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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.
Psychologist Dr. Laurie Santos is an expert on human cognition, its origins, and the evolutionary biases that influence our all-too imperfect life choices. She is also knowledgeable in how behavioral change through positive psychology can lead to a happy and fulfilling life.
Currently the big project of Dr. Santos is to positively influence the culture of Yale University by teaching happiness and well-being. She created a course so meaningful that it became the most popular class taken at Yale in over 316 years.
In her course, Psychology and the Good Life, Santos teaches her 1200 students about behavioral change through positive psychology. Dr. Santos wants her students to be more grateful, procrastinate less and increase social connections. She believes that those positive habits will decrease mental health issues on campus and create happier and more motivated students.
From her research, Santos speaks to how we are biologically programmed to be motivated by sex, to be deeply influenced by other people — and to repeat our mistakes. And while Santos often uses subjects from the animal kingdom to help explain our sometimes-illogical behaviors, she also provides advice on how to engage our uniquely human faculties to counteract evolution, choose more wisely, and live happier lives.
Dr. Santos was appointed Head of Silliman College on July 1, 2016 to a five year term. She is a professor of Psychology at Yale University, where she serves as Director of the Comparative Cognition Laboratory as well as the Canine Cognition Center, a research facility that studies how dogs think about the world. She teaches one of Yale’s most popular undergraduate courses, Sex, Evolution, and Human Nature. She obtained her Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University.
Her numerous awards for science, teaching, and mentorship include the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology for outstanding contributions to interdisciplinary research.
Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and lecturer. He taught two of the largest classes in Harvard University’s history, Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership.
Tal is a serial entrepreneur and has created and delivers the online Certificate in Happiness Studies.
HSA is the first and only program of its kind, with students from all around the world.
Today, Tal consults and lectures around the world to executives in multi-national corporations, the general public, and at-risk populations. The topics he lectures on include leadership, happiness, education, innovation, ethics, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, and mindfulness. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and have appeared on best-sellers lists around the world. An avid sportsman, Tal won the U.S. Intercollegiate and Israeli National squash championships. Today, for exercise, he swims, dances, and practices Yoga. He obtained his PhD in Organizational Behavior and BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Harvard.
Mo Gawdat is the former chief commercial officer of Google [X], a serial entrepreneur, and the author of Solve for Happy.
Mo has an impressive combined career spanning 27 years, starting at IBM Egypt as a systems engineer before moving on to a sales position in the government sector. Venturing to the United Arab Emirates, Mo joined NCR Abu Dhabi to cover the non-financial sector. He then became familiar with the consumer goods industry as a Regional Manager for BAT. At Microsoft, he held various roles over a period of seven and a half years, in his last role at Microsoft he led the communications industry in emerging markets around the world.
Mo joined Google in 2007 to launch its business in emerging markets. He is fascinated by the role technology plays in empowering people in emerging communities and has dedicated years of his career to that passion. Over a 6-year period, Mo started about half of Google’s operations worldwide.
Mo is the author of “Resolve to be Happy: Designing Your Path to Joy” (2017). Through his 12-year research on the subject of happiness, he created a well-designed algorithm and repeatable model for reaching a state of uninterrupted happiness regardless of life circumstances. Mo’s happiness model proved to be very effective. And, in 2014, it was put to the test when Mo lost his son Ali due to a preventable medical error during a simple surgical procedure. Solve For Happy is the cornerstone of a mission that Mo has committed to as his personal mission, a mission to deliver his message of happiness to 10 million people around the world. #unbillionhappy
Dr. Kelli Harding wants to make the world a kinder and healthier place. She believes everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and kindness.
Dr. Harding is a Columbia University trained board certified psychiatrist. She is based in New York City and specializes in the interplay between mental and physical health. Her goal is to care for every patient with a comprehensive, holistic approach. Dr. Harding is the author of THE RABBIT EFFECT: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness (Atria Books, Fall 2019).
In her work as a physician, writer, and educator, Dr. Harding explores the science of kindness and the social dimensions of health. These hidden factors affect the body in profound ways, altering metabolism, immune functioning, mental health, and the course of disease. In her work as a doctor, she combines the latest biomedical advances with big-picture public health research to help people live well, even with chronic disease or serious illness.
Dr. Harding works with individuals, groups, and the general public to foster emotional wellbeing. Her warm engaging style focuses on compassion and connection. She’s appeared on Today, Good Morning America, NPR, The New York Times, Medscape, BBC, Oprah.com, Thrive Global, Psychology Today, mindbodygreen, Refinery 29, Tracy Anderson’s PER4MANCE PROGRAM, Parents Magazine, Inc. and U.S. News and World Report.
