The World Happiness Summit® (WOHASU®) is a 2-day immersive experience uniting the world’s leading experts in the science behind happiness and wellbeing with a global audience to explore practical tools to increase wellbeing in all areas of life. WOHASU Purpose 2024 will take place on March 19 & 20, 2024, at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, where we will also celebrate the UN International Day of Happiness (March 20).
Arthur C. Brooks is the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership, happiness, and social entrepreneurship. He is also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the popular weekly “How to Build a Life” column. Brooks is the author of 13 books, including the 2022 #1 New York Times bestseller From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life and the 2023 #1 New York Times bestseller Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier with co-author Oprah Winfrey. He speaks to audiences all around the world about human happiness, and works to raise well-being within private companies, universities, public agencies, and community organizations.
Jen Fisher is a leading voice on the intersection of work, well-being, and purpose. Her mission is to help leaders move from the legacy mindset that well-being is solely the responsibility of the individual to the forward-thinking idea of human sustainability, which focuses on how organizations create value for people as human beings, leaving them with greater health and well-being, stronger skills and employability, good jobs, opportunities for advancement, more equity, and heightened feelings of belonging and purpose.
She’s the co-author of the bestselling, award-winning book, Work Better Together: How to Cultivate Strong Relationships to Maximize Well-Being and Boost Bottom Lines, the Human Sustainability Editor-at-Large for Thrive Global, and the host of the WorkWell podcast series.
As the first chief well-being officer of a professional services organization, Jen built and led the creation and execution of a pioneering holistic and inclusive well-being strategy that has received recognition from leading business media brands and associations.
Jen is a frequent writer on issues impacting the workplace today, including the importance of mental health and social connection to workforce resilience, happiness, and productivity. Her work has been featured in CNBC, CNN, Fast Company, Fortune, Inc, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Harvard Business Review, among others.
She’s a sought-after speaker and has been featured at events including, TEDx, World Happiness Summit, Out & Equal Workplace Summit, Acumen Global Gathering, WorkHuman, The Atlantic Pursuit of Happiness event, and more. She’s also lectured at top universities across the country, including Harvard, Wake Forest, Duke, and George Mason.
Jen is passionate about sharing her breast cancer and burnout recovery journeys to help others. She’s also a healthy lifestyle enthusiast, self-care champion, exercise fanatic, sleep advocate, and book nerd! Jen lives in Miami with her husband, Albert, and dog, Fiona.
You can find her on LinkedIn or Instagram @JenFish23. You can also receive her personal insights and reflections by subscribing to her newsletter, “Thoughts on Being Well” @jenfisher.substack.com.
Richard Layard is a British labor economist, currently working as program director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. His early career focused on how to reduce unemployment and inequality. Richard was Senior Research Officer for the famous Robbins Committee on Higher Education. This committee’s report led to the massive expansion of UK university education in the 1960s and 1970s.
Following research on happiness begun in the 1970s by economists such as Richard Easterlin at the University of Southern California, he has written about the economics of happiness, with one theme being the importance of non-income variables on aggregate happiness, including mental health. Richard is co-editor of the World Happiness Report and Global Policy Report, and co-founder of Action for Happiness.
Karen Guggenheim is a pioneer in the global happiness movement, a leader in promoting the science behind wellbeing to an international audience, and a motivational speaker inspiring people about how to grow post trauma and rebuild a life focused on meaning, purpose, and happiness. She the creative force behind the World Happiness Summit®, the leading wellbeing conference promoting the benefits of an evidence-based approach to increase happiness in all areas of life. She is also CEO of WOHASU®, the comprehensive wellbeing ecosystem named after the Summit that is inspiring a fast-growing movement sending a positive rippling effect around the world.
In 2016 after personal tragedy, Karen drastically altered her career path and invested her time, talent, and treasure to create WOHASU®, a global wellbeing brand fostering a movement for optimism, positivity, resilience, happiness, and community. Her first book will be published by Rizzoli in March 2023 in Italy.
Karen produces the annual World Happiness Summit; a 3-day event that unites the world’s leading experts in the science of happiness and wellbeing with a global audience to learn practical tools for a happier life. Along with fellow experts, she has also develop unique trainings like the WOHASU/Florida International University Chief Happiness Officer Certification, the only CHO program in the world certified by a university.
At heart, Karen is a creator and storyteller who focuses on cultivating the global happiness movement to foster connection, highlight our shared humanity, and acknowledge that the route to happiness often requires us to travel through considerable pain and trauma. She shares her own compelling story to weave these concepts through a real-world lens that moves and inspires audiences and helps them figure out how to activate these ideas into practices for a happier life.
