Right Use of Power™ Institute Board of Directors

Cliff Penwell (Vashon, WA, USA)
​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. 
Dr. Reynold Feldman (Boulder, CO, USA)
Secretary-Treasurer

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 non-profit fundraiser, executive director, and strategic planning and marketing consultant, and a third career as an author, tutor, and professional editor. I have had 12 books published, mostly on wisdom for living. As husband of the founder of Right Use Of Power™ work, Dr. Cedar Barstow, I urged her some years ago to create this non-profit 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 RUPI Guild, co-author of Living in the Power Zone (2013), and part of the Be PowerPositive (BePoP) team. As Board Secretary-Treasurer, 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 on society, for if ever there were a time for better uses of personal, professional, status, collective, and institutional power, that time is now. Beyond all this, I am a linguist who has studied 12 languages and as a Jewish ethnic, Sufi practitioner, and active Episcopalian, a strong advocate for inter-religious cooperation and understanding. My author's website, for your information, is www.reynoldruslan.com
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 Dr. Cedar Barstow’s work around the Right Use of Power™. With regard to the latter, I am a Right Use of Power™ Advanced Teacher, a continuing Board member, and one of the few RUP teachers authorized to provide advanced teacher training to others. I live on Vancouver Island, BC, and kayak in the surrounding waters. I work in both Canada and the United States.
​
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, USA)

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 (BePoP) Movement. Finally, I am eager to help RUPI and its programs have greater outreach to and impact on communities of color.
Rabbi Charna Rosenholtz (Boulder, CO, USA)

M.A. Comparative Religious Studies, Naropa University
Rabbinic Ordination, Jewish Renewal's Aleph Ordination Program
 
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, the Matrix Leadership Institute, and the 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

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

RUPI Patron Members

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