog behavior, has appeared on numerous radio and television programs nationwide, and has lectured at conferences and seminars. He has also trained dogs for high-profile clients in the financial and entertainment worlds including Robin Williams, Sharon Stone, Charles Schwab, Linda Ronstadt, and many others.

His new book of his experience with Andrew Cohen's teachings entitled "11 Days at the Edge: One Man's spiritual journey into Evolutionary Enlightenment," (Findhorn Press, 2008) will be available in May 2008 at bookstores everywhere.

Sylvia Tafra met Andrew Cohen in Santiago in 2000. A retreat with Cohen in India in 2001 launched her on the fiery path of the evolution of consciousness with an experience that changed her life. She became a practicing member in 2002 and a student in 2005. Since then, she has attended several retreats and has been on the Residency Program in Foxhollow for six months. Although her upbringing was based on Christian values, she was not a follower of traditional religion. A passionate reader and seeker of inner knowledge since childhood, she has also nurtured a mystical connection to nature. Her inner aspiration for a deeper understanding led her on a path of self inquiry and learning which encompassed various areas of interest ranging from art history to literature to Gestalt therapy, until finding her spiritual home in Evolutionary Enlightenment. Sylvia has traveled widely, living for four years as a young student in the U.S. and ten years in Paraguay, where her children were born. She graduated from Barnard College, earned a master’s degree in literature in Chile, and published a book on the novels of a feminist Chilean writer. She has participated extensively in Evolutionary Enlightenment meetings and conference discussion groups, and has translated the Spanish version of the Evolutionary Enlightenment course.

Dr. Tom Steininger earned his doctoral degree in philosophy at the University of Vienna, where he studied consciousness and social evolution using Ken Wilber's integral theory as a foundation. He worked as a producer for Austrian National Public Radio developing programming on consciousness and spiritual practices and has been a contributing editor to several German spiritual magazines. In 1994 he met Andrew Cohen in Vienna. Deeply impressed by Andrew’s integrity and his radical approach to the spiritual life, Tom became his student and a student of evolutionary enlightenment.

Tom has been working for the past six years as the main editor of What is Enlightenment? magazine’s German edition. He is directing the recently founded Frankfurt Center of EnlightenNext, the organization dedicated to supporting the development of Andrew Cohen's teaching work. He is currently leading a master’s degree program in conscious evolution at The Graduate Institute in Connecticut, USA, and giving regular public talks in various cities in Germany and Switzerland on the topics of integral spirituality, conscious evolution, and evolutionary enlightenment.

Diana Spiegel attended her first retreat with Andrew Cohen in 2004 after reading What is Enlightenment? magazine. She immediately knew these teachings held the potential for changing consciousness itself. Since that time she has dedicated herself to creating venue’s where these teachings can be taught. Diana hosts gatherings in Dayton, OH where Andrew’s teachings are shared. She is cofounder of The Tree of Life Community that explores diverse spiritual teachings in order to identify their common truths so that our individual and collective spiritual awareness can evolve.

Diana’s spiritual journey began as a little girl in Catholicism and her passion to spiritually grow never stopped. After getting a BA in Special Education, raising 3 children, tutoring, real estate developing and facilitating spiritual retreats for teenagers and adults, she studied Brian Swimme and under Matthew Fox got her MA in Spirituality and Culture. She then gave workshops in ecology and spirituality.

Diana is retired dedicating her time to raising spiritual awareness, grand parenting, photography and consciousness studies.

Brian Rittenhouse first attended a retreat with Andrew Cohen in January 2003 after having studied spirituality in various traditions for over 15 years. A powerful experience on this retreat spurred Rittenhouse to begin studying Cohen's teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment in earnest. He became a founding member of the EnlightenNext Chicago Regional Group and eventually a student of Andrew Cohen. Rittenhouse has helped to coordinate teaching programs, including bringing Andrew Cohen and other speakers to Chicago. He is also actively involved doing research for What is Enlightenment? magazine.

Rittenhouse is manager of Transitions Bookplace, one of the premier spiritual bookstores in the country, where he is active designing and coordinating events for some of the world’s most well-known spiritual teachers and authors. He also works as a tour coordinator for a spiritual travel company, leading groups of spiritual seekers to holy sites around the world. Rittenhouse speaks seven languages and has previously worked as the director of operations for the Berlitz Language Center in Chicago.

As a teacher, Rittenhouse has ten years experience in different capacities, most notably as a voice instructor and English language teacher. Rittenhouse is deeply committed to combining his teachings skills and experience with EnlightenNext toward working with others who are interested in exploring Andrew Cohen's radical teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment.

David Gold was the founding partner of Gold, Khourey, and Turak and a successful trial lawyer for over 15 years. During his legal career he lived and studied with West Virginia Zen teacher Richard Rose, and his experiences with Rose and the legal profession are chronicled in Gold’s first book, After the Absolute. In 1993 Gold sold his interest in the law firm and moved to North Carolina to work with the Self Knowledge Symposium (SKS), a cutting-edge spiritual group with chapters at Duke, North Carolina State, and the University of North Carolina. While in North Carolina he cofounded a software company, which was sold in 2000, enabling Gold to devote himself full-time to spiritual pursuits.

Gold has taught at major universities, lectured to student and professional groups around the country, hosted weekly radio and television shows, and produced the award-winning documentary film The Prison Sutras. He is actively involved with EnlightenNext’s marketing and membership programs and founded the EnlightenNext Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he currently resides.

Mark Flashen is an executive coach and organizational consultant with over twenty years of experience. Through his company, Contegra, LLC, Flashen and his associates have helped facilitate the evolution of hundreds of individuals and small businesses to ever higher levels of growth and development. His current clients include Wall Street firms, successful fine artists, designers, real-estate developers, and a pharmaceutical branding company.

Prior to his consulting practice, Flashen worked in the music industry. He founded ECI Events, a Boston-based company that produced major rock concerts for colleges and universities around the country. He sold the company in 1984 and moved to New York City, where a friend introduced him to the EST Training.

Flashen’s continuing spiritual inquiry eventually brought him to Andrew Cohen in 2002, and Cohen’s explosive teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment have brought unlimited depth and potential to Flashen’s work and to his life.

Trudy Enloe is a Georgia and North Carolina State licensed and nationally certified acupuncturist who currently maintains a private practice at her clinic, Enloe Wellness Center, LLC, in Savannah, Georgia. After receiving a Master of Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine from the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture in Hallandale, Florida, and training as a Qi Gong instructor with Master Ou Wen Wei, Trudy was introduced to Andrew Cohen's revolutionary teachings through a clinical Integration of Chinese Medicine course taught by Lonny Jarrett. After attending her first retreat in Spain in 2005, Trudy became deeply inspired by Andrew, and as a current student member is actively engaged with and committed to sparking real change in the world through a revolution in consciousness and culture.

A native of western North Carolina, Trudy also holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Spanish from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her curiosity about individual and collective spiritual development was inspired by her love of nature, her experience growing up on a farm in the mountains, her strong interest in foreign cultures and travel, and her study of Eastern medical models, qi gong, and meditation. Trudy frequently lectures about these topics and teaches Qi Gong, both at her own clinic and as a partner with The Center for Holistic Healing, an integrated medical facility at Memorial Health in Savannah. Trudy is currently passionate about and engaged with teaching "The Liberation of Consciousness in the 21st Century," a course based on Andrew Cohen's body of work.