Adele Diamond
Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC, FAPA, FAPS, FSEP, ScD (honoris causa), DPhil (honoris causa) is the Canada Research Chair Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She is considered one of the two founders of the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience and a world leader on executive functions, which depend on the brain’s prefrontal cortex and interrelated neural regions. Executive functions enable us to mentally manipulate information, flexibly switch perspectives or mindsets, think before we act, maintain focused attention, creatively problem solve, and succeed despite obstacles.
Prof. Diamond’s work on executive functions has profoundly influenced education, child development, and public policy. She has emphasized that addressing social and emotional needs may be central to whether executive functions improve and whether those improvements last. Thus, she offers a different perspective from mainstream education in hypothesizing that focusing exclusively on training cognitive skills is less efficient, and ultimately less successful, than also addressing emotional, social, spiritual, and physical needs.
Adele Diamond is the first in her family to graduate high school or go to college. She was educated at Swarthmore College (BA, Phi Beta Kappa, Sociology-Anthropology and Psychology), Harvard University (PhD, Developmental Psychology), and Yale Medical School (Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuroanatomy).
Alain Tschudin
Professor Alain Tschudin completed his PhD in Psychology in 1999 through the then University of Natal (The University of Kwazulu-Natal) on the comparative evolution of social complexity and intelligence in dolphins and primates, registering as a professional psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. In 2007, he completed his second PhD in moral philosophy and theology on the meaning of being, at the University of Cambridge. Alain worked for the University of Seville and the European Commission on a project to foster social integration and economic participation for immigrant and ethnic minorities in Spain. He later returned to South Africa and ran the Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal using dialogics to pursue solidarity among residents and refugees, along with peace, democratisation and human rights initiatives in marginal communities. He has done humanitarian work with Save the Children International, with UNICEF in the Central African Republic and served as the UN's inter-agency Child Protection Assessment Coordinator for Northern Syria. Alain was Executive Director of Good Governance Africa, a pan-African NGO, in Johannesburg, Professor in the WITS School of Governance and lead consultant for the UN Special Advisor on Africa on the nexus approach to fast-tracking the SDGs across Africa. Subsequently, he was Director of the International Centre of Nonviolence at the Durban University of Technology. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland and is a Senior Research Associate at St Edmund's College, Cambridge. Since 2022, he has served voluntarily as President of the Association Montessori Internationale, the NGO set up by Dr Maria Montessori in 1929, headquartered in the Netherlands and he recently joined the Board of the Gorée Institute in Senegal. In 2025 he was named the UNESCO Gandhi-Montessori-Luthuli Chair on Education for Peace and Transformative Solidarity hosted by Stellenbosch University and co-hosted by St Edmund’s College, Cambridge University.
Angeline Stoll Lillard
Angeline Lillard is Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia where she directs the Early Development Laboratory and the Montessori Science Program. She is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science. She received her PhD in Psychology from Stanford University in 1991, and the American Psychological Association's Boyd McCandless Award for her early career contributions to Developmental Science. Her book, Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius (Oxford University Press) received the Cognitive Development Society Book Award, is translated into several languages, and is currently in its 3rd edition. She has been keynote speaker at dozens of Psychology and Montessori conferences nationally and worldwide. Her research has been funded by the Institutes of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and many private foundations.
Bo Mynett
Bo Mynett is an AMI 6-12 Trainer with more than a decade of experience in the education of children and adults. She has been working as an Elementary Montessori guide in both the United States and the Netherlands. In the academic year of 2022/2023, she directed the first AMI 6-12 diploma course in Delft.
She worked in a Montessori environment before taking her AMI 6 -12 training in Bergamo and continued to work in the classroom in San Mateo, California as well as at Casa Bilingual Montessori School in Pijnacker in The Netherlands. After several years she decided to also take the AMI 3 - 6 training course in Boston, USA, which was offered as a summer course which allowed her to keep working in the classroom throughout the years.
Although she enjoyed her work with the children very much she then went back to Bergamo, Italy to do the training for Trainers under the guidance of Baiba Krumins Grazzini for 2 academic years. She went back to teaching after that as she completed the seminars and requirements to become an AMI 6-12 Trainer.
Since January 2022 she gave five 6 -12 Orientation Course at the International Montessori Institute in Delft followed by the first AMI 6 - 12 Diploma Course ever held in The Netherlands at the IMI in the academic year 2022-2023. She is currently the Director of Training for the first AMI 6 - 12 Diploma Course in Mwanza, Tanzania where close to 40 students are participating. She is also the Director of Training for the first Dutch AMI 6 - 12 Diploma Course in Delft which started last September, and lecturing on the first AMI 6 - 12 Course in Estonia.
Judi Orion
Judith A. Orion M.A. Director of Training holds the AMI Early Childhood (3-6) diploma and received her Assistants to Infancy (0-3) diploma at the first AMI training for that level, given in Rome.
