Guest Speaker - John R. Audette

John Audette is a native of South Florida whose professional career spanned over three decades of senior executive positions in hospital and hospice administration and physician practice management, as well as the performing arts and public broadcasting. He earned a BA degree in History and Sociology from Augusta College and a MS degree in Sociology from Virginia Tech.

Mr. Audette’s interest in Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs) began in 1960 at age 8 (in third grade) when he heard his first NDE account from his best friend’s mother, who had been resuscitated following a sudden heart attack. His interest was then dormant until 1974 when he met Raymond Moody in Augusta, GA.   Dr. Moody was a medical student at the time just beginning NDE research for his book, Life After Life.

Mr. Audette is the author of Loved by the Light – True Stories of Divine Intervention and Providence, now available at Amazon.  This book describes the initial meeting between Mr. Audette and Dr. Moody, which is an amazing story, full of unmistakable synchronicities.  John helped Dr. Moody with his research and through him met near-death experiencers, as well as Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross,  who encouraged Mr. Audette to move forward with his idea to form an association focused on STEs for experiencers, researchers and the interested public, which later resulted in the formation of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS).

Mr. Audette is the principal founder of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, Inc. (IANDS) with co-founders Raymond Moody, MD; Bruce Greyson, MD; Michael Sabom, MD; and Kenneth Ring, PhD. The first organizational meeting was in 1977 in Charlottesville, VA. Original incorporation was 1978 in Peoria, IL. Mr. Audette ran it from 1978-1982 from his home in  Peoria, IL and then later Chicago, IL.  It was moved to University of Connecticut, Storrs, in 1981, when Dr. Ken Ring took over operations. The inaugural board meeting was at Washington University in St. Louis with John Audette, Ken Ring, Mike Sabom and Bruce Greyson attending.

Mr. Audette also contributed chapters to many scholarly books in the company of such prominent authors as Ervin Laszlo, Deepak Chopra, Jane Goodall, Gary Zukav, Stan Grof, Jean Houston, Larry Dossey and others.  Since 1975, he has been recognized as a leader in this field.

Mr. Audette relocated back to Florida from Chicago in 1982 to begin serving as Executive Director of the Hospice of Palm Beach County, now Trustbridge.  He currently serves as President & CEO of Eternea, Inc. (eternea.org), which he co-founded with Harvard neurosurgeon and best-selling author Dr. Eben Alexander and the late Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut and sixth man to walk on the moon.

He is an honorably discharged veteran with over three years of active duty service in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era. He currently resides in South Florida.