You have 0 items in your cart
We are grateful and honored for the amazing experts who have participated at the World Happiness Summit since 2017.
Anna is the Head of Psychosocial Health and Well-being at Siemens AG, shaping its global strategy since 2021. She is at the forefront of developing Siemens’ global mental well-being and health strategy, orchestrating various initiatives to improve mental well-being within the organization. Anna leads the work well-being approach at Siemens and drives its strategic integration throughout the company.
Anna is convinced that well-being goes far beyond the individual, but it is about organizing managing and designing work in a way that supports well-being. With over 15 years of experience in organizational development, Anna has a rich background in well-being, health, and safety. She began her career in academia and later transitioned to consulting for multinational companies, focusing on holistic well-being, mental health and safety management.
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.
Pedro Oliveira is Dean at Nova School of Business and Economics, where he is also a Cascais Chair Professor in Operations, Technology, Innovation & Management (OTIM).
He is also Professor MSO at Copenhagen Business School; Academic Fellow at Cornell University’s Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures; Founder of Patient Innovation; and co-founder of PPL Crowdfunding.
Pedro is also the President of the worldwide Open and User Innovation Society (OUI). In Portugal, he currently serves as a counselor on the National Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation (CNCTI), as well as the Economic and Social Council (CES).
Previously he was Senior Associate Dean for Faculty & Research; Director of the Research Unit in Business and Economics; Academic Director of the LisbonMBA (a joint-venture between Católica-Lisbon, NovaSBE and MIT-Sloan); and Academic Director of the doctoral program in Technology Change and Entrepreneurship (offered by Católica-Lisbon, IST and Carnegie Mellon University) at Católica-Lisbon School of Business & Economics. He was also the founder and director of several exec ed programs.
Pedro also served as advisor to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal (with Ministers Mariano Gago and Manuel Heitor) and as member of the Environment & Sustainability Council at EDP Energias de Portugal. He was also an International Faculty Fellow at MIT Sloan School of Management.
His research has been published at Production and Operations Management (POM), Research Policy, Organizational Research Methods, Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Orphanet, New England Journal of Medicine – Catalyst, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, among others.
He received his Ph.D. in Operations, Technology and Innovation Management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and his MSc and his BSc in Naval Engineering from IST. He also completed advanced training at Harvard Business School and at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Dr. Laura Kubzansky is Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She served as the co-director of the JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program and was a founding-director of the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness. With over 400 publications, she has published extensively on the role of psychological and social factors in health, with a focus on stress and positive psychological assets in relation to cardiovascular disease. She also conducts research on whether stress, emotion, and other psychological factors are pathways underlying social disparities in health. Other research projects and interests include: (a) biological mechanisms linking emotions, social relationships, and health; (b) relationships among early childhood environments, resilience, and healthy aging; (c) how psychosocial stress or assets interact with toxic environmental exposures (e.g., air pollution) to influence health; (d) the role of work conditions in fostering worker well-being and identifying workplace policies and practices that enable workers to be healthy. Dr. Kubzansky has worked closely with over 150 graduate students and postdoctoral research fellows as a mentor, academic advisor, and dissertation committee member. She is a fellow in the American Psychological Association, the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, and the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine. Dr. Kubzansky has served as an expert advisor to numerous panels at foundations, health agencies, and the government, as an advisor for multiple centers and training programs, and is a principal or co-investigator on a wide variety of grants funded through the Veterans Administration, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, and National Institutes of Health, among others
Marc Schulz directs the Data Science Program and is a Professor of Psychology on the Sue Kardas PhD 1971 Professorship. He is, along with Robert Waldinger, the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness (2023). He is also the Associate Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, an 8-decade-old longitudinal study of thousands of individuals from 724 families. The main focus of his scholarship is on close relationships and the role that relationships and emotional and stressful experiences play in shaping psychological and physical well-being. He studies these processes in the context of development and life transitions across adulthood. He is the author of numerous academic publications and a co-editor of two academic books. Schulz’s essays have also appeared in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Big Think and CNBC.
Sourced from the Bryn Mawr College website: https://www.brynmawr.edu/inside/people/marc-schulz
One of the world’s earliest impact economists and entrepreneurs. Serial founder of 30 ventures in 40 years, of which the latest are B Corps in Europe and For Good Leaders. Board member: Aurora Borealis Foundation, Sweden; SIX, London; Foundations 3.0, Brussels; Progressio Foundation, Rotterdam. Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, London University alumnus. Co-author of 2 books and numerous articles. Lived in 6 countries and worked in 30. Residing in the Netherlands since the 90s.
