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Arthur C. Brooks is the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership, happiness, and social entrepreneurship. He is also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the popular weekly “How to Build a Life” column. Brooks is the author of 13 books, including the 2022 #1 New York Times bestseller From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life and the 2023 #1 New York Times bestseller Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier with co-author Oprah Winfrey. He speaks to audiences all around the world about human happiness, and works to raise well-being within private companies, universities, public agencies, and community organizations.
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.
EMMA SEPPÄLÄ, Ph.D., is an international keynote speaker, research scientist, and author whose book The Happiness Track (HarperOne, 2016) has been translated into dozens of languages. She is currently a Lecturer at the Yale School of Management and Faculty Director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program. She is also the Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.
Seppälä’s expertise is positive leadership, emotional intelligence, positive psychology, and social connection. Her research has been published in top academic journals and featured in major news outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and CBSNews.
Seppälä speaks and consults internationally for Fortune 500 companies like Google and Facebook and contributes to Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Psychology Today, and TIME among others. She has also spoken at several TEDx events.
A repeat guest on Good Morning America, her research on breathing for military veterans with trauma was highlighted in the documentary Free the Mind. She is also featured in documentaries like The Altruism Revolution, What You Do Matters, and Bullied.
Seppälä is the recipient of a number of research grants and service awards including the James W. Lyons Award from Stanford University for founding Stanford’s first academic class on the psychology of happiness and initiating other well-being programs for Stanford students.
She graduated from Yale (BA), Columbia (MA), and Stanford (Ph.D.). Originally from Paris, France, she is a native speaker of French, English, and German and conversant in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
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.
Jim Clifton is the Chairman of Gallup, a global analytics and advice firm. Jim served as the organization’s CEO from 1988 until 2022. Under his leadership as CEO, Gallup expanded from a predominantly U.S.-based company to a worldwide organization with 30 offices in 20 countries and regions.
Jim is the creator of The Gallup Path, a metric-based economic model that establishes the linkages among human nature in the workplace, customer engagement and business outcomes. This model is used in performance management systems in more than 500 companies worldwide. Another of his innovations, the Gallup World Poll, gives the world’s 7 billion citizens a voice on virtually all key global issues.
In June 2015, the Clifton Foundation and Gallup announced a $30 million gift to the University of Nebraska to establish the Don Clifton Strengths Institute. The gift supports the early identification and accelerated development of thousands of gifted entrepreneurs and future business builders.
Jim is the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller, Culture Shock. Released in 2023, the book offers Gallup’s solution to the biggest leadership issue of our time. He is also author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller, Wellbeing at Work, as well as the The Wall Street Journal No. 1 bestseller, It’s the Manager, the bestseller, Born to Build, and The Coming Jobs War. He has also authored many articles on global leadership. His blog appears regularly in the influencer section of LinkedIn and on the Gallup.com Chairman’s Blog.
Jim serves on several boards, including the U.S. Council on Competitiveness. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Chairman of the Dr. N. Joyce Payne Center for Social Justice. He has received honorary degrees from Medgar Evers, Jackson State and Bellevue Universities. He is also a distinguished visiting professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University. Mr. Clifton lives and works in Washington, D.C.
DR. SUE VARMA is a distinguished psychiatrist and cognitive behavioral therapist based in New York City. With over two decades of private practice experience, Dr. Varma has made significant contributions to the field of mental health, including serving as the pioneering Medical Director and Psychiatrist for the esteemed 9/11 mental health program at NYU for which she was awarded the Mayoral Proclamation. Alongside her clinical work, Dr. Varma holds the position of Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health where she teaches and is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Distinguished Fellow- the highest honor bestowed upon its members. Dr. Varma is a recipient of two Sharecare Emmy Awards and the Ivan Goldberg Award for Outstanding Service for her work as a keynote speaker and nationally acclaimed medical contributor discussing breaking news on shows including the Today Show, CBS Mornings, GMA, Nightly News. Her advice has been featured in the Washington Post, Time Magazine, NY Times, the Associated Press, and she has given over 2000 interviews across platforms on mental health. She was recognized as one of the world’s top five leading health experts by Global Citizen for her contributions during the pandemic. She is the author of the book, twice featured in the NY Times, Practical Optimism: The Art, Science and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being-now being translated in 10 languages and counting with rave reviews. According to Publishers Weekly , Practical Optimism is “Studded with catchy pearls of wisdom (‘Our self-worth exists simply because we do’), this can-do guide uplifts.” Dr. Varma recently kicked off Mental Health Awareness Month at Asia Society in New York City in conversation with US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy and continues spreading practical optimism in talks nationwide- to corporations, hospitals, schools and beyond.
