Our Organization
This small, not for profit organization holds a Vision for the World ~ a Vision where human beings wake up to their embodied wisdom, experience directly the great Mystery of life and death, and live fulfilled while offering their unique contributions in service to humanity and the greater evolution of Consciousness. Out of this Vision, Nine Gates Programs, Inc. was formed in 1985.
As an organization, Nine Gates Programs provides the structure and business practices in which the Mystery School, Esoteric School, Post Graduate Programs, and other spiritual trainings are sustained. As an energetic body, Nine Gates Programs is a regenerative force for a community of more than 3,200 Graduates around the world, cultivating and developing future leadership from within.
Nine Gates Programs, Inc. is a model for the New World organization, where the dynamic of form and process ~ of business and spirit ~ is viewed as essential to creation and continuance. The Nine Gates model embraces equanimity, acts from a place of social responsibility, and embodies the energy of service. The Nine Gates organization is steeped in the true spirit of community, and a financial model that operates from an energetic principle of sustenance and sustainability, rather than a false need for abundance.
The governance body of Nine Gates is called its Council of Guardians, rather than a Board of Directors. This Wisdom Council is composed of Graduates of the Mystery School, each living responsibility for the Nine Gates’ Vision and Mission, personally and collectively.
Nine Gates carefully partners with organizations sharing its values. These organizations are invited into important relationships that are purposeful and strategic
Vision
We envision a world where individuals lead their lives from a grounded, stable, compassionate strength; where every human being is known as unique and essential to the integrity of the whole; where it is safe to speak consciously without blame or manipulation; and the gift of service arrives, and is offered, without need of reciprocity.
Mission Statement
To manifest Our Vision, we will:
Create and sustain programs and experiences that offer spiritual community and encourage individuals to explore, with open-hearted consciousness, their inner life at the deepest of levels.

Expand our presence in the world by continually stretching our own belief systems, seeking new ways to broaden our visibility and accessibility, creating opportunities that invite a diversity of individuals to find deeper meaning in their lives.

As a community, support each other through ongoing mentor programs, community-based sharing, and recognition of the value of each individual’s service in the world.


Ensure viability and stability through financial relationship-building and fundraising endeavors with like-minded individuals and organizations committed to the expansion of human consciousness and self-awareness.

Extend our research into new teachings and truths that sustain the enrichment of spiritual growth and transformation, seeking to maintain a global outlook rather than being doctrinaire.

Continue our own self-inquiry and evaluation of organization motivation and capability ensuring alignment of our work in the world with our core Truths – the practicing of conscious speech, purity of heart and compassionate action as our foundation for openness and trust, respect and responsibility to one another and the world.