Diana serves as Unilever’s Chief Health & Wellbeing Officer. She leads the global team responsible for the health and wellbeing of Unilever’s 100,000+ employees operating in 190 countries. Prior to Unilever, Diana was the Chief Medical Officer for GE’s consumer businesses, where she oversaw global healthcare delivery and health and leave benefits.
Diana trained in Internal Medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital. She serves on the Advisory Council of the World Wellbeing Movement; on the Board of the Business Group on Health, and on the US Federal Reserve Bank’s Healthcare Industry Council.
Dr. Judith Joseph MD MBA is a board-certified psychiatrist, researcher and award-winning content creator and she is the author of the instant national bestselling book, “High Functioning” which was an Audible top 10 well-being book of 2025. She is the chair of the women in medicine initiative at Columbia University, professor of psychiatry at NYU and her research lab conducted the first peer-reviewed clinical research study on high functioning depression in the world. Dr. Judith’s advocacy and research earned her a Congressional Proclamation award from the US House of Representatives in 2023. Her focus on how to reclaim joy as a form of resilience has led to a social media following of over 1.3 million across all platforms and her evidence-based mental health content receives over 15 million views monthly.
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.
Dr. Sood is a former Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Director of the Mind-Body Medicine Initiative, and the current CEO of the Global Center for Resiliency and Wellbeing. He is internationally known for his work on stress management, resilience, wellbeing, mindfulness, and burnout. Dr. Sood has authored or co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and has authored multiple books including The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living, The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness, Immerse: A 52-Week Course in Resilient Living, Mindfulness Redesigned for the Twenty-First Century, Stronger, and SMART with Dr. Sood. Dr. Sood received the 2010 Distinguished Service Award, the 2010 Innovator of the Year Award, the 2013 Outstanding Physician Scientist Award and the 2016 Faculty of the Year Award from Mayo Clinic. He also was honored as the Robert Wood Johnson Health Care Pioneer in 2015. The Intelligent Optimist (formerly Ode Magazine) selected Dr. Sood as one among top 20 intelligent optimists helping the world to be a better place. Dr. Sood serves on the wellbeing advisory board for Everyday Health, scientific advisory board for Thrive Global, and is a fellow with the Atria Academy of Science and Medic
Ellen Langer was the first woman to be tenured in psychology at Harvard, where she is still professor of psychology. She is recipient of three Distinguished Scientists awards, and the Arthur W. Staats Award for
Unifying Psychology, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Liberty Science Genius Award, and has published over 200 research articles and thirteen books, including the international bestseller Mindfulness and her most recent book, The Mindful Body: Thinking our way to chronic health. She is known worldwide as the “mother of mindfulness, the “mother of positive psychology” and the mother of mind/body medicine
She is also a gallery exhibiting painter, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Karen Guggenheim is a pioneer in the global happiness movement and a leading voice in promoting the science and practice of wellbeing. She is the founder and CEO of WOHASU®, and the visionary behind the World Happiness Summit®—recognized by Forbes as one of the “Top 5 Leadership Summits in the World.” Since its launch in 2016, WOHASU has grown into a global movement uniting thought leaders, expanding transformational ideas, providing training, and increasing social connection across cultures and industries.
After experiencing a profound personal loss, Karen made the life-changing decision to dedicate her work to creating a legacy rooted in wellbeing and purpose. That choice led her to become an unexpected entrepreneur, founding WOHASU in 2016 to launch the first World Happiness Summit. Today, WOHASU’s in-person events have reached thousands of attendees from over 80 countries.
Karen creates transformative experiences that blend evidence-based science, storytelling, and community building. She works with multinational corporations, nonprofits, and school systems to embed wellbeing into leadership, culture, and education.
In 20225, Karen created the Tech for Good™ Human Flourishing in the AI Era to add to WOHASU’s Summit Collection and expand on its mission to expand the ripples of the science wellbeing.
She spearheaded the WOHASU® Wellbeing Leadership Certification, a groundbreaking initiative launched in the third-largest public school district in the U.S., reaching over 400,000 students and 34,000 employees. The program equips leaders with practical tools to reduce burnout, increase engagement, and build happier, more resilient schools.
