Judy Brown is an educator, speaker, poet, and writer whose work revolves around themes of leadership, change, renewal, learning, reflection, dialogue and creativity. She has served as a White House Fellow and as Vice President of the Aspen Institute. At the University of Maryland, she has held posts in both the business school and the public policy school and has been affiliated with the University’s National Center for Smart Growth. A mid-westerner from the fishing village of Leland, Michigan, her heritage is that of agriculture and Cooperative Extension, giving her a commitment to the practical use of ideas, research, and science. Her books include a collection of her poetry, A Leader’s Guide to Reflective Practice (2007 Trafford Publishing) and she is currently completing a book entitled The Art and Spirit of Leadership. As a Quaker, she is interested in organizational processes which incorporate reflection and inquiry. As a writer and poet, she is intrigued by the power of language and metaphor to shift our thinking and open us to new perspectives. As an executive, she is interested in how leaders sustain energy and a sense of purpose and direction. And as a scientist she is interested in understanding more fully how it is that we experience openings into greater awareness, and how those experiences allow us to gather our energies in powerful ways on behalf of transcendent, as well as social and organizational purposes.