The Caux Foundation is seeking a Head of Finance, Administration and Human Resources (80–100%) to join its team at the Caux Palace, above Montreux.

As a member of the leadership team, you will play a key role in steering the Foundation’s support functions and contribute to its development within a unique international environment.

This role combines strategic and operational responsibilities, overseeing finance, human resources and administrative processes, whilst supporting an organisational culture based on trust, ethics, collaboration and sustainability.

Are you a versatile and committed individual who wishes to put your skills to work for an organisation that has been building trust across divides for nearly 80 years? Then this opportunity is for you. We look forward to receiving your application.

Find out more about the role and how to apply

On 10 June 2026, Jens Jonathan Wilhelmsen from Initiatives of Change Norden turns 100 - a remarkable milestone for a man whose life has been shaped by some of the defining conflicts and reconciliations of the modern era. Across many decades of engagement on three continents, Wilhelmsen has remained guided by a simple but demanding conviction: that lasting change in society begins with personal change.

Born in Norway in 1926, midway between the two world wars that scarred the twentieth century, Jens Wilhelmsen came of age during the German occupation of Norway. As a young man, he took part in the clandestine resistance movement during the final months of the Second World War. Like many of his generation, the war left deep marks. In the years that followed, he experienced a period of depression and uncertainty about the future.

A turning point came when he encountered Initiatives of Change, then known as Moral Re-Armament (MRA). One particular challenge struck him with unusual force: “If you want to have a better world, the best place to start is with yourself.”

What might have sounded simplistic proved transformative in practice. Wilhelmsen later recalled how attempts to repair strained relationships within his own family produced unexpectedly positive results. The experience convinced him that reconciliation was not an abstract ideal but a practical force.

At the time, he was studying philology at the University of Oslo. In 1948, a provincial government in postwar Germany appealed to MRA for help in giving “new hope to our people.” For a young Norwegian who had lived through occupation, the invitation to work in Germany was both morally challenging and historically significant. Wilhelmsen accepted.

If you want to have a better world, the best place to start is with yourself.

The next five years took him to the Ruhr, the industrial heartland of Germany, where the political and moral tensions of postwar Europe were sharply visible. There he witnessed a society struggling to rebuild materially and spiritually after Nazism and war. Industrial leaders with Nazi backgrounds, socialist workers and trade unionists committed to Marxism were all searching for a way forward in a divided country.

One encounter in 1949 became especially formative. Wilhelmsen stayed with the communist worker activist Max Bladeck and his wife Grethe in their modest three-room home. They offered the young Norwegian a sofa in their living room, and night after night the two men argued deep into the evening about politics, ideology and the future of Europe.

At first, the discussions led nowhere. Wilhelmsen later reflected that he spent much of his energy trying to persuade Max of everything he believed was wrong with communism. Then, during a moment of morning reflection, he experienced a change in perspective: instead of attacking the convictions to which Max had devoted his life, he should speak honestly about where he himself had failed to live up to his own ideals.

That evening, Wilhelmsen abandoned argument and spoke instead about his own shortcomings and inconsistencies. To his surprise, Max responded in the same spirit. As Wilhelmsen later wrote, “Our ideological and political viewpoints were still far apart, but a certain trust was growing between us.”

Our ideological and political viewpoints were still far apart, but a certain trust was growing between us.

The episode became emblematic of the approach that would define Jens Wilhelmsen’s life work. He discovered that trust rarely grows through ideological victory; it grows when people risk honesty about themselves. In the deeply polarized atmosphere of postwar Europe, where bitterness and suspicion shaped political life, such encounters represented a different path - one grounded not in surrender of convictions, but in humanity and self-examination.

Wilhelmsen believes that these efforts at reconciliation contributed in their own modest way to Germany’s remarkable reconstruction. He saw former enemies, employers and workers, conservatives and socialists gradually begin to cooperate in rebuilding democratic society. The lessons he learned in the Ruhr would remain with him for the rest of his life.