Karen is also the founder of the WOHASU Wellbeing Foundation, a nonprofit focused on systemic change. Through the foundation, she created the World Wellbeing Policy Forum, an international platform to elevate the conversation on the economics and public policy of wellbeing in business, education, and government.
She is the author of Cultivating Happiness: Overcome Trauma and Positively Transform Your Life, a TEDx speaker, a board member of the World Wellbeing Movement, and an advisory board member of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).
Karen holds an MBA from Georgetown University. Her work has been featured in CNN, CNN en español, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, BBC, Univision, Forbes, Fast Company, and other global media. She lives in Miami and speaks internationally in both English and Spanish.
Sheila is accountable for continuously evolving the Global Wellbeing Strategy that drives a Conscious Culture of holistic wellbeing for leaders, teams and individuals at Cisco. Sheila joined Cisco in 2000 and has held numerous roles across the organization and has spent most of her career in People & Communities.
Sheila’s passion lies in caring and supporting people through holistic and inclusive wellbeing offerings across the globe. As Global Head of Wellbeing she is a thought-leader, developing unique collaborations and integration opportunities with Cisco business leaders, wellbeing vendors and partners.
Sheila’s accountability for the vision and governance of wellbeing across the globe in Cisco ensures alignment with business objectives, meeting employee expectations, and driving continuous improvement. Collaborating with cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and subject matter experts Sheila designs, develops, and delivers high-quality offerings and experiences to ensure wellbeing is a business imperative. Passionate about caring for and supporting people, she champions inclusive, whole-person wellbeing approaches that meet the needs of a diverse global workforce.
In her spare time, Sheila loves being with her family and friends. Her passion and love of sport, caring for people, is embedded into her everyday life where she takes care of herself and those around her to role model her work on wellbeing for all.
Dr. Elia Gourgouris also known as America’s Happiness Doctor, is an International Keynote speaker & the author of the #1 best-selling Amazon book, 7 Paths to Lasting Happiness. He’s the President and co-founder of The Kindness Factor International which recently produced the highly acclaimed documentary feature film called For Such A time As This on the impact of kindness worldwide! The first half of his career he built a thriving private practice as a Clinical Psychologist (all word of mouth) before moving on to become an Executive Coach working with C-Suite leaders.
With his Positive Psychology background and through his books, Keynotes, podcast interviews (350+ worldwide) and Executive Coaching he has helped hundreds of thousands of people both in their careers and in their relationships to achieve happiness and success in their personal and professional lives. As an inspirational speaker, he frequently presents at international conferences focusing on Happiness, Corporate Wellness & Mental Health. He’s the host of a new TV show called The Happy Hour w/ Dr. Elia on the Mental Health Television Network. He splits his time between the US and Greece/Europe.
Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/dr.eliag/
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.
Lisette de Jonge is a seasoned Business Psychologist and dynamic leader in global health and wellbeing. Originally from the Netherlands, she now resides in Copenhagen and is based in Billund, Denmark. With over a decade of experience, Lisette has crafted and executed transformative health and wellbeing strategies across multinational organizations.
Her career highlights include serving as IKEA’s first Global Health and Wellbeing Leader, where she developed a comprehensive strategy impacting 180,000 employees across 32 markets, demonstrating significant ROI. Prior to IKEA, Lisette led corporate wellbeing strategies at KPMG and Kraft Heinz, transforming reactive approaches into proactive, research-backed solutions.
At the LEGO Group, Lisette spearheads the global wellbeing agenda, focusing on longterm prevention strategies that align with business objectives and enhance performance. Her work integrates job satisfaction and employee engagement as key drivers of success. She also serves on the Advisory Council of the World Wellbeing Movement.
Lisette’s approach combines a deep understanding of corporate health challenges with innovative, business-aligned solutions. Outside of work, she finds inspiration in nature and sport, particularly kitesurfing, which helps her recharge and reflect. Her interests span psychology, business, economics, and health, contributing to her holistic approach to leadership and life.
Manuel Machado Carneiro is the General Manager of Sheraton Cascais Resort, a position he assumed in January 2025, during which he simultaneously oversaw YOTEL Porto for a period of six months. With nearly 20 years of experience in the management sector, he is widely recognized for his strategic vision, people-centered leadership, and unwavering commitment to excellence.
