Jul 30, 2020
Friends, this brief tribute to Peter Perkins on the occasion of his retirement from Global Learning Partners is intended to celebrate the unique, deeply caring and open heart of a dear friend, teacher, mentor and leader.
To experience Peter is to have experienced openness. To know Peter is to know the feeling of generosity. As Peter pulls back from a fruitful and rewarding career of facilitating learning, dialogue, care and love for one another, it is clear that his openness to friendships and learning and that his generous spirit of care and sharing will continue to thrive through his many friendships and colleagues. His qualities of openness and generosity are now built into the genetic code of Global Learning Partners.
Peter Perkins has been at the forefront of our company since before we became Global Learning Partners. When working at Woodbury College in the early 1990s, Peter and Jane Vella discovered one another and became fast and lifetime friends. As Jane began to offer her first learning retreats in Raleigh, North Carolina, under the name of Jubilee Popular Education Center, Peter was instantly one of the leading lights: picking up and verifying her insights, applying them to his own work in prevention education, and soon teaching them to others with his own special twist.
In time, Jubilee Popular Education Center became Global Learning Partners and then became a widely shared school of practice. Through those years, Peter has been a trustworthy guide, a kind of pastoral care figure, and a champion of the principles and practices that bring about the deep collective learning we long to experience for our selves and for others.
Whether reflecting critically on our business model, caring for colleagues through health and personal crises, annually teaching hundreds of practitioners in his state – and so transforming Vermont into a learning-centered state – or leading behaviour change programs with clients across the country, Peter’s contributions are deep and lasting.
If you’ve had the privilege of visiting him in his home, you know that their living room and kitchen in the snug Vermont woods are an intimate expression of generosity and openness that stays with you for a lifetime.
The community of practice that Global Learning Partners hosts will forever be indebted to Peter. May we forever express Peter Perkins’ convictions, love and expertise through the work we do together.
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Peter Noteboom and Peter Perkins have been been connected to Dialogue Education™ since meeting Jane Vella in the mid 1990’s. Peter Noteboom purchased the company from Jane Vella in 2000 and invited Peter Perkins along with five others to be co-owners in 2007.
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AN INVITATION: Please share a memory in the comment box below or send one in an email and we will forward it to Peter. This is the first in a series of tributes; keep an eye out for additional posts on our social media accounts!