The only gift is a portion of thyself. . . . Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a gem; the sailor, coral and shells; the painter, his picture. . . . This is right and pleasing, for it restores society in so far to the primary basis, when a man’s biography is conveyed in his gift, and every man’s wealth is an index of his merit.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Gifts”

Mr. Miguel Gómez-Ibáñez lives in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and serves the Foundation as Director. Mr. Gómez-Ibáñez is President Emeritus of North Bennet Street School in Boston, the oldest and most complete college of fine hand craft in America, featuring career programs in craft trades from fine bookbinding to furniture making to jewelry art to piano and violin building. Himself a distinguished architect and fine furniture craftsman, Mr. Gómez-Ibáñez is a national leader in the movement to renew the future of fine artisanship in the modern world, a central purpose of the Foundation. 

Dr. Ronald Kraft lives in Napa, California and serves the Foundation as Director. Dr. Kraft is president of Napa Valley College, the central educational institution in the California wine country, a national center for viticultural studies, and home to the renowned Napa Valley Writer's Conference. A distinguished teacher of teachers, Dr. Kraft is a poet, author, speaker, and consultant to other colleges on institutional systems and leadership mechanisms that create momentum for productive change. He guides the Foundation across the broad field of material and intellectual culture in relation to "Place."

Ms. Melinda Levin lives in Taos, New Mexico, and serves the Foundation as Director and Secretary. Ms. Levin is Professor and Director Emeritus of the graduate program in Documentary Studies at the University of North Texas, and CEO/Founder of HD, a Mobile App/Web Interface. She has served the U.S. Department of State as an artist ambassador to Asia, and is the director, producer and cinematographer of many award-winning documentary films for PBS, MOMA and others, specializing in environmental and cultural subjects. Ms. Levin guides the Foundation in its many-sided program of virtual outreach. 

Mr. Michael Lorence lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, and serves the Foundation as President and Director. Mr. Lorence is a woodsman, craftsman, teacher, and guide. He has been crafting private cultural spaces and reading the American founding documents, works of the American Renaissance, and the larger world’s classical literatures with leaders in the worlds of action for forty years. He guides the Innermost House Conversation as an experimental association of practical thinkers seeking to transcend the boundaries of specialized knowledge through contemplative discourse.

Mr. Christopher Nelson lives in Annapolis, Maryland and serves the Foundation as Director. Mr. Nelson is President Emeritus of St. John's College, among the nation's oldest colleges and the leading example of the classical curriculum in America today. He has served as chairman of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and as founding president of the law firm, Kovar Nelson Brittain Sledz & Morris in Chicago. Mr. Nelson guides the foundation in its centrally important mission of unifying knowledge through the liberal arts as a path to individual integrity.

Mr. Sean Skelley lives in Washington DC and serves the Foundation as Director. He is past President of Best Buy International, where he developed the Geek Squad into an icon of the computer age, and is now a principal in winery and technology concerns in Virginia and the Far West. Mr. Skelley has been a regular participant in the Innermost House Conversation for many years, and was involved in the development of its several prototypes. He speaks for the longevity of the project over decades, its durability and adaptability, and its proven capacity to liberate ordinary life with an extraordinary ideal.

Mr. Bryce Engelbrecht lives in St. Petersburg, Florida and serves the Foundation as Treasurer. Mr. Engelbrecht began his career at the California Institute of Technology, and is now Senior Vice President of Data Solutions at iQor, an international provider of business solutions. He also serves as General Manager of QeyMetrics, a cloud-based data analytics and performance reporting system. Mr. Engelbrecht understands Innermost House as a geometric map of human nature, locating the free and equal individual as a still point amidst the storm of data that constitutes the modern world.

Mr. John Gillis lived in Rancho Santa Fe, California and faithfully served the Foundation as Chairman of the Board for seven years. He was principal and co-founder of Vision Systems, an industry leader in the design, engineering, fabrication and installation of specialized architectural systems for clients ranging from museums and municipalities, to industrial organizations, to hospitals and universities, to the United States Dept. of Defense. He was resolute and generous in pursuit of his purpose for the Foundation to preserve and reinvigorate the inmost core of American culture for future generations.

