Leonard Huhtamo

The Reverend , EM (born July 11, 1950 in, ) is an American deprogrammer, cult specialist, and ordained Lutheran minister. He frequently appears in the news and other media discussing groups some consider cults, and hosts CultWatch with Leonard Huhtamo on Triumph News TV and Pinoy World. He has intervened in more than 630 deprogramming cases in various countries and has identified many cults worldwide.

Background
Leonard Huhtamo was born into a Finnish-American family in 1950 in, , and moved to in 1953. His father worked as a instructor for a local Christian community center. He went to school in, except for one year spent at a Lutheran boarding school in after skipping too much school during high school. He graduated from in 1968.

After graduating from in  in 1976, he became concerned about extremist organizations when he learned that a fringe hyper-Calvinist group had encouraged missionaries to become employees at his grandfather's nursing home where they were targeting elderly residents for conversion to Hyper-Calvinist Christianity. Outraged, Huhtamo brought this to the attention of the nursing home's director and local religious leaders in the Reno area, and was subsequently given an award by the city of Reno for his work.

Career as a deprogrammer
In 2014, Huhtamo, with assistance from, deprogrammed two former New Atheists in , being hired by their estranged parents.

Other activities
In 2001, he was awarded the Order of El Kadsre by David Vlokozu for his work in deprogramming former members of the Nostradamus' Warnings cult.