"Thought leaders walk heart first into every challenge, knowing that it is their energy, as much as their words and thoughts, which touches the other and clears the way for communion and clarity."
-- Jan Phillips
The Art of Original Thinking
Event Shortcuts
Photos and comments from the seminar and retreat.
Jan Phillip's White Paper: The Art of Visionary Thought Leadership PDF 490 kb
The Art of Original Thinking - book introduction PDF 1.2 mb
At the Chiara Center in Springfield, Illinois
4875 LaVerna Road
Springfield, IL 62707
About Us
It started when Kay sent Sr. Marilyn Jean one of Jan’s newsletters. When Sr. Marilyn Jean attended Jan’s retreat at The Rustic Gate in Michigan in August 2007, she said, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if there could be a similar retreat in Central Illinois?” Jan said “Yes!”, and the Event was born. Sr. Marilyn Jean called Leslie, and they were joined by Delinda, Kay, Amy, Sarah, Donna and Kay to grow the Event over chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant. Since then, the group has expanded to include Sr. Renita, Carol, Kitty, Linda, Janet and Leigh. Currently, about 15 women comprise the group. We’re not exactly sure what we’ll do next, but we’re sure about our intent – to help Create a New World.
Rev. Leslie Bradshaw
Sister Renita Brummer
Sister Renita currently serves as Program Director for Chiara Center, a new Franciscan retreat conference center in Springfield, Illinois. She is a Franciscan Sister of Our Lady of Perpetual Help from St. Louis, and earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Marillac College in St. Louis and a master’s degree in Franciscan Studies from St. Bonaventure University in Olean, NY.
She served in Catholic education, on the Leadership Team of her congregation, and as Director of Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Missouri Rolla. She also served as President of the Franciscan Federation and as a Board member for the national Build with Living Stones Franciscan missionary program.
www.ChiaraCenter.org
Delinda Chapman
Delinda Chapman, a retiree from state government and the field of education, now produces and hosts "The Learning Curve," an Access-4 cable television program in Springfield, Illinois, which airs every Wednesday at 3:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Among other creative activities, Delinda is an acrylic painter of portraits and abstracts. Delinda holds a doctorate in education from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign campus. Delinda is a past president of the American Association of University Women—Illinois and sat on the national board of AAUW as the Great Lakes Regional Director. Delinda is an active member of the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation.
Carol Kneedler
Linda Murphy
Linda Murphy is the director of the St. John's Hospital Center for Living, located at the Prairie heart Institute. Linda has an undergraduate degree in Wholistic Health Care and a masters in Communication. She is a registered respiratory therapist, nationally registered yoga teacher and biofeedback practitioner. She has studied yoga at the Himalayan Institute, Harvard Medical School's Mind-Body Medicine Institute and completed the Ananda Teacher Training Program from the Expanding Light in California. She is also a certified Yoga of the Heart® instructor.
Linda has completed Harvard Medical School's Mind-Body Medicine program and the National Institute of Behavioral Medicine's certification program in Mind-Body Medicine. Linda's expertise in program development, combined with her passion for wholistic healing make her a sought-after speaker, educator and practitioner of the healing arts.
www.prairieheart.com/cfl
Kay Nash
- Kay has had a varied and most interesting life. She has:
- Taught public and/or private school in Iowa, Illinois, Ohio and Louisiana,
- Directed the nursery school at First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans,
- Directed the nursery school at the Sherman United Methodist Church,
- Worked for Memorial Medical Center in the Mammography Center with an emphasis on women's health,
- Worked as Director of Public Relations at the Westabbe Nursing Home, and
- Was the Executive Director for 3 Sylvan Learning Centers and 2 Dyslexia Centers before retiring.
Janet Nix
Donna Rogers
Donna Rogers, SPHR has been a practitioner in the field of Human Resources (HR) since 1991. She has worked at the management and consulting level of HR since 1997 owning her own consulting business since 2001. Her HR experience as an employee of other companies has been primarily in Financial Services and Manufacturing. However, her consulting company has allowed her to expand her HR experience to include non-for-profit, medical, higher education, telecommunications, associations, and retail.
www.rogershr.com
Sister Marilyn Jean Runkel
Marilyn Jean is a Dominican Sister and a native of Springfield, Illinois. Marilyn Jean’s commitment to education and learning at every level is probably her most notable quality or passion. She has a Masters degree in Educational Administration from the University of Illinois, a Masters in Management and Organization and PhD in Organizational Development from Benedictine University. She has been an elementary and middle school teacher, a principal, the director of education for the Springfield Diocese, the president of Sacred Heart Griffin High School in Springfield and the Associate Dean for Academics at Springfield College-in-Illinois/Benedictine University. She currently teaches at SCI/BU in Springfield and at BU in Lisle, Illinois. Her recent studies in Organizational Development led her to be engaged in teaching facets of management and organizational behavior, as well as facilitating group processes. Marilyn Jean serves on a number of not-for-profit boards and sees all of her involvements as part of the Dominican mission to seek and to share the Truth. Dominicans are an international religious Order committed to preaching the Truth. Marilyn Jean believes individuals and groups have significant creativity and resourcefulness; she enjoys enabling those qualities. She welcomes broadening and stretching one’s perspective in multiple ways as essential to personal and organizational growth.
Sarah Wolin
Sarah Wolin is the director of communications and investor relations at The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and supports the economic development efforts of the Quantum Growth Partnership (Q5).
www.gscc.org