Mr. Clint Wilson lived in Santa Rosa, California and served the Foundation as Director. Mr. Wilson was president and principal of TRIBECA Properties, and past principal of Coldwell Banker North Properties. A civic leader in the California Wine Country, he served as president of the Sonoma County Alliance, the Redwood Empire Boy Scouts of America, and on many boards. He was instrumental in the creation of the Sonoma County Open Space District, preserving over 100,000 acres of undeveloped land. Clint was a greatly beloved friend and longtime host of the Innermost House Conversation.

Rev. Dr. Barry Andrews lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington and advises the Foundation from the perspective of Transcendental spirituality. Rev. Andrews is Minister Emeritus at the Shelter Rock Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Manhasset, New York. He is the author of many books, most lately Transcendentalism and the Cultivation of the Soul. He writes and teaches not as a theologian or academic, but as a minister and spiritual seeker within the UU religious tradition. In Rev. Andrews' conception, Innermost House represents a latter-day incarnation of American Transcendentalism.

Mr. William Barker lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and advises the Foundation in all matters concerning Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Barker is associated with Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, and Poplar Forest, where he is the nation's leading scholar-interpreter of America's Founding Father. He is one half professional actor, one half professional scholar, and, if one may say so, a third half Thomas Jefferson himself. He has created a unique career for himself, and embodies a rare and living knowledge of our founding ideals, challenges, contradictions, and possibilities. 

Dr. Phyllis Cole lives in Pennsylvania and advises the Foundation in the field of American women in Transcendentalism, upon which she is the leading authority. Dr. Cole is Professor Emerita of English, Women's Studies and American Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Among other works, she is author of the beautiful book, Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism. She is past president of the Emerson Society and current president of the Margaret Fuller Society. Dr. Cole is a scholar and teacher beloved of many for her wonderful generosity of spirit.

Dr. Thomas Constantinesco lives in Paris, France and advises the Foundation on the study of Ralph Waldo Emerson and American Transcendentalism from a continental European perspective. Dr. Constantinesco is Lecturer on 19th Century American Literature at the University of Paris, has previously taught at Oxford and Yale, and is a director of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society at Texas A&M University. His research interests lie particularly in the relation of Transcendentalism to the broader field of 19th century literature, philosophy and politics.

Ms. Lisa Coscino lives in San Francisco and advises the Foundation on the arts, art curatorship and nonprofit arts administration. Ms. Coscino is founder of PARTNERS, a visual and performing arts agency specializing in collaborations between artists and galleries, collectors, consultants, curators, and educators. She is past Director of the New Museum of Los Gatos, the Museum of Monterey, and Curator of Violins of Hope. Ms. Coscino's gift is for creating dynamic exhibition, marketing and fundraising programs for the arts, balancing conservation, social consciousness, art, and commerce.

Dr. J. Bradley Creed lives in Buies Creek, North Carolina, and advises the Foundation at the crossroads of Christian theology, higher education, and practical ethics. Dr. Creed is President of Campbell University in North Carolina, and previously served as Dean at Baylor University in Texas and as Provost, Executive Vice President, and Professor of Religion at Samford University in Alabama. He is a frequent speaker at universities, civic organizations, and religious groups in this country and abroad, and his articles on religion, ethics, education, and history are widely published in books and journals.

Dr. Olga Davidson lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and guides the Foundation in its relation to Persian culture, Muslim civilization and the modern Middle East. Dr. Davidson is Chair and Executive Editor of the Ilex Foundation, promoting study of the humanistic traditions and civilizations of the Mediterranean and Near East. She serves on the faculty of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations at Boston University, and is past Chair of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis. Among her many publications is the beautiful Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings.

Ms. Kirsten Dirksen lives in Paris, France and advises the Foundation on contemporary simplicity and sustainability culture. Ms. Dirksen is the owner and editor of Faircompanies, the world's leading source of sustainability filmography and a kind of Whole Earth Catalog for the digital age. Her sensitive and poetic video of the Innermost House prototype introduced our work to millions of viewers, and she has continued to support the work of the Foundation as a faithful friend, advisor, and leading chronicler of sustainability culture.

