Don Richard Riso, M.A.

DON RISO, M.A., is one of the foremost teachers and developers of the Enneagram in the world today. The most published and best-selling author in the field, he is President of Enneagram Personality Types, Inc., is co-Founder of The Enneagram Institute, and is a Founding Director of the International Enneagram Association. Don has been teaching the Enneagram worldwide for over 25 years. His five best-selling books, The Wisdom of the Enneagram, Personality Types, Understanding the Enneagram, Discovering Your Personality Type, and Enneagram Transformations have sold over a million copies worldwide and are the most influential books in the field. They are available in British, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Dutch, Hungarian, Portuguese and other foreign editions.

Don was raised in New Orleans, LA and was a Jesuit in the New Orleans Province for 13 years. He holds degrees in English and Philosophy graduating Magna cum Laude, was elected to the Jesuit Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Nu, and was a Ford Foundation Fellow at Stanford in Communication (Social Psychology). After Don left the Jesuits, he began full time work on the Enneagram in 1975. A lifelong spiritual seeker, Don was a member of the Gurdjieff Foundation in New York and is currently a member of the Ridhwan School (Diamond Heart®) of A.H. Almaas. He and Russ Hudson are the only Enneagram authors and teachers who have actually been members of both the Gurdjieff Work and the Diamond Approach®.

Don's contributions (along with those of Russ Hudson) to the Enneagram are described in detail in Enneagram Contributions. Convinced that the Enneagram would not be taken seriously without grounding in modern psychology, Don devoted himself to clearly and systematically describing the types and the elements of the system as a whole. Don's innovations (such as the detailed systematic type descriptions, the popular type names, descriptions of the arrows and the wings, the Hornevian Groups, and so forth) are now so widely used that many believe that these discoveries were part of an original body of Enneagram materials from either Ichazo or Naranjo, or some earlier source. However, Don's original work (not only including the above but, most notably, the Levels of Development) is the foundation for virtually all work now being done with the Enneagram. His first book, Personality Types, was published in 1987 after 12 years of work and has become the benchmark in the field. The Levels of Development, the Psychic Structures, the RHETI questionnaire, the IVQ (instinctual variant questionnaire)—and many other practical applications—are possible due to Don's groundbreaking work.

Personal Statement

"The Enneagram is an invaluable tool for the growth of consciousness in human beings. When the personality types (and the system as a whole) are rightly understood, they help illuminate what is so often unconscious—and therefore hidden—in us. The Enneagram helps turn the light of awareness onto those features of our personality that operate automatically, not only keeping us "asleep," but so often getting us into more trouble, more conflicts, and increasing our suffering and that of others. But, of course, the Enneagram is not automatic, much less magic. In fact, it is not something that can even be all that useful unless we have some degree of awareness, as well as the willingness to work on ourselves with honesty and humility. Given these, however, the Enneagram is one of the great helps available for alleviating human suffering. Through self-observation, we can come to a deeper level of self-awareness and self-realization. Through this process, things can begin to change. Transformation becomes not just an idea, but a reality. When enough individuals begin to change, the world will begin to change."

Russ Hudson

RUSS HUDSON is one of the principal scholars and innovative thinkers in the Enneagram world today. He is Executive Director of Enneagram Personality Types, Inc. and co-Founder of The Enneagram Institute. He has been co-teaching the Enneagram Professional Training Programs since 1991, and is a Founding Director and former Vice-President of the International Enneagram Association. He is also co-author of The Wisdom Of The Enneagram, Personality Types (Revised Edition), Understanding the Enneagram (Revised Edition), Discovering Your Personality Type (Revised Edition), and The Power Of The Enneagram (audio tape). He also assisted Don Riso in writing Enneagram Transformations. He holds a degree in East Asian Studies from Columbia University in New York, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Gayle Scott

Professional Background

• Director, The Enneagram Institute of Colorado
• Studied and trained with Don Riso and Russ Hudson since 1993
• Riso-Hudson Certified Teacher and Faculty for Riso-Hudson Part I Trainings
• Member of Claudio Naranjo's ongoing International SAT (Seekers After Truth) group
• Manuscript and Screenplay Consultant for actors and writers
• Founding Board Member of the Southern California chapter of the International Enneagram Association
• Founding Board of Directors Co-Chair of the Colorado Chapter of the International Enneagram Association
• Board Member, International Enneagram Association (IEA)
• Conference Chair, 2005 International IEA Conference, San Francisco

GAYLE SCOTT teaches introductory and advanced Enneagram courses through the Enneagram Institute of Colorado and at Naropa University School of Extended Studies in Boulder. She leads workshops, business seminars, and professional Enneagram trainings throughout the U.S. and Canada.

During a 25-year career in Hollywood film and television production, working extensively in Europe, North Africa, Canada and the U.S., Gayle created and developed her specialty of "Using the Enneagram for Character Development" for actors and scriptwriters.

Gayle moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 2002 to pursue her psychospiritual studies in the Diamond Approach® at the Ridhwan School.

