Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D. is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab (a.k.a. PEP Lab) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University, with a minor in organizational behavior. Among the most highly cited and influential scholars in psychology, her research is funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NCI, NIA, NCCAM, NIMH, NINR). Dr. Fredrickson has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and her general audience books, Positivity (2009, Crown, www.PositivityRatio.com) and Love 2.0 (2013, Penguin, www.PositivityResonance.com) have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Dr. Fredrickson’s scholarly contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the inaugural Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology from the American Psychological Association, the Career Trajectory Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and the inaugural Christopher Peterson Gold Medal from the International Positive Psychology Association, and she is beginning her term as President of the International Positive Psychology Association. Her work has influenced scholars and practitioners worldwide, within education, business, healthcare, the military, and beyond, and she is regularly invited to give keynotes nationally and internationally.
Kim Cameron
Keynote Speaker: Developing Positive Leadership Practices
Dr. Cameron helped co-found the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship at the University of Michigan, which in 2012 was awarded the Research Center Impact Award by the Academy of Management. This award recognizes researchers/research centers that have made a major impact on real world management practice.
Dr. Cameron's past research on organizational virtuousness, downsizing, effectiveness, quality culture, and the development of leadership excellence has been published in more than 120 academic articles and 15 scholarly books. He was recently recognized as being among the top 10 scholars in the organizational sciences whose work has been most frequently downloaded from Google. His current research focuses on the virtuousness of and in organizations, and their relationships to organizational success.
Dr. Cameron received BS and MS degrees from Brigham Young University and MA and PhD degrees from Yale University. He served on the National Research Council, was president of Bay Asset Funding Corporation, and was a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar. He is a graduate of Leadership Cleveland, Class of 2000 and a recipient of the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society's Outstanding Educator Award. He currently consults with a variety of business, government, and educational organizations in North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
David Cooperrider
Keynote Speaker: The Discovery and Design of Positive Institutions
David is the Fairmount | David L. Cooperrider Professor of Appreciative Inquiry at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University where he is faculty chair of the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit and Co-director of the Strategy Innovation Lab. David is best known for his pioneering theory on Appreciative Inquiry and has served as advisor to senior executives in business and societal leadership roles, including projects with five Presidents and Nobel Laureates such as William Jefferson Clinton, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kofi Annan and others. David has served as strategic advisor to a wide variety of organizations including Apple, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, the Boeing Corporation, National Grid, Smuckers, Sloan-Kettering, Fairmount Minerals, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, McKinsey, Parker Hannifin, Sherwin Williams, Dealer Tire, Wal-Mart as well as American Red Cross, American Hospital Association, Cleveland Clinic, and United Way.
David has published over 20 books and authored over 100 articles and book chapters and served as editor of both the Journal of Corporate Citizenship with Ron Fry and the current research series for Advances for Appreciative Inquiry, with Michel Avital. In 2010 David was awarded the Peter F. Drucker Distinguished Fellow by the Drucker School of Management—a designation recognizing his contribution to management thought. His books include Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change (with Diana Whitney); The Organization Dimensions of Global Change (with Jane Dutton); Organizational Courage and Executive Wisdom(with Suresh Srivastva) and the 4-volume research series Advances in Appreciative Inquiry. In 2010 David was awarded the Peter F. Drucker Distinguished Fellow by the Drucker School of Management—a designation recognizing his contribution to management thought.
Most recently, Champlain College honored David with an academic center in his name. It is called the David L. Cooperrider for Appreciative Inquiry. For the center’s dedication Marty Seligman wrote: “David Cooperrider is a giant: a giant of discovery, a giant of dissemination, and a giant of generosity” while Harvard’s Jane Nelson at the Kennedy School of Leadership said: “David Cooperrider is one of the outstanding scholar-practitioners of our generation.”
Lea Waters
Keynote Speaker: Strength-based parenting
Professor Lea Waters is passionate about helping people, schools and organisations thrive.
Lea has been at the University of Melbourne for the past 19 years. She holds an Affiliate position with the Wellbeing Institute at Cambridge University (U.K) and the Centre for Positive Organizations, University of Michigan (U.S). She is on the Advisory Board for the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. She was the Co-director of the 4th Australian Positive Psychology Conference and the Chair of the Scientific Committee for the Fourth World Congress for the International Positive Psychology Association Conference to be held in Orlando in 2015.
Lea works for the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) at the University of Melbourne. Prior to her role within MGSE, she was a faculty member in the School of Business and Commerce at the University of Melbourne for 12 years where she was the Deputy Director of the Masters in Applied Commerce. Lea is a known expert in the areas of Organisational Change, Organisational Psychology and Positive Psychology.
Lea is internationally recognised for her research and has published and presented in the United Kingdom, Canada, U.S.A., Asia and Europe. In 2004 she was awarded the Best Paper Award at the highly prestigious American Academy of Management Conference. In addition, in 2005 she was awarded the Elton Mayo Prize by the Australian College of Organisational Psychologists in recognition of her significant contributions to the field of organisational psychology. She is included in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World for her outstanding research (2009-2014).
Lea is an invited speaker for many International Conferences and Colloquia Series such as the Canadian Positive Psychology Association, University of Pennsylvania; University of Michigan; Hong Kong Polytechnic University; International Positive Psychology Association and the European Network for Positive Psychology. She has been a guest lecturer in the Masters in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of East London and University of Pennsylvania.
In Australia, Lea was an invited speaker at the Second Australian Positive Psychology and Well-being Conference (2010); Second Australian Positive Psychology in Education Symposium (2011); the Inaugural Australian Positive Education Conference ( 2013); the Positive Education Schools Association Conference (2013); the Australian College of Education Conference (2013); the Australasian Association of International Baccalaurette Schools; Centre for Ethics at Newington College; Mind and its Potential Conference; Festival of Ideas Conference; Educate Plus and the Good Childhood.
Caroline Adams Miller
For almost three decades Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP has been a pioneer with her ground-breaking work in the areas of goal setting/accomplishment, grit, happiness and success. She is recognized as one of the world’s leading positive psychology experts on this research and how it can be applied to one’s life for maximum transformation and growth. MEDIA PERSONALITY
Caroline has been featured in hundreds of magazines, newspapers and other media around the world for several decades, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, US News and World Report, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR and CNN. She was the first Positive Psychology expert to bring coaching and happiness to satellite radio via XM with her “Positive Tip of the Day”.
SPEAKER
Caroline’s TEDx Talk on grit, “The Moments That Make Champions” has received more than 11,000 views. Angela Duckworth, winner of the 2013 MacArthur Fellowship for developing the Grit Scale, said about the presentation, “Beautiful talk by a paragon of grit! Bravo, Caroline!” Caroline’s keynotes and workshops inspire and empower her audiences to set and accomplish goals by using their grit … thus being more successful and happy both in their work and life. Past clients have included: Young Presidents’ Organization, Edward Jones, Heartland Coaches Association, Columbia University, National Press Club and American Society of Journalist and Authors.
Robert Vallerand
Invited Speaker: New Developments on a Theory of Passion
Ryan Niemiec
Ryan Niemiec, VIA's Education Director, is author of several books including: Mindfulness and Character Strengths: A Practical Guide to Flourishing (with 10-track CD), and co-author of Positive Psychology at the Movies; and Movies and Mental Illness. Ryan is a licensed psychologist, certified coach, international workshop leader, and is adjunct faculty or professor at the following universities: Xavier University (Cincinnati), University of Pennsylvania, IE University in Madrid. Ryan develops VIA's courses, reports, and programs and applies strengths as the centerpiece of Character Strengths Coaching. At VIA, he helps professionals in counseling, coaching, business, disability, and education around the world apply character strengths, personally and professionally in their work. He created Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP), the first, structured program for building character strengths. This program is offered online by the VIA Institute. Ryan adapted MBSP for a track on the web/app-based platform Happify, called “Awaken Your Potential.”
He has published around 50 peer-reviewed or invited articles on character strengths, mindfulness, and related topics. He’s an associate editor or consulting editor for 4 scholarly journals.
On a personal level, Ryan’s signature strengths are hope, love, curiosity, fairness, honesty, perspective, and appreciation of beauty. He enjoys spending quality time with his wife and children, playing basketball, watching positive psychology movies, following Michigan State athletics, playing online chess, and collecting Pez dispensers.
Shannon Polly & Jan Stanley
Invited Speakers: Building A Positive Ensemble: Ritual and Play
Shannon is one of the first 150 people in the world who have received their Master in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree from the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Martin Seligman. Shannon works with Fortune 500 companies in two domain areas: executive presence/presentation skills and positive psychology. Shannon uses the empirical research from positive psychology with her organizational clients to foster positive and flourishing workplaces. She has been an assistant instructor in the MAPP program at the University of Pennsylvania. She has developed curriculum for the higher education version of the movie, Happy, and has taught resilience to over 1,000 Army sergeants for the Master Resiliency Training (MRT) program for the U.S. Army. She holds a graduate degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in classical acting and a B.A. with honors from Yale College. She is also a graduate of the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program. She is a contributing author to Positive Psychology News Daily and is a contributor to the book Positive Psychology at Work and a contributing author (along with Dr. Martin Seligman) to European Handbook of Positive Psychology and the co-editor of Character Strengths Matter: How to Live a Full Life. Her work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Live Happy magazine and the Toronto Star. She is an ACC coach certified by the International Coach Federation. She is also certified to deliver the MBTI, Leadership Circle 360, VIA character strengths survey and StrengthsFinder2.0 assessments. She is a co-founder of Positive Business DC whose mission is to increase productivity and profitability in the nation’s capital.
