Schedule

David Simas is the Chief Executive Officer of the Obama Foundation. A native of Taunton, Massachusetts, Simas was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in 2007. Simas joined the Obama Administration in 2009 as a Deputy Assistant to the President, working with senior advisors David Axelrod and David Plouffe. Simas then served as Director of Opinion Research for President Obama’s reelection in 2012. Following the reelection, he returned to the White House as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach. Simas holds a B.A. in political science from Stonehill College and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Shauna, and their two daughters.

Professor Rhonda V. Magee is a teacher of mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions for lawyers, law students, and for minimizing social-identity-based bias. A full-time faculty member at University of San Francisco since 1998, and a full professor since 2004, she has been named Dean’s Circle Research Scholar, served as co-director of the University’s Center for Teaching Excellence, and co-facilitator of the Ignatian Faculty Forum faculty development program. She teaches Torts; Race, Law and Policy; and courses in Contemplative and Mindful Law and Law Practice. She is a trained and highly practiced facilitator, with an emphasis on mindful communication, trained through programs at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine’s Oasis Teacher Training Institute, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Facilitator Training Program. In April 2015, she was named a fellow of the Mind and Life Institute.

Professor Magee recently served as visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society, visiting professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and a senior fellow with the Berkeley Initiative for Mindfulness and Law. She has published in such scholarly journals as the Virginia Law Review and the Alabama Law Review; and in the media, including the San Francisco Chronicle and Mindful Magazine. Her writing and teaching is inspired by a commitment to education for effective problem-solving and presence-based leadership in a diverse and ever-changing world, and to humanizing legal education. Professor Magee is the author of numerous articles on mindfulness in legal education, including "Educating Lawyers to Meditate?" 79 UMKC L. Rev. 535 (Lead Article, 2011), and "The Way of Color Insight: Understanding Race and Law Effectively Using Mindfulness-Based ColorInsight Practices" Georgetown J. of Mod. Crit. Race Perspectives (forthcoming, 2016). She is a nationally recognized thought and practice leader in the emerging fields of contemplative legal education and law practice and contemplative teaching in higher education. She was a founding member of the executive board of the AALS’s Section on Balance in Legal Education and is a founding member of its subsection on Mindfulness in Legal Education. She presently serves as a member of the board of advisors to the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine’s Center for Mindfulness and the Steering Committee of the Mind and Life Institute, and is a founder of the effort to transform the criminal justice system through mindfulness and compassion practices (Transforming Justice). Her current writings examine mindfulness and contemplative pedagogy as means of teaching for effectiveness in diverse learning communities, of developing more just law and policy, and of enhancing collaborations for transformative change towards a more equitable world. Visit academia.edu for more information on her recent scholarship.

Jeff Weiner is the CEO of LinkedIn, the world’s largest and most powerful network of professionals. Jeff joined the company in December 2008, and under his leadership, LinkedIn has expanded its global platform to 24 languages and more than 30 offices around the world, grown its membership base from 33 million to more than 530 million members, and increased its revenue from $78 million to more than $4 billion in 2017. Before LinkedIn, Jeff was an executive in residence at Accel Partners and Greylock Partners, where he advised the firms’ consumer technology portfolio companies and evaluated new investment opportunities. Previously, Jeff served as executive vice president of Yahoo!'s Network Division, a business that generated $3 billion in annual revenue with more than 3,000 employees, and was responsible for many of the company’s consumer-facing and industry-leading products. Prior to joining Yahoo! in 2001, Jeff spent more than six years at Warner Bros., where he helped oversee the company’s online efforts and developed the initial business plan for Warner Bros. Online in 1994. Jeff also serves on the board of directors for Intuit Inc., DonorsChoose.org, and Everfi, in addition to sitting on the Board of Trustees for the Paley Center for Media. He holds a BS in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Scott has been an active advocate for customers and employees in the technology space for over 20 years, with roles ranging from sales, customer advocacy, and customer service leadership. Previously, he was the Vice President of LinkedIn’s Customer Operations organization. In his current role as Head of Mindfulness and Compassion at LinkedIn, Scott blends his lifelong practice and passion with his practical leadership and operations experience. His mission is to change work from the inside out by “mainstreaming mindfulness” and “operationalizing compassion.”