TJ Abrams is the Vice President, Global Wellbeing at Hyatt Hotels. He currently leads a cross-functional team with P&L accountability for developing and driving the commercialization of wellbeing products and experiences. In this role he also serves as the co-chair of Hyatt’s Global Wellbeing Steering Committee.
Prior to joining Hyatt, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Exos, a high-growth human performance company long known for its work with elite athletes and 30% of Fortune 100 companies. At Exos he transformed the marketing organization from B2B to a B2B2C company with a 360 brand refresh and campaign (Greatness is a Team Sport) and record-setting performance of digital experiences amongst other accomplishments.
Before Exos, he was the Head of Global Brand Strategy and Performance for Holiday Inn at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) where he was accountable for multi-billion dollar brand growth in 80 countries around the world. While at IHG, TJ worked across the Mainstream hotel portfolio leading IHG’s biggest brand campaigns including the Holiday Inn “We’re There” Masterbrand campaign and launching growth brands, avid hotels and Atwell Suites.
He also has experience working in marketing at The Coca-Cola Company as a brand leader across the Sparkling portfolio in both Global and US roles of increasing responsibility, and at Lowe’s Home Improvement where he built the initial multicultural marketing consumer strategy in early 2000’s.
TJ is a standout people leader and company executive in every organization he serves. At IHG he led one of the company’s largest ERG’s and served on the executive Diversity & Inclusion Board. At Coca-Cola he led MBA recruiting amongst many other activities.
TJ has been named a Top 50 CMO Innovating the Business World by Forbes and a 40 Under 40 leader by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and MBA with a concentration in marketing from Duke University.
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.
A cardiologist, researcher and public health expert, Garth Graham previously served in two US administrations as US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, and was Assistant Dean for Health Policy and Chief of Health Services Research in the department of medicine at the University of Florida School of Medicine. Most recently, he served as President of the Aetna Foundation as well as Vice President & Chief Community Health Officer at CVS Health. He currently sits on several boards, including the Advisory Council to the Director of the NIH, the Institute of Medicine Board on Population Health, and the board of the National Quality Forum.
An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Garth obtained his MD at Yale University School of Medicine, MPH at Yale School of Public Health, Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins. He holds three board certifications including internal medicine, cardiology and interventional cardiology. He also holds an honorary doctorate of laws from Regis College & an honorary doctorate from Eastern Virginia Medical School. In 2021, the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine inaugurated the Garth N. Graham Distinguished Lectureship Award, which spotlights trail blazers who are leading the creation and advancement of health equity.
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.
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.
Danielle is a TV host, journalist, and content creator known for her open-hearted + compelling interview style. The Queen of Questions also added founder to her resume with her best selling card game “Question Everything.”
Noted by Forbes as a “game changer,” she is best recognized as the host of “PRETTYSMART,” Hello Sunshine’s “The Bright Side,” and E!’s “While You Were Streaming.”
Just like her mentor Larry King, she’s interviewed Hollywood’s biggest names, Fortune 500 CEOs, politicians, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. Danielle’s goal is that we learn to live better through each other’s stories.
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.
Cayley is a problem-solver dedicated to serving her country. She excels at developing inventive and tailored approaches to address complex tasks and connecting individuals with disparate perspectives toward a shared mission.
Cayley has over a decade of experience within the Federal Government where she served in operational and strategic roles in the United States and abroad. During this time, she served as a Program Manager responsible for the collaboration across several matrixed offices to develop operational frameworks and provide strategic guidance on a special foreign program.
