Jo Confino

Jo has worked closely for the past 20 years with our late teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Plum Village monastic community.

He is co-founder and co-presenter of the acclaimed podcast series ‘The Way Out Is In’ and is the co-author, with the Plum Village abbot, of two Zen books ‘Being With Busyness' and ‘Calm in the Storm’. Jo also wrote 'Between Earth and Sky: 100 Days of Deep Looking in the Place of the Dead'.

Jo Confino is a leadership coach, spiritual mentor, podcaster, author and journalist.

He works at the intersection of personal transformation and systems change; working with several organisations including Leaders’ Quest and Global Optimism. His coaching and spiritual mentoring practice focuses on supporting leaders within the fields of climate, biodiversity and social justice. He works across sectors, including NGOs, foundations and business and coaches individuals as well as leadership teams within organisations.

Besides facilitating events and conferences all over the world for the past 25 years, he also runs smaller workshops and roundtables.

As a journalist for more than 40 years, he was executive editor, Impact & Innovation and Editorial Director of What’s Working at the HuffPost in New York. During his five years there, he developed long-term editorial projects based on social, environmental and economic justice and was also a member of the senior leadership team of Verizon Media.

Before joining HuffPost, he was an executive editor of the Guardian and chairman and editorial director of the Guardian Sustainable Business website. During his 23 years at the Guardian, he set up and managed a unique multi-stakeholder development project in the Ugandan village of Katine, and helped create the Guardian’s environment and global development websites.

Jo also created and managed the sustainability vision and strategy for the Guardian and its parent company Guardian Media Group.

He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and completed an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice at the University of Bath.