Leadership

Vice President - Georges Michelson-Dupont was born in Paris, France, in 1947. He married Marlène, who is a reader of The Urantia Book, in 1971, and they have 2 grown daughters. He is an electro-metallurgist engineer. Georges and Marlène own a company that manufactures high-end lighting fixtures and furniture.

Georges’s father introduced him to The Urantia Book in the early 1960s. Georges was a member of the team which spent fifteen years revising and correcting the French translation. 

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as president of an association of French readers, Georges organized several international conferences for readers of The Urantia Book, which took place in France in 1986, 1989, 1992, and 1995. He also organized and hosted the first conference for translators in 1989.

In 1994, the Trustees of Urantia Foundation appointed Georges and Marlène to the position of representatives of Urantia Foundation for the French-speaking countries. Georges became a Trustee of Urantia Foundation in September of 1995 and in 1996 became the first president of the French association of the Urantia Association International (UAI). In 1999 Dorothy Elder and Georges launched the Urantia Book Internet School (UBIS).

Today, Georges is the vice president of Urantia Foundation and the Manager of Translations.

Judy has been a student of The Urantia Book since 1973, when her sister introduced her to the book. She has attended and hosted study groups, is a charter and board member of Idaho Urantia Association, and has served on the Board of Urantia Association of the United States (UAUS) and the board of Urantia Association International (UAI). Judy served as an Associate Trustee of Urantia Foundation and was elected a Trustee in 2008.

Judy lives in Boise, Idaho, U.S.A., where she, her husband, and their family work together in a heating and air conditioning business, which they founded in 1976. While raising her family, Judy served as a volunteer and board member in various local organizations associated with her daughter and son’s activities. Today she especially enjoys spending time with her grandchildren.

President - Mo, father of five, lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife Jennifer. During the last thirty years Mo has served on the board of directors of sixteen for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. He is 59 years old and has spent most of his life in the food industry.   

Mo began reading The Urantia Book in 1969 after spending two years living and attending school at a Catholic monastery. He has hosted a Urantia Book study group since 1972. During the past twenty-seven years Mo has served on the boards of three organizations solely dedicated to The Urantia Book. He has been a Trustee of Urantia Foundation since 1998. 

Irmeli was first introduced to The Urantia Book by a friend in 1982. At that time she lived in Oslo and there was only one other Urantia Book reader there besides herself!  Later, when she moved from Norway to Finland, she joined the Urantia Association of Finland and found a study group. By now, this group has been meeting for 12 years and they are reading the book for the second time.

Having lived in various countries and being an avid international traveler, Irmeli speaks Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, French, Portuguese, English, German and Spanish. She can read The Urantia Book in numerous languages; however, the Portuguese translation is her personal favorite since she has lived in Brazil a great part of her life.

Education and Personal History:Initially, Irmeli studied chemical engineering in Delft, Holland. After her marriage to Eduardo Prado, they moved to his native Brazil where she finished her studies at the Sao Paulo University -- graduating with a B.Sc. in chemistry. Years later, after the marriage ended in divorce, she remarried and moved to Norway.  There she studied homeopathy for 5 years at the “Norwegian Academy for Natural Medicine.” Following the early death of her Norwegian husband, Ole Sjölie, she studied Logotherapy and Existential Analysis at the Viktor Frankl  Institute of Logotherapy, in Texas USA, achieving the “Diplomate in Logotherapy” credential. She greatly enjoyed seeing her two daughters and one granddaughter complete the study of Logotherapy and earn their Diplomate credential.

Career and Avocation:While living in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she headed the “Control Laboratory” of the Swedish  pharmaceutical enterprise, Astra do Brazil, for ten years.  In Norway she was head of the “Department for Clinical Trials” at the Norwegian Radium Hospital (the largest cancer hospital  in Europe) for nine years. Subsequently, upon returning to her native Finland, she was the principal teacher of homeopathy at the Finnish Institute for Natural Medicine for twelve years. Currently, she is an independent lecturer on Logotherapy in Finland, Germany and Brazil.Irmeli Ivalo-Sjolie serves as Honorary Chairman of “Finland’s Homeopaths” and as an At-Large Member of the International Board of Directors of the “Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy” headquartered in Texas, USA. Simultaneously she has served on the Urantia Foundation Board of Trustees as an Associate Trustee since 2007In Europe and wherever she goes, she is making The Urantia Book known to interested readers. She has been to many book fairs in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and is preparing to go to Hungary next to promote The Urantia Book at the Budapest book fair.

Jan Bernard has been reading The Urantia Book since 1987 and became involved with other readers in 1998. She is a long time resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, where she operates businesses and enjoys her three children and eight grandchildren.

Merritt has been reading The Urantia Book since 1968. He was a charter member of the Rocky Mountain Spiritual Fellowship, co-founder and Academic Officer of the Boulder School for Students of The Urantia Book,and is the author of The Call of the Spirit (1984, 2008). He recorded one of the published audio versions of The Urantia Book, has been tracking and analyzing typographical issues in the text of The Urantia Book for many years, and is a member of the Standard Reference Text committee. Out in the real world, he is the IT Director for a large organic foods manufacturer. Merritt lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife, Jeanney, and any of their four daughters who happen to be 'visiting' at the moment.

The Urantia Book with its profound, advanced teachings became a part of Ralph and wife Betty's life in the fall of 1967 while a medical missionary in Ghana. Its impact was immediate and continues to grow after more than 40 years. Words cannot express his gratitude for having found the book early in his parental and professional careers.

Ralph and Betty have two adult children, both readers, and three grandchildren. Betty is a recently retired public school teacher, reading specialist, and Ralph will be a retired radiologist at the end of 2009, terminating 45 years of medical practice.

In addition to his regular practice, his professional experiences include Director of Radiology Residency Program, appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor, Education Committee Member, Chairman, Department of Radiology, Member of Board of Trustees, Guthrie Healthcare System, Editor-in-Chief of Guthrie Journal, Secretary, Vice President, President of Medical Staff, of more than 200 physicians.

Betty and Ralph have hosted study groups in their home for many years. They have recently completed their first course as team Teacher/Facilitators for Urantia Book Internet School, a deeply inspirational experience. They also serve on the board of UBIS. Ralph is a founding member and executive board member, presently serving as president for New York – Pennsylvania Urantia Association. They have hosted bi-annual association meetings in their home for the past 11 years. He has served on various national committees and Foundation initiatives.