A popular speaker, happiness educator and community builder, Karen’s mission is to make a case for happiness by highlighting the opportunities for win-win scenarios created by learning and implementing evidence-based tools and policies that make people, organizations, and communities thrive. Under her leadership, WOHASU® LLC was awarded with the “Key of the City of Miami” by the Miami Mayor and the members of the Miami City Commission.
Alberto is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VTG GmbH. In his current role, he oversees the management and business development of more than 50 locations in 20 European countries, providing services that span the entire rail-based logistics chain.
Prior to his current role, Alberto served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DHL Express Europe. Alberto was responsible for almost 50 countries and territories. He was with the company for 15 years. First, he served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of DHL Express Italy, then as the CFO of DHL Express Europe and later – the CFO of DHL Express Global.
In 2013, Alberto took over as the CEO of DHL Express Italy. He is a graduate in Economics from the University of Bologna, Italy, where he obtained his management education. His mission as a leader is to ensure that everyone around him maximizes their own potential. He is very proud of the many accomplishments that DHL Express has attained including being named World’s Best Workplace in 2021 by Great Place to Work.
In his free time, Alberto loves to live in touch with nature, embrace his passion for yoga, practice sports and listen to podcasts. He was a professional volleyball player for Italy men’s national volleyball team.
LaFawn Davis is Senior Vice President of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) at Indeed. She leads teams that focus on Responsible AI; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging; Accessibility; Social Impact; Equitable Hiring Products and Environmental Sustainability. The ESG commitments towards the year 2030 are to reduce the environmental footprint, make job search faster and simpler, remove bias and barriers to employment, and build internal sustainable equity. LaFawn is a globally-recognized operator with over 20 years of experience serving in leadership roles at innovative Fortune 50, 100 and unicorn technology companies. She is a frequent advisor, contributing writer and public speaker. LaFawn has been named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Women of Impact, Fast Company’s Queer50, San Francisco Business Times’s Most Influential Women in Business and Business of Pride Outstanding Voices, and counted among Fortune’s Most Powerful Women. She serves as a Board Director of the World Wellbeing Movement, an Advisory Board Member of Lesbians Who Tech and Power to Fly, a Limited Partner in Operator Collective, an Angel Investor and a Fellow of the Black Venture Institute.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve is a Belgian economist and professor at the University of Oxford where he directs the Wellbeing Research Centre. He is best known for his research on the economics of wellbeing which has led to new insights into the relationship between wellbeing and income, productivity, economic growth, and inequality. De Neve is also an editor of the World Happiness Report. His research was selected among “The Management Ideas that Mattered Most” by Harvard Business Review and he was awarded the inaugural Ruut Veenhoven Award for his contributions to the scientific study of happiness. He is a frequent advisor to governments and businesses, including Gallup, Unilever, and jobs site Indeed, as well as start-ups such as Psychological Technologies and Butterfly AI. Jan obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics and was a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University. His research and commentary regularly feature in the media, including in The Economist, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and on the BBC. He is a frequent speaker at academic and non-academic conferences, including at PopTech and TED.
Alla Klymenko is known in Eastern Europe and abroad as a psychologist and happiness educator who has been studying well-being, goal setting, and mindfulness for over ten years. Her lectures, workshops, and seminars help thousands of people become more successful, happier and radically change their outlook on life. Her goal is to make a billion people around the world happier.
Alla believes in cultivating equal access to education on positive psychology, depression prevention, and well-being for populations across the globe. Being a pioneer in Eastern Europe’s happiness movement, her every speech and presentation is aninspirational show. As a motivational speaker with live audiences ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands, her unique presentations and classes touched the hearts of thousands of people.
Alla is the author of workshops, seminars, and online courses attended by participants from Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, and Northern America. She also published several unique self-improvement workbooks and inspirational journals – Happy Me Journal, Thank You Diary, and Dream Year Book. Sheis the co-founder and head coach of Eastern Europe’s largest self-improvement summer camp, Upgrade Yourself Camp.
A featured guest on a variety of podcasts, she hosts Alla and Happiness YouTube channel (with 158 thousand followers) with motivational speeches and interviews with the world’s leading experts in the fields of happiness and well-being – Karen Guggenheim, Tal Ben-Shahar, Mo Gawdat, Fred Luskin, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Michael Roach, Joe Vitale, John Gray, and many others.
Shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alla joined forces with the world’s leading speakers, Tal Ben-Shahar, Marci Shimoff, and others, to create the Two Happy Weeks online course aimed at maintaining a positive attitude amidst challenging global events to support the affected population during the period of turbulence.
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Explore the Six Elements of Wellbeing
MINDFULNESSEstablishing inner awareness and living consciously
PURPOSEFinding meaning in your personal and professional life
SOCIALCreating and maintaining strong and supportive relationships
PHYSICAL
Fostering healthy living practices
CAREERDeveloping healthy financial awareness
COMMUNITYBelonging and contributing to healthy ecosystems