RUPI Board of Directors

Cliff Penwell (Vashon, WA)  - Board President

M.A., English, with an emphasis on editing from University of Nevada, Las Vegas 
Senior Consultant, Dialogos International, LLC., Cambridge, MA.
Founding Faculty, Touchstone: Trusted Leaders, Trusted Spaces Executive Leadership Program 

I have been connected to and supportive of Right Use of Power since its early theoretical and programmatic beginnings in 1992. As President of the board of the Right Use of Power Institute, I am dedicated to helping people and organizations build power in ways that benefit all. I am an Advanced Right Use of Power Teacher, Guild Member, and member of the RUPI Program Team.  I am also Principal of OriginalVoice Consulting, LLC, and Senior Consultant with Dialogos International with over 30 years of experience as a master facilitator, retreat leader, consultant, coach, and leadership trainer. Throughout my career I have facilitated change processes and offered leadership training in diverse environments ranging from Fortune 100 companies to global-aid initiatives to nonprofit organizations. I have guided thousands of executives in dialogue sessions, leadership trainings, facilitator workshops, strategic planning, and diversity and inclusion initiatives. I base my practice—and my life's work—on my ability to create contexts that are both safe enough to speak the truth and honest enough that outmoded habits of action can be transformed. I travel widely, offering large-systems organizational interventions, coaching, and leadership development. 
Amy Robinson-Daly (Wheat Ridge, CO) - Vice President and Treasurer

M.B.A., Daniels College of Business, University of Denver
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I am the Vice President of Development at Project Angel Heart, a community-based nonprofit charity, where I am responsible for meeting organizational revenue goals and building and sustaining long-term relationships with funders and community partners. Prior to joining the organization, I served in the same capacity at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. I also have a passion for health and nutrition and was recently certified as a holistic nutrition consultant. 
Reynold Feldman - (Boulder, CO) - Secretary

​Ph.D. in English, Yale University                                                                                                                              Author-Educator

As a “protired” university English professor, dean, and academic vice president, I have had a second career as a nonprofit fundraiser, strategic-planning and marketing consultant and a third one as an author, tutor, and professional editor. As I write these words (May 2018) I have just received a contract for publishing what will be my 10th book, which, like most of them, has to do with wisdom for living. As husband of the founder of right-use-of-power work, Cedar Barstow, I urged her to create a nonprofit institute, which I incorporated and had named a federally tax-exempt organization. I am also an Advanced Right Use of Power Teacher, a member of the Guild, co-author of Living in the Power Zone (2013), and part of the Be PowerPositive (B-PoP) planning team. As board secretary, besides my official duties, I have two goals: (1) to help the Institute continue beyond Cedar’s active career and (2) to expand its impact upon society, for if ever there were a time for better uses of personal, professional, status, and collective power, that time is now. Beyond all that, I am a linguist who has studied 12 languages and as a Jewish ethnic, Sufi practitioner, and active Episcopalian, a strong advocate for interreligious cooperation and understanding.
Magi Cooper (Nanaimo, BC, Canada)

A Certified Hakomi Trainer and Therapist in private practice, I facilitate Respectful Relationships and Relationship Violence-Prevention Programs for the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General in British Columbia. Since my first Hakomi training workshop with Jon Eisman in 1992, I have been committed to the spiritual principles and practices of Hakomi. Standing firmly in the principle of non-violence, I have been an advocate for domestic peace for over 20 years. I bring compassion, mindfulness, and loving presence to my work with marginalized populations as well as a deep understanding of Cedar Barstow’s work around the Right Use of Power. With regard to the latter, I am an Advanced Teacher of the Program, a continuing Board member, and one of the few RUP teachers authorized by Cedar to provide advanced teacher training to others. I live on Vancouver Island, BC, and kayak in the surrounding waters. I work however in both Canada and the United States.
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Jeff Couillard (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)​

​M.A., Environmental Management, Royal Roads University
 
I am the founder and chief facilitator at Attainability Group, a small consulting firm dedicated to building incredible teams of professionals in organizations big and small in a wide range of sectors. We focus on bringing Right Use of Power principles into organizations to improve employee engagement, develop leadership capacity, and achieve better client outcomes. From team development to conflict resolution, leading multi-disciplinary teams of professionals tackling the complex issues of addiction and mental health, to sharing stories on the TEDx stage, I'm focused on creating highly functional individuals, teams, and communities.
Regina Smith (Boulder, CO)

M.A., Contemplative Psychotherapy, Naropa University
M.F.A., Poetry, Sarah Lawrence College
 
Rooted in embodied contemplative philosophies, I rely on magical creativity, intellectual clarity, and mission-centered collaborative leadership to advocate for social transformation. With master’s degrees in both Poetry and Contemplative Psychotherapy, I strive to bridge the mechanics of the mind and the intricacies of the heart. In my work life I am director of the Office for Inclusive Community and an adjunct faculty member in the M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado.
 
As an Advanced Right Use of Power Teacher and Guild member, I have been facilitating workshops locally and nationally in both corporate and university settings to promote improved human relations among and between employees in the former and faculty members and administrators in the latter and to advocate for greater inclusiveness in staffing. I am also an active member of the team developing RUPI’s Be PowerPositive (B-PoP) Movement. Finally, I am eager to help RUPI and its programs have greater outreach to and impact on communities of color.
Charna Rosenholtz (Boulder, CO)

M.A. Comparative Religious Studies, Naropa University
 
My grandfather used to say, “The future of the world rests at the tip of the tongue.” That inspired me to imagine a world balanced by right speech and respectful treatment of one another. As an undergraduate I studied psychology and communication theory to learn both how the mind works and how communication patterns bridge the intra-psychic and interpersonal. Bringing this foundation into body/mind engagement, I immersed myself in the healing arts by being mentored by medicine women, clergy, and master teachers in the development of human potential. 
Working in massage and bodywork for 20 years, I also studied at the Hakomi Institute, Matrix Leadership Institute, and Right Use of Power Institute. Starting in 2000 I began studying religious and spiritual life. On receiving a master’s degree from Naropa University in comparative religious studies, I enrolled in the Aleph Rabbinic School. Bringing a deeply ecumenical approach to religion, I am looking for how our sacred texts can assist us in ethical decision-making in and for our complicated world.

RUPI Founding Members

  • Cedar Barstow
  • Margaret Bassal
  • Joan Calvert
  • Wendy Crosman
  • Robin Debates
  • Eva Fajardo
  • Reynold Feldman
  • Kathy Ginn
  • Richard Ireland
  • Rebecca Lincoln
  • Consuelo Meux
  • Lorena Monda
  • Jenny Morawska
  • Cliff Penwell
  • David Reis
  • Michelle Rippey
  • Eleanor Velarde​

RUPI Patron Members

  • Cedar Barstow
  • David Barstow
  • Linda Barstow
  • Margaret Bassal
  • Rupesh Chhagan
  • Kippi Clausen
  • Julia Corley
  • Fenna Diephius
  • Reynold Feldman
  • Sallie Ingle
  • Robyn Knowlan
  • Lorena Monda
  • Cliff Penwell
  • Lawrence Pevec
  • Margaret Pevec
  • Elsa Swyers
  • Mirian & Rene De La Cruz​
  • Myra Bowers
  • ​Jennifer Buffalo
  • Rebecca Lincoln​
  • Amanda Aguilera
  • Dave Medema
  • Joan Calvert