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Meet the Board
Board of Trustees
Every member of our Board of Directors is a thought leader who has made significant contributions to our society.
Each one brings a unique set of skills and expertise to our organization.
John Dickson,
President
John is the current President of the board of trustees and has been on the board for the past four years. He was previously on the Centre Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2011.
He discovered new thought in 1978 at the Centre in Calgary and has been immersed in new thought since that time. John has a PhD in management. He designed, implemented and evaluated economic development projects in third world countries and in war zones for the Red Cross over a twenty year period. John’s work as a consultant Canada and the UK was to help companies develop strategies and change the organizational culture.
Sandra Gibbs, RScP
Vice-President
Sandra is a Registered Practitioner and participates in the services on Sunday mornings. She has spent more than 40 years teaching children and has also taught adults at our Centre. She was in leadership with the Teen Group for eight years. Sandra is committed to her spiritual community and is a life-long learner. Sandra joined the Board as a nonvoting – recording secretary in Fall 2021 and has continued as secretary since becoming a voting member in January 2022. She is now the Vice-President of the Board. Sandra also participates in the Vision Core team as the voice of our Youth.
Rabin Mendis,
Treasurer
Rabin has been involved in Centres for Spiritual Living since 2001. He was on the Leadership Council for International Centres for Spiritual Living from April 2021 to April 2024.
He has also served on the Board of Trustees of another Centre including holding the position of Treasurer, over a cumulative period of some 13 years.
Rabin has a Degree with Distinction from the University of Alberta with a double major in Economics and Sociology and has also completed many supplementary courses in the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at the U of A in Business.
This is in addition to the Management Accounting training he received in Sri Lanka.
He has a total of 21 years as a senior Director in the Public Sector (Province of Alberta) plus a further 10 years in the Private Sector and nine years in the Not-for-Profit Sector.
He is retired but teaches Business Management and Managerial Economics at an Edmonton Private Career College as a sessional instructor. He is also involved in Business Consulting on a limited basis.
He is a singer, songwriter and plays piano and electric guitar.
He is married to Trish Barr Mendis, a practitioner at this Centre.
Spiritual Minister Tammy Banting, Trustee
Tammy is an Ordained Minister and a member of CSL South since 1999. She has been in the role of Spiritual Minister since 2011. Tammy has served on multiple committees throughout her 25 years at CSL South and is familiar with all aspects of Centre She is currently serving as Fundraising Lead, Newsletter Editor, Sunday Experience Team Lead, Communication Liaison for the Board of Trustees as well as part of the Spiritual Leadership Team.
Tammy’s passion is teaching Science of Mind classes. With her previous lengthy Board Experience and commitment to ‘SOM Principles” she serves the Board and our community in Transforming Lives through being grounded in the teachings of Ernest Holmes.
- Chair of Fundraising Committee
Margot Biro
Trustee
Margot found her spiritual home within the CSL Community over 30 years ago. Since then, this community has been the cornerstone of her spiritual journey shaping her beliefs and values. Margot has had the privilege to attend CSL Conventions/AGMs both in Canada and the United States. Often you will see her attending to whatever is required at our Centre from decorating, caretaking, administrative tasks, greeting and more. Margot is honoured to continue to serve at our Spiritual Centre as one of the Board of Trustees, and is presently in the role of Facility Rental Coordinator. In 2022 Margot was a member of the Minister Selection Committee. She is always open to learning new information to enhance her personal growth. When Margot is not at the Centre, you will find her participating with her dance group, traveling, volunteering at various non-profit organizations, attending workshops and retreats, and enjoying many cultural activities in our beautiful city.
- Rental Coordinator
Enid Dufresne Dario
Trustee
Enid has the capacity and experience to understand financial statements, to evaluate the budgets of the organizations and project budgets, to allocate resources to achieve results.
She is gifted in analytical and critical thinking and is able to evaluate different options, proposals and arguments, and to make sound decisions.
She has the ability to think strategically about the concerns and challenges facing Centre for Spiritual Living and to plan for the short, medium and long term solutions.
She is skilled in interpersonal communications and is an effective communicator of ideas, views and perspectives to peers, as well being able to receive and respect the ideas, positions and views of peers. She is able to participate in dispute resolution in the interests of CSL.
Enid has taken many communication courses including Non Violent Communication, Crucial Conversations, Fierce Conversations and several Stephen Covey courses
She has completed Rev. Michael Beckwith’s visioning course and has the ability to consider and define future goals and objectives that consider the unfolding of CSL’s highest outcome.
Enid has a strong understanding and experience of the roles, group processes and administrative and policy regulations that make up CSL’s organization's governance systems. (Previous board President at the Spiritual Living Centre at the Whitemud Community centre).
She has a clear understanding of the distinction between the role of the board and the role of our members and other leadership roles.
Enid has demonstrated her personal commitment through past community events & her obvious strong motivation to contribute to the well-being and development of CSL . As a Team Leader of the “Happy Hour” she has demonstrated teamwork, ability to inspire, motivate, guide and lead. She values and has a complete understanding of the importance of teamwork.
Arne Poulsen, RScP Emeritus, Trustee
Arne Poulsen RScP Emeritus is a retired business owner. He is a founding member of CSL Edmonton and has been a Practitioner since 1994.
Arne served on the BOT in 2021 and 2022 and assisted the Community with the transition to a transparent bookkeeping system.
He believes in the teaching of the Science of Mind and has used it in his business and private life for many years.
Jack Robinson
Trustee
Jack's biography testifies to a love of investigation, diligence, and communication. He began university at Carleton in Ottawa in 1969, originally studying journalism. He worked in this field for a few years but eventually wanted some greater academic depth and switched to English, completing an Honours Degree First Class in 1973 and a Master of Arts in 1975; then he moved to Edmonton to be near family and completed a Ph.D. at the University of Alberta in 1983.
A Fellowship enabled him to complete doctoral studies while living in Montreal, which he loved. He worked part-time at MacEwan from 1987, obtaining a full-time position in 1989.
Jack's disciplinary focus has always been in Canadian Literature, and his teaching and research have been influenced by a strong interest in writing and style. He served as Chair of the MacEwan English Department for six years from 2006 to 2012. The community college became a university in 2006, so those were years of much change. He became an Associate Professor in 2013 and has remained in that position.
From 2015 on, Jack developed an interest in Indigenous literature, mainly in Canada. He did research and taught several senior undergraduate courses in that area in addition to his customary Canadian Literature courses. He also participated in an Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Indigeneity with several colleagues, hosting many Indigenous speakers over several years.
During the Covid pandemic, he developed new first-year courses on Leonard Cohen and on the nascent field of Literature about Artificial Intelligence, which he is still teaching, though he retired in the summer of 2023 at the age of seventy-one. He continues to love reading literature, talking about it, writing, and discussing ideas with friends.