IPPA Council of Advisors

She also held the position of Vice president for High School Education.  She has PhD in Humanisitic Studies from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.  She has experience in leadership roles at Universities in Mexico where she has applied Positive Psychology in curricular plans for different age groups. She is representative for Latin America of the International Positive Education Network. Member of the Board for the “World Happiness Foundation”, “Pace begins with Children in Mexico” and “Education for Peace International” in Canada. Currently writes columns for different media outlets in Spanish.

Positran is directed by Dr Ilona Boniwell, one of the world leaders in the field of positive psychology, who founded and headed the first Masters Degree in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) in Europe. Nowadays, she heads the International MSc in Applied Positive Psychology (I-MAPP) at Anglia Ruskin University (UK and France), teaches Positive Management at l’Ecole Centrale Paris and HEC Business School, writes a monthly column for Psychologies (UK and Russia), and consults around the world as a director of Positran. Her main teaching expertise lies in the areas of positive psychology and positive scholarship, with research interests around: subjective time use, time perspective, eudaimonic well-being and applications of positive psychology to business, one-to-one work, and education.

Leona Brandwene, MAPP, PCC, serves as the Associate Director for the MAPP program, and works alongside the stellar MAPP instructional team to ensure a world-class educational experience for students in positive psychology. She supports program strategy, operations, planning, and development. Along with her work in positive psychology, Leona is a coach and consultant in health care, with a particular emphasis on building cultures that enable high-performing teams in quality and safety. She loves running, family, and supporting youth sports in her community, particularly crewing for her triathlete daughter, Sophie. She lives in Lancaster County with her husband Josh and 15-year-old daughter.

Jenny C. Brennan, MAPP, is a nonprofit consultant, strategist, and positive psychology practitioner, whose work advances the application of positive psychology at both the individual and systems levels to support human and societal flourishing.

Currently, Ms. Brennan provides educational resources and consultation to nonprofits that want to apply positive psychology science to their programming. She also serves as Director of Year-Round Programming to the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), where she oversees year-round programming, leads a team of consultants and volunteers, contributes to numerous capacity-building and communication initiatives, and produces the Positive Psychology Leader Series.

Ms. Brennan has 20 years of experience managing award-winning integrated marketing and public education campaigns for organizations such as the American Red Cross, University of Pennsylvania, and Lifetime Television’s Stop Violence Against Women initiative. Her work helped to impact policy and to inspire measurable action on the part of consumers. In 2012, she became one of the first 250 people in the world to earn a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is an expert in well-being science, positive psychology, and organizational psychology with PhD training in research and evaluation and a background in nonprofit, program, and product management.

Vicki conducts and publishes research on well-being and her evidence-based consulting helps organizations with program and intervention design, applied research, evaluation, and training in the U.S., the Philippines, and internationally. She is passionate about helping others reach their full potential, especially those from marginalized groups, and specializes in the social impact sector and well-being, personal & professional development, workforce development, organizational development, and positive psychology interventions. In 2021, she was a recipient of the IPPA WOD Exemplary Research to Practice Award.

Vicki is a PhD Candidate in Positive Organizational Psychology with a co-concentration in Evaluation & Applied Research Methods at Claremont Graduate University and holds an MPA in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy from New York University. She is based in Los Angeles, California.

David serves as faculty Director of the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit. 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. In 2017 David received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the OD Network. Uniting theory and practice, Cooperrider has served as strategic advisor to a wide variety of organizations including Apple, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, National Grid, Fairmount Minerals, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Sherwin Williams, Dealer Tire, Wal-Mart as well as American Red Cross, American Hospital Association, Cleveland Clinic, United Way.

David was named as Distinguished University Professor in 2016 and has published over 20 books and authored over 100 articles and book chapters. He 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. Most recently, Champlain College honored David with an academic center called the David L. Cooperrider Center 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.”