Maintain unwavering belief in and commitment to our Vision while recognizing it as only the first part of a journey, not a fixed goal.
Council of Guardians
The Nine Gates Council is unlike a traditional Board of Directors. Rather than being charged with the responsibility of governance, Nine Gates recognizes the importance of Council Members being directly engaged with both the spiritual work through its programs, and the operational work of the organization. In this way, the Council remains involved in Nine Gates through their own experiences, rather than conceptually.
Each Council Member assumes a functional area or special projects to head; reporting to the Executive Director, responsible for strategic actions and goal accomplishment. Officers and Council Members are Graduates of the Mystery School and are actively involved in staffing events and programs. Each Member holds strongly to the Vision and Mission of the organization, both personally and collectively.
Council Officers
Deborah Jones ~ Executive Director
Deborah brings a unique skill set to her roll as Executive Director of Nine Gates Programs, Inc. Her business background in corporate law, a Master’s Degree in Human Resource and Organization Development, advanced education and experiences in leading large scale quality initiatives, and 11 years as the Senior Consultant for a Fortune 100 company provide the essential foundation for visioning and leading this community-based non-profit ~ an organization committed to empowering leadership from within, building financial and spiritual sustainability in its operational and human capacities.
Deborah’s leadership is informed by her spiritual life; also serving as the leader and primary teacher of the Mystery Schools, Esoteric School, and other Nine Gates Graduate programs. She has worked intensely with wisdom keepers from around the world, practicing the healing arts, hamanism, the integrative application of the Hindu and Buddhist tantric paths, tribal trance dance, the transpersonal psychology of spiritual awakening through the energy and emotional bodies, and other ancient arts of the wisdom tradition schools.
Greg Zeman ~ Council Chair
Greg Zeman brings his unique combination of professional skills and devotion to Nine Gates Programs. Professionally, Greg has worked for over 30 years in management consulting with Fortune 50 companies and start-ups. With a background in strategy, organization change management, and operations, Greg facilitates the power of shared visions, clearly communicated strategies, and coordinated implementation activities to assist clients with making substantial and lasting improvements in their performance.
In addition to his organization background, Greg has been actively involved in community volunteer work for most of his life. The majority of his volunteer work has been with youth advocacy, homelessness, hospice care, and education programs. As a life-long spiritual seeker, in all aspects he practices making life his living meditation. To that end, he was invited to attended his first Nine Gates Mystery School in 2013 and was blown away by the School’s ability to transcend ‘story’ and enable transformative embodied experiences. Ever since that initial School, Greg has been wholeheartedly involved with supporting the Nine Gates community.
Tracy Robinson ~ Treasurer
Tracy is a non-profit consultant who enjoys seeing the world through a lens of possibility. She is passionate about evolving herself and supporting the evolution of others. She has over 30 years of experience as a leader in the government and non-profit sectors. Her work is purpose-based, asking how we can “delight and inspire the human spirit and bring us together as a diverse community”.
Believing we need to be servant leaders throughout our lives Tracy is drawn to organizations that encourage humans to grow and develop at each stage of their lives, and her volunteer commitments tend to fall in that arena. She has served on numerous non-profit boards over the last 20 years. Most dear to her heart is the United World College of Costa Rica.
Meeting the other is an important part of the path that Tracy has chosen to walk. Purpose-driven travel has provided many opportunities for her world to be expanded as she seeks out spiritual teachers on her travels. Trips to Gambia, Bali, Egypt, India, and Myanmar have shaped how she practices “living awake”. A Spring of 2016 Mystery School Graduate, she has since enjoyed participating in every graduate event offered and serves as Staff and Team Leader at both the Mystery School and Esoteric School.
Steven Bonsey ~ Secretary
Steven is a spiritual teacher and retreat leader with a calling to share in communities where contemplative practice and active service to the world are held together.
As an Episcopal priest, he has served on university campuses and in congregations in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Hawaii, his home. As a student of Wisdom Christianity, he has studied with Cynthia Bourgeault and Ward Bauman and is a commissioned teacher of Centering Prayer. After retiring as a priest, he co-founded Wisdom & Money, an organization that invites people in retreat settings to encounter wealth as a doorway to spiritual transformation. He serves on the Board of the Trustees of Donations for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and he works in the Episcopal Church and on land in central Louisiana to repair the legacy of slavery. In recent years, he has taught mystical Christianity in the Nine Gates Mystery School, welcoming students to experience conscious love at the Fifth Gate.
He lives with his family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Alexandria, Louisiana. He enjoys travelling to visit grandchildren in France and Egypt. He bakes bread, does yoga, and sometimes plays his viola.
Council Members
Erik Cetrulo
Erik has a B.A. with Honors from Stanford University, an M.A. in international relations from The Fletcher School, and an M.B.A. with the highest academic distinction from The Tuck School at Dartmouth College. He has served in several non-profit organizations, including as a Big Brother in Big Brother/ Big Sisters for over twenty years and as a Mentor for Rice High School in Harlem. Erik’s vision is to continue to serve the emerging collective wisdom unfolding all around us.
Georgia Anne Guenzel
Georgia Anne is committed to supporting deep spiritual work with business practices of integrity and transparency. A long-time traveler on a spiritual path, she also has served as a trustee emphasizing management oversight and financial accountability for non-profit organizations for more than 15 years. Since graduating from Mystery School in 2012, Georgia Anne has felt deeply grounded and inspired by the work of Nine Gates. She always enjoys staffing and attending Graduate Events.
Georgia Anne retired from the practice of primary care Internal Medicine and Geriatrics in 2005. She is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and practiced in the Harvard teaching hospitals and neighborhood health centers in Boston her entire career. Her teaching specialties were physical diagnosis and the patient-doctor relationship. Always interested in understanding trends, Georgia Anne also holds an MA in History from Carnegie-Mellon University.
In retirement, Georgia Anne returned home to her roots, where she lives with her family in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She is currently intrigued by plant-based cooking, non-traditional healing, geopolitics and clearing out.
Jo Irby
Jo graduated from Mystery School in 2012, when her life began to shift in powerful and significant ways. Shortly after graduating, Jo said, “I want to be an integral part of the essential work flowing through the teachings, the dedicated individuals of Nine Gates, and its purposeful Graduate community.”
Jo’s education is a testament to her self-motivated determination and focus. As a single working mother, Jo graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Behavioral Sciences. She was the recipient of numerous honors awards, and ultimately earned her Masters of Arts degree in Management.
Jo is now retired from a twenty-year career with a Fortune 50 company. Over the years, she assumed increasing levels of responsibility for leading large-scale corporate change initiatives, emergency preparedness, and empowering cross-functional team leadership and motivation.
Since 2012, Jo has dedicated her talents, education, skills, and determination in support of the profoundly transformative experiences that are the soul of the Nine Gates organization.
Robert Baird
Rob brings to Nine Gates his 35 years of experience as a co-owner of an investment advisory firm specializing in socially responsible and community investing. His business management roles include a focus on financial management, operations, and compliance as well as being an investment advisor to individuals, families, and non-profit organizations. The firm created and managed the first mutual fund to avoid all investments in fossil fuel companies. He has also served on the board of directors of a variety of non-profit organizations.
Rob has also been a seeker for most of his life, starting with majoring in religion at Oberlin College. He also earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Duke University with a focus on social ethics. He engaged in spiritual practices and retreats of different traditions over many years. Soon after retirement, he attended the Nine Gates Mystery School and found the focus on experiential learning, energetic practices, and shared community to be a transformational experience. He was a staff person at a mystery school the following year and is excited to continue to grow and support others on the journey.
Strategic Relationships
Nine Gates Programs knows the world as an integrally connected organism and recognizes the importance of community at all levels. Strategic alliances are embraced as bonds with fellow organizations as community members, valuing shared Visions and endeavors that contribute to the work of both organizations and those individuals they serve.