Ms. Karen Duffy lives in Elsberry, Missouri and advises the Foundation in 19th century material, domestic and social culture. Ms. Duffy is retired as Professor of History at St. Louis Christian College, and is presently Director of the 1820 Shapley Ross House in St. Louis and an FSA Scot fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. As a living historian, she practices and teaches a wide variety of traditional crafts, and pursues original research on the confluence of European, African-American, and American Indian cultures. To her, Innermost House represents an ideal of culturally inclusive solitude. 

Dr. James Engell lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and advises the Foundation in the broad field of the Enlightenment, 18th and 19th century literature, and the environment. Dr. Engell is Gurney Professor and chair of English at Harvard University, Professor and past chair of Comparative Literature, and a faculty associate of the Harvard University Center for the Environment. A great champion of liberal education, Dr. Engell has published many books and professional articles. He is as much beloved for his generosity and personal humanity as he is admired for his depth and breadth of learning.

Mr. Jordan Finch lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and serves the Foundation as Special Advisor in timber frame carpentry. He is owner of Finch Woodworks, specializing in the adaptation of ancient construction methods to modern circumstances. Mr. Finch was educated in Classics and the Liberal Arts at St. John's College, pursued an apprenticeship with the Timber Framers Guild, and has served as Professor of Timber Framing at the American College of Building Arts in Charleston, South Carolina. He brings a philosophical perspective to the material culture of Innermost House.

Ms. Joanna Clyde Findley lives in Mill Valley, California and guides the Foundation at the academic and clinical crossroads of psychology, art and neuroscience. Ms. Findlay is a practicing psychotherapist and Adjunct Professor of Art at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She publishes widely on the neurobiology of art, and maintains an active practice in art therapy, with clients from preschool age to mature adults. Joanna understands Innermost House as living myth, and its program of outreach as culturally therapeutic at a fundamental level of public experience.

Dr. Charles Fracchia lived in San Francisco and advised the Foundation on San Francisco and California history, and on the great historical experiment of the West. Dr. Fracchia published many books on the history of San Francisco, was the Founder and Chairman of the San Francisco Historical Society and Museum, and was a Fellow of the California Historical Society. He taught at the City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State and the University of San Francisco. Dr. Fracchia understood the work of the Foundation as another chapter in California's search for the Ideal.

Mr. Michael Frederick lives in Concord, Massachusetts and advises the Foundation in a variety of matters concerning Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and literary nonprofit work. Mr. Frederick is the Executive Director of the Thoreau Society, the oldest and largest author society in America. He was educated at Harvard University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. He has been a faithful friend and champion of Innermost House in scholarly circles for years, and continues to guide the foundation in matters of academic and cultural outreach. 

Dr. Wilder Fulford lives in London and brings to the Foundation perspectives from the crossroads of life science and international commerce. After taking his doctorate in Molecular Biology, Dr. Fulford served as head of Healthcare M&A at Salomon Brothers before heading European M&A and Healthcare at Merrill Lynch, BOA, and Deutsche Bank. Since 2016, The Fulford Group has provided strategic guidance to life science entrepreneurs seeking solutions to pressing health care problems. For Dr. Fulford, Innermost House represents a shelter of stillness for pondering the human condition.

Mr. Kody Grant (Pueblo of Isleta and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) ​lives in Richmond, Virginia and guides the Foundation in its relation to Native American history and present-day Indian nations. Mr. Grant is Tribal Liaison at the University of Virginia. ​He has served as cultural ambassador​ ​through a variety of Native institutions, including the Museum of the Cherokee People and Cherokee Historical Association, and most recently as​ Nation Builder and supervisor of the American Indian Initiative at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation​, where for eight years he co-​led American Indian programming.

Mr. Kent Griswold lives in Bend, Oregon, and advises the Foundation on all aspects of the modern small house movement. Mr. Griswold is the owner and editor of the Tiny House Blog, the world's leading source of information on simple living in small spaces. He was the first publisher to solicit an article about Innermost House, which was subsequently read by over a million people in a hundred nations of the world. He has continued to support the Foundation in its mission of outreach to a wide audience with a message of simplicity, small spaces and mature spirituality.

Dr. Robert Gross lives in Concord, Massachusetts and advises the Foundation on the historical context of American Transcendentalism and the Republicanism of the founding generation. Dr. Gross is Draper Professor of Early American History Emeritus at the University of Connecticut and past Director of American Studies at the College of William & Mary. He is author of the Bancroft Prize-winning classic, The Minutemen and their World, and its forthcoming sequel, The Transcendentalists and their World, as well as publishing widely to professional and general audiences. 