Originally from Matosinhos, in the Porto region, he began his career in hospitality and has built a solid professional trajectory both in Portugal and internationally. Over the past two decades, he has worked with several leading brands, including Marriott, YOTEL (where he served as General Manager), Vincci Hotels, and international projects such as Palace Downtown Dubai, contributing to the launch of dining concepts from the Hakkasan Group and Michelin-starred venues, including MOO Restaurant at Hotel OMM. Notable achievements in his career also include the development and opening of concepts such as Douro Sky Lounge (Vincci Porto) and Nine Rooftop (YOTEL Porto). In the real estate sector, he was responsible for the implementation and development of LIV Student and Selina projects in Portugal.
In 2025, he was named one of the Top 100 Hotel General Managers of the World by the Luxury Lifestyle Awards, a distinction that recognizes his innovation, consistent performance, and people-first approach.
Upon taking leadership of Sheraton Cascais Resort, Manuel Machado Carneiro embraced the challenge of exploring new strategic opportunities across different segments and positioning Sheraton Cascais Resort & Residences as a benchmark in the industry. In 2025, the property received international recognition as Portugal’s Leading Hotel Residences by the World Travel Awards, along with an additional seven international accolades.
A firm believer that “results are the outcome of aligned and motivated teams,” he views talent management as one of the greatest challenges and opportunities within the business landscape.
In his perspective, he highlights the transformation of the sector over recent decades, marked by increased professionalization, a stronger focus on sustainability, and a shift from hierarchical leadership to a more inspiring, purpose-driven, and culture-oriented approach. He identifies key priorities as attracting and retaining talent, improving working conditions, fostering continuous training, establishing clear career paths, and leveraging technology intelligently to enhance human connection.
Driven by a passion for diversity, intercultural engagement, and innovation, Manuel Machado Carneiro stands out as a strategic, results-oriented leader, deeply human in his approach and genuinely committed to the development of impactful projects.
Iliana Grosse-Buening is an entrepreneur, author, and advisor working at the intersection of technology, ethics, and human flourishing. She is Co-Founder and CEO of Deeply Human Innovation, Chair of the IEEE Global AI Systems Flourishing Initiative, Adjunct Professor for Digital Wellbeing at IE University and Business School, and Affiliate to the IE UNESCO Chair for AI Ethics and Governance. With over a decade of international experience across five continents, she advises Fortune 500 companies, global charities, and universities on digital wellbeing, AI ethics, and responsible innovation. Her research has been published by Springer Nature and De Gruyter.
Robert Biswas-Diener is widely known for 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.
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.
Sandro Formica, Ph.D., is the lead professor of the Hospitality Leadership major and the principal executive education trainer at Florida International University, specializing in Positive Organizational Behavior and Human Capital Development. He has designed, tested, and implemented Positive Organizational Interventions (POIs) to help companies in the U.S. and internationally enhance performance, trust, engagement, belonging, and teamwork in a sustainable way.
He is also the creator of the H+AI FLOW™ methodology, a practical framework that helps organizations thrive by aligning human potential and emotional agility with the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence.
Sandro has trained executives and entrepreneurs across a wide range of industries—including logistics, energy, manufacturing, hospitality, and human resources—for companies such as DHL, Philip Morris, Accor, Manpower Group, and LVMH. As a keynote speaker, he has delivered talks to leading organizations including PwC, Illy Caffè, Forbes, and Expedia.
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
LaFawn Davis is the former Chief People & Sustainability Officer at Indeed. She led teams that focused on Responsible AI; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging; Accessibility; Social Impact; Equitable Hiring Products, Human Resources and Environmental Sustainability. Her commitments were 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, a Limited Partner in Operator Collective, an Angel Investor and a Fellow of the Black Venture Institute.
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.
Luis Pedro Recinos is a business and leadership advisor who explores gratitude as a powerful lens for living, leading and finding meaning in life’s most challenging moments. His work is deeply shaped by personal loss and more than a decade of practicing, writing and speaking about gratitude, which he actively shares as a keystone habit for resilience and lasting well-being.
With more than two decades of experience as a senior executive in a multigenerational family business conglomerate, he brings a unique perspective that connects values, leadership and human experience. He has led large-scale corporate transformation initiatives and today advises boards, organizations and family enterprises on leadership, governance and long-term value creation. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.
Luis Pedro is the author of El legado de Thiago, a deeply personal journey of finding meaning through grief, shaped by a daily gratitude journal. Through his writing and talks, he invites audiences to reflect on a simple but profound idea: that gratitude is not only a response to life’s best moments, but a way of seeing life—even when it breaks your heart.
