Ted Wachtel is a visionary, an educator and a serial entrepreneur, in that order. He has always seen the world as it could be, in its best potential sense.
A man of action, he worked toward that vision first as an educator in the Pennsylvania public school system. Quickly realizing the limitations of what he came to view as an outmoded system that didn’t adequately serve all would-be learners, he began working toward a better way; one that addressed the needs of learners who hadn’t been able to thrive in the rigid, traditional classroom structure.
From there, he and Susan, his wife, launched a series of projects; some short-lived, but most ongoing. They have organized local political campaigns, founded schools, group homes, counseling and treatment programs for adolescents, an accredited master’s-degree granting graduate school, an art museum, a solar housing development, an organic mini-farm, a food cooperative, a book publishing company and more, mostly in the United States but also several projects overseas.
In service of many of these goals, Ted wrote or co-wrote many books, and continues to do so today. Despite having officially retired in 2015, he shows no signs of slowing down his energetic pace, though he does now take more time to spend with loved ones and enjoying the fruits of his many and varied labors over the years.