Rev. Ulrich Haas lives in Vörstetten, near Freiburg, Germany and advises the Foundation from the perspective of classical Zen practice and the tradition of Japanese Tea Ceremony. Rev. Haas (Sôshiki Seizen) is an ordained Japanese Zen priest and founder of the Rinzai Zen Temple Gen Rin Zen Kutsu in Germany. He is among Europe's leading Tea Masters, representing the Urasenke Tankokai Federation of Kyoto to cultural organizations and universities on several continents. To Rev. Haas, Innermost House is a modern incarnation of Hōjōki, the famous "Ten Foot Square Hut" of medieval Japan.

Mr. Allen Harding lives in New York City and serves as special project liaison between the Foundation and land conservation interests. Mr. Harding is a director and patron of the Thoreau Society, and son and heir to the literary legacy of Walter Harding, the 20th century's leading Thoreau scholar and founder of the Thoreau Society seventy-five years ago. To Mr. Harding's generous conception, Innermost House is a kind of "New Walden," gathering together the several loci of American Transcendentalism and newly animating the inspiration of Henry David Thoreau for modern times.

Dr. Gregg Henriques lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and guides the Foundation at the crossroads of psychology and knowledge theory. He is Professor of Graduate Psychology at James Madison University, serves as president of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, and is founder of the academic society for the Theory of Knowledge. His scholarly work is widely published in the professional journals, and he has a popular weblog on Psychology Today. He is the author of A New Unified Theory of Psychology and A New Synthesis for Solving the Problem of Psychology.

Dr. Peter Henriques lives in Gainesville, Virginia and advises the Foundation on the defining role of George Washington in the American Founding. Dr. Henriques is Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University. He is a leading authority on Washington and has published many books and articles on him, most recently the inspiring First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington. He has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers, on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and as a Distinguished Lecturer at Colonial Williamsburg.

Rev. James Ingram, Jr lives in Williamsburg, Virginia and represents the Christian spirituality of the American “Great Awakenings” of the 18th century in relation to the Foundation’s inward culture of the soul. Rev. Ingram is a Nation Builder at Colonial Williamsburg, where he has for 25 years researched, portrayed, and championed the first ordained Black minister in the United States, the Rev. Gowan Pamphlet. In his own person, Rev. Ingram is Associate Minister at Gowan Pamphlet’s Historic First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, uniting the two ages as poles of one great spiritual tradition.

Dr. Jeffrey Klee lives in Williamsburg, Virginia and advises the Foundation from the perspective of early American architectural history. Dr. Klee is the Shirley and Richard Roberts Architectural Historian at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where he lectures and writes on vernacular architecture, pursues field research and develops designs for the reconstruction of historic buildings. He also serves as lecturer at the College of William & Mary, as executive and editorial board member of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, and as Editor in Chief with the Society of Architectural Historians. 

Mr. Edmond Krafchow lives in Maui and serves the Foundation as Advisor and founding Director. Mr. Krafchow was principal and Chairman of Mason McDuffie Real Estate, the longest-established privately held real estate concern in the American West, and historic patron of Ansel Adams and the Sierra Club. A lifelong student of ancient Middle Eastern languages and religious culture, he has been an intimate of the Innermost House experiment since 2005, and has a deep understanding of its promise and its challenges. He guides the Foundation at the spiritual margins of practical possibility.

Ms. Diana Lorence lives in Williamsburg, Virginia and is the creator of the Innermost House conception. Innermost House is her personal answer to Emerson’s prescription, “Build your own world.” Since her introduction to the Thoreau Society at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, Diana has appeared across the country as a speaker on her life in the woods, and her essays and photographs have gained an audience for the Foundation in every state in the nation and nearly every nation of the world, reaching now to millions of people with a message of simplicity, spirituality and soul-reliance.

Dr. James Mathew lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and guides the Foundation at the intersection of modern science, Indian spirituality, and Transcendentalist ideals. Raised in Kerala, India, Dr. Mathew served as Chairman of the Division of Adult Cardiology at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago (Ret.), and is now Interventional Cardiologist with the Order of Saint Francis. He is also Curator of the TGM Rare Book Museum, representing the cosmopolitan spirituality of the Indian sages Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, and the American Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau.

