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About DRI: watercolor landscape of stepping stones leading to a calm lake between mountains, with wildflowers and a rising sun.
DRI · About

About

The Developmental Research Institute is a nonprofit that researches, documents, and applies the science of how individuals and collectives develop, to inform education, leadership, organizational culture, and spiritual growth.

The Organization

Who We Are

DRI serves an international community of researchers, educators, practitioners, and organizational leaders advancing the science of human development across the lifespan.

NONPROFIT 501(c)(3) DRI is a registered nonprofit; contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
HEADQUARTERS Montana DRI’s administrative home, supporting a research and practitioner community that spans well beyond the state.
REACH International Researchers, educators, coaches, and organizational leaders across multiple countries take part in DRI’s work.
leadership

Board and Leadership

Terri O’Fallon, PhD

President, DRI · Creator of the STAGES model

Terri O’Fallon holds a PhD in Integral Studies: Learning and Change in Human Systems, as well as Master’s degrees in Spiritual Direction and Special Education.
Terri is the creator of the STAGES developmental model, a validated, integral scoring methodology for measuring ego development and the unfolding of consciousness across the full developmental spectrum. Her decades of research, teaching, and application have made her one of the most respected voices in developmental science.
Through her work at DRI, Terri continues to advance the science and practice of developmental research, fostering a global community committed to understanding how human beings and human systems grow and evolve.

John Kesler

Board Chair, DRI · Developer of Integral Polarity Practice

John Kesler is the developer of Integral Polarity Practice (IPP), a developmental and spiritual practice that both draws on and informs the STAGES research framework. Rather than resolving the tensions and paradoxes of human experience, IPP works with them directly, offering practitioners a disciplined method for engaging the polarities of human experience as awareness unfolds.
Its practices align with the STAGES model across the full range of human development, so that they correspond to a practitioner’s developmental center of gravity rather than assuming a single point of entry. IPP is not presented as an exclusive path; it is designed to complement any existing philosophical or spiritual tradition, bridging developmental theory and contemplative practice.

Transformation: watercolor landscape of a river winding through hills toward distant mountains, with a rising sun and birds overhead.

Join Our Community of Partners

DRI’s work is sustained by a community of researchers, practitioners, and supporters who share a commitment to understanding human development. We welcome new partners — research, educational, philanthropic, and organizational — who wish to contribute to that shared inquiry.

Our Mission Get Involved