Raj Sisodia is Distinguished University Professor of Conscious Enterprise and Chairman of the Conscious Enterprise Center at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico. He is FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business (on leave) at Babson College, and Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Conscious Capitalism Inc. He has a Ph. D. in Business from Columbia University. Raj is co-author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business (2013) and Wall Street Journal bestseller Everybody Matters (2015). He was named one of “Ten Outstanding Trailblazers of 2010” by Good Business International, and one of the “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” by Trust Across America for 2010 and 2011. Raj received an honorary doctorate from Johnson & Wales University in 2016 and the Business Luminary Award from Halcyon in 2021. He has served on the boards of Mastek and The Container Store.
Raj has published fifteen books, including Firms of Endearment: How World Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose, which was named a top business book of 2007 by Amazon.com. His most recent books are The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World and The Global Rule of Three: Competing with Conscious Strategy, and the forthcoming Awaken: A Journey to Purpose, Wholeness and Healing. Raj has consulted with and taught at numerous companies, including AT&T, Verizon, LG, DPDHL, POSCO, Kraft Foods, Whole Foods Market, Tata, Tesoro, Siemens, Sprint, Volvo, IBM, Walmart, McDonalds and Southern California Edison.
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 volleyball player for the Army National Team.
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.
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.
Embracing his unconventional path in academia and life, Sandro Formica, Ph.D., lives every day in full commitment to his Life Purpose, “To integrate the science of happiness in firms, educational institutions and governments.” For that reason, he created a business format that aligns personal development processes with the goals and mission of positive organizations. Sandro’s work aims at increasing individual and organizational performance based on applied, scientific evidence.
Sandro contributed to the development, analysis and testing of a strategic management model named “Co-Alignment” and modified it to integrate values, talents, imagination and purpose in the context of positive organizations managed by self-aware executives.
Sandro has provided consulting and executive education services to global and regional hotel corporations such as ACCOR and Intercontinental, coordinated transnational European Union projects in hospitality and tourism, and conducted “Think Tanks” with leading decision-makers in the Middle East, New Zealand, France, Spain, Italy, and the U.S.
As an academic, he published in international peer-reviewed journals on human motivational factors and behavioral decision-making in the context of travel, executive education needs, United States vs. Europe education systems, and predictability of human preferences in future global travel. His research papers were presented at several international conferences, such as the World Business Congress and the Quality of Life World Conference.
Currently, Sandro teaches The Science of Happiness and Personal Empowerment at Florida International University. Also, he teaches The Economics of Happiness in selected European universities.
Get the book: Personal Empowerment: Empower the Leader Within You
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.
Chef Maria Loi is an internationally renowned entrepreneur, author, television personality and philanthropist working to change the world – one healthy bite at a time. Known as the Julia Child of Greece, she isthe founder and face of a lifestyle brand that nurtures a healthy body and soul, melds the inspiration of ancient Greece with a modern approach to the Mediterranean diet, cooks up a heaping dose of happiness, humor and joy and helps people boost their immunity and improve their health, wellness and longevity.
Chef Loi is passionate about sharing the magic of all things Greek – especially the culinary treasures, recipes and practices passed down through the generations and from her grandfather. Deeply popular and beloved inGreece and a food superstar in the U.S., she exudes kindness, friendliness and warmth, makes a friend of everyone she meets and lights up rooms with her bountiful energy, infectious smile and hearty laugh.
The founder of Loi Food Products, a specialty brand built on traditional ingredients from Greece; her pastas, beans, botanical herbs, refrigerated dips, honey and olive oil are sold on QVC, at Whole Foods Markets and in other stores.
The author of more than 36 cookbooks, she is also host of a new show, THE LIFE OF LOI, debuting on PBS in 2021. It aims to build an inspirational and educational movement around the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle – from ancient to modern, food to culture and everything in between.
The namesake of three restaurants, including the current Loi Estiatorio in Manhattan, Chef Loi has cooked for celebrities and Presidents. But she most enjoys gathering with a roomful of diners over a good meal filled with laughter and stories and passing out smiles and homemade cookies to children who visit her restaurant.
Named an official Ambassador of Greek Gastronomy by the Chef’s Club of Greece, Chef Loi is also a passionate and dedicated philanthropist who supports a wide variety of causes focused on children and the underserved.
DeAnne is a trailblazing business leader with a passion for creating thriving workplace cultures that prioritize positive leadership, peak performance, well-being, and a deep sense of community and belonging. With nearly 30 years of experience empowering individuals, teams, and organizations across the globe, she’s a force in creating environments where people feel seen, valued, respected and motivated to perform at their best.
