The Tomkins Institute Board of Directors
Lauren Abramson, Ph.D.
John Brodsky, M.D. secretary
Gary David, Ph.D. co-chair
John J. Fontana,III M.B.A., M.R.E.
Charles Gaby, M.A., L.P.C.
Jonathan Grindlinger, M.D. treasurer
Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., M.D. co-chair
Rev. David McShane
David Morrison III, M.D.
Mark Tomkins
Lauren Abramson, Ph.D.
The first article Lauren Abramson was assigned to read for her Biopsychology graduate program was Tomkins's "What and Where are the Primary Affects." The richness of the theory combined with sound empirical evidence therein set a standard for journal articles that left room for much disappointment in subsequent reading. After meeting Silvan Tomkins in 1987, she worked with him on the relationship between the face and personality during the last years of his life. Lauren continues to be excited by her ongoing exploratioin of the implications of affect script psychology for personal and cultural awakening. Understanding and applying affect script psychology in a variety of settings (medical, social work, psychotherapy, education, sailing, business, organizations) is a lifelong endeavor. Since 1995, Lauren has used affect script psychology to build an innovative Restorative Justice / Conflict Transformation program in inner-city Baltimore (www.communityconferencing.org), and continues to write about the role of emotion in individual and collective conflict transformation, community development, and peacebuilding.
John Brodsky, M.D.
Born in the
His epitaph will read HE LEFT NO LETTER UNANSWERED, so those who read this may write him about these matters - or, about harpsichord making, which is his other passion.
Gary David
Gary David
He taught classes in epistemics and general semantics at Viewpoints Institute, and UCLA Extension from 1969-1975 while continuing his career as a professional musician. In 1975, he received a Ph.D. in epistemics from the Union Institute and University.
Currently, he is engaged in a private counseling practice, as well as giving annual seminars in New York City. The relevant models of epistemics, including affect psychology developed from the work of Silvan Tomkins, guides his work with individuals. And his experience as a jazz musician allows for much intuitive improvising. He sees his work with others as one of participating.
He is co-chairman of the Tomkins Institute and the owner of Philosphere Publishers (www.philosphere.com)
John J. Fontana, III, M.B.A., M.R.E.
John J. Fontana is the President of Fontana Leadership Development, Inc., an organizational and leadership development firm that provides consultation, educational and facilitation services to improve the effectiveness of leaders in managing individual development and organizational change. Fontana Leadership Development, Inc. serves a selective and diverse client base including Fortune 1000 companies, small and midsize businesses, family businesses, government groups, not for profit and religious organizations. Where there is change, there is emotion that either motivates or debilitates the judgment of leaders and groups. John’s work and educational experience have equipped him with the tools and resources to support leaders as they seek to manage people and processes in complex systems.
John has worked as a management consultant for Morrison Associates, a psychiatric and specialized medical corporation that “promotes better mental health for executives.” John is the past Executive Director of Partners for Catholic Health Ministry Leadership, a consortium of seventeen Catholic Health Organizations. John founded and was the Executive Director of The Crossroads Center for Faith and Work at Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago, a significant resource in the Chicago business community to encourage ethical and value reflection in the workplace. John was the former Director of Sales and Marketing for Kamco Plastics, Inc. in Schaumburg, Illinois. John was a youth and young adult minister at St. Raymond de Penefort Parish, in
John has taught leadership and management courses at
John is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He holds a Master’s Degree from the Kellogg School of Management at
Charles Gaby, M.A., L.P.C.
Jonathan Grindlinger, M.D.
Jonathan Grindlinger was born in 1957. He was raised in the small town of
He began trombone lessons in third grade and was actively involved in marching and concert bands until graduation. Among his hobbies, he was proudest of his accomplishments in model rocketry, until he started guitar lessons at age 13. That was when music became his passion. He organized a Garage Band and in his sophomore year of high school, he was picked up by a professional cover band looking for another guitarist. Even though the band’s reputation steadily grew over the next few years, he had to quit to attend college.
He majored in premed at
After residency, he fulfilled his obligation to the National Health Service Corp by providing Clinton County, Pennsylvania with their first full-time psychiatrist. In 1990, he joined the faculty of The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center Family Practice Residency Program, allowing the program for the first time to add a formal psychiatry rotation to the training of their Family Practice Residents. He was awarded “Teacher of the Year” in 1993.
His involvement with affect script psychology began because, as he moved forward in his career, he became increasingly passionate about what goes on during intense psychotherapy. He constantly sought better theoretical explanations when he discovered that what he had been taught as the standard theories did not explain what he saw happening in his office. He felt that the more he attempted to use accepted theory as a guide, the more difficult it became to connect with his patients in psychotherapy. In the October 1993 issue of the journal Psychiatric Annals, he found what he had been looking for, a completely new theoretical framework for understanding emotion in the work of Tomkins, Nathanson, and Kelly.
From that point on he became increasingly involved in the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, attending conferences, forming study groups, and utilizing his extensive knowledge of electronic media to record annual meetings. He became an indispensable member of the Institute and was appointed Training Director in 1998 by Executive Director, Donald L. Nathanson, M.D.
Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., M.D. (Vick)
Vick was raised in
His continued interest in the treatment of children, coupled with his family and general psychiatry training, convinced him that changes in the parental subsystem of a family are the most critical for the well-being of the children. His subsequent work with couples immersed him in the powerful emotional forces driving those relationships. Nothing in his formal training had prepared him to understand the basis of this emotionality. Working with Donald L. Nathanson, M.D. in the early 1980's to explicate the biological and biographical nature of shame, he encountered the work of Professor Silvan S. Tomkins. Amazed at the clarity and rightness of feel of affect script psychology, Dr. Kelly began working directly with Tomkins a year or two before the latter's death in 1991. His goal was to link those theories of motivation to a systematic understanding of interpersonal relatedness, one capable of both explaining the reasons for relational success or failure and also of assisting the development of novel methods for treatment. Dr. Kelly is now distinguished for the definition of intimacy he developed in conjunction with Professor Tomkins and the innovative methods of couples treatment he has introduced and refined during his career.
After the death of Professor Tomkins and the formation of the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, Dr. Kelly was appointed Training Director in 1992 by Executive Director Donald L. Nathanson, M.D. Over the succeeding four years, Dr. Kelly established the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute as a national sponsor of continuing education for the American Psychological Association and for the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education of the American Medical Association. He initiated a membership drive that increased membership in the Institute to over 350 professionals internationally and both developed and managed an international network of study groups through which interested professionals could engage in the intensive study of affect script psychology. Dr. Kelly was an Editor of the Bulletin of the Tomkins Institute, to which he regularly contributed two columns, and has contributed to the Tomkins Institute Newsletter. Among his honors is election as a Fellow of the
With the loving support of his wife Sharon, his hobbies include digital photography of their four grandchildren, computers, and golf. His motto is: "Some say golf is life in miniature; those who play know that life is golf in miniature."
Rev. David McShane
David McShane’s first interest was in electronics which led him to employment in the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington during WWII working on radar which was still a secret. Questions of ‘how’ things work morphed into ‘why’ questions which led to a degree in philosophy and then graduate work at McCormick Theological Seminary. There he met his soon to be wife, Beth, who was pursuing a MA in Church Social work. In the circuitous route which providence takes this eventually led him to Silvan Tomkins.
After his service as a campus pastor in the university and college scene the McShanes settled down in Kalamazoo, MI where he was pastor of First Presbyterian Church for 27 years retiring in 1987. They enjoy four children and six grandchildren.
As a pastor Dave has always been heavily involved in community affairs especially in the mental health movement, holding local and state offices on different boards and agencies. As a psychiatric social worker with children Beth kept using the term ‘affect’ with a kind of precision which intrigued him so Dave went to the University library on a fall evening in 1969 to find out more about it. His eyes fell upon two yellow volumes entitled Affect Imagery Consciousness and within minutes both his affective and cognitive systems were smitten. In a few months, after devouring those two volumes, he made brave to phone Silvan Tomkins. Thus began what developed into a very close friendship for the next couple of decades.
Dave was privileged to have had some personal time with some leading thinkers of that earlier generation such as Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Martin Buber, Loren Eiseley. In his judgment none can come close to the intellectual power with which Silvan Tomkins was endowed
For Dave the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ questions of life seem to coalesce in the interplay between affect and cognition. He is excited by and grateful for the new look of the Tomkins Institute and the many people who give so much of themselves that it may thrive.
When asked to compress Tomkins’ work into one sentence he replies, "Impossible, but human beings do not behave on the basis of what they have been taught to think, they behave on the basis of how they have learned to feel." And Dave’s mantra is Affect Biases Cognition.
David E. Morrison III, M.D. (Daven)
Daven is an advisor to senior management with a focus on the interpersonal at Morrison Associates, Ltd. His primary roles include leading individual consultations for executives, facilitating seminars, and developing new products. Daven has found affect script psychology to be critical to understanding and thus effecting change in all his work. "Affect script psychology applies to the work with individual executives, their teams and organizations."
His current professional focus includes: Fraud in the C-Suite, Highly Successful CEO's and writing a regular column on work/family balance for PM Magazine (a periodical for City, Village and County managers)
Management education programs developed by Daven include Making Performance Management Discussions Work for You, which is designed to help managers and their direct reports develop a sense of mastery around tough discussions on performance. This course has been adapted for internal training and education programs at Abbott, Accenture, Food Lion, Kraft and Motorola.
Listening to Understand He has also designed and delivered programs for managers to avoid employee relations issues (lawsuits). This course includes training on:
Professionally, Daven is a board certified psychiatrist. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988 with a degree in Spanish Literature, and in 1992 from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Daven's psychiatric residency was completed at University Hospitals of Case Western in Cleveland in 1996. He was a Chief Resident his final year.
He is an active Board member of the Tomkins Institute. He is also the program director and an Officer of the
Daven has found ASP to be critical to understanding and thus effecting change in all his work. "ASP applies to the work with individual executives, their teams and organizations".
Mark Tomkins