For more than 25 years, Tom Valente has been at the forefront of transformative and holistic education. From his role in the development of the Omega Institute to his current position as president of the Link Foundation and the Global Academy, he has distinguished himself as one of the premier developers and initiators of innovative educational programs.
Valente’s educational philosophy is based on the principle that through education, dialogue, and collective creativity solutions to many of our most overwhelming challenges can be found. He postulates that new forms of society are an inevitable response to new forms of education, and for us to move in a constructive and effective manner into the future we need models of education that will enable all of us to reform our visions and skills toward achieving these new goals. He believes that education needs to support a new sense of self through which to serve in the emerging world of the 21st century.
From 1978-1999, Valente served as a principal of the Omega Institute in New York. During his tenure as Program Director, Vice President, and member of the Board of Directors, he provided the vision, leadership and direction that helped grow the institute into the largest in the United States for holistic and human potential education. He worked with the institute’s two co-founders to transform the campus from an abandoned summer camp into a 100 acre educational facility with over 80 buildings including accommodations for 300 people, 12 meeting rooms, bookstore, and wellness center attracting 15,000 students each year to its educational programs. As Program Director, he was primarily responsible for the development of all educational programs, which helped Omega to achieve international brand recognition.
Some of Valente’s accomplishments with Omega included the Omega Seminar and Workshop Series, in which he researched, developed, and produced over 300 workshops each year; the Omega Conference Series which he inspired and helped grow into one of the most interesting and well-received series of its kind in the US; the Omega Professional Training Series, an accredited series, which he developed to offer health care professionals accredited programs in the fields of medicine, nursing, psychology, and social work. He also initiated and directed the Omega Travel Series, which produced over 100 cultural tours in 30 countries since its inception in 1985.
In 1999, Valente co-founded the Link Foundation in order to expand the reach of his educational vision into a variety of societal institutions. As president of the Link Foundation and the Global Academy, he has successfully developed programs for corporations, universities and governments throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas.eak. It was not until the 1997 Asian economic crisis and the subsequent removal of veteran Indonesian President Suharto (see Indonesia section) that the growing international criticism of the Indonesian campaign began to have some effect. In June 1999, President Habibie of Indonesia suddenly announced that a referendum would be held in East Timor, offering independence or autonomy within Indonesia. The referendum was held in August 1999 and 80 per cent opted for independence. By way of revenge, the Indonesian army, along with local militias that they had armed and financed, indulged in an orgy of destruction and killing that displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed the territory's already fragile economic base. A UN transitional administration (UNTAET) set up shop in East Timor, pending the conduct of national elections. The assembly poll, which was held in August 2001, returned as expected a large majority for FRETILIN candidates. The Presidency, contested in April 2002, was won by Xanana Gusmão, with a huge majority. Mari Alkatiri, also of FRETILIN, is the new premier.