Cayley’s primary professional expertise is Iran, and she has had unique exposure to various related geopolitical issues including U.S. sanctions against Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and other security and economic issues. Cayley is proficient in several languages including Farsi and Spanish, which she has utilized to achieve mission success in challenging environments.
In early 2022, Cayley transitioned from her national security work into the private sector to design and lead her family’s nonprofit work worldwide, in the form of The Tullman Family Office (TFO). As President of TFO, Cayley determines philanthropic, political, business, and social impact investments. She works directly with senior business leaders and political officials in order to develop creative, scalable solutions to tackle our nation’s most pervasive problems in the economic, education, public health, and security spaces.
Joe Daly is the Managing Partner of Gallup’s Global Analytics Group and member of the company’s board of directors. Joe leads a growing business division focused on helping organizations leverage research and analytics to help better societies and workplaces. Gallup’s Global Analytics Group works with a broad range of institutions including global philanthropies, K-12 schools and universities, government agencies and mission-driven corporations.
Joe and his team partner with organizations to create the world’s official statistics of work and life. Current examples include wellbeing, loneliness, financial inclusion, digital connectedness, food insecurity, global risk and modern slavery. The global statistics are all enabled by the Gallup World Poll. Since 2005, the Gallup World Poll has collected the voice of the world in more than 160 countries and regions, representing over 98% of the world’s population.
In addition, Joe is a passionate advocate for accelerating the impact of higher education and government through CliftonStrengths® and building thriving workplaces in the public and education sectors. This far-reaching mission continues to make a positive impact on the lives of educators, government workers and hundreds of thousands of high school and college students every year.
In addition to his work at Gallup, Joe serves as chairman of the board of directors for Lemonade Day, a national philanthropy dedicated to youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Lemonade Day operating more that 100 communities across the United States and Canada. Joe also serves on the board of trustees at the Meridian International Center, focused on strengthening U.S. diplomacy around the world.
Joe received his master’s degree in business administration with a focus on international business from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Craig is the founder and CEO of happy®. Along with his co-founder Robert Downey, Jr., happy launched in early 2024 with a mission to elevate the everyday. In a record-breaking 5 months, happy went from zero to over 13,000 retail doors and over 50,000 individual brand points of distribution. Priding itself on using only the best, selectively sourced green beans produced by thoughtful growers and opting for a slow roasting process to protect the finest of flavor, happy not only delivers a seriously delicious™ cup of coffee but they care about the person drinking it. In an effort to de-stigmatize mental health, happy partnered with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, with a dedication to building better lives for millions of Americans. In an effort to reimagine the relationship between entrepreneurship and philanthropy, hello brought NAMI in as an equity stakeholder in the company.
Prior to happy, Craig was the founder of hello® products, and former Chief Innovation Strategist of Colgate-Palmolive. hello, the world’s first naturally friendly™ oral care brand, was acquired by Colgate in January of 2020. hello became the fastest-growing oral care brand in North America, with products available in over 55,000 food, drug, and mass retailers. hello was named by Inc Magazine as one of the Best Places to Work, as well as “One of the 25 Companies That Are Changing the World.” Dubitsky himself was named to Advertising Age’s Creativity 50, the publication’s annual list of the most influential and innovative creative thinkers, and one of the 100 Most Inspirational Marketers in the World by The Internationalist.
Prior to hello, Craig was a co-founder and creative lead at eos (makers of the ubiquitous lip sphere), a founding board member at transformational household cleaning brand method, and a strategic advisor to Seventh Generation, Boots, and various private equity funds.
Craig is an inductee in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) Hall of Fame, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson, and serves as an Advisory Council Member at the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship at The Simon School of Business at The University of Rochester. Craig loves people, design, brand, packaging and people. Yes, he said people twice.
Aldo Cicchini graduated with top honors, receiving special recognition at the Milan Conservatory. He later refined his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Dora Schwarzberg. Since 2014, he has been a member of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra (Italy).