Antonella Delle Fave, MD specialized in Clinical Psychology, is professor of Psychology at the Medical School, University of Milano, Italy. Her research activities are primarily focused on the investigation of flow experience, daily experience fluctuation, and well-being across cultures and among individuals exposed to conditions of diversity and adversity. Through her field work she contributed to building the largest international data bank on flow experience, collecting information in four continents among a variety of participants, including shepherds and farmers, artists, scientists, teachers, health professionals, members of spiritual communities and religious congregations, persons with mental and physical disabilities, and persons experiencing marginalization such as street children, homeless people and illegal migrants. During the last ten years, together with colleagues from 18 countries she has been implementing the “Eudaimonic and Hedonic Happiness Investigation” project, devoted to the study of well-being across cultures. She has been conducting research and intervention projects aimed at identifying and mobilizing psychological and social resources among persons with chronic diseases and their family caregivers.

More recently, the acquisition of a Master degree in the traditional medical system of Ayurveda led her to develop collaborations with Indian researchers and clinicians, aimed at exploring pathways of integration between Western science and Ayurveda, in order to expand knowledge and improve management of psychophysical health and disease. Her scientific production includes papers in international peer-reviewed journals, as well as authored and edited international books. She actively contributed to the international promotion and dissemination of positive psychology and well-being research as President of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), the European Network of Positive Psychology (ENPP), and the Società Italiana di Psicologia Positiva (SIPP). Since 2010 she is serving as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Happiness Studies.

Professor Donaldson works with students on a wide range of topics across several fields and programs at CGU, including evaluation theory and practice; the science of well-being and positive psychology; positive organizational and sports psychology; organizational behavior; positive organizational and human resource development; positive youth development and education; and community/global health program design, monitoring, and evaluation. As an immigrant born overseas and now a naturalized US citizen, Professor Donaldson has traveled extensively and especially enjoys working on cross-cultural and international topics with students who have diverse backgrounds and perspectives from all across the globe. He was recently honored with the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) Inspiring Mentor Career Achievement Award (2019) and appointed Faculty Advisor of the IPPA Student Division with approximately 600 student members from 50 different countries. From 2011-2017, he was director and faculty mentor for approximately 50 underrepresented minority graduate students from across more than 30 different universities participating in the American Evaluation Association’s esteemed and internationally recognized Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program. Professor Donaldson has served as chair or member on more than 100 doctoral dissertation committees at CGU since 1995, and more than 200 master’s theses and online certificate students’ culminating research and evaluation projects.

Donaldson previously provided more than 16 years of leadership and service to the School of Social Science, Policy, & Evaluation (SSSPE), where he was the founding dean from 2013 to 2017; the School of Community & Global Health (SCGH), where he was dean from 2013 to 2017; the School of Politics & Economics, where he was dean from 2012 to 2013; and the School of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (SBOS), where he was dean from 2001 to 2013. Donaldson’s portfolio in the social and health sciences during the final three years of his concurrent deanships (2014-2017) included providing academic leadership for more than 100 core and supporting graduate faculty, overseeing the education of more than 650 degree-seeking graduate students, and securing grants, contracts, and gifts to support SSSPE and SCGH research and students. Among many other accomplishments, Donaldson led the effort to develop the first research-oriented positive psychology programs in the world, launch the new Doctor of Public Health program at CGU (DrPH), and dramatically expanded the portfolio of evaluation and applied research programs.

In 2007, Donaldson (in collaboration with professors Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura) developed the first research-focused PhD and MA programs in positive psychology. He currently provides paid employment and supervises numerous students specializing in positive organizational psychology, positive health and sports psychology, and evaluation science. Many of his students are active in his Accenture Talent Innovation Lab, Positive Organizational Psychology Research Lab, Positive Organizational Development Lab, or Positive Sports & Peak Performance Psychology Lab. Professor Donaldson actively recruits new students to join his labs at the beginning of the fall, spring, and summer semesters.

Donaldson also employs and supervises doctoral, masters, and certificate students specializing in evaluation and applied research methods. Many of these students work with him on projects as part of the Claremont Evaluation Center (CEC) and his Culturally Responsive and International Theory-driven Evaluation Lab. The CEC is a major provider of evaluation and applied research services, on-site and online professional development training, and evaluation conferences and events, and it supports The Evaluators’ Institute (TEI), CGU evaluation certificate programs, the new online program in evaluation and applied research, and a wide variety of residential master’s and doctoral degree programs at CGU. Located on the university campus in Claremont, the CEC has in recent years expanded its presence in Washington DC to amplify its positive social impact.

