Hosting Team 2017
The Hosting Team
Mary-Alice Arthur
Mary Alice is a Story Activist working with story in service of positive systemic shift and for focusing collective intelligence on critical issues.  In plain speak, she creates spaces where the right story can take people into a flourishing future. She is an internationally recognised process host, building capacity for people to host and harvest their own stories and the stories that surround them in the systems they live and work in. She has worked as a consultant all over the world and is now moving her base from Europe to the US. She is inspired to work with large and small systemic stories that hold keys for a more generative future. She hosts a Facebook page and Vimeo channel both called The Story Dojo. Mary Alice is a sought after process host and teaches participatory process all over the world as an international steward of the Art of Hosting <http://www.getsoaring.com>
Kajsa Balkfors
 Kajsa's passion is how we can unleash our individual, organisational and societal capacity to change  – and co-create the future and present we want. She has been a cultural entrepreneur for 20 years and participatory leadership is core to her practice, whether she operates in the fields of arts, conscious business, education or society. Kajsa is one of the leaders and entrepreneurs behind internationally renowned Cirkus Cirkör, which established contemporary circus in Sweden with the vision to change the world it. ”All parts of society have a lot to learn from the circus world, not least in terms of cross-collaboration, dedication and relationship to risk. ” Kajsa is co-founder of Unleash, a Swedish based consultancy and training company. She is also a co-founder of Sweden 3.0 and an adjunct in cirkus management and entrepreneurship at Stockholm University of the Arts.​
Tracy Chaplin (formerly Meisterheim)
Tracy is guided by a passion for building individual and collective capacity for conscious leadership, deep connections and wise action. Through designing and hosting transformative learning experiences and strategic change initiatives, she illuminates connections between people, planet and new possibilities. Tracy is an Art of Hosting Steward and founder of Blue Heron Associates, an independent consultancy based in the US. In the ‘90’s she co-founded and directed a sustainability education center based on permaculture, social entrepreneurship, nonviolence and community resilience, following a decade in environmental education & leadership development. From 2011 – 2015, Tracy was the Program Director of MSLS (Msc in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability) at BTH in Karlskrona and is grateful to be returning ‘home’ to contribute for her 5th year on the AoH Karlskrona team.
Phil Cass, PhD
 Phil Cass, PhD just completed 16.5 years as the CEO of the Columbus Medical Association and Affiliates, 12.5 years as President of the Franklin County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board and before that 5 years as the CEO of Southeast, Inc., a mental health services provider.  He is now affiliated with the TPL Group, Inc. where he provides strategic consultation, process design and facilitation as well as coaching,  Phil’s work is local, national and international.  He holds a Bachelors Degree from Kenyon College in Biology, a Masters Degree from Fairfield University in Counseling and Guidance and a PhD from The Ohio State University in Counseling and Guidance.  He lives with his wife Laura and is a proud father, step-father and Grandfather.
Mahmood Nisar
Mahmood Nisar is an entrepreneur, living and working in Germany and Afghanistan. He immigrated to Germany when he was 15 years old. The vision that leads his life is to engage himself fully for peace, particularly in Afghanistan. Since 2010 he is engaged in the development of Afghanistan within the German Development Cooperation and leads a team of international and national expert for a program in Northern-Afghanistan.  Together with his wife, he established the label “MADE IN Afghanistan” which supports entrepreneurial development.  Art of Hosting principles build a strong base for his activities, especially in cooperation with his team, business partners and the young professionals he mentors.
Andreas Giesen
Andreas is a systemic coach, heilpraktiker for psychotherapy and communcation trainer who lives near Düsseldorf, Germany. He is trained in Systemic Coaching, Business Psychology, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Energy Psychology and Touch for Health. He developed the 360° Coaching for Job and Life Orientation and runs a Coaching-Practice in Neuss. He developed his hosting and organisation skills during his 25 year career at the Shakespeare Festival in the Globe Neuss. In 2015 he got to know the Art of Hosting and is a practitioner and host since then. He focuses on Complexity and how to deal with it. Also in 2015 he started hosting a LGBT Sports Conference with Ruta J. from Vilnius. He hosts conversations about Trauma and conversations for Volunteers in the German Refugee Movement with Ybe Casteleyn. In 2017 he started a cooperation with the Düsseldorf and Cologne U-Lab where he introduces methods of Art of Hosting.
David Ershammar
David has since 2001 worked with the question of how people dependent on an organisation/system for their wellbeing, can become co-creators. Both in their lives and the organisations they are a part of. He has lead initiatives from various kinds of organisations, including, patient/service user movements, National mental health commission, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) and as involvement specialist at Region Skåne. He is now an independent host and process consultant supporting individuals and organisations capacity to co-create - inviting many people to drive change. He is based in Malmö, Sweden and is part of a growing community trying out new ways to support change in a city that faces growing divides. His clients and collaborators are within the public sector, non-profit organisations and social movements. Supporting movements and communities of practice are key in this work. He uses Art of Hosting practices inspired by for example design thinking, community work and social labs as framework. 
Justas Kučinskas
Through conscious embodied movement and deep dialogue Justas
creates spaces of personal inquiry and catalyzes groups towards their
shared purpose. As a philosopher, yogi and dancer he uses his heart, body
and mind to uncover passion, harmony and clarity.  He has been on a learning
journey across Europe to explore the edges of his practice and questions
around what radical education could be. He brings people to together in
dialogue around education in Lithuania and also uses Art of Hosting to
serve his business by bringing together different sectors to co-create 
mindful strategies for their future work together. He lives in Vilnius
with his wife Katia and son Jurgis.
The Harvesting Team
Narayan Silva
Narayan grew up in Brazil but sees himself as a nomad, learning, working and planting seeds in many different countries in the last years. With a MSc. in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability in Sweden, he is passionate about helping people and organizations to realize their full potential for creating positive impact in the world. During his year in Sweden, he experienced his 1st Art of Hosting training, which had a huge impact in his life and work. Since then he has dedicated his life to designing, hosting and harvesting conversations and learning, and for the last years he worked with numerous organizations around the world, from small NGOs to corporations such as Nike and Mercedes-Benz. Narayan is also passionate about alternative education, and was a UNESCO ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) Youth delegate in 2014. He is currently based in Vietnam, supporting the development of Knowmads Hanoi. <www.knowmads.vn>
Elin Turesson
Elin is passionate about harvesting that visualizes the potential for positive change. She has been a AoH practitioner in different settings the last 3 years and was a co-founder of the student organisation World Values Initiative. Last year she worked with the Conversation Activists (Samtalsaktivisterna) that creates inclusive dialogue around polarized topics. She is currently doing freelance consultancy work in hosting, harvesting and graphic recording in Sweden.
Viola Tschendel
Viola works as a harvester of gatherings, processes, and conversations that matter. She hosts the harvesting process for teams in politics, regional management, online learning, and various organizational development contexts. In that, she particularly works with graphic facilitation and recording on paper and digitally: translating and capturing the essence of process, conversations, and dynamics in visual format. Originally from Germany, she is now based in the Obenaus Community in Austria, a community farm full of free flowing Art of Hosting practitioners working and living together to explore the next stages of living in community and nature. www.obenauscommunity.org