Judi has conducted Primary and Infancy Montessori classes, and is a trainer, examiner, and consultant at both levels. She conducted teacher training internationally and was Director of Training for the first 0-6 AMI Diploma course. Judi works at AMI as the Director of Pedagogy and served for many years as the Chair of the Training Group, the AMI committee that oversees the training of new AMI trainers. In 2020 Judi retired from The Montessori Institute, Denver, Colorado where she was the director of 0-3 training courses for 30 years.
Julia Ballesteros
Julia Ballesteros Sentíes is a Human Communication therapist with a specialization in cognitive neurorehabilitation from the Complutense University of Madrid. Since 1998, she has worked with adults and seniors in various settings, including private homes, hospitals, health institutions, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and day centers, both in the private and public sectors.
Julia is a member of the Council of the Mexican College of Human Communication Therapists and the Board of Directors of Montessori Mexico, as well as the Assembly of Associates of Montessori Mexico and HORME in Montessori Mexico, Member of the MDDA Sub-Committee. She is also an AMI Montessori guide for children aged 3 to 6 and holds certifications in Montessori for aging and dementia, as well as community educator qualifications from Brush Development Company. As a pioneer, she became the first AMI Montessori trainer in Spanish in the field of aging and dementia, collaborating with Brush Development Company on Spanish certification training and contributing to staff training in nursing homes and day centers. Currently, she is a trainer for MDDA Montessori for Disability, Dementia, and Aging.
Her work includes providing support and guidance to therapists, families, and caregivers of individuals with acquired brain injury and major neurocognitive decline. Julia specializes in palliative care planning and is a Death Doula, having studied at the School of Death under Camilo Russi, going with Grace with Alua Arthur and Dr. Christian Villavicencio from Care Method.
She is a speaker at international congresses and forums and organized the First International Montessori Congress on Adults and Seniors. She is the founder of NUÚP honra.conecta (nuupmontessori).
For Julia, the most important aspect is to dignify the human being at all life stages, providing tools through Montessori philosophy to offer the best care for adults and seniors. Her goal is to normalize good treatment, honor the greatness in everyday life, and foster community building. Julia aims to replace reaction with creation in caregiving. She believes that integration means accepting each community member for who they are in the present, trusting in human greatness, and recognizing that the true beauty of each individual lies in their authenticity and the ability to share their gifts with others. She believes that every person deserves to live the best human experience at the moment they are in.
Julia views accompanying a human being at the end of life as a sacred role that allows her to embrace the moment that connects us all in the present. Her pillars and support system include her faith, her husband, her children, her family, and her friends, who have inspired and supported her throughout her journey. She is grateful for the extraordinary teachers and guides she has encountered and appreciates every family that has shown her love and trust, as well as every team that has opened their hearts and interest, especially the experts—every person with whom she has had the opportunity to work and accompany, giving meaning to her work.
To Julia, the Montessori philosophy is a light that illuminates the path, even in the darkest moments, with the person acting as a guide. Her work is framed by Maria Montessori’s quotes: “Do not follow me, follow the child” and “Do not follow me, follow the person,” starting with oneself. Julia believes that each person has a role to honor and a life to be grateful for.
She invites every caregiver and companion to recognize that the most beautiful aspect of themselves is being who they are, enriching humanity as part of this great team of which we are all a part—one and the same.
Molly O’Shaughnessy
Molly O’Shaughnessy is a distinguished AMI Primary (3–6) Trainer, Consultant, and Executive Director Emeritus of the Montessori Center of Minnesota (MCM). For nearly three decades, she led MCM with vision and purpose, transforming it from a teacher training center into a dynamic force for Montessori education and social impact—reaching hundreds of children and families in underserved communities.
In 2008, she spearheaded the development of MCM’s permanent campus in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood of East St. Paul. The campus includes an AMI training center, a model early childhood program, and the only Montessori museum of its kind in the U.S. Under her leadership, MCM also cultivated a strong partnership with Cornerstone Montessori Elementary School, a public charter school serving children in kindergarten through sixth grade.
O’Shaughnessy is the founding force behind Montessori Partners Serving All Children (MPSAC), a groundbreaking initiative that has helped launch and support over ten high-fidelity Montessori programs in historically marginalized communities. These partnerships—ranging from community-based schools to non-traditional educational settings—seek to create equitable access to Montessori education while honoring cultural context and building strong connections between home, school, and community.
An internationally respected leader in Montessori education, O’Shaughnessy has served on the board of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) in Amsterdam, chairs the MM75 Fund for future AMI teacher trainers, and was a long-standing member of the AMI Trainers Group. She has played a key role in the Montessori Leaders Collaborative and has consulted on numerous national and international projects. Her keynote addresses and workshops have reached audiences across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
She holds a Master’s in Education from Loyola University Maryland and a Bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Scholastica. She currently serves as Community Faculty at Metropolitan State University and has also taught as adjunct faculty at St. Catherine University.
In recognition of her lifelong commitment to children and social justice, O’Shaughnessy received the Early Childhood Honors Award from the Start Early Funders Coalition in 2016 and the Wisdom of the Elders Award from the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE) in 2015–2016.