Rob Stephenson is an international keynote speaker and wellbeing advocate who is on a mission to help
create happier, healthier and higher performing workplaces. He experiences bipolar disorder personally.
Rob is the founder of The InsideOut LeaderBoard, a charity with the mission of smashing the stigma of
mental ill-health in the workplace by showcasing senior leader role models with lived experiences of mental ill-health. As a consultant, Rob works with senior leadership teams to help elevate wellbeing as a
performance enabler.
Rob is the Founder of FormScore, a technology platform that helps managers understand the wellbeing and performance readiness of their teams with real-time people analytics. Rob is also co-founder of the InsideOut Awards, an annual celebration of those championing workplace mental health and wellbeing. In his keynote talks, Rob inspires audiences to think differently about mental health and wellbeing. Themes include: treating mental health and wellbeing as a strategic priority; leadership inspiration; the future of workplace wellbeing; wellbeing as a performance enabler; getting started on a personal wellbeing journey. Rob grounds his talks in his personal story of living and working with bipolar and always gives practical tips and ideas. See Rob’s TEDx here. Rob has also developed an innovative concept – a Music & Mental Health performance which combines live DJ elements and public speaking to get people thinking differently about mental health & wellbeing via the medium of music. See this short promo video.
Carolina Champalimaud is the Well‑being Team Leader at Nova SBE, where she has been a driving force behind initiatives that strengthen emotional resilience and psychological safety across the academic community. She designed and implemented an innovative triage system and automated psychological procedures grounded in a stepped‑care model, enabling rapid and personalized access to support—from low‑intensity interventions to specialized clinical care. Carolina also promotes inclusive practices through initiatives such as Teach to Include and contributes her expertise as a consultant on academic and institutional policy.
Bringing more than two decades of experience in mental health, psychological well‑being, and human development, Carolina’s clinical work focuses on supporting individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders—including Dyslexia and ADHD. She draws on evidence‑based Cognitive Behavioral and Integrative therapeutic approaches. She is also highly experienced in working with clients from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, ensuring culturally responsive and equitable psychological care.
Driven by a commitment to mental health promotion, accessibility, and inclusion, Carolina works to create environments where students, faculty, and staff feel supported and empowered. Her mission is to foster a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive community where psychological well‑being is embedded into everyday culture.
Tamara Lechner is a “people person” in the AI world—a leading expert in applying flourishing science to drive individual and cultural change that makes life and work measurably better. As Chair of the AI for Human Flourishing think tank within Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, she’s on a mission to help 1 billion people flourish by 2035.
Tamara co-leads the IEEE team expanding global AI standards from well-being to flourishing, believing that compliance and policy can be be tools for advancing human potential. Her work helps organizations build data-driven, emotionally intelligent workplaces where humans and AI work in harmony to create extraordinary outcomes.
Tamara’s work signals a new era—one where AI is built to serve our highest human values and flourishing becomes the metric that matters most.
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.
Jorge Humberto Dias is one of the leading figures in the Portuguese-speaking academic and business ecosystem in Organizational Well-being and Happiness Management, with a career dedicated to research, consulting, and teaching on happiness, ethics, and social responsibility in the corporate environment. He holds a European Doctorate in Ethics, Happiness, and Consulting from the Nova University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the University of Seville (Spain), and has been one of the main drivers of Happiness Management in Portugal and worldwide.
Internationally recognized for his work, he received the 2024 Standardization Award for his role as an expert on Technical Committee 219, responsible for creating the first global standard for organizational well-being and happiness management systems (NP4590:2023). Currently, the Portuguese standard has already been translated into English, and a proposal will be made to turn it into an ISO standard.
Jorge Humberto Dias, founder of PROJECT@ Consulting, coordinated the first Applied Philosophy research line in Portugal at the Catholic University of Portugal between 2013 and 2020. In 2018, he launched the research project “Perspectives on Happiness,” which analyzes Portugal’s place in the World Happiness Report (UN). He is currently working on the publication of an empirical study on the profession of Happiness Manager.