In 1953, he was invited to Japan, where he worked closely with political, industrial and youth leaders. He formed particularly strong connections within Seinendan, the country’s four-million-member youth organization. When the organization decided in 1957 to send one hundred youth leaders to an MRA conference in the United States, Wilhelmsen was asked to accompany them.

The journey opened another chapter. Remaining in America for two years, he undertook a wide variety of assignments — from contacts with politicians in Washington to supporting labour leaders applying principles of dialogue and trust-building in the ports of New York and the steel towns of Pennsylvania. Throughout these experiences, he developed a distinctive understanding of leadership: that social transformation depends not only on institutions and policies, but on the moral choices of individuals.

Over subsequent decades, Wilhelmsen’s work expanded across Africa, India, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. In newly independent African nations, he encountered the complex legacies of colonialism, inequality and ethnic division. His experiences in Burundi and Congo particularly deepened his reflections on Europe’s historical responsibilities and on the fragility of peace where trust has broken down.

Since 1967, he and his wife Klär Wilhelmsen made their home in Oslo. Together they raised a family while continuing an international life dedicated to reconciliation and civic engagement. Klär died in 2015, and is survived by their two daughters, sons-in-law, eight grandchildren and a great-grandson.

Alongside his practical work, Wilhelmsen also became an author. His 2016 book, Eyewitness to the Impossible, offers reflections on what he called “building trust on three continents.” The book combines memoir, political observation and moral reflection, introducing readers to ordinary people whose actions influenced the course of history: German coal miners and industrial managers, Japanese youth leaders, African independence advocates and many others. "Making history is not the monopoly of the rich and powerful", he says.

Making history is not the monopoly of the rich and powerful.

The book’s central message echoes the principle that first inspired him as a young man: “When individuals or nations deal with their own transgressions rather than those of others, powerful forces are released.” Rather than offering ideological formulas, Wilhelmsen invites us to experiment with honesty, responsibility and reconciliation in their own lives.

Reviewers in Norway recognized both the historical scope and moral seriousness of his work: “Can ordinary people make history?” and concluded that Wilhelmsen’s stories show that those who wish to change the world “must start with themselves, but not stop there.” (Vårt Land, Oslo)

Now, as he reaches his hundredth year, Jens Jonathan Wilhelmsen stands as a witness to a century marked by war, ideological conflict, decolonization and globalization — but also by extraordinary examples of human renewal. His life has been devoted not to prominence or power, but to the patient and often unseen work of building trust between people once divided by hatred, fear or injustice.

In an age still troubled by polarization and conflict where democracy is under threat, his example remains strikingly relevant. Wilhelmsen’s century-long journey reminds us that reconciliation is never naïve when grounded in courage, honesty and personal responsibility. History, he has spent a lifetime showing, is not made only by governments and generals. It is also shaped by ordinary people willing to change themselves — and in doing so, help change the world.

Happy birthday, Jens!

Sometimes the moments that shape our lives arrive unexpectedly. For Lewis Cardinal (Canada), one such moment began with a midnight drive up a mountain and grew into a lifelong journey of listening, belonging, and human connection - and a deeper understanding of the wisdom we carry and the quiet ways change begins.

When Lewis Cardinal arrived at Caux Palace for the first time in 2004, the mountain did not welcome him gently.

It was past one in the morning when their car began its slow climb above Montreux. Rain hammered the windshield so hard the wipers could barely keep time. Lightning cracked across the sky, throwing the dark alpine trees into sharp white relief for a heartbeat before they vanished again.

Beside him, his wife tried to laugh through her fear of the steep drops at the edge of the road. In the back seat, his daughter pressed her face to the window. When they finally pulled up to the Caux Palace, Lewis remembered thinking: "It looks like Frankenstein's castle."

Then the front door opened, and he was welcomed into the warmth.

Years later, Lewis would still remember that moment - not the storm, not the surreal feeling of finding a palace on a mountainside in the middle of the night. What stayed with him was simpler: kindness. After a lifetime of knowing what it felt like to stand outside the circle looking in, kindness still had the power to catch him off guard.

