Anthropologist and author, Fernand Schwarz is the Director for the International Hermes Institute, which is dedicated to studying the heritage of ancient civilizations and analysing contemporary societies from a symbolic perspective. It has delegations in Austria, France, Spain and Portugal and affiliates in Greece, Israel, El Salvador, Chile and Colombia. The Institute focuses on anthropology relating to the symbolic dimension of man which can be linked to what ancient cultures across the world considered sacred. Their studies and findings are disseminated internationally through conferences, lectures, seminars and publications and are also applied to various fields such as management consulting and training.