“It’s time. The world is ready to talk about compassion at work. Workplaces are playing an increasingly active role in shaping values and behaviors in a way that governments and religions have for centuries. I think we have an incredible opportunity to shape the consciousness of the world in a positive way.”

Ebony Beckwith is the Senior Vice President of Philanthropy & Engagement at Salesforce.org, where she leads programs and strategic grants focused on education and workforce development. In her role, Ebony is responsible for engaging more than 30,000 employees in community service opportunities, as well as administering millions of dollars in grants to improve communities around the world.

As a champion for women and girls, Ebony currently serves on the board of Women’s Funding Network, Women Who Code Advisory Board, and is an executive sponsor for the Salesforce Women’s Network whose vision is to build a global women’s network to empower, support, and invest in a global community of women. She also previously served on the Workforce Investment Board of San Francisco (WISF) for five years, overseeing and setting the direction for San Francisco’s Workforce System.

Ebony extends her support of education and workforce development through her role as member of the Technical Advisory Board of Year Up Bay Area, an organization with a mission to close the opportunity divide by providing underrepresented young adults with the skills, experience, and support to excel in 21st century jobs. She also serves on the board of Hamilton Families, San Francisco’s leading service provider to homeless families, and is proud to support their goal of ending homelessness in the San Francisco Unified School District.

Davidson is best known for his groundbreaking work studying emotion and the brain. A friend and confidante of the Dalai Lama, he is a highly sought after expert and speaker, leading conversations on well-being on international stages such as the World Economic Forum, where he serves on the Global Council on Mental Health. Time Magazine named Davidson one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2006.

His research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style as well as methods to promote human flourishing, including meditation and related contemplative practices. His studies have centered on people across the lifespan, from birth through old age. In addition, he’s conducted studies with individuals with emotional disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders and autism, as well as expert meditation practitioners with tens of thousands of hours of experience. His research uses a wide range of methods including different varieties of MRI, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography and modern genetic and epigenetic methods.

Davidson has published hundreds of scientific papers, numerous chapters and reviews, and is co-author with Daniel Goleman of "Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body" (Avery, Sept. 5, 2017). He is also the author, with Sharon Begley, of The New York Times bestseller "The Emotional Life of Your Brain" (Penguin, 2012). He has been featured widely in popular media, including the Today Show, ABC’s Nightline, National Public Radio, National Geographic Magazine, Time Magazine, Newsweek, O: the Oprah Magazine, PBS’s The Charlie Rose Show, Harvard Business Review, and additional national and international news outlets.

Davidson is the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he has been a faculty member since 1984. He is the founder of Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc., an external, affiliated non-profit dedicated to supporting the mission of the Center for Healthy Minds

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche possesses a rare ability to present the ancient wisdom of Tibet in a fresh, engaging manner. His profound yet accessible teachings and playful sense of humor have endeared him to students around the world. Most uniquely, Rinpoche’s teachings weave together his own personal experiences with modern scientific research, relating both to the practice of meditation.

Born in 1975 in the Himalayan border regions between Tibet and Nepal, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a much-loved and accomplished meditation master. From a young age, Rinpoche was drawn to a life of contemplation. He spent many years of his childhood in strict retreat. At the age of seventeen, he was invited to be a teacher at his monastery’s three-year retreat center, a position rarely held by such a young lama. He also completed the traditional Buddhist training in philosophy and psychology, before founding a monastic college at his home monastery in north India.

In addition to extensive training in the meditative and philosophical traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Mingyur Rinpoche has also had a lifelong interest in Western science and psychology. At an early age, he began a series of informal discussions with the famed neuroscientist Francisco Varela, who came to Nepal to learn meditation from his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Many years later, in 2002, Mingyur Rinpoche and a handful of other long-term meditators were invited to the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Richard Davidson, Antoine Lutz, and other scientists examined the effects of meditation on the brains of advanced meditators. The results of this groundbreaking research were reported in many of the world’s most widely read publications, including National Geographic and Time.