Donaldson has built a career rich in both academic and professional experience. He is past president of the American Evaluation Association (2015) and has served on numerous boards, including those of the International Positive Psychology Association, Western Psychological Association, Western Positive Psychology Association (co-founder), American Evaluation Association, Centre for Program Evaluation at the University of Melbourne, The Faster Forward Fund, Southern California Evaluation Association (co-founder), and EvalPartners. He currently serves as editor of the Evaluation and Society book series (with Jennifer Greene), and as a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, American Journal of Evaluation, New Directions for Evaluation, Evaluation & Program Planning, and Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation. He is also a fellow and on the council of representatives for the Western Psychological Association.

Donaldson has been honored with a plethora of prestigious international, national, and regional career achievement awards, including the Early Career Achievement Awards from the American Evaluation Association (1996) and the Western Psychological Association (2001). In 2013, he was presented with the American Evaluation Association’s (AEA) Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the highest honors in the field of evaluation, and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award for sustained lifetime written contributions to the advancement of evaluation theory. “As an author and full-time evaluation professional, I have learned a great deal in preparing this justification statement,” wrote one of his lead nominators, “and I come away convinced that Stewart Donaldson is probably our field’s most prolific theorist.”

Donaldson was also honored with the AEA’s 2017 Robert Ingle Service Award for his important contributions to the field of evaluation and the American Evaluation Association (AEA) over a long period of time. That recognition includes his serving as president of the AEA during the International Year of Evaluation in 2015, for six years of recent AEA Board Service, as director of the AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program, as chair of the Program Theory and Theory-Driven Evaluation Topical Interest Group, and for his various leadership appointments and many evaluation training, mentoring, evaluation practice, and scholarly contributions.

In 2018, The Western Psychological Association (WPA) bestowed upon Donaldson the prestigious WPA Social Responsibility Award for his efforts to promote and increase social justice at the societal and individual levels. The WPA award selection committee unanimously chose Donaldson based on his record of research and publications, theory-based evaluations, and grants that are oriented toward social equality and boosting positive psychological outcomes.

He was also selected as the recipient of the AEA’s Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award in 2018, which is presented to an evaluator who exemplifies outstanding evaluation practice and whose contributions to the field of evaluation have been substantial, sustained over a number of years, cumulative, and whose work is consistent with the AEA Guiding Principles for Evaluators. Outstanding evaluation practice is defined as leading or conducting evaluations of the highest possible quality and utility, as demonstrated through publications, documented stakeholder feedback, and other forms of evidence of influencing the field in which evaluations are performed. His nomination letter stated “he has served the AEA and the broader field of evaluation as a major thought leader as well as a practitioner [who] has done more to create the conditions for practice excellence in the United States and around the world than any other person.”

Most recently at International Positive Psychology Association’s (IPPA) World Congress of Positive Psychology in Melbourne Australia (July 2019), Professor Donaldson was honored with two career achievement awards. The 2019 IPPA Work and Organizations Division “Exemplary Research to Practice Award” was presented to Donaldson for many years of exemplary research and teaching, as well as a robust cumulative contribution to evidence-based practice related to fostering positive work and organizations. He was also awarded the IPPA 2019 “Inspiring Mentor Award.”  The student division of IPPA recognizes one outstanding mentor in the field of positive psychology who provides continued commitment and support to students that foster professional and academic development. Professor Donaldson was given this honor to acknowledge his many years of outstanding teaching and mentoring, and for inspiring the next generation of diverse psychological scientists to make meaningful contributions to societies across the globe.

Donaldson works collaboratively with his students and colleagues to publish findings from his extensive portfolio of extramurally funded research and evaluation projects. This work has been cited widely, including more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles, chapters, and evaluation reports. He has published or has forthcoming 18 books, including Positive Psychological Science: Improving Everyday Life, Health and Well-being, Work, Education, and Societies Across the Globe (forthcoming, 2020); Theory and research-driven evaluation science: Culturally responsive strategies and applications (forthcoming, 2020); Designing and evaluating positive organizational development interventions (forthcoming, 2020); Appreciative and Strengths-focused Evaluation (forthcoming, 2020); Toward a Positive Psychology of Relationships: New Directions in Theory and Research (2018); Scientific Advances in Positive Psychology (2017); Evaluation for an Equitable Society (2016); Credible and Actionable Evidence: The Foundation for Rigorous and Influential Evaluations (2015); Emerging Practices in International Development Evaluation (2013); The Future of Evaluation in Society: A Tribute to Michael Scriven (2013); Teaching Psychology Online: Tips and Techniques for Success (2012); Social Psychology and Evaluation (2011); Applied Positive Psychology: Improving Everyday Life, Health, Schools, Work, and Society (2011); Program Theory-Driven Evaluation Science: Strategies and Applications (2007); Applied Psychology: New Frontiers and Rewarding Careers (2006); and Evaluating Social Programs and Problems (2003).

