Director: Marianne Meyer (Denmark)

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Graduated from Copenhagen Business Academy, and later continued her university studies in philosophy, psychology and pedagogic on BA level. She has several additional diplomas in adult education.

Training of adults has been included in her employment throughout her professional life. Her engagement in companies and associations has been as manager, trainer, facilitator or consultant.

She has been an ESSE Institute Teacher Trainer since 1987.

Master Trainer: Katinka van Lamsweerde (The Netherlands)

Born in the Netherlands (currently lives in France).

After obtaining a Masters degree in Urban and Environmental policy from Tuft’s University, USA, she co-founded two educational and humanitarian non-profit organisations to make basic education possible and to support values education, in Laos and in Haiti.

Since starting education in human values trainings in 1996, she has been volunteer-teaching and giving trainings to help integrate human values in a variety of cultures and contexts, in Laos, Thailand, USA, Haiti, and Europe, working with children, youth and adults.

In 2005 she followed the Human Values courses at The Sathya Sai Institute in Thailand, and taught at their residential school in 2008-2009. The following year she started giving workshops in the US and Haiti.

She has been an ESSE Trainer since 2011

Master Trainer: Rainer Benda (Germany)

Born in Germany.

His academic achievements include graduating from High School in 1964, after which he studied German and English language and literature followed by a year-long spell as a teaching assistant at Trinity College in Dublin, where he also completed a Diploma in Anglo-Irish literature.

In his professional career he has been teaching English and German at Secondary and High School levels in Bremen for 33 years, including a five-year period as a foreign teacher in Bilbao, Northern Spain (1983–1988).

This was followed by qualifications in Spanish language and literature as well as philosophy/ethics at the University of Bremen, where he also taught these subjects until 2005, while simultaneously giving practical tutoring to teachers’ aspirants in Secondary School.

Rainer Benda has been involved in Sathya Sai Education since 1982 and has served as a Teachers’ Trainer for the European Sathya Sai Education (ESSE) Institute, since 1988.