A dynamic, sought-after thought leader and magnetic keynote speaker and facilitator, DeAnne continues to grace the stages of major industry events like the Great Place to Work Summit, O.C. Tanner Influence Greatness and WBECS, where she was named a ‘Leading Coaching Luminary.’ Her insights have been featured in top publications such as Forbes, The New York Post, Thrive Global, Working Mother, Huffington Post and Quartz at Work, earning her a reputation as a game-changer in the space of leadership, culture and well-being.
As a professional Executive/Leadership Coach, National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), credentialed Coach Supervisor, and Chief Happiness Officer, DeAnne brings an impressive range of results-focused business expertise in leadership, well-being, and professional development. Her certifications span Positive Psychology, Lifestyle Medicine, Mental Health First Aid, Mindfulness and include tools like HBDI, MBTI, and TLC360.
In her personal life, DeAnne strives to exemplify harmony and happiness. Together with her wife Jodie and their children, they share a love for travel, adventure, and nature. From surfing to skiing, or immersing in different cultures, DeAnne approaches life with the same vigor and intent she applies to her profession—always accentuating the positive and fully embracing every experience.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/DeAnneAussem
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeAnneAussemLeadership/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deanne_aussem/
Gus O’Donnell was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the British Civil Service from 2005-2011 and in 2010, he oversaw the introduction of the first coalition government since the Second World War. He oversaw the introduction by the Office of National Statistics of the UK’s national wellbeing data. After retiring as Cabinet Secretary he has worked intensively on wellbeing issues, helping to establish the What works centre on wellbeing and writing on how to use wellbeing as a guide to policy. This includes ch.6 of the World Happiness Report, 2013, chairing the report on Wellbeing and Policy produced by Sir Angus Deaton, Lord Layard, Martine Durand and David Halpern ( commissioned by the Legatum Institute). Most recently, as Co- chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing, he has overseen a report on what a Spending Review based on Wellbeing would look like.
Robert Biswas-Diener is widely known as the “Indiana Jones of positive psychology” because his research on happiness, empathy and other topics has taken him to such far-flung places as Greenland, India, Kenya and Israel. Robert’s interest in happiness focuses on culture, material simplicity, and public policy. He has written more than 50 scholarly articles on these topics and is author of eight books including Happiness (2008), The Courage Quotient (2012), and The Upside of Your Dark Side (2015).
Robert is also a leading authority on positive psychology coaching and widely recognized as a pioneering voice in this field. Robert occupies a unique position in the world of positive psychology as he is both a published researcher and a practicing ICF certified coach. He regulatory trains professionals around the world in the application of positive psychology. His clients have included Standard Chartered Bank, Kaiser Permanente, Australian Department of Defense, Deloitte, and many others.
Dr. Neha Sangwan, CEO of Intuitive Intelligence is an Internal Medicine physician, international speaker and corporate communication expert who empowers people toward better health by teaching them practical communication tools to strengthen their relationships, decrease their stress, improve their health and save them time.
Neha earned a B.S. in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Michigan State University, attended the State University of New York at Buffalo for medical school, and completed her residency training at Temple University Hospital. She worked in the hospital for a decade before founding Intuitive Intelligence, her private practice and corporate consulting firm, where she integrates the science of medicine and the art of communication to empower her clients to improve their health and their lives.
Neha is also the author of TalkRx: Five Steps to Honest Conversations that Create Connection, Health and Happiness. To learn more, visit Doctorneha.com.
Dr. Tayyab Rashid is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Wellbeing Science, University of Melbourne. Dr. Rashid is also a faculty associate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. For nearly two decades, as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Rashid has worked with individuals experiencing complex mental health and trauma including 9/11 families, survivors of the Asian Tsunami of 2004, refugee families and journalists who have worked in high-conflict zones and with survivors of mass shootings. Dr. Rashid has delivered more than fifty keynotes and invited talks and trained mental health professionals and educators internationally in more than 20 countries. Published in academic journals, Dr. Rashid’s book Positive Psychotherapy (2018), co-written with Martin Seligman, is considered one of the most comprehensive clinical resources in the field and has been translated into several languages so far. Dr. Rashid won the Outstanding Practitioner Award (2017) from the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).–
Former professional player, Giacomo Sintini has 18 years of volleyball experience, 97 appearances for the Italian national team, and 18 gold medals won in Italy and around the world.
In 2011, at the age of 32, he was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer and underwent a year of treatment and a bone marrow transplant. Upon his return to the court in 2012, with the opportunity provided by Trentino Volley, he played for 4 more seasons in the top Italian series and won 5 additional gold medals.
Giacomo is the President and Founder of the Giacomo Sintini APS charity association, which raises funds for onco-hematological research. He has also written a book about his difficult experience to aid the cancer community.
