Living and working in Paris, France as an executive coach and leadership development consultant for more than 20 years has enabled Hedy Caplan to develop the skills and sensitivity that lead to effectiveness in working with diverse populations, ages, national and corporate cultures. The key to performance resides in our ability to focus attention, appeal to intrinsic motivations and develop the confidence to make decisions and follow through. To this, Hedy brings years of Mindfulness practice, and she assists her clients in developing greater awareness, confidence, emotional stability, and clarity that facilitate commitment to objectives and outcomes aligned with what brings meaning, joy and the sense of good work done well. In addition to individual and team coaching, Hedy has developed a process for transferring her skills to co-development peer groups, bringing emotional intelligence, self-mastery and openness to differences into the space where collaborative dialogues and peer-development dynamics can be developed. Hedy's approach is informed by her training in psychosynthesis, which promotes the integration of body, mind and emotions. She became a coach under the guidance of Sir John Whitmore and his team of Olympic coaches.

“Magic unfolds when rational thinking and gut intuition can exist in unison”, and Varun Venugopal Gupta is a man on the journey to harness both. Based in Goa, India, he helps businesses worldwide achieve stellar results by simply tuning in - businesses grow when entrepreneurs grow from the inside. Varun's work draws upon his experience as an improv-theatre actor and his understanding of human dynamics and complex business processes. An engineer by education, he believes that most complex problems come down to just 1-2 key variables. In addition to his work with leaders, Varun is curator of the Global Shapers Community in Goa, a World Economic Forum initiative; a Starting-bloc fellow; and until recently, was a partner at MaynardLeigh Associates, a UK based behavioural consulting firm pioneering the use of theatre, psychological insight, and frameworks for organisational change. Varun's clients have included HSBC, Coca-Cola India, EY, and Genpact.

     Varun lives an off-the-grid life in Goa, practicing Kalaripayattu, an ancient martial art form, growing (some) and cooking (most) of his own food. He loves spending time outdoors (sailing, swimming, trekking, cycling) and spiritually engages via movement, minimalism and meditation. He is currently working on a book and dabbles in theatre and facilitation whenever he finds the time.

Yingzhao Liu has a practice of integrating deep spiritual practice with our complex modern life. Drawing from Zen Buddhism as well as the Native American path, Ying supports others in their journey of inner and outer transformation by shifting consciousness to deeper and deeper levels. As a design leader in Silicon Valley, she also draws from a deep investigation of human and organizational processes. She has lead experiential education for over a decade and loves to facilitate group processes in nature. Ying is native to mainland China and has traveled to thirty (30) countries, always affirmed by people's relationship with the environment in which they live—their creativity and spirituality in everyday life.

Having over twenty years of experience working with individuals, teams and organizations in high pressure situations, Renee Metty is skillful at facilitating change with ease, navigating uncertainty and making the seemingly impossible possible. Her unique blend of experience from corporate, leadership coaching and development, education, and entrepreneurship has allowed Renee to understand the inner workings of human capacity. She uses first principles across a variety of fields to better understand human behavior and to increase a leader's ability to maintain equilibrium. Renee has helped everyone from the home to the C-Suite and loves working with professionals to help them perform at their very best. Years of mindfulness practice and her continual journey of deeper self understanding have prepared Renee to guide others in accessing their own skills, capacities and insights, ultimately allowing them to close the gap from where they current are to where they want to go. Renee's approach and methodology are influenced by her mentor, a former Olympian and elite performance coach who works with some of the biggest brands and champions in the world. She is a wife, a mom of three teenagers and a PhD candidate working on her dissertation focused on how leaders develop capacity.

Stephen Morse, Director of SIY Programs at MLMW, integrates neuroscience, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence practices into his coaching and education of technology leaders, unlocking more well being, better team collaboration, and higher performance. A 25 year veteran of the software technology industry, and a Search Inside Yourself Teacher (SIYLI.org), Stephen currently delivers technical workshops on SaaS best practices and mindfulness, and seeks to help lead the change in the way technology is built and delivered, increasing technology's overall value to society and to the well-being of its workers and consumers.

Calvin Niles is motivated by energising team engagement and cultivating connection in the workplace. He is a coach and consultant with many years of experience in mindfulness, storytelling, coaching, and business. Based in London, UK, he focusses on helping leaders and teams find their voice and develop new ways to communicate and relate with themselves and others. From this base Calvin supports others to find greater clarity, authenticity, confidence, and impact in their personal and professional life. Drawing from mindfulness practice and deep self-inquiry, Calvin blends his experience in corporate development and group facilitation to support individuals and teams in realising value-alignment and meaningful transformation.

