Experience of Women in the Conference Director Role: Panelists


Kathleen Cain is retired from the practices of Occupational Therapy and Social Work.  Her work has been both clinical and administrative culminating in public health leadership in the state of Missouri. Since retirement she has published two books of poetry titled Journeys and Solstice. Kathleen’s roots in the A.K. Rice Institute began in 1984 as an Associate Administrator for a group relations conference and going forward.  She was a consultant both in three day conferences and national nine day conferences. Kathleen has directed 3 day conferences both in the Central States and now Midwest Center as well as collaborative conferences with the Chicago Center.  She has also worked in Social Dreaming events in the U.S. and Europe with Gordon Lawrence, the founder of this methodology.


Patricia Kummel, JD, PhD was first introduced to group dynamics and AKRI through the group dynamics track taught by Debra Noumair, EdD at Teachers College, Columbia University.  As part of training at that time, students had the opportunity to staff student conferences and Patricia took up every role that was available. Those experiences shaped her thinking about training, mentoring and application of GR concepts.  She applied her learning first as an attorney and manager at the New York Stock Exchange (FINRA) and later as a manager at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.  Currently, Patricia maintains a private practice in psychotherapy and organizational consulting.  She previously taught group dynamics at Teachers College, where she directed several student conferences.  She is a Fellow of the A.K. Rice Institute and former chair of its Training and Certification program.  In that role, she directed two conferences focused, in part, on the training and certification of consultants. Regarding AKRI affiliates, she was a member and past President of the Philadelphia (PCOD) Center and is a member of the New York Center for the Study of Groups, Organizations and Social Systems.



Dr. Flora Taylor, Ph.D. is a Licensed Counseling Psychologist and Organization Development Consultant.  She runs an independent practice in West Orange, NJ, where she offers executive coaching and other Organization Development activities, and psychotherapy.  She also teaches Group Dynamics in the Social Organizational Psychology Program at Teachers College, the School of Public Policy and Planning at the University of Pennsylvania and at Ashoka University in Haryana, India. Dr. Taylor is a Fellow of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, and she has published related research in the A.K. Rice Group Relations Reader III, and elsewhere. Dr. Taylor received her A.B. in Psychology from Harvard, and her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a wife of one, a mother of three, an avid tennis player, a 2nd Dan Black belt and a person who strives to meditate daily.