Paul Mackay, born 1946 in Hong Kong, studied economics in Rotterdam and busi­ness administration in Fontaine­bleau. After some years of work in inter­national finance, he met and studied Anthro­posophy in Eng­land and Germany (1974 - 1977). From 1977 until 2012 he was active in anthroposophical banking as co-founder and managing director of Triodos Bank in the Netherlands, later on the Board of Directors of the GLS Bank, Germany, and Chairman of its Governing Board until March 2012. As of March 2012 Paul Mackay is President of the Board of Directors of the Weleda AG in Arlesheim, Switzerland. Since 1996 he is a member of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society. Since 2000 he is also the leader of the Section for Social Sciences of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.

Assistant: Monika Clement

Born 1958 in Bad Bevensen, Northern Germany
Worked with severely disabled adults. Studied history, philosophy and Waldorf education in Germany, Austria and France. Upper school teacher at the Libre École Rudolf Steiner in Verrières-le-Buisson, close to Paris; co-initiator of a socio-cultural project in Angers, West of France. In 1989 developed and directed the Forschungsstelle Kulturimpuls (cultural
impulse research centre) at the Friedrich von Hardenberg Institute for Cultural Studies in Heidelberg. Member, Council of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum since 2001. Publications on history of development and anthroposophical subjects. Married, three children.

Assistant: Renate Braun

Dr. Virginia Sease was born in Pennsylvania
Through her high school German teacher, she discovered Anthroposophy. Parallel to a B.A. degree in German literature at Douglas College of Rutgers University she studied singing in New York City. After a Fulbright Scholarship study at the University of Tübingen and the Waldorf Teachers Seminar in Stuttgart, Germany, she was a Class Teacher at Highland Hall Waldorf School then in North Hollywood. In 1968 she received a Ph.D. degree in German literature from the University of Southern California. From 1967 to 1974 she was Assistant Professor of German Literature at Occidental College and worked simultaneously to help to establish the Waldorf Institute of Southern California. She took a Class through eight grades at Highland Hall in Northridge from 1974 to 1983. During this time she served on the Western Regional Council and from 1981-1984 on the National Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. In 1984 Virginia Sease became a member of the Executive Council (Vorstand) of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum and moved to Dornach, Switzerland. From 1991 to 2001 she also was the leader of the Section for the Arts of Eurythmy, Speech and Music. In addition to her Vorstand work she is responsible for the Anthroposophical Studies Program in English at the Goetheanum since October 2001.

Assistant: Andrea Jeserich

Birth and childhood in the Camphill communities in South Africa. Attended part Waldorf and part rural State education. Moved to Germany in 1982, mothered four children and trained as Waldorf Class Teacher in Witten-Annen. Returned to Cape Town, South Africa in 1995. Worked as class teacher at Michael Oak Waldorf School from 1995 – 2012 and as teacher trainer at the Centre for Creative Education from 2006 – 2012. Member of the International Forum for Steiner / Waldorf Schools (Hague Circle) and co-ordinator or the Pedagogical Section in Cape Town since 2010. 

Assistant: Monika Clement

(born 1953 in Helsinki, Finland)

Seija Zimmermann worked in different hospitals in Germany and Finland as pediatric neurologist. She was engaged as school doctor, leader of the medical care of the childrens' Camphill Sylviakoti in Lahti, Finland, is co-founder and member of the board at the Association of Anthroposophical Doctors in Finland, Member of Ita Wegmann Nachlassverein. After her time as Board member of the National Anthroposophical Society and General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Finland, she became Member of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum in 2006.

Assistant: tanja.hietsch(AT)goetheanum.org

born 1955 in Berlin, Germany

Justus Wittich went to the Rudolf Steiner School in Berlin-Dahlem and studied economics at the Freie Universität Berlin. In 1979 he took over the management of the association of friends of Rudolf Steiner’s education, Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners, in Stuttgart. Since 1985 Justus Wittich has been involved in adult education at “der hof”, a cultural, medical and spiritual community initiative in Niederursel, Frankfurt. In 1989 he became editorial manager of the quarterly members’ newssheet Mitteilungen aus der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland, and he was a member of the Council of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany from 1992 to 2012. In 1998 he was actively involved in founding the international newsletter Anthroposophy Worldwide and, in 2000, he founded the company Mercurial which publishes the journals of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany. Justus Wittich is a member of the board of directors at GLS Treuhand (a charitable trust foundation), the DEMETER Association and Alanus Foundation. He is married and has three children.

Assistant: walter.laubi(AT)goetheanum.ch