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Tom
Valente
President, Link Foundation and Global Academy
For more than 25 years, Tom Valente has been at the forefront of transformative
and holistic education. From his role in the development of the Omega
Institute to his current position as president of the Link Foundation and
the Global Academy, he has distinguished himself as one of the premier
developers and initiators of innovative educational programs.
Valente’s educational philosophy is based on the principle that through
education, dialogue, and collective creativity solutions to many of our most
overwhelming challenges can be found. He postulates that new forms of
society are an inevitable response to new forms of education, and for us to
move in a constructive and effective manner into the future we need models
of education that will enable all of us to reform our visions and skills
toward achieving these new goals. He believes that education needs to
support a new sense of self through which to serve in the emerging world of
the 21st century.
From 1978-1999, Valente served as a principal of the Omega Institute in New
York. During his tenure as Program Director, Vice President, and member of
the Board of Directors, he provided the vision, leadership and direction
that helped grow the institute into the largest in the United States for
holistic and human potential education. He worked with the institute’s two
co-founders to transform the campus from an abandoned summer camp into a 100
acre educational facility with over 80 buildings including accommodations
for 300 people, 12 meeting rooms, bookstore, and wellness center attracting
15,000 students each year to its educational programs. As Program Director,
he was primarily responsible for the development of all educational
programs, which helped Omega to achieve international brand recognition.
Some of Valente’s accomplishments with Omega included the Omega Seminar and
Workshop Series, in which he researched, developed, and produced over 300
workshops each year; the Omega Conference Series which he inspired and
helped grow into one of the most interesting and well-received series of its
kind in the US; the Omega Professional Training Series, an accredited
series, which he developed to offer health care professionals accredited
programs in the fields of medicine, nursing, psychology, and social work. He
also initiated and directed the Omega Travel Series, which produced over 100
cultural tours in 30 countries since its inception in 1985.
In 1999, Valente co-founded the Link Foundation in order to expand the reach
of his educational vision into a variety of societal institutions. As
president of the Link Foundation and the Global Academy, he has successfully
developed programs for corporations, universities and governments throughout
Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Consulting
Consults to organizations and businesses that are becoming
progressively more interested in the field of transformational education.
Engagements included Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, PBS, National
Public Radio, University of Massachusetts, Beijing Traditional Medical
Hospital, Young Presidents Organization, Thompson Publishing Co.,
Elderhostel, The Disney Corporation, the United Nations Development Program,
and the Foreign Ministry of Panama.
Tom Valente also serves as president of e Education Advisors a consulting
company focusing on educational programming and event management. In
addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Integrative
Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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