Ms. Laura Mays lives in Fort Bragg, California and advises the foundation with her knowledge and passion for the art of fine furniture making. Ms. Mays is Program Director of The Krenov School of Fine Woodworking at Mendocino College, the leading creative woodworking program in the country. She holds a degree in architecture from University College Dublin, and is principal in the design firm of Yaffe Mays. She is also founding president of The Krenov Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to teach and support the craft of fine woodworking.

Mr. Todd McFadden lives in Wilmington, North Carolina and guides the Foundation toward its ideal of cultural unity in authentic diversity. Mr. McFadden is Founder and President of Higher Ed Diversity Consulting Group, representing decades of leadership in pioneering diversity among American institutions of higher learning. He has formerly served as Director of the Upperman African American Cultural Center at the University of North Carolina, Director of the Center for Black Culture and Research at the University of West Virginia, and Director of the Africana Center at Tufts University. 

Ms. Tara Myers lives in Portland, Oregon and advises the Foundation on positioning and communications in the broad field of nonprofit engagement. Her current project is a weblog compiling ten years and hundreds of personal impressions of the Innermost House. Throughout her career, Ms. Myers has specialized in the business practices of branding, marketing, and communications as they apply to educational and philanthropic institutions, including the University of Nevada, the United Way, and the YMCA of the USA. To her, Innermost House represents an ideal of sustained, spiritual marriage.

Dr. Gregory Nagy lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and guides the foundation in its relation to the Greek heroic tradition. Dr. Nagy is Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, and Director of the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington DC. He has also served as Chair of the Harvard University Classics Department and as President of the American Philological Association. Dr. Nagy is among Harvard's most beloved and popular teachers, and is this generation's leading authority on Homeric literature.  

Dr. Glenn Aparicio Parry lives in Northern New Mexico and guides the Foundation at the confluence of European, Asian, and Native American cultures. Dr. Parry organized the groundbreaking Language of Spirit conferences from 1999-2011, bringing Native leaders and Western scientists together in dialogues moderated by Leroy Little Bear. He is the author of the visionary and award-winning books, Original Thinking and Original Politics. Dr. Parry is the founder of the SEED Institute, member of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and director of the grass-roots think tank and podcast, the Circle for Original Thinking.

Dr. Marianne Patinelli-Dubay lives in the Champlain Valley of Upstate New York and advises the Foundation in its mission of renewing the link between wild nature and high culture. Dr. Patinelli-Dubay is director of the Environmental Philosophy Program at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the leading institution of its kind in the United States. Her work is centered at the Huntington Wildlife Forest, a 15,000-acre research and demonstration forest in the heart of Adirondack Park, where she focuses on the application of philosophical ethics to natural resource management.

Mr. Edwin Pease lives in Williamsburg, Virginia and advises the Foundation at the meeting place of architectural theory, traditional building design and modern construction methods. Mr. Pease is co-founder of Stemann Pease Architecture and Visiting Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the College of William & Mary. The winner of many design awards, Mr. Pease's work ranges from civic buildings and museums to educational and religious institutions to residential structures, comprehending the whole spectrum from modern works to historical reconstruction.   

Dr. Phillip Pirages lives in McMinnville, Oregon and advises the foundation across the broad spectrum of fine and period books. Dr. Pirages is among the world's leading rare booksellers, whose book catalogs alone are collector's items. He specializes in providing medieval illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, fine bindings, private press books, fore-edge paintings, botanicals, and printed leaves to museums, universities and major private collectors. Among other volumes over thirty years, Dr. Pirages provided the 1632 King James Folio Bible that forms the core of the Innermost House Library.

Dr. Nikita Pokrovsky lives in Moscow, Russia and advises the Foundation in its relation to the perennial idea of simple living in general, and to international Thoreau studies in particular. Dr. Pokrovsky is Chairman of General Sociology at the Higher School of Economics University in Moscow, President of the Society of Professional Sociologists, and Russia's leading scholar of Henry David Thoreau and American Transcendentalism. He is also creator of a parallel experiment in Thoreavian simplicity with a Walden replica cabin in the forests of Siberia. To him, Innermost House is a present-day Walden.