The Enneagram Institute continues to grow and expand around the world, and now with the completion of The Barn, both Don and Russ would like to cut back on their travel so that they can spend more time writing and giving advanced Trainings in The Barn. We are now actively developing a new group of Faculty to present the Part I Training. If you are interested in becoming a Riso-Hudson Part I Faculty Member, you must have completed your Certification, be Authorized as an AWTP Teacher, and have taught Authorized Workshops for at least a year. Please read the Faculty Guidelines for more details.

Following is a list of Part I Faculty Trainees:

• Roxanne Howe-Murphy
• Ronna Phifer-Ritchie

Jane W. Hollister, M.A.

Professional Background

• Director, Enneagram Institute of Tampa
• Riso-Hudson Certified Teacher and Faculty for Riso-Hudson Part II Trainings
• Florida Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
• Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor
• Certified Holotropic Breathwork^® Practitioner
• Certified Neurolingquistic Programmer
• Certified Level 2 Thought Form Therapy
• Certified Level 2 EMDR

JANE HOLLISTER received her certification in Holotropic Breathwork^™ in 1988 and was first introduced to the Enneagram as a part of her training in 1989. In 1991, after meeting and studying with Don Riso, she wanted to be able to bring these two powerful trainings together, mainly because she had found both to be life transforming for herself. Breathwork brings to Part II Training (The Enneagram Growth Experience) a deepening of the participants' emotional connection to Essence.

Jane facilitates two ongoing Enneagram Study Groups that manifest a "living laboratory" of the Enneagram. Many of the participants of the Enneagram Study Groups also participate in Jane's Holotropic Breathwork^™ Workshops. Jane also leads Enneagram Workshops for both introductory and advanced level learning and holds periodic Holotropic Breathwork Workshops.

Jane is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Mental Health Counselor in private practice in Tampa, Florida. She earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont. She was certified as a Riso-Hudson Enneagram Teacher in 1995 and is the Director of the Enneagram Institute of Tampa Bay. Jane's has used the Enneagram in her work with business groups, conferences, individuals, couples and families.

Andrea Isaacs, M.A.

Professional Background

• Originator, EnneaMotion and Physical Intelligence workshop series
• Founding co-Editor/Publisher of the Enneagram Monthly
• Faculty, Riso-Hudson Professional Training, Part II and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Continuing Education program (Palo Alto, CA)
• Board Member, International Enneagram Association (IEA)
• Conference co-Chair, IEA 10th Anniversary Conference (2004 in the Washington DC area)
• Certified Enneagram Teacher with Riso-Hudson, Palmer-Daniels and Hurley-Donson

ANDREA ISAACS, M.A., is known for her teaching and original work exploring the relationship between personality and the body. She combined her dance and teaching career with her training in Transpersonal Psychology to develop "Physical Intelligence," a system that translates emotional energy into physical energy and teaches you how to train and trust your body's "PQ."

Andrea helped design and has been faculty for Riso-Hudson Part II Training (the Enneagram Growth Experience, or the EGE) since its inception in 1995. She has been a popular presenter at Enneagram, CAPT, APT (Myers-Briggs), and Curriculum Development conferences.

Andrea also offers her own programs. "Creating through Cancer" is a program for cancer survivors and their loved ones, that uses moving, drawing and writing to address the emotional and spiritual aspects of healing. And her new Emotional and Physical Intelligence training program called EPI and Integrative Change Intensive: Emotional Intelligence, the Enneagram, and Brain Science. Andrea has published several articles, teaches workshops and sees private clients internationally.

Brian Grodner, Ph.D., ABPP, FAClinP

We regret that Brian Grodner is unavailable for teaching or consultations due to a serious health problem from which he is recovering.

Professional Background

• Director, Enneagram Institute of New Mexico
• Riso-Hudson Certified Teacher, and Faculty for Riso-Hudson Part I Trainings
• Board Member, International Enneagram Association
• Clinical and Health Psychologist
• Fellow, Academy of Clinical Psychology
• Diplomate, American Board of Professional Psychology
• Director, Milton Erickson Institute for Clinical Hypnosis & Behavioral Sciences of NM
• Clinical Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico School of Medicine

BRIAN GRODNER, Ph.D., ABPP, FAClinP, has been studying the Enneagram for over ten years and was certified as a Teacher in the Riso-Hudson Insight Approach in 1994. He has also studied with Claudio Naranjo and has written many articles on the Enneagram. In 1995, Brian helped design, and then was faculty for, the first three Riso-Hudson Enneagram Growth Experience (EGE Part II) Trainings

Brian has introduced and taught the Enneagram to many national conferences and congresses, professional groups, institutions, organizations and businesses across the country and in Mexico, and was a presenter at the initial 1994 Stanford University (and many other) International Enneagram Association Conferences. He is also a national speaker and trainer in psychotherapy, hypnosis, Energy psychology, NLP, habit and addiction control, health and healing, personal effectiveness, and communication skills for health and education professionals, as well as institutions, businesses, and organizations.