At the end of his professional sports career at 37, Giacomo joined Randstad and took on a new challenge in training and consulting. Today, he heads the sports and corporate training division of Randstad Italy and serves as the commercial manager for the Adriatic region of Randstad HR Solutions.
Giacomo has been knighted by the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and has been a UNICEF ambassador for 10 years.
Graduated in Literature and Philosophy, Valentina Sangiorgi has twenty years of experience in the Human Capital field, particularly in business consultancy.
In 2009, she started working for Randstad, whose mission is to help people and organizations develop their true potential. She began in business and later became the Chief Human Resources Officer in the Italian holding company. She manages the strategic people operations for companies in the group located in Italy, Greece, and Turkey and is a member of the Board of Directors.
“Making work meaningful” encapsulates the essence of her work: to make a positive impact on society through people.
She is a keynote speaker at events focused on ED&I, organizational wellbeing, leadership, change management, and culture management and has spoken at several human resources master’s programs.
She is also a director on the boards of two companies within the group.
A graduate of Harvard College and a former teaching fellow for Tal Ben-Shahar’s Positive Psychology class, Sara Blanchard has been melding the worlds of happiness and social justice for the better part of a decade. She is a facilitator, writer, certified life coach, and TEDx speaker, author of Flex Mom, co-author of Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism, and the co-founder of Dear White Women, a social justice platform. Sara is both Japanese and white, is married to a white Canadian man, and is raising their two multi-ethnic girls to be compassionate, thoughtful advocates. They live in Denver, Colorado with their incredibly lovable dog.
Dr. Michael Steger is the Founder and Director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose, and Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University. He also serves as an Extraordinary Professor by North-West University in South Africa. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Macalester College, his MS in Counseling from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and Personality Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2005.
Elina is a dynamic and provocative speaker and leadership advisor who pushes the boundaries of conscious leadership. Through her innovative insights and practical strategies, she equips leaders with the tools they need to authentically and purposefully navigate the complexities of today’s rapidly evolving business landscape.
Elina’s forthcoming book, “Feminine Intelligence: How Billionaire Philanthropists, Unicorn Founders and Happiness Pioneers Are Changing Business for Good” draws on her extensive experience working with leaders in dynamic startups, nonprofits, investment funds, and large multinationals.
Passionate about the transformative potential of philanthropy and the synergy between business and social impact, Elina has previously served as a global philanthropic advisor for the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation. Her close collaboration with the Gray family on strategic investing and social entrepreneurship has provided her with a rare vantage point at the intersection of leadership, identity, and business as a force for good.
While Elina’s career began as a corporate attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, a renowned global law firm, where she tackled intricate financial and corporate matters for private equity and hedge fund clients, she soon realized that her true calling lay in merging law, entrepreneurship, and psychology to offer a fresh and compelling perspective on leadership.
Elina’s educational background includes a Master’s degree in Psychology from Columbia University’s Teachers College, a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School where she earned the distinction of being a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from New York University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She has also completed the Columbia University Executive Coaching Program and holds certification as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Additionally, Elina is currently pursuing her certification in Psychedelics Therapy from the California Integral Institute, further expanding her understanding of alternative approaches to healing and growth.
Fred Luskin serves as Director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects, an ongoing series of workshops and research projects that investigate the effectiveness of his forgiveness methods on a variety of populations. The forgiveness project has successfully explored forgiveness therapy with people who suffered from the violence in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone as well as the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11.
In addition, Fred’s work has been successfully applied and researched in corporate, medical, legal and religious settings. He currently serves as a Senior Consultant in Health Promotion at Stanford University and is a Professor at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. He presents lectures, workshops, seminars and trainings on the importance, health benefits and training of forgiveness, stress management and emotional competence throughout the United States. He offers presentations and classes that range from one hour to ongoing weekly trainings.
Elisa is a Latina leader and inspiring voice in promoting happiness and wellbeing. In her consulting business, she excels at developing impactful wellbeing and employee engagement programs and creating effective DEIB strategies, earning national recognition for her work in diverse cultural settings.
As a dynamic speaker, Elisa engages global audiences at events like the World Happiness Summit, sharing her passion for happiness, wellbeing, and social impact from a Latina perspective.
She is also the best-selling author of “Sparkle On Changemaker, a Practical Guide to Equitable Social Impact,” offering actionable insights for creating inclusive and equitable environments.
Elisa’s academic credentials include an Executive Education Certificate from Harvard, an MBA from IAE Buenos Aires, and a BA from Brown University. Her accolades include HACR Young Hispanic Corporate Achievers and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion award.