Dr. Michael Puett lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and guides the Foundation at the intersections between anthropology, history, religion, and philosophy, particularly as constellated in Classical China. Dr. Puett is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. Among his many publications is the best-selling book, The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us about the Good Life. He is among the university's most beloved teachers.

Br. Michael Quinn, FSC, lived in Napa, California. In 2008, he was the first to urge upon Innermost House a public career. Brother Michael was President Emeritus of St. Mary’s College in California, where he had previously served as Dean of the School of Science and Chair of Undergraduate and Graduate Departments of Psychology. He is warmly remembered as a bold, generous, and innovative leader who transformed St. Mary’s into a diverse, co-educational institution. He recognized in Innermost House a spontaneous renewal of the spirit of the Desert Fathers, and called it forth from private to public life.

Mr. Shax Riegler lives in New York City and guides the Foundation in the world of professional arts publication. Mr. Riegler is Executive Editor at Architectural Digest magazine, and publishes widely in the field of design, travel and food, and collecting. Before Architectural Digest he was executive editor of House Beautiful, and has held editorial positions at House & Garden, Martha Stewart Living, Travel & Leisure, and Vogue. In 2011, Mr. Riegler published the first article about the Innermost House project to appear in a national magazine. To him, it is a cry from the roots of architectural form.

Dr. Michael Rutherford lives in Ontario, Canada, and guides the Foundation at the intersection of modern genetic science, religious spirituality, and classical literature. Dr. Rutherford serves as Head of Molecular Genetic Pathology at the nonprofit EORLA Laboratories in Eastern Ontario. He holds doctoral and medical degrees from the University of Toronto, Queens University, and the University of Chicago, founded upon his study of the classical liberal arts at St. John's College in Maryland. Dr. Rutherford understands Innermost House as a humanizing light in a darkening technological world.

Rev. Dr. James Sherblom lives in Concord, Massachusetts, and guides the foundation across the chasm between mysticism and practical life. Rev. Sherblom was called to ministry in midlife, and served as senior minister at First Parish in Brookline for eleven years. Raised in humble circumstances, he earned scholarships to Yale and Harvard, going on to serve as founding president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, as CEO of TSI Corporation, and as CFO of Genzyme Corporation. Now as an author and speaker, Rev. Sherblom serves as a friend “to all those who would live in the spirit."

Dr. David E. Shi lives at the seashore in North Carolina and advises the Foundation on the simple life in American history. Dr. Shi is President Emeritus of Furman University, where he founded the Shi Center for Sustainability. He is among America's leading university presidents, historians and environmentalists, and is past chairman of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. His many books include the best-selling America: A Narrative History and the classic, The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture, both guiding texts for the Foundation.

Mr. Daniel Springer lives in San Francisco and advises the Foundation in the broad sphere of prudential relations, particularly in forming its message to the business and technology communities. Mr. Springer is Chief Executive Officer of DocuSign, the world leader in the field of electronic signature technology. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Ansira, a data-driven marketing agency, and of Heighten, a computer software firm, as well as Chief Operating Partner of Advent International. In addition, Mr. Springer serves on the Board of Trustees of the Urban School of San Francisco.

Dr. John Stauffer lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and advises the Foundation on Transcendentalism, photographic art, and the African American experience. Dr. Stauffer is Professor of English and American Literature, American Studies, and African American Studies at Harvard University. He is a leading authority on 19th century American culture, antislavery and the Civil War era, and on the art of photography. Dr. Stauffer is the author of nineteen books and many articles, including the stunning biography, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Mr. Robert Stephens lives in Sonoma, California, and advises the Foundation in matters of authenticity, branding, and virtual outreach. He is Founder of the Geek Squad, a renegade concept he built into an international icon in partnership with Best Buy. His originality and insight make him much in demand as an inspiring speaker across the country, and as a consultant, particularly to promising new ventures. Mr. Stephen's passion for the authentic touches everything he does, and since 2008 he has understood Innermost House as a touchstone of living authenticity.

Dr. William Swagerty lives in Stockton, California, and represents the literary and environmental legacy of John Muir to the Foundation. Dr. Swagerty is Professor of History and Co-Director of the John Muir Center at the University of the Pacific. He has served as visiting scientist at the National Museum of Natural History and fellow at the Ford Foundation and the National Park Service, and is currently a Fulbright Senior Specialist. His specialties include John Muir and the native peoples, the prehistory of North America, and the economic dynamics of human subsistence.

