The Women

Lynne Franks
Author, entrepreneur and lifestyle guru Lynne Franks has a communication reach that stretches across the world. As a high-profile business woman and founder of the SEED empowerment programmes for women, she is either featured in or writes for many of the UKís top publications, as well as regularly appearing in international media, television and radio, speaking on the subjects of social change, consumer patterns, corporate responsibility and women in business.

Paula Benson
Founder of 15 year old London based design consultancy Form. Form's background is in the music industry, with well document collaborations with Depeche Mode, Scritti Politti, Natalie Imbruglia and Everything but the girl. Paulaís work has now widened to include branding/identity, books/brochures, typefaces, TV titles and even the odd stage set.

Serena Standing
Founder of The Hanover Foundation, a registered charity, who have been offering a personal development coaching service to schools since 1997. Serena has combined a successful commercial and academic career building up businesses in the UK and Middle East. An advisor and facilitator on business start-ups, she has enabled a number of individuals to run their own businesses and has lectured and published in USA and Middle East. She is also a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Fletchers and currently holds directorships in a range of small to medium size companies.

Bronwen Astor
Born on 6th June 1930, was the forerunner of today's supermodels. She was muse to the couturier Pierre Balmain, who called her one of the most beautiful women he had ever met. After the sudden death of a friend in 1951 she embarked on an inner journey of self discovery culminating in 1959 in a profound mystical experience. In 1960 Bronwen married Viscount Astor, son of Nancy Astor, the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons. In 1966 her husband Bill Astor died prematurely, leaving her with two young daughters. Thrown on to her inner resources, Bronwen opened her new home to the homeless and in 1983 trained as a psychotherapist. Her Christian faith has been integral to her work as a therapist as she brings together the spiritual and the psychological. Her biography, Bronwen Astor: Her Life and Times authored by Peter Stanford, was published in 2000 and shows how her profound faith has guided and sustained her in surviving tragedy.

Cari Caldwell
Director of Future Considerations consultancy Cari is an entreprenuer, consultant, coach and women's leadership enthusiast. Cari specialises in the areas of diversity and leadership and before joining Future Considerations Cari was a leading consultant on cultural diversity with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the US and the UK. Cari has in depth experience of diversity issues in public and private sector organisations and has audited, reviewed, designed and trained in all areas of diversity including: race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, thinking styles, value orientations, functions, and also issues of sexual harassment. The birth of her son also gave birth to Cari's passion for women's issues and particularly motherhood and parenting. Cari recently co-founded WomanBeing an organisation dedicated to supporting women to achieve their full potential. She is currently working on two projects through WomanBeing including the making of an antenatal education film and she has recently launched a workshop for women anywhere along the path of motherhood called The Birth of a Mother. Cari is currently training with the National Childbirth Trust to teach childbirth education.

Julia Häusermann MBE, LLB, LLM Barrister-at-law
Mrs Julia Häusermann is the founder and President of Rights and Humanity. An international human rights lawyer and advocate, Mrs Häusermann has been working in the field of humanitarian relief, human rights and development for over twenty-five years. Mrs Häusermann has played a key role in helping to draft and develop UN, inter-governmental and governmental policies on human rights and development, and has frequently acted as a consultant for the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the British Government, and numerous international organisations

Mona Siddiqui
Dr Siddiqui is Head of Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow, Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam. She is a regular contributor to 'Thought for the Day' for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 4. She is a consultant on Middle Eastern Affairs for the Ministry of Defence and a member to both the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Edinburgh, and the Scottish Religious Advisory Council for the BBC.

Annette Kaiser
A former student of political economics, Annette Kaiser is today the spiritual director of the 'Villa Unspunnen' in Switzerland and of the 'Windschnur' in Germany. She was authorized by the English-Russian Sufi teacher Irina Tweedie to carry on this tradition, which she makes accessible in todays world. She is married, has two grown children and teaches in Germany and in Switzerland. In 2004, the book Jensuits aller Pfade, Visionen einer neuen Spiritualitat was published by Theseus Verlag.

Mary Adams
Mary Adams is a senior member of EnlightenNext an organization dedicated to the development of Evolutionary Enlightenment [www.andrewcohen.org]. A practitioner and student of eastern and western philosophy and thought for over thirty years, including seven years in Asia, Adams has led seminars and short retreats in the UK, USA, and Australia. She has helped establish EnlightenNext centers in the UK and Europe and now guides the development of many of the organizationís programs. Based at the international headquarters for EnlightenNext in the USA, she leads Enlightened Communication discussion groups and seminars in the USA and abroad and is currently pioneering a new leadership for women based on the principles of evolutionary enlightenment.