She serves as the Hispanic Heritage Foundation Board Chair and is a Miami Fellows Program Fellow.
Elisa balances her professional and personal life as a wife and mother to a curious 4-year-old, bringing her unique sparkle to every aspect of life.
Life and business strategist, best-selling author, journalist and international speaker specialized in personal development and mindful exponential leadership. He has received personalized training from renowned international leaders such as Robin Sharma, John C. Maxwell, Deepak Chopra, Brian Tracy, and Tony Robbins, and completed the Executive Program in Exponential Leadership at one of the most prestigious and advanced universities in the world, Singularity University in Silicon Valley. Through his conferences, workshops and inspirational retreats, he has touched the personal and professional lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Cala has positively impacted more than 400 companies in over 25 countries. The New York Times has identified him as “the Latino Larry King”. A member of the National Speakers Association (NSA) in USA. Founder and president of CALA Enterprises Corporation, a content production company focused on leadership, mindfulness, happiness, productivity, and excellence as a culture. President & Founder of Ismael Cala Foundation.
Dr Mark Williamson is Director of Action for Happiness, a movement of people taking action to create a happier and kinder world, with an active community of over a million supporters. He is passionate about creating a more balanced and caring society that focuses more on helping people and communities thrive. Mark has a diverse range of experience across private and non-profit sectors, from start-ups through to large multi-national companies. He was previously Director at the Carbon Trust and Senior Manager with Accenture and has also worked for HP Labs and Orange. He holds an MBA from IMD in Switzerland, and a PhD in Engineering from the University of Bristol. He is a Sainsbury Management Fellow, a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Institute of Directors.
Howard C. Cutler, MD, is a psychiatrist, New York Times best-selling author, and leading expert on the science of human happiness. He is coauthor with the Dalai Lama of the internationally best-selling series The Art of Happiness. Dedicated to helping people find happier, more rewarding lives, Howard works with individuals privately and has given presentations on happiness throughout the United States and abroad. He has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and television programs, and in Time; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Psychology Today. He holds degrees in art and zoology, and a medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Cassie Holmes is a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and author of Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most. Trained as a social psychologist, Professor Holmes earned her PhD at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and her BA at Columbia. An award-winning teacher and researcher on the role of time in cultivating happiness and satisfaction in life, Professor Holmes’s work has been widely published in lead academic journals and featured in such outlets as NPR, the Economist, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post.
Diann Newman has been an educator/administrator at Florida International University since 1975. She has had administrative responsibilities ranging from the Director of Admissions to Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies to her current role as Vice Dean for The Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Professor Newman also teaches Leadership Training for Teambuilding and Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Newman is a professional speaker and workshop facilitator. She conducts seminars on topics such as self-esteem, and communication skills and a frequent presenter at Rancho La Puerta. Dr. Newman is licensed in Florida as a Mental Health Counselor. She has co-authored the book, Human Resource Management: A Customer-Oriented Approach (Prentice-Hall). She has received recognition in the University for her excellence in advising and teaching and for her work in promoting the appreciation of diversity.
Dr. Itai Ivtzan is passionate about the combination of psychology and spirituality. It makes his heart sing. He is convinced that if we befriend both psychology and spirituality, and succeed in introducing them into our lives, we will all become super-heroes, and gain super-strengths of awareness, courage, resilience, and compassion. Isn’t this an amazing prospect? Itai is a Positive Psychologist, a Professor at Naropa University, teaching and researching at the MA Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Mindfulness-Based. He is also an honorary senior research associate at University College London (UCL).
Over the past 20 years, Itai has run seminars, lectures, workshops and retreats in the UK, US, and around the world, at various educational institutions and at private events. He is a regular keynote speaker at conferences. He published five books, as well as more than 50 journal papers and book chapters. His main areas of research are positive psychology, mindfulness, and spirituality.
Itai is confident that mindfulness meditation has the power to change individuals – in fact, whole societies – for the better. Accordingly, he has been investing much time in studying mindfulness academically, writing books about it, teaching it, and training mindfulness teachers.
His passion towards personal transformation and growth led him to establish the School of Positive Transformation.
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 an inspirational 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. She is 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.
Introducing Nic Marks, statistician, author, TED speaker and founder of Friday Pulse™. Nic specializes in using the science of wellbeing to help individuals, businesses, and governments to track happiness.
Nic is a unique statistician with an unusual specialty – happiness. He has been working to create measures of people’s quality of life for the past three decades, with an emphasis on their emotional experience and happiness.
Nic trained as a statistician, studying Mathematics, Economics and Management Studies at Cambridge University, and then completing his MSc at the University of Lancaster. Since then, he has been on a mission to measure wellbeing and create lasting, positive change.
