Curriculum Vitae

  • Born January 21, 1940 in Prague (Czech Republic)
  • 1945 – 1953 elementary and high school in Germany
  • 1958 emigration to the USA
  • 1958 – 1965 study of Zoology at Los Angeles City College and the University of California at Los Angeles, USA interrupted by a year in Paris (1962-1963)
  • 1965 – 1969 member of the United States Peace Corps (2 years in Kerala, South India followed by 2 years of training and public relations work in Hawaii and Los Angeles, California)
  • 1969 – 1971 Executive Director of the Missouri Delta Ecumenical Ministry (community organizing, development of agricultural production co-ops, credit unions and self-help housing projects in the poorest rural area of the USA)
  • 1972 – 1999 Social planner, organisational development consultant, trainer and consultant for community organizing with the Protestant Church in Berlin
  • Since September 1, 1999 independent consultant specializing in large group interventions with a focus on Open Space Technology

Professional development

  • Natural science (Zoology, Marine Biology) at Los Angeles City College and the University of California at Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Community organisation (Peace Corps Training at the University of California at Davis, Saul Alinsky)
  • Training (Peace Corps, University of Hawaii, Hilo)
  • Consultancy (Planned Parenthood World Population, New York, Los Angeles, Arkansas, Missouri)
  • Parish Consultation (Church of Hessia, Germany)
  • Community Organisation (Central Training Institute of the Protestant Church of Germany, Gelnhausen)
  • Sociology / Urban development (Free University, Berlin)
  • Consultancy (Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, Switzerland)
  • Large Group Interventions (open space / Harrison Owen; future search / Marvin Weisbord, Sandra Janoff)

Professional Organisations

  • Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pastoralpsychologie (DGfP), Trainer, Supervisor, Teaching Supervisor (until 2000)
  • Gesellschaft für Organisationsentwicklung (OD-Association Germany) (until 1995)
  • International Organisational Development Association (IODA) (until 1999)
  • Future Search Network (current)
  • Open Space Institute USA and Canada (current)

Other activities

  • Trainer for parish consultants and community organizers
  • Supervisor for parish consultants in training and for community organizers and social workers in training
  • Trainer for Open Space – facilitators
  • Coaching for professionals in leadership, consultancy and training positions
  • Organizer of training events
  • Facilitator for colleague counseling groups
  • Union organizer (church workers in the Public Workers Union)
  • Member of several colleague counseling groups and learning exchanges
  • Producer of Open Space videos (an open space in an elementary school; open space – technology)
  • www.michaelmpannwitz.de
  • www.openspaceworldmap.org
  • www.boscop.org
  • member of the berlin open space cooperative eg
  • co-originator and participant in the German language listserve “openspacedeutsch”
  • participant in the worldwide listserve “oslist”
  • participant in the worldwide listserve “future search”

Family

  • Married, 6 children, 7 grandchildren.