Between 2010 and 2013, he was a member of the String Sextet of the “Accademia Teatro Alla Scala di Milano”, touring across Italy, Asia, and South America, and recording live for Radio3 in Italy, Limen TV, and Hong Kong Radio.
Driven by an unbounded love for music, he goes beyond the violin, playing multiple instruments and creating interpretations that blend the elegance of classical music with the vitality of contemporary sounds. His innovative string trio, OP3, brings these elements to life in a truly unique experience.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aldo Cicchini performed daily from his balcony, offering hope to those nearby and livestreaming his music on social media to share its beauty with those in quarantine. His concerts quickly went viral worldwide, reaching over 300,000 people daily across the globe. This became a lesson in reinvention and stepping out of one’s comfort zone when all concert halls were closed, making traditional musical performances impossible.
He has participated in TEDx conferences, where he has moved thousands of people through a combination of words and music, performing in various auditoriums and events across Europe and Latin America.
As a speaker, Aldo Cicchini shares his journey and the secrets of mastering music with audiences worldwide, both in person and online. He inspires others to discover their potential through the transformative power of music.
Dr. Tomasulo is the academic director/core faculty member at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI), Teachers College, Columbia University, and honored with their 2021 Teaching Award. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology, an MFA in writing, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Review Editor for Frontiers in Psychology, on Positive Psychology, and The Journal of Positive Psychology. He is the author of the best-selling book Learned Hopefulness and recently co-authored with Dr. Ryan Niemiec, Character Strengths and Abilities Within Disabilities: Advances in Science and Practice. He received the prestigious 2024 Gardner Award for his work applying positive psychology and psychodrama with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. His screenplay adaptation of his award-winning memoir, American Snake Pit, has won over 40 screenplay contests.
Photo credit: Nono Judit Sipos | Nonoartphotography
Recognized as a Change Agent in Lifestyle magazine and a Leader in the NonProfit Times 2022 Power & Influence Top 50 List, Dan Gillison provides strategic leadership to NAMI with more than 30 years of professional experience and a deep passion for mental health advocacy fueled by personal lived experiences with mental illness and its ripple effects on families. He also currently serves on the National Institute of Health (NIH)’s Advisory Mental Health Council, the Lululemon Global Wellbeing Advisory Board and the National Health Council Board of Directors.
Dan has received numerous awards for his work advancing mental health equity, including the 2022 Hope in Action Award from Hope Center Harlem, the Honor of Distinction Award from the Bowman Foundation Annual Global Impact Awards, the American Mental Health Counselors Association 2022 President’s Award and more. Since joining NAMI in 2020, he has appeared in a variety of panels, keynote presentations, op-eds and programs around the country to raise awareness and educate the public about the most pressing mental health issues of our time. He has authored more than 20 blogs for NAMI’s website, started and serves as host for NAMI national’s first podcast in its 40+ year history, and spearheaded the creation of the CEO Alliance for Mental Health, which brings leaders across the mental health field together to meet the needs of diverse populations affected by disparities in the mental health care system.
Under Dan’s leadership, NAMI has expanded its national HelpLine’s reach through texting services, produced its first nationally bestselling book, and formed its first-ever youth advisory group, NAMI Next Gen. The direction he has provided to NAMI during the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed the organization to not only adapt but actually grow through the unprecedented challenges of the past several years.
Before coming to NAMI, Dan led the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF), where he was responsible for strategic planning, personnel management, board communications, oversight of APAF’s public education programs and outreach, and formulating strategic alliances and partnerships to further APAF’s mission.
Prior to APAF, Dan led County Solutions and Innovation for the National Association of Counties (NACo), where he was instrumental in repositioning the organization’s programs to provide expertise in health and human services, justice and public safety. He also has previously held leadership positions at Xerox, Nextel and Sprint.
Dan holds B.A. degrees from Southern University and A&M College and has completed executive education through the University of Richmond and Harvard University. A native of Washington, D.C., he lives with his wife and two children in Virginia, where he enjoys playing golf and tennis in his free time.
