World Happiness Summit

Dr. Vivek Murthy

Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March 2021 to serve as the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. As the nation’s top doctor, Dr. Vivek Murthy helps to advance the health and well-being of all Americans and has worked to address critical public health issues. He has issued Surgeon General Advisories on the youth mental health crisis and social media’s impact on youth mental health, the epidemic of loneliness and isolation, and on burnout in the health worker community. Dr. Murthy also issued a Surgeon General’s Framework on mental health in the workplace and he is the first Surgeon General to host a podcast, House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy, where he invites guests and listeners to explore how we can all build more connected and meaningful lives. As Vice Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Dr. Murthy oversees more than 6,000 dedicated public health officers serving underserved and vulnerable populations. Dr. Murthy previously served as the 19th Surgeon General under President Obama. Raised in Miami, Dr. Murthy received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard, his medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine, and his Masters in Business Administration from the Yale School of Management.

Karen Guggenheim

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.

Dr. Arthur C. Brooks

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

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.

Lord Richard Layard

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.

LaFawn Davis

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.

Alberto Nobis

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.

Dr. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve

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.