Aiki Extensions Board

President | 4th dan

VP Industry Relations, Temple Allen Industries (United States)

Robert Kent is President of Aiki Extensions and founder of the PeaceCamp Initiative (PCI), which won the Ben and Jerry’s “Peace Pioneer” prize in 2008. Robert helped run the Youth Program at Aikido West in Redwood City, CA, for 18 years under the direction of Frank Doran Shihan.

He often teaches a month-long course about “Political Aikido” at Williams College where he has served as an adjunct instructor in the Philosophy, Political Science, and Asian Studies departments. Robert earned his Masters degree in Philosophy at Claremont Graduate School in 1993, writing his thesis on the Ethics of Authenticity.

Vice President | 7th dan

Chief Instructor, Burwell Aikido Club (United Kingdom)

Quentin Cooke is the Chairman of Aikido for Daily Life, a small UK based group. Quentin started training in May 1984 under Ken Williams Sensei, then the chief Instructor of the Ki
Society in the UK, but later of the Ki Federation of Great Britain. Aikido for Daily Life was
established to create a group that wanted to be less bound by the hierarchical structure of some aikido groups and to emphasize the purpose of aikido as a philosophy for life, rather than just another martial art.

When ADL was established, it affiliated to Yuishinkai International founded by Sensei Koretoshi Maruyama, a former student of O Sensei and later President of the Ki Society. Quentin runs his own club in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire.

Outside of aikido, he runs his own business as a financial adviser, and is strongly involved in local community work, particularly as the Chair of Governors at the local village school.

Director

Founder, Quantum Edge (United States)

Chris Thorsen is the founder of Quantum Edge, through which he has advised senior executives from industry-leading media, technology, and utility organizations for over 40 years. He helped build the wireless industry as an integral member of the executive teams that started Cellular One and Nextel Communications.

Chris is a pioneer in the application of aikido principles to leadership mastery and organizational development, and has facilitated conflict resolution seminars for policy leaders from Cyprus. Chris has a Masters Degree from the University of San Francisco in Community Organization and Organizational Development and is a contributor to The Dance of Change, the Fifth Discipline Resource Book. He has studied and taught aikido for thirty-five years.

Director | 6th dan

Founder, The KiAi Way (United States)

Jamie Leno Zimron is a psychologist and LPGA teaching professional and is the creator of KiAi Golf and The KiAi Way Inc. peak performance trainings. She is a co-founder and director of the Mideast Aikido Project. In addition to KiAi Golf, Jamie is a certified Marriage Family and Child Counselor, Sports Counselor, and Massage Therapist. She is a founding board member of the Association of Women Martial Arts Instructors.

Based in Redwood City, California, Jamie Sensei travels internationally conducting talks and trainings.