Jos Schoenmaker is a member of IMO since 2012. He studied Psychology and coordinated during 15 years the support of the Samuel Foundation to community development projects in the poorest areas of São Paulo and Brazil. During this period he was the co-founder of Estrela Nova (www.estrelanova.org.br),a community development organization in a slum area of Campo Limpo, São Paulo, of which he actually is a board member. From this experience resulted a broad knowledge of the Brazilian social reality and the dilemmas related to social development and the promotion of Social Ecology.

His school in the development of family companies was within the Terra Viva Group, an agricultural family company with 1 500 co-workers that resulted from the emigration of his family to Brazil, contributing towards a healthy relationship between the Family shareholders and the Company, governance and sustainability development, succession processes of generations. The book he wrote about this development process of Terra Viva is now inspiring other Family companies.

He is active in Leadership Development Programs since 1992 and actually co-responsible for the International Master Program on Horizontal Leadership and the PDL- Social Skills for Leaders, promoted by IMO-Brazil and it's Centre for Horizontal Leadership.

As consultant, he is working in change processes of organizations (specially Family companies as Grupo Empório, Gol Textil, social organizations, as Pastoral Operária, ACER and Waldorf Schools- as Escola Waldorf Rudolf Steiner), linked to development processes of company leaders, through coaching.

In the measure that they realize their talents and potential, organizations are leveraging the development of society and leaders are leveraging the development of their organizations. His sees it as his task to contribute towards this development, rooted in the principles of Horizontal Leadership.