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, www.PositiveEmotions.org) 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 has been funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NCI, NIA, NCCAM, NIMH, NINR). Dr. Fredrickson has published >100 peer-reviewed articles 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, the inaugural Christopher Peterson Gold Medal from the International Positive Psychology Association, and the Tang Prize for Achievements in Psychology, awarded to recognize exceptional career contributions to the well-being of humanity. Dr. Fredrickson also served as President of the International Positive Psychology Association from 2015-2017. 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.

John F. Helliwell, of the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, is Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and Co-Director of CIFAR’s program on ‘Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being’. Recent books include Well-Being for Public Policy (OUP, with Diener, Lucas and Schimmack, 2009), International Differences in Well-Being (OUP, edited with Diener and Kahneman, 2010), and five editions, 2012-2017, of the World Happiness Report (edited with Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs).

CEO & Founder, Soaringwords

Lisa has shared her wisdom with thousands of people throughout the world. Three experiences with death and illness in her family during a ten-month period motivated her to launch Soaringwords, a not-for-profit organization devoted to inspiring children, families, adults, seniors, and health care professionals to take active roles in self-healing to experience greater physical, emotional, and mental well-being.

Since 2001, Lisa has shared Soaringwords’ SOARING into Strength Positive Health Initiatives with more than 500,000 people. She is the author of SOARING into Strength: Love Transcends Pain, her debut memoir.

Lisa graduated with honors from The University of Pennsylvania; holds an MBA in Marketing from Columbia University Graduate School of Business; and a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology from The University of Pennsylvania. She has a certificate in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a certificate from the American Institute for Mental Imagery.

Lisa is President of IPPA Health and Wellbeing Division; and the Board of the Coincidence Project. She’s been featured as an expert on ABC News, Fortune Small Business, USA Today, Delta Sky, and CEO to Watch in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. She won a Lives That Make a Difference Award from A&E Networks, a National Mothering That Works Award from Working Mother Media, inducted into YMCA Academy of Women Achievers Hall of Fame. She was on the board of Advertising Women of New York, the leading organization for executive women in communications.

Lisa has been a keynote speaker, moderator, and panelist at IPPA; European Positive Psychology Conference; Canadian Positive Psychology Conference; International Positive Education Network and led workshops as scholar-in-residence and at grand rounds at leading universities, medical schools, and nursing schools. She has led award-winning employee-engagement professional development workshops at Fortune 500 companies including Accenture, Cigna, Cisco, Deloitte, Lilly, Meta, Google, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, New York Life, SONY, Verizon, and Viacom. Lisa lives in New York City with her husband Jacob. Her pride and joy are her two grown sons Jonathan and Joshua, daughter-in-law Evelyn, and adorable grandbaby Charlotte. She gets her energy from swimming each day and connecting with people in fun and meaningful ways.

She has also been appointed as Chair of the Excellence in Leadership and Teaching Council for the Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW) in Australia.

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. She was the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship during which she explored strategies to foster resilience in learning while based at Cambridge University in England. Anne is currently completing a PhD in education with a focus on wellbeing through the University of Melbourne.

In Australia, Anne has been recognised multiple times for her entrepreneurial impact in designing and implementing innovative positive education experiences, along with her exceptional educational leadership including The Educator Most Influential Educator Award (2023), The Educator Hot List (2022, 2023), and an Excellence Award in The Educator Australian Education 2022 Awards for Principal of the Year. Under Anne’s leadership, Ravenswood has been recognised as The Educator Innovative School of the Year five times (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023).

In 2019, Anne was the only female to be recognised internationally for her pioneering contribution and leadership in the field of Positive Education at the Positive Education Global Summit in Philadelphia hosted the Eisenhower Fellowships and Positive Psychology Centre, University of Pennsylvania.