Mingyur Rinpoche teaches throughout the world, with centers on five continents. His candid, often humorous accounts of his own personal difficulties have endeared him to thousands of students around the world. His best-selling book, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into over twenty languages. Rinpoche’s most recent books are Turning Confusion into Clarity: A Guide to the Foundation Practices of Tibetan Buddhism, Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom, and an illustrated children’s book entitled Ziji: The Puppy that Learned to Meditate.

In early June, 2011, Mingyur Rinpoche walked out of his monastery in Bodhgaya, India and began a “wandering retreat” through the Himalayas and the plains of India that lasted four and a half years. When not attending to the monasteries under his care in India and Nepal, Rinpoche spends time each year traveling and teaching worldwide.

Lori Schwanbeck is an internationally recognized emotional intelligence and mindfulness teacher known for her compassion and enthusiasm in supporting people to thrive. Her unique blend of qualifications as a marketing professional, psychotherapist, and mindfulness teacher, enable her to deliver a depth of knowledge along with practical skills that support change.

As a senior teacher at the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), Lori has taught leadership and mindfulness-based emotional intelligence worldwide. She has facilitated trainings in diverse organizations including: The Kingdom of Bhutan, United Nations, LinkedIn, Sonoma County first responders, Rotman School of Business, and Google. Lori also has a lead role in program development and teacher training and mentoring at SIYLI.

In addition to international corporate training, Lori co-founded Mindfulness Therapy Associates, a psychotherapy and coaching practice in San Francisco. She specializes in working with individual executives and business partners in skillfully managing difficult relationships and navigating change. In both her consulting and coaching practice, Lori believes that people flourish in environments where they feel connected with, cared for, and committed to.

Lori began her journey in Canada where she earned a degree in Commerce and worked in marketing. This led her to explore human motivation and flourishing through the study of positive psychology and contemplative practices in her Master’s degree. Her teaching utilizes mindfulness to cultivate self-awareness and increase emotional intelligence in creating an engaged and inspired life.

Lori is a student of beauty and awe and her personal vitality is enhanced through contemplative time in nature as well as creative collaboration with friends.

Christina leads the teams responsible for hiring, developing, and rewarding top talent, including all benefits and employee experience programs. She joined the company in 2013 to lead global compensation and HR M&A. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Christina led the compensation team at Facebook during the company’s 2012 IPO. Before Facebook Christina spent 6 years at Intuit, where she held several senior positions in legal and HR, culminating in leading the total rewards organization. She is also an attorney who began her career practicing law in the areas of executive compensation and employee benefits, most recently at Latham & Watkins.Christina earned her BA in History and Political Science from Stanford University, and received her JD from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.

Kerena Saltzman is a licensed therapist and women’s leadership coach. Kerena also founded 20s Creating Connections, a business that provides counseling to University California students.

Kerena works with high achieving women leaders to hone their leadership abilities, relationship skills, and define success on their terms. Her expertise in relational leadership has led her to work with clients at Apple, Google, LinkedIn, Women’s Business Leadership Forum, and NASA Space Center.

She has taught relational intelligence skills to teams of therapists, physicians, coaches, and Directors of Learning and Development. When people develop relational skills conflict becomes easier, communication is clearer, and employee engagement increases.

Kerena leads a year long program designed to support high performing women leaders to develop, collaborate, and thrive personally and professionally

Mick brings an incredible amount of experience to the stage having worked as a performer and keynote speaker for two decades. Mick has spoken to hundreds of companies across the United States, Canada, Scotland, Ireland and England. Mick is a world champion juggler. He is part of The Danger Committee, a comedy, juggling, knife throwing trio. Mick uses performing as a metaphor to demonstrate the principles and ideas that can have a profound and lasting impact on your organization.

Mohak Shroff has been Senior Vice President of Engineering of LinkedIn Corporation since September 29, 2017. Mr. Shroff served as Vice President/Head of Product Engineering for LinkedIn Corporation. Mr. Shroff leads the engineering teams that develop all of LinkedIn’s member-facing products and customer lines of business including LinkedIn Talent, Marketing and Sales Services. In his nine years at LinkedIn, he has played several key roles from working with the infrastructure and monetization teams to leading Project Inversion. Prior to joining LinkedIn in 2008, he served as key technical leader on the Ariba Supplier Network (Ariba SN) engineering team where he led various application and infrastructure development efforts across the company’s vertical technology stack. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin