OUR PEOPLE

Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Buckingham since 2015, is one of Britain’s leading contemporary historians, educationalists, commentators and political authors. He is author or editor of over 40 books on contemporary history, including the inside books on the last five Prime Ministers, Chair of the National Archives Trust, was the co-founder and first director of the Institute for Contemporary British History, and is co-founder of Action for Happiness.

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Dominic A.A. Randolph became the sixth Head of Riverdale Country School in July 2007. He founded the Character Lab–a non-profit sponsoring “translational research” on character strengths in schools. Riverdale has helped develop with IDEO, a design thinking toolkit, the Teacher’s Guild, and the Purpose Project. He has recently started “learning design studio,” Plussed+ that works on different educational projects globally. He has served on the boards of The Lawrenceville School, the Character Lab, International Positive Education Network (IPEN), and the Mastery Transcript Consortium.

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As Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Abdulla Al Karam has led the quality and growth of the private education sector in Dubai – including early learning centres, schools, universities and training institutes - since KHDA was established in 2007. Dr. Al Karam holds key positions across the UAE - he is chairman of the Dubai Future Education Council, and an Education Committee member of the Global Council for Happiness and Wellbeing.

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Rosalinda Ballesteros-Valdés PhD is the director for the Institute of Wellbeing and Happiness at Universidad Tecmilenio, considered the first Positive University. At Tecmilenio she previously had the position of Vice-president for High School Education, she designed the Positive Education Curriculum for 28 Tecmilenio High Schools (more than 15,000 students). Dr. Ballesteros-Valdés holds a PhD in Humanistic Studies by Tecnológico de Monterrey in México and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She has 20 years’ experience in education and curriculum design. Dr. Ballesteros-Valdés worked extensively in peace education programs, from Education for Peace International and Peace begins with children in México.

 

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Christopher Stawski is Senior Fellow at the Kern Family Foundation and Affiliate Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He has been a program and strategy consultant and previously served for ten years at the John Templeton Foundation, where he was a Vice President. Stawski was educated at Swarthmore College, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on several non-profit boards, including as Chairman of US-IPEN and past Chairman of IPEN.

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Hector Escamilla is Vice President of Development at Tecnologico de Monterrey University, a private non-for-profit university system in Mexico.  He served for almost 11 years as President of Tecmilenio University, Mexico, focused on providing the highest return on investment in education that translated into high employment rates and enhanced student wellbeing, happiness and purpose in life.  He led a team that initiated a disruptive innovation process developing a vision that embraces wellbeing for students, faculty and administrators based on the science of Positive Psychology. Martin Seligman recognized Tecmilenio University as the first Positive University in the world.

 

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Martin E.P. Seligman is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he focuses on positive psychology, learned helplessness, depression, and optimism. He is a best-selling author of several books, including Flourish. He received the American Psychological Society’s William James Fellow Award for basic science and Cattell Award for the application of science, and two Distinguished Scientific Contribution awards from the American Psychological Association. In 1996, Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association by the largest vote in modern history. His current mission is the attempt to transform social science to work on the best things in life – strengths, positive emotion, good relationships, meaning, and human flourishing.

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Anne Johnstone is Principal of Ravenswood School, in Sydney and Chair of the Positive Education Schools Association (PESA).  Anne holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) degree, a Graduate Diploma in Education, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019 Anne was recognised for pioneering work, contribution and internationally-recognised leadership in the field of Positive Education. Anne is currently completing a PhD in education.

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Mike Buchanan is the Founder of Positively Leading, a bespoke coaching consultancy focused on understanding, improvement and fulfilment.  He is also the Executive Head of Apex2100, the world’s leading school for elite skiers, and was most recently the Executive Director of HMC, the English-speaking world’s oldest association of Head Teachers. He is a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and a former school principal.

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Lim Lai Cheng is Chairperson of the Singapore Positive Education Network. She has extensive experience as teacher and principal in several schools and was involved in curriculum planning and policy development at the Singapore Ministry of Education. She is advisor to several education foundations in China, Russia, Slovakia and South Africa. She was conferred the Chevalier Dans L’ Ordre Des Palmes Academiques by the French government in 2012.

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Deborah is the co-founder, editorial director and CEO of the positive lifestyle website and magazine LiveHappy.com.  She is also Co-CEO of Neora, LLC, an international skin care and wellness company, and the author of Live Happy: Ten Practices for Choosing Joy.  With more than 25 years working in and leading entrepreneurial organizations, Deborah is passionate about IPEN’s mission and contributes her expertise in strategic planning, marketing, branding and operations to the IPEN team.

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Justin Robinson is the inaugural Director of the Institute of Positive Education, based at Geelong Grammar School, Australia.  Justin leads an experienced team dedicated to research, development and professional learning in the field of Positive Education.  He continues to inspire and empower teachers around the world to place wellbeing at the heart of education. Justin is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and was listed in The Australian Educator’s Top 50 Hot List in 2017.  

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