Dr. Roger Thompson lives in New York and advises the Foundation in its association with academic, literary and artistic institutions. Dr. Thompson is Associate Professor and Program Chair of Writing and Rhetoric at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He also serves as Program Chair of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, and as Senior Editor for Don't Take Pictures, a leading professional magazine of fine art photography. Dr. Thompson understands the work of the Foundation as a woodland experiment in the larger tradition of Humane Letters. 

Ms. Yuiko Tokugawa lives in Kyoto, Japan and advises the Foundation from her native perspective of classical Japanese culture. Ms. Tokugawa began her study of the ancient art of Chanoyu in Japan when she was eight years old. She later continued her studies in Europe with the leading tea master, Rev. Ulrich Haas, before returning to Kyoto to enter the Urasenke lineage of practice, descended directly from Sen no Rikyu in the 16th century. To Ms. Tokugawa, Innermost House represents the Buddhist ideal of nothingness or "Mu," which to her means, "to meet the heart of Buddha."

Br. George Van Grieken, FSC, lives in Napa, California and advises the foundation on monastic culture and religious spirituality. Brother George is President Emeritus of St. Joseph's International Schools, Singapore, Director of St. Mary's College and the Lasallian schools, and Secretary Coordinator of Research at the Vatican. He was the first to recognize Innermost House as an underivative, original American expression of the cosmopolitan monastic impulse, and guides the Foundation from his perspective as a professional religious and representative of one of the world's great spiritual traditions.

Dr. William White lives in Williamsburg, Virginia and advises the Foundation in the development and use of educational media. Dr. White is a Visiting Scholar in American History at Christopher Newport University, and retired as Royce R. and Kathryn M. Baker Vice President of Productions, Publications and Learning Ventures at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where he headed website production, journal and book publishing, photography, audio and video production, the national teacher initiative, the Emmy-winning electronic field trip series, and all activities for K-16 classrooms.

Dr. Robert C. Wilburn lives in Washington DC and advises the Foundation across the whole field of cultural philanthropy. Dr. Wilburn has served as President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, director of Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College, CEO of the Gettysburg Foundation, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Carnegie Institute, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is among the nation's leading chief executives of cultural nonprofit institutions, with uniquely broad experience and special expertise in large capital programs of institutional renewal.

Ms. Terry Tempest Williams lives in Utah and guides the foundation with her lifelong commitment to healing the meeting places of nature, culture and spirit. Ms. Williams is presently Writer-in-Residence at the Harvard Divinity School. She is the author of many books, weaving together strands of autobiography, poetry, ecology, and wilderness. She has been honored with the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association, the Robert Marshall Award from the Wilderness Society, the John Muir Award from the Sierra Club, and the Thoreau Prize for Nature Writing.

Mr. Garland Wood lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, and serves the Foundation as Special Advisor in Traditional Building Crafts. He is Master Carpenter in Historic Trades at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the world's largest living history museum. Mr. Wood holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary, but maintains that his real education began when he apprenticed under Master Woodwright Roy Underhill more than thirty years ago. Today he trains and leads a crew of traditional carpenters and joiners in the country's preeminent program of historical reconstruction.

Mr. Robert Yagid lives in Connecticut and serves the Foundation as Chief Building Advisor. He is Editor in Chief of Fine Homebuilding Magazine and Green Building Advisor, the leading journals on fine building craft and environmentally responsible construction. Mr. Yagid champions the traditional building trades as repositories of a culturally important but largely lost knowledge, and as a source of responsible employment and practical wisdom. To him, Innermost House represents a coming together of the craft trades to a high purpose, for the benefit of all. 

Dr. J. William Youngs lives in Cheney, Washington, and advises the Foundation across the broad field of American history, particularly at the crossroads of the colonial and revolutionary periods with the later American environmental movement. Dr. Youngs is Professor and Chair (Ret.) of History at Eastern Washington University, where his distinguished career has included many publications, appointments, grants, and awards for teaching and research. A dedicated and beloved teacher, his special gift lies in communicating the warmth and life of history as a “conversation around the fire.”