Lewis comes from the Woodland Cree people of northern Alberta, Canada. His grandfather taught him that success meant little unless you turned back and helped someone else rise with you. His grandmother taught him that even a garden was meant to nourish more than the one who planted it. Those teachings stayed with him when he sat with heads of state, when he shared meals with royalty, when he spent time with the Dalai Lama and realized that even a spiritual giant could still be wonderfully human.

And they stayed with him that first time at in Caux.

As Lewis stepped inside, he felt something unexpectedly familiar beneath the polished floors and European history. Sacred places, he knew, are not made by stone. They are made by the spirit people bring into them.

Caux, he sensed, was a place where people came to listen - not the polite kind of listening that waits for its own turn to speak, but something deeper. The kind Indigenous peoples have practiced for generations: listening for the quiet voice beneath the noise.

Whenever Lewis came to Caux after his first visit, he sat with elders and leaders from every corner of the world. Their songs were different, their ceremonies were different, their histories had taken different paths. Yet beneath those differences, the foundations were the same: respect for the earth as something living, the belief that human beings exist in relationship rather than isolation, and the knowledge that healing begins when people are willing to listen - not only to each other, but to the stillness within themselves.

That was what changed him. He began to understand that his role was not simply to speak on behalf of Indigenous people, but to help create spaces where people could truly meet one another.

At the Caux Forum 2023, Lewis introduced morning ceremonies rooted in Indigenous knowledge and wisdom. Moments of reflection that had always been part of Caux’s tradition, but now they went hand in hand with sacred songs and quiet gatherings around a fire.

Since then, these ceremonies have become a regular part of the summer conferences as a reminder that we are all one humanity. In the summer of 2025, Lewis brought an original Cree tipi to Caux, where it quickly became one of the highlights of the summer in the gardens of the Caux Palace*.

For Lewis, it matters that people understand the importance of balance, of being in relationship with what surrounds us and what we are connected to. And the realization that each of us has a role to play.

"Sometimes the quietest voice holds a piece of the puzzle that will solve your problem," he says. "We won't know that if only the loud people get heard."

Because it's in being quiet and listening that real change begins.

Sometimes the quietest voice holds a piece of the puzzle that will solve your problem. We won't know that if only the loud people get heard.

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(* The tipi will also be part of the Caux summer 2026. You can join us on 21 June for solstice celebrations at the Caux Palace and take part in raising it for the summer.)
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Lewis Cardinal is a communicator, educator and storyholder from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation in Treaty No. 8 in northern Alberta, Canada. For over three decades, his leadership has spanned local, national, and global advocacy roles, particularly in promoting Indigenous rights, cultural revitalization, urban Indigenous advocacy and capacity development, and interfaith relationship building. His contributions have been recognized with honours such as two Queen Elizabeth II medals (Diamond and Platinum Jubilee), the Indspire Award for Public Service (a recognition by Indigenous Peoples of Canada), the Province of Alberta‘s Centennial Medal for Human Rights and Diversity, and an honourary Doctorate of Sacred Letters from St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta for his work in bridging cultural and faith divides. And last October, Lewis was installed as the 11th Chancellor of St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta at Edmonton, Canada.

These experiences inform every facet of his consulting and media production work, where he specializes in Indigenous education, Indigenous governance, and strategic communications, and project development. Above all, he remains guided by a lifelong commitment to nurturing sacred relationships among diverse communities and worldviews.

Lewis is the leader of the Global Indigenous Dialogue and Board Co-Chair of Initiatives of Change Canada.

Based on an interview by Olivia Chollet

What difference are we making? 

Measuring impact is about more than counting activities, participants, or social media impressions. Nor is it about confirming what we already think. It is about understanding whether meaningful change is taking place through the work we do.

The Caux Foundation's first independent Impact Study (2023–2025) takes a closer look at how trustbuilding, dialogue, and collaboration contribute to lasting impact through our activities - and what can be learned along the way.

Impact is never owned by a single organisation. At Caux, it emerges through the people, partnerships and conversations that help build trust across divides.

Read the study and discover the findings for yourself.

READ THE IMPACT STUDY