You can find out more about Nic at his website: https://nicmarks.org
Jacqueline Brassey (PhD, MAfN) is a co-leader at the McKinsey Health Institute and a Senior Expert in the area of People & Organizational Performance. Furthermore, she is a research fellow at VU Amsterdam, an Adjunct Professor at IE University in Spain in the area of Sustainable Human Development and Performance and serves as a Supervisory Board member of Save the Children in the Netherlands.
Jacqui has more than twenty years of experience in business and academia and spent most of her career before joining McKinsey & Company at Unilever, both in the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom. Jacqui holds degrees in both organization and business sciences, as well as in medical sciences. She has a bachelor’s in international business and languages from Avans University of Applied Sciences, a cum laude bachelor’s and master’s in policy and organization sciences from Tilburg University, a PhD in economics and business from Groningen University and a joint master’s in affective neuroscience from Maastricht University and the University of Florence. She has (co-)authored and presented close to a hundred articles, books, podcasts and scientific papers.
She has worked and lived in five different countries, loves running, hiking and a good glass of wine, and currently lives with her South African/Dutch family in Luxembourg.
Sarah Cunningham is Managing Director of the World Wellbeing Movement (WWM), and host of the ‘Working on Wellbeing’ podcast series by the World Wellbeing Movement, where she engages in meaningful conversations with the world’s leading wellbeing experts.
Housed within the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, the World Wellbeing Movement’s aim is to improve the quality of life of people across the world by putting wellbeing at the heart of decision-making in both business and public policy.
Sarah’s own expertise, which bridges both the corporate and academic worlds, strongly aligns with the World Wellbeing Movement’s approach. She is a workplace wellbeing expert with >26 years leadership experience, gained in companies including Accenture, Google and Mastercard. Immediately prior to being appointed to her current position, Sarah was Vice-President and lead of Mastercard’s European Technology Hub in Dublin, where she was focused on creating a great place to work with employee wellbeing as the cornerstone. Sarah graduated first in her year from LSE’s EMSc in Psychological & Behavioural Science. She is also a graduate of the Smurfit Business School Senior Leadership programme in partnership with Darden University, and she has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business & Law from University College Dublin.
Dr. Cree Scott is the founder and CEO of Serenity Psychological Health & Well-being. She is a licensed psychologist with a background in consulting, employee well-being, DEI, and leadership development. She has worked in a range of settings including professional services, higher education, federal/government sectors, healthcare and private practice. With over 15 years of experience in clinical and consulting psychology, Dr. Scott specializes in working with organizations to design customized well-being strategies, programs, and curriculum to create a psychologically safe and healthy place to work. As a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultant, she incorporates culturally relevant perspectives and solutions to help leaders and organizations create an environment in which all employees experience inclusion and belonging.
In 2003, New York attorney Nick Katsoris was inspired to write a book about a fluffy little lamb named “Loukoumi” that just wants to make the world a better place. The first book was written for fun after his son was born, but when the New York Times wrote about Loukoumi, it hit #4 on the children’s book bestseller list, setting the Loukoumi Make A Difference Movement into motion. Almost two decades later, Katsoris has authored 9 books in the series including Loukoumi’s Good Deeds (narrated by Jennifer Aniston and her father John Aniston), which in 2008 inspired international Make A Difference with Loukoumi Day on the last Saturday of every October. What started with a few hundred children doing good, has now blossomed into The Loukoumi Make A Difference Foundation with Loukoumi Kids Club chapters around the world. Katsoris founded the non-profit in 2014, after he received a national Make A Difference Award for his philanthropic work from the Points of Light organization and USA Weekend magazine. Today the Loukoumi Foundation unites over 100,000 children worldwide to make a difference all year round for causes they are passionate about.
Through the Loukoumi Foundation, Katsoris hosts a Good Deed of the Month Zoom program and a curriculum in over 300 schools. Projects include “Loukoumi Feeds the Hungry” with Loukoumi Advisory Board Chair Chef Maria Loi, sending Kindness Postcards to space with Blue Origin, writing Never Forget letters to families who lost loved ones on 9-11, and the book series authored by kids, “Inspiring Stories That Make A Difference” with the award winning musical Come From Away. The Loukoumi Foundation Dream Day program also grants children the opportunity to spend the day in their dream careers. Through these programs children learn the importance of making a difference, which becomes not something that they have to do, but something they are excited to do, now and throughout their lives.
The Loukoumi Foundation sponsors the Chef Maria Loi/Loukoumi Foundation Teaching Kitchen at the Floating Hospital in Long Island City, NY with Chef Loi, The Loukoumi Foundation Treatment Room at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital sponsored by kids’ $1 donations, the Loukoumi Exhibit at the Westchester Children’s Museum and partners with over 100 organizations around the world including The Los Angeles Chargers, ECOS, and the National Bullying Prevention Center.