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.
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.
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.
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
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. 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
I am a leading authority on living lives worth living. As a speaker, researcher, and author, I help people live squander-free lives while they’re lucky enough to still be above ground — while cleverly beginning with the “big end” in mind. I named my business Four Thousand Mondays because it shines the light on the finite number of weeks we have to live like we mean it.
I have a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where I am an Assistant Instructor in the Master’s program and a trainer in the world-renowned Penn Resilience Program. Through my research I created a model that helps people learn the interplay of living wider (with vitality) and deeper (with meaning) to truly live life to its fullest.
As a certified coach with 25 years of corporate leadership experience, I have coached hundreds of companies, teams, leaders, and individuals over thousands of hours to “carpe diem” at an advanced level of certification through the International Coach Federation.
My book, You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets, made Adam Grant’s Summer Reading List and is a Next Big Idea Club must-read. My TEDx talk is called How Death Can Bring You Back to Life; with over 1.3 million views, it is the 14th most-watched TEDx talk released in 2022, out of 15,900.
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/
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.
Nataly Kogan is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur whose superpower is activating people to imagine what’s possible and grow into the thriving future selves they aspire to become.
Nataly immigrated to the US as a refugee from the former Soviet Union when she was 13 years old. Starting her American life in the projects and on welfare, she learned English by watching “Who’s the Boss?” on repeat.
She went on to reach the highest levels of career success at McKinsey and Microsoft, as a Managing Director at a venture capital fund, and as founder or executive at 5 startups and tech companies.
But after years of chasing a non-existent state of nirvana, Nataly suffered a debilitating burnout that led
her to find a new way to live and work.
Nataly founded Happier Inc., whose gratitude sharing mobile app, courses, Happier @ Work and leadership programs have helped more than a million people lead more fulfilling lives.
She is a sought-after international keynote speaker and has appeared in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review,
Forbes, and Time.
Nataly is the author of Happier Now, The Awesome Human Project, and The Awesome Human
Journal, and hosts the REINVENT•ABILITY podcast to empower people to embrace change
with a mindset of possibility and purpose.
Nataly began painting when she turned 40 and is a self-taught abstract artist. She is
passionate about the power of art to fuel our well-being.
She loves yellow, overuses the word “awesome”, and is the funniest person in her family. (Just
ask her husband and daughter, her favorite awesome humans.)
For more, visit natalykogan.com.
Laura Marciano is a Research Associate at the Harvard Chan T.H. School of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness. Her research employs innovative survey methods and digital biomarkers to explore the relationship between smartphone use, social media, and teen well-being. Laura earned her PhD in Health Communication in Switzerland, where she received the best doctoral thesis award in Social Sciences. She also previously studied Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, where she graduated with honors. She is a member of the scientific board of the IBSA Foundation for Scientific Research and author of more than 35 research papers. Her recent research has been highlighted in The New York Times.
Caspar Kaiser is an Assistant Professor in Behavioral Science at Warwick Business School. He is also a Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Centre and chair of the board of the Happier Lives Institute. His research focuses on the measurement and determinants of wellbeing. Caspar is the author of numerous academic articles and has published in world leading journals including Nature Human Behaviour and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Micah Kaats is a PhD candidate in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He also serves as a Research Associate for the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University and Senior Analyst for the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. His research focuses on the determinants and downstream effects of social connections and subjective wellbeing. He has designed, implemented, and supervised studies of more than 20,000 participants in over 24 countries. His research has been published in the United Nations World Happiness Report and featured in the Financial Times and the Economist. Micah holds Master’s degrees in Applied Ethics and Economic Policy from Utrecht University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from UPenn.
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.
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.
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. Julie Radlauer is a leading expert in the social influences of mental health and uses her experience to create impact within communities, systems, organizations, and individuals. She has extensive experience in behavioral health, public health, and organizational development and speaks internationally, is a TEDx speaker, and a published best-selling author.
Websites:
Collectively
Dr. Julie Radlauer
Social Entrepreneur and Former Senior Government Official