Jan Stanley is a coach, consultant, facilitator and celebrant who has worked in the learning and development arena throughout her career. Jan works with Fortune 500 companies, Silicon Valley, NASA, the US Army, education institutions and the Harvard Business School to develop leaders. She has been a member of the University of Pennsylvania Resilience training team since 2010, helping others learn the keys to psychological resilience. Jan is also a member of the Celebrant Foundation and Institute faculty where she teaches the design of ceremonies, as well as the Quiet Leadership Institute, where she helps organizations lift the voices of all members, introverts, extroverts and ambiverts alike. Jan is passionate about the use of ceremony and ritual for well being and is experienced with strategy development and implementation, instructional design and delivery and helping others grow and thrive through the many challenges that may come their way. Jan is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her Master of Applied Positive Psychology degree.
Maureen McKenna & Tim Fleming
Invited Speakers: Lightning Rod! A leader’s guide to being a positive conduit for group energy.
Louis J. Alloro
Invited Speaker: When Happiness Has a Bad Day
Lou·is [loo-is] A·lloro [uh-lohr-o], M.Ed., MAPP is a change-agent working with individuals and organizations to enable positive evolution, even through the most difficult challenges. He is one of the first 100 people in the world to earn a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a second Masters degree in the Foundations of Education. His toolkit is stocked with the applied sciences of wellbeing, success, neurobiology, biomimicry, appreciative inquiry multiple intelligences (including systems theories), positive organizational design, and mindfulness. Louis is cofounder and director of a 6-month Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) program now in 12 cities. The program is a deep dive into the science of human flourishing and designed for change-agents of all kinds to hone their skills and become more effective at motivating and empowering others. He is also designer of a city-wide, positive mental health intervention called SOMO Leadership Labs which was piloted city-wide in Cleveland Ohio and is a senior fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Wellbeing. He lives in Philadelphia with his puppy, Ryder, and travels often to find sand, sun & collaborative opportunities all over the world.
Veronika Huta is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa. She has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from McGill University. She conducts research on eudaimonia, hedonia, elevation, and meaning, and works on developing an integrated theoretical model of the eudaimonia-hedonia distinction in the domains of well-being orientations, experiences, and functioning. She teaches courses in positive psychology and advanced statistics, and is one of the top rated instructors in her faculty. She is a co-founder of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association, she co-organized the first cross-disciplinary conference on eudaimonia, and has recently been interviewed for a book on the world’s leading women in positive psychology research.
Margarita Tarragona
Invited Speaker: Flourishing Life Stories: Positive Psychology and Narrative Practices
Margarita Tarragona is a psychologist who specializes personal and relational transformation processes such as coaching, psychotherapy and organizational consulting. She received her B.S in Psychology from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and her Ph.D. in Psychology/Human Development from the University of Chicago. Margarita has been the director of the Instituto de Ciencias de la Felicidad Tecmilenio and also created and directed the Diploma in Positive Psychology at the Univeridad Iberoamericana, the first university-based positive psychology program in Spanish in the world. Margarita specialized in family therapy at the Family Institute of Northwestern University and the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York. She co-founded and teaches in Grupo Campos Elíseos, a training institute for psychotherapists in Mexico City. In her work as a clinician and coach, Margarita incorporates scientific findings on flourishing from positive psychology, with collaborative and narrative ways of working with clients to generate dialogue and expand their life stories. Margarita is on the board of directors of IPPA. She's the author of Positive Identities: Positive Psychology and Narrative Practices (2012).
Haesun Moon
Invited Speaker: Coaching A to Z: Extraordinary Use of Ordinary Words
Haesun resides in Toronto, Canada with her family, and she describes her life as "full of pleasant surprises" meeting many practitioners, searchers and some skeptics with good questions that provoke meaningful dialogues. She is the Program Director of Solution Focused Brief Coaching Program at University of Toronto, and she also works in Organizational Development & Leadership at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.Her areas of expertise is in transformative education at work through intentional use of language that brings about positive changes in and among people. She contributes to adult education by research, publishing, facilitation, and coaching. Haesun is also a dog lover and an amateur musician.
