The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. (March 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

A major contributor to this article or its creator appears to have a conflict of interest with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (October 2008)

Landmark Education

Type	Private LLC
Founded	January 1991
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people	Harry Rosenberg: Director;[1] CEO Mick Leavitt: President; Director Steven Zaffron: Director;[2] CEO, The Vanto Group Art Schreiber: General Counsel; Chairman, BOD; Director[2] Joan Rosenberg: Vice President, Centers Division; Director Nancy Zapolski: Vice President, Course Development
Industry	self-help, self-improvement, personal development, management consulting, continuing education
Products	The Landmark Forum, associated coursework
Revenue	▲USD$90 million (2007)[3]
Employees	450+ employees;[3] 800 trained leaders, some of whom volunteer their time;[4][not in citation given]
Subsidiaries	The Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD, from 1993-2007) Landmark Education International, Inc.[5] Tekniko Licensing Corporation Rancord Company, Ltd.
Website	Landmark Education homepage

Landmark Education LLC (LE) as of 2007, offers self help programs delivered in approximately 115 locations throughout over 20 countries worldwide, including major cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Toronto.^[3][6][7][8]

An employee-owned, private company, it has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. Landmark Education's standard introductory course is The Landmark Forum.

Landmark Education had its origins in the purchase^[9] of the intellectual property of Werner Erhard and Associates (WEA), a successor to est: an educational corporation,^[10] and since its founding in 1991 has developed other courses.

Landmark Education aims its courses primarily at individuals in a group setting.^[3] Its subsidiary the Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development, or LEBD, from 1993-2007), markets and delivers training and consulting to organizations.^[11]

[edit] Corporation

Landmark Education LLC operates as an employee-owned for-profit private company. According to Landmark Education's fact sheet, its employees own all the stock of the corporation, with no individual holding more than 3%. The company states that it operates in such a way as to invest its surpluses into making its programs, initiatives, and services more widely available.^[3]

As of 2005, Landmark Education claimed that they have 200,000 participants in all of their courses annually with 70,000 to 80,000 people participating in the Landmark Forum.^[12] Over one million people have taken part in Landmark Education's introductory program, the Landmark Forum, since 1991.^{[13][not in citation given]} Landmark Education reported revenues of $70 million $76 million in as of 2005^[update].^[3]

[edit] History

Landmark Education, known from May 7, 1991^[5] to February 26, 2003^[14] as "Landmark Education Corporation (LEC)", purchased certain rights to a presentation known as The Forum from Werner Erhard and Associates.^[15] Since then, the name of the presentation has been changed to "The Landmark Forum" and the content has been revised. The group of people who purchased the rights registered themselves initially as Transnational Education, as The Centers Network, and (in Japan) as Rancord Company, Ltd.. Incorporation as "Landmark Education Corporation" (LEC) took place later in 1991. "Landmark Education International, Inc.", the first Landmark name incorporated in the State of California, was filed on June 22, 1987.^[16] In February 2003, Landmark Education LLC succeeded LEC.^[14]

The coursework and pedagogy of WEA evolved from est/Erhard Seminars Training, founded by Werner Erhard in 1971. According to Landmark Education, Erhard consults from time to time with its "Research and Design team".^[9] Erhard's younger brother (Harry Rosenberg) works as Landmark Education's Chief Executive Officer, and their sister (Joan Rosenberg) serves as the Vice President of Landmark Education's Centers Division.

According to statements made by Landmark Education CEO Harry Rosenberg in 2001:

...Erhard [in 1991] kept the Mexican and Japanese branches of the operation... Last year [2000], Landmark had revenues of $58 million, and ... the company has bought outright Erhard's license and his rights to Japan and Mexico.^[17]

The prior president and registered agent of Werner Erhard and Associates,^[18] Art Schreiber, functions as Landmark Education's General Counsel and Chairman of the Landmark Education Board of Directors. Schreiber also functioned as Werner Erhard's attorney.^[19]

[edit] The Vanto Group

The Vanto Group, founded in 1993 as "Landmark Education Business Development" (LEBD), utilizes the "technology" of Landmark Education in providing consulting services to various companies. The University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business carried out a case study in 1998 into the work of LEBD. The report concluded that the set of interventions in the organization produced a 50% improvement in safety, a 15% to 20% reduction in key benchmark costs, a 50% increase in return on capital, and a 20% increase in raw steel production.^[20] LEBD became the Vanto Group in 2007.

[edit] Tekniko, Inc.

Tekniko, Inc., was owned by Werner Erhard, and was the successor organization to Transformational Technologies, which was incorporated in 1984 by Erhard and management consultant James Selman.^[21] Tekniko Licencing Corporation, a California corporation owned by Terry M. Giles, later acquired this technology. In 2001 Landmark Education formed Tekniko Licensing Corporation, a Nevada corporation, which purchased Tekniko Technology from Giles' company.^[22][23] Since that time, the Vanto Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Landmark Education, has used Tekniko to license the "Tekniko methodology and intellectual property to a wide variety of corporations."

[edit] Evaluations of Landmark Education

Landmark Education makes extensive use of web-published and word-of-mouth testimonials from customers to portray its effectiveness, and supplements these with studies, surveys, and opinions.^[24] Independent third parties have carried out a limited amount of scientific research—not dependent on corporate funding—on Landmark Education.

[edit] Independent scientific studies and academic publications

A 2005 Israeli study appeared in Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice published by the British Psychological Society that compared characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants. Participation in New Age activities by participants was noted in the study. One aspect of the findings seemed to indicate that Forum participants who engaged concurrently in psychotherapy had a better locus of control than the other participants in the study.^[25]

[edit] Criticism

Some observers question whether and to what degree Landmark Education courses benefit participants. Others criticize the use of volunteers by Landmark Education; others highlight the connections with other groups and with Werner Erhard. Landmark has been criticized by some for being overzealous in encouraging people to participate in its courses.^[26]

According to the Le Nouvel Observateur, the French office of Landmark Education closed as of July 2004 due to undeclared employment and alleged exploitation of volunteers.^[27] In France in 1996, Landmark Education International was placed on the Parliamentary list of "Sectes" (report 2468).^[28][29][30]

The Cult Awareness and Information Centre has listed the Landmark Forum among psychotherapy cults, in a collection of "cults and isms".^[31]

Journalists such as Amelia Hill with The Observer and Karin Badt from The Huffington Post have witnessed the Landmark Forum and concluded it is not a cult. Hill wrote, "It is ... simple common sense delivered in an environment of startling intensity."^[32] Badt wrote, "At the end of the day, I found the Forum innocuous. No cult, no radical religion: an inspiring, entertaining introduction of good solid techniques of self-reflection, with an appropriate emphasis on action and transformation (not change)." She concluded: "No, the problem with the Forum is the participants. Why do they willingly put critical thinking aside, not wanting anything to disturb their pleasure?" ^[7]

[edit] See also

• Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus, Documentary (2004)
• Human Potential Movement (Maslow, Rogers and the Esalen Institute)
• Large Group Awareness Training
• Self-help and Personal development
• Zen (Alan Watts)
• Samways, Louise Dangerous Persuaders: An expose of gurus, personal development courses and cults, and how they operate, Penguin, 1994
• Landmark Education litigation

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Landmark Education

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Landmark Education

Corporate sites

• Landmark Education official website
  • Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development) (subsidiary)
  • Landmark Education's main program - The Landmark Forum

Link directories

• Dmoz.org: Directory of links relating to Landmark Education
• Dmoz.org: Directory of links related to opposing views of Landmark Education
• Possibility Directory: Landmark Education graduates