Ervin Laszlo, Doctorat d’Etat Sorbonne (1970) is Founder-Director of the Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm Research (Italy), Founder and President of The Club of Budapest, Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Science and of the International Academy of Philosophy of Science, Senator of the International Medici Academy, and Editor of the international periodical World Futures: The Journal of New Paradigm Research.

He is the recipient of the Goi Peace Prize (2002), the International Mandir of Peace Prize (2005), the Conacreis Holistic Culture Prize (2009), the Ethics Prize of Milan (2014), and the Luxembourg World Peace Prize (2017).

Laszlo is Honorary citizen of the City of Buenos Aires and Honorary Professor of the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology and holds Honorary Ph.D’s from the United States, Canada, Finland, and Hungary.

He is the author or co-author of hundred and one books translated into twenty-four languages. Laszlo was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and 2005.

John B. Cobb, Jr. was born in Japan in 1925 of Methodist missionary parents. He spent most of his first fifteen years in the Hiroshima and Kobe areas. On “furlough” the family stayed with his mother’s parents in Newnan, Georgia.

He served in the U.S. army from 1943 to 1946 as a Japanese language officer. He entered the University of Chicago in January of 1947 and married Jean Loftin that June. His studies were primarily in philosophy and philosophical theology.

He became a “process” thinker, especially committed to the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, and he has been a leader in that field internationally. Whereas the Indo-European languages are built around nouns or pronounces that our thought posits as stable entities through time and independent of each other, the Japanese and Chinese languages place the emphasis on the verb. This has led people in India and Europe to think of the world as made up of separate objects, whereas people in East Asia think more about interconnected events and so find process philosophy congenial. Quantum physics supports this focus.

Cobb’s teaching was first at Emory University and mostly in the Claremont School of Theology and Graduate School. His understanding of the world as made up of interconnected events led him to explore a variety of topics from his “process” perspective. Whereas Western universities separate what they teach into mutually independent academic disciplines, process thought calls for an emphasis on their connections. He wrote a number of books in partnership with scholars in various fields: especially biology, economics, and New Testament. In 1970 he wrote “Is It Too Late?” which was republished in 2020, and concerns for the future of the Earth and its inhabitants have been central to his interests in all the fields he has studied. All told, he has written, edited, or co-authored more than fifty books.

His leadership in process thought was solidified in 1973, when, with David Griffin, he organized the Center for Process Studies. It published a journal and held conferences in many fields. It worked internationally, and by far its greatest success was in China. Under the leadership of Zhihe Wang, with Cobb’s support, the China Project became the Institute for the Postmodern Development of China. It sponsored hundreds of lectures in China, and thirty-five Chinese universities established related centers.

The Chinese government declared its goal to be an “ecological civilization”. The IPDC held, in Claremont, the first conference on this topic and followed with annual events attracting from fifty to a hundred participants from China. During this time Cobb was also annually visiting China, and he became well known there. He was welcomed by Chinese leaders including the Vice President.

In 2015, the tenth of the ecological civilization conferences was turned into a major international conference on “Seizing at Alternative: toward an Ecological Civilization.” Out of a total audience approaching 2000 people, three hundred were from China. As the U.S. increasingly and explicitly treated China as its No. 1 enemy, bringing large groups of Chinese to Claremont for conferences could not be continued, but Cobb is frequently invited to make videos used to welcome people to conferences in China and sometimes gives talks that reach thousands of Chinese by their version of zoom.

AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS is a best-selling author and speaker who inspires audiences around the world. In one of her first books, Unbinding the Heart: A Dose of Greek Wisdom, Generosity, and Unconditional Love, she shares the wisdom from her life’s adventures and experiences. In her latest book, Wake Up to the Joy of You: 52 Meditations and Practices for a Calmer, Happier Life, she takes readers on a journey and inspires them to let go of what doesn’t work and instead create the lives they really want. Agapi was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and then moved on to receive her master’s degree in psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Her two books on the Greek archetypes, Gods and Goddesses in Love and Conversations with the Goddesses, were turned into PBS specials.

In her newest book, SPEAKING WITH SPIRIT: 52 Prayers to Guide, Inspire, and Uplift You (On Sale 1/11; Harmony Books Hardcover), Agapi presents a non-denominational guide to harnessing this power of prayer in your life and using it to find connection, peace, and gratitude. She is currently conducting workshops for Thrive Global, a company founded by her sister, Arianna Huffington, to help change the way we work and live. Agapi has spoken and conducted meditations at many organizations and companies including L’Oreal, Accenture, SAP, LinkedIn, Pandora, Google, Nike, Weight Watchers, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Global Citizen Company, Museum of Modern Art, ABC Carpet & Home, Women’s Health Magazine, Paul Mitchell, NYU, Gympass, and Hearst Communications amongst many others. She brings home the importance of self-care, practicing gratitude, generosity and self-love to enhance performance and productivity so we can experience happiness and fulfillment. She divides her time between New York and Los Angeles and was born and raised in Athens, Greece.

FIND HER online at www.WakeUptotheJoyofYou.com

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As Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm, John Perkins advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He worked directly with heads of state and CEOs of major companies.

John’s classic, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004) spent 73 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been published in more than 35 languages. It was a groundbreaking exposé of the clandestine operations that created the current global crises. The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2016) brought the story of economic hit men and jackal assassins up to date at that time and chillingly home to the U.S. It went on to provide practical strategies for each of us to transform the failing global death economy into a regenerative life economy. The two books have sold more than 1.9 million copies.

In addition to economics, politics and global intrigue, John has also written books on indigenous cultures and what they can teach us about sustainability and transformation, including The World Is As You Dream It, Spirit of the Shuar, and The Stress-Free Habit.

He is a founder and board member of Dream Change and The Pachamama Alliance, nonprofit organizations devoted to establishing a world that future generations will want to inherit. He was awarded the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace, and Rainforest Action Network Challenging Business As Usual Award, among other accolades.