A graduate of Fordham College of Business Administration and Fordham Law School, Katsoris began his legal career as Law Clerk to The Hon. Nicholas Tsoucalas at the United States Court of International Trade. He then served as a litigation associate at the law firm of
Cahill Gordon and Reindel. In 2005 he was appointed as General Counsel of a conglomerate in New York. He also serves as an Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.
In December 2022, Katsoris received the Visionary Humanitarian Award from the High Flyers 50 Global Achievement Awards in Mumbai India. He has also received Tegna’s National Make A Difference All-Star Award, Attorney of the Year from the Hellenic Lawyers Association, Community Champion Award from the Chapel School, the Independent Spirit Award from the NY Mets and several parenting and book awards. Nick is also President and co-founder of the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund, which has awarded over 1,000 scholarships to students totaling several million dollars. Nick currently resides in Eastchester, New York, with his wife, Voula, a real estate attorney, and their children, Constantine and Julia.
Lynn Richards, is the Senior Vice President for Policy and Implements for Blue Zones, LLC. The holistic Blue Zones approach in communities focuses on People, Places, and Policy, which includes policy changes within the built environment, food, tobacco, and alcohol sectors. Policy changes can help achieve long-term sustainable change within the community and increase overall well-being for generations. As the Policy Chief for Blue Zones, Lynn is responsible for collaborating with national policy experts across all fields to ensure that our recommended policy changes not only represent the latest research and innovation, but also meet the community exactly where they are. Lynn also directs Blue Zones Policy Services, which is our stand-alone consultant services.
Prior to joining Blue Zones, she was the President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, whose mission is to champion walkable urbanism. In this role, she launched the Project for Code Reform that led to code changes in Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin; started CNU Legacy Projects, which provided pro bono technical assistance in under-served communities from leading urban design firms and has a 95% implementation rate; and advanced highway removal and transformation and working with Congressional leaders on legislation that includes a $10 billion Highways to Boulevards effort. Prior to CNU, Richards had a distinguished career at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), holding multiple leadership roles over 13 years including Acting Director and Policy Director in the Office of Sustainable Communities. She worked with dozens of state and local governments to implement placemaking approaches by developing policies, urban design strategies, and environmental solutions for vibrant, prosperous neighborhoods.
Steve Schwartz is a best-selling author, Master Tea Blender, and the Founder of Art of Tea, a hand-crafted tea purveyor based in Los Angeles. After studying at the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico, Steve was captivated by the field of preventative medicine. Since then, he has traveled around the world, cultivated relationships with farmers, and he has become enamored with the homeopathic impact plants can have on the body and mind. His passion for expanding people’s knowledge and history of tea is riveting. By combining herbs and botanicals to create unique wellness and flavor profiles, Steve and his team have been able to build an explosive brand that’s garnered national acclaim and awards.
Art of Tea offers customized tea programs for locations in North America, Japan, Singapore, Maldives for properties such as Huntington Gardens, Google HQ, Shutters on the Beach Hotel, Caesars Palace, Wolfgang Puck, The White House and Disney.
Headshot credit: Dane Deaner
Dr. Ella F. Washington is an organizational psychologist whose research examines conditions of workplace cultures that best support inclusion, diversity and equity while contributing to employees’ individual development. She is Professor of Practice at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, founder of Ellavate Solutions, host of Gallup’s Center of Black Voices Cultural Competence Podcast and author of The Necessary Journey.
Helena Águeda Marujo has a PhD in Psychology (Psychotherapy and Educational Counseling) from Lisbon University. She is currently an Associate Professor at Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Politicas (Institute of Social and Political Sciences), University of Lisbon, where she serves as the Chairperson of a UNESCO Chair on Education for Global Peace Sustainability. She is also the Scientific Coordinator of the Post-Graduate Course in Applied Positive Psychology. She is a Senior Researcher at Centro de Administração e Politicas Publicas (CAPP, Centre for Administration and Public Policies, University of Lisbon). She is a TAOS Associate, a TILAC and a TIE member (Taos Latin-America, Spain and Portugal, and TAOS Iberia) and member of the Board of Directors of the European Network of Positive Psychology. Additionally, she is a member of the Council of Advisors of the International Positive Psychology Association, of the Medical Advisory Council of Make-A-Wish International and a member of the Evaluation Commission of the Postdoctoral Internship Program of UNICOM, Faculty of Social Sciences of the National University of Lomas de Zamora, Argentina. Helena is a research member of the Hope Barometer, an international research project, coordinating the Portuguese chapter. She has more than 60 scientific publications and countless of scientific dissemination papers, and the authorship and co-authorship of nine books, highlighting the following: “Positive Nations and Communities: Collective, Qualitative and Cultural-Sensitive Processes in Positive Psychology” (Springer, 2013), “Humanizar as Organizações: Novos Sentidos para a Gestão de Pessoas (Humanising Organisations: New Directions for People Management, RH Editora, 2019) and “Educação para a Paz Global Sustentável: Complexidades e Contributos”, (Education for sustainable global peace: complexities and contributions”, Pactor/ISCSP, 2022). She is also a collaborator of the upcoming Springer book “Hope Across cultures”.