With extensive teaching experience at universities in various countries, he has taught subjects such as Corporate Social Responsibility, Well-being and Happiness Management, Happiness 5.0, High-Performance Emotional Intelligence, History of Applied Philosophy, and Philosophy for Organizations. He regularly collaborates with companies (SONAE, Fidelidade, BMW, Systemic, Quirónprevención), sports clubs (SL Benfica, Sporting CP, Rio Ave, Farense, Estrela da Amadora and Belenenses) and government entities (UNESCO, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Labor, Social Security, Municipalities of Pombal, Lousada, Oeiras, Lisbon, Sintra, Fafe, Lourinhã).
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.
Maria Luisa Malta Carter, known as Lulu Carter, is a Brazilian-born international educator, motivational speaker, and author recognized for her impactful work at the intersection of education, arts, and community service around the world. As the CEO of The Nonprofit Bee Gaia and Destination Partners, she has dedicated her career to creating inclusive environments and empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds. Lulu is the author of “The SHEro Mindset,” a personal development book emphasizing resilience, self-discovery, and cultural diversity, supported by her master’s in education and degrees in Speech Therapy, Psychodrama, and Positive Psychology. With over 35 years of experience in programs for inclusion and the neurodiverse population, her initiatives range from global connectivity projects, all aimed at inspiring and uplifting individuals while fostering a sense of community and shared responsibility across cultures. Currently directing a global documentary “ Powered by Kindness” about the importance of kindness in mental health and inclusion.
Tara Davis is the Senior Director of Internal Communications and Staff Wellbeing at the American Psychological Association. She combines empathetic leadership with evidence-based strategies to enhance employee wellbeing and drive organizational success. With more than 15 years of experience leveraging psychological science, data, and employee feedback, she is recognized as a thought leader in workplace wellbeing, recognition, internal and executive communications, and employee engagement.
Davis develops communications, programs, and initiatives that energize employees, connect their work to organizational purpose, and foster a culture where people and performance thrive. Under her leadership, APA recently earned Top Workplaces recognition in both the Nonprofit and Remote Work categories—a testament to the impact of her work alongside a dedicated team. She advises executive leaders on building environments that promote satisfaction, commitment, and meaningful work.
Her expertise has been sought by organizations and audiences including National Public Radio, Amazon, Georgetown University, the American Society of Association Executives, the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives, Ragan Communications, the Public Relations Society of America, Ireland’s Strategic Magazine, Furman University, Young Life, and DC Public Schools.
Gauri Sood is a senior at Harvard College (Class of 2026) double majoring in Psychology and Government. She is a writer, researcher, and social entrepreneur dedicated to advancing global mental health through policy and legal reform. Gauri was a 2026 Rhodes Finalist.
As co-creator of an innovative social-emotional learning platform (HappiGenius), she has trained over 50 professionals, reached 5,000+ children, and authored both a children’s workbook and storybook on resilience. Gauri’s research has explored interventions for war-affected youth at the Harvard Lab for Youth Mental Health, and her senior honors thesis investigates social biases in artificial intelligence image generation models. She founded SPARK, a youth-focused policy research and advocacy organization at Harvard, and is a NEXTGEN Youth Advisory Council member for the National Alliance on Mental Health’s (NAMI) Massachusetts chapter.
Outside of academics, Gauri served as captain of the Harvard College Bhangra team, contributes to publications including the Harvard Independent, the Harvard Political Review, and Harvard Law School’s [F]law Magazine, and is a devoted dog lover.
Maria Villax started her career as a lawyer. For the last 10 years, she has advised families in building governance structures, helping global family businesses navigate generational transitions and build responsible ownership. A third-generation from a family business herself, she blends professional expertise with lived insight to help families sustain their legacy for the future.
Lourenço is a trained naval engineer who quickly went to work with his family business and developed skills as a project manager. Searching for his own identity and happiness he left the business after 4 years to work in culture and events – industries more aligned with his interests.
Annika Leonhard is the Consulting Director for EMEA at Gallup, leading the firm’s client consulting team across the region. With nearly five years at Gallup, she has partnered with senior business leaders and HR teams to drive large-scale workplace transformation — helping global organisations build cultures where people and performance can thrive.
Annika works at the strategic intersection of employee engagement, leadership development, and organisational change. As part of Gallup’s European Management Team, she shapes how organisations across EMEA approach their people strategy, translating evidence-based insights into tangible cultural and business outcomes.
Her international background, spanning the United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Luxembourg, France, and Austria, gives her a distinctive perspective on leading change across cultures and borders. She holds a degree in International Business from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Annika is fluent in German, English, and French.