George Pitagorsky’s mission is to guide people to create healthy, happy, and highly effective teams, organizations, and communities. For over 50 years George has applied mindfulness meditation and yoga in work and family life. He has decades of experience as a globally recognized project, program and process management expert, teacher, coach, and technology executive.  His experience includes six years as CIO for a multi-billion-dollar government agency and as a principle in a technology start-up. As Director of Program Development George brings over ten years of experience in that role for an international learning organization.

     As an independent consultant, George has led teams in IT systems implementation, and process improvement within organizations. He also has authored many articles and three business books, The Zen Approach to Project Management, Managing Conflict in Projects and Managing Expectations: A Mindful Approach to Achieving Optimal Performance. George recently authored a chapter on the way emotional, social, and spiritual intelligences contribute to cognitive readiness – resilience and effective performance in the face of change and uncertainty. George teaches, coaches, and leads groups to promote optimal performance with the application of process thinking and meditation in daily life.

Ritu Riyat integrates her experience as an epidemiologist, yoga and meditation teacher, health coach, and behavior change expert in designing effective and engaging wellbeing programs for individuals and organizations. Believing that true change comes from the inside out she has worked with executives, athletes, law enforcement, and fortune 500 companies to go beyond traditional wellness programs and create a culture of wellbeing in the workplace.

     As a speaker and educator Ritu delivers seminars on stress, teaches pop up meditation labs, and coaches clients to create simple habits for sustainable health. Ritu earned her BS in Genetics from the University of California, Davis, a Master's of Public Health in Epidemiology from USC and is 500-hr certified yoga teacher. In her spare time she can be found striking a yoga pose, sitting in silence, or writing about all things wellness on her blog: eat.move.meditate.

Rhett Roberson is an organizational psychology graduate student based in Springfield, MO. Having spent several years meditating, practicing mindfulness, and applying these skills to a corporate career in logistics consulting, he was then called to dive deeper into the organizational applications of mindfulness practice. As is too often the case, several negative organizational experiences inspired his deep interest in mindfulness and happiness research. With an acceptance of the necessity of hours spent in office environments, Rhett took to soul-searching in order to find balance within his own spiritual and corporate sides. As part of his efforts, and following a life changing trip to India in which he took the Bodhisattva vow with the Dalai Lama in Dharmasala, Rhett's professional interests found renewed focus in the form of making corporate life more sustainable and satisfying for all involved. He thus enrolled in mindfulness teacher training with his current teacher and also began a master's degree in organizational psychology. Currently, Rhett is completing a capstone project focused on applying eastern philosophy, specifically Buddhist-based principles and mindfulness with an eye towards non-dogmatic and matter-of-fact applications, to the furthering of western organizational management practices. In his free time, Rhett serves on the board of the Ozarks Dharma Community, leads online meditation classes, enjoys playing music, loves reading Dharma teachings, and regularly enjoys a good mindful motorcycle ride in nature.

Jim Schaffer is a mindfulness trainer and consultant who has had a decades-long career in the corporate world, primarily in advertising and market research. He has been conducting workshops and speaking on mindfulness in business since 1990. Jim helps organizations and leaders develop the ability to see things clearly, focus on getting results, and maintain high morale & deep resilience, regardless of what is going on around them. He has been a featured speaker at the Boston Whole Health Expo and the Babson College International Symposium on Business and Spirituality. Jim lives with his wife in the Boston area.

Craig Souza's mission is to help create heart centered, creative, and vibrant corporate cultures where innovation thrives and employees are empowered, engaged, and bringing their full selves to work each day. Mindfulness and emotional intelligence skills help leaders at all levels become more conscious and present to their actions, words, intentions, and choices so that they bring their leadership, and teams to the next level.

     Craig’s corporate background includes 28 years of sales experience; the last 15 focused on selling managed services to Global 500 companies. He is known for being creative, strategic, and relentlessly customer focused; always looking to “find a way forward”. Craig’s sense of humor and ability to remain calm under pressure enable him to build trust-based relationships quickly with coworkers, customers and prospects. He thanks his Mother for the sense of humor, and his mindfulness and meditation practice for the calm. Craig is a SIY Certified Teacher™ for SIYLI and excited about partnering with MLMW to bring Mindfulness to an ever wider audience.

     Craig’s other passions include Diversity and Inclusion (he is active in LGBTQ equality work), Theatre Arts (as an artist and board member), travel and the outdoors.