Nadim is a Parenting Coach, father of 3 and best-selling author of seven books. He founded the Happy Confident Company to develop cutting-edge programmes and products for children, schools, and families. He has worked with renowned therapists and teachers, drawing from the latest research in child psychology and neuroscience to develop a parenting and whole school wellbeing programme that’s already changed the lives of over 100K families. He is a regular speaker on parenting themes in corporates and schools and has been featured in leading media publications including Sky News, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and the BBC.
Amy Blankson is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Wellness Institute, Founder of Fearless Positivity, and bestselling author of The Future of Happiness. A graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Management, she’s the only person to receive a Point of Light award from two US Presidents. She is also a member of the UN Global Happiness Council, a Fellow of the World Innovation Organization, a featured professor in Oprah’s happiness e-course, and a regular contributor to Forbes. Her current work focuses on how to cultivate happiness and well-being in the digital era.
Tyler Rice is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of the Digital Wellness Institute. As a leading digital wellness innovator, Tyler’s work focuses on designing new tools, training, and data measurements to drive awareness of the importance of digital well-being for enterprise clients. Motivated to fill this need from his own feelings of digital burnout in a fast-paced corporate environment, Tyler completed coursework through Stanford’s “Idea 2 Market” business incubator – and is in the midst of receiving his Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Social Innovation at NYU – to design solutions that promote human flourishing. He has presented at Cisco’s Annual Tech Conference and Collision North America, and his written work has been published by the Global Network of Workplace Wellbeing Professionals.
Michael Edwards leads McKinsey’s function responsible for the way McKinsey works. The function is dedicated to creating the operating system for the world’s best teams.
Michael has spent 14 years at McKinsey. He was originally a client serving Partner focused on Lifesciences. He has spent the last 6 years leading different parts of the people organization. As well as his global role Michael is the Director of People for McKinsey in the UK, Ireland, and Israel.
Development of McKinsey’s operating system for high performing teams. This is underpinned by research and analytics to identify the distinctive practices of high-performing teams. Research on hybrid working during and post COVID-19 lockdowns, to understand the impact of different co-location models on performance, experience, and apprenticeship. Creation of the onboarding journey for all new joiners to the Firm, including their introduction to Firm ways of working. Reinvention of McKinsey’s problem-solving approaches, to embrace a much wider range of different client challenges and potential solutions. Research into human performance, particularly focused on populations with high intrinsic skills and motivation.
Michael has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from University College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Alice Law is a Stress Management Consultant, Reiki Master, Mindfulness Practitioner, Vedic Meditation Teacher, Akashic Records Practitioner, Speaker, Host of the 5* rated podcast Unstressable and Co-Founder of online membership platform Unstressable.com.
She works holistically with clients teaching them how to identify, limit and manage their stress through mind, emotions, body & soul. Helping people to become the calmest version of themselves so they can reach their greatest potential. Working both privately 1:1 with clients, as well as companies such as RBS, Coutts, Joe Media and The British Embassy. She has been featured as an expert on Good Morning La La Land, the Evening Standard Magazine, CNBC, ABC and Fox News.
Alice understands stress from a unique position after she went through chronic stress for an 8 -year period when she was faced with loss in every aspect of her life all at once. During this time, she discovered the most effective processes for not just managing stress, but how to prevent it going forward. Having lost her own father to stress related illness, it is now Alice’s mission to help as many people as possible to dis- identify from stress and return to their natural state of calm & happiness.
Satoko Yano has 20 years of experience in international education and is currently a Program Specialist in Section of Education Policy at UNESCO HQs, heading UNESCO’s Happy Schools Initiative. She also leads a team working on education sector-wide policy/planning and is involved in providing technical assistance and capacity development support in education policy review, sector plan development and monitoring. Prior to joining the current section in 2018, she worked at various UNESCO offices, including Beijing, Bangkok, and New Delhi. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Tokyo, Japan and a Master’s and Ph.D. in Comparative Education from Columbia University, USA.