Our Team

Shariff Abdullah is an author and advocate for inclusivity and societal transformation. Shariff’s meta-vision and mission are simple: we can create a world that works for all beings.

Shariff promotes heart-centered inclusivity, compassionate dialog, and a society based on vision and a localized and alternative political economy. His vision and work are informed by his inclusive spiritual practices, his growing up with racism and generational poverty, his legal background as a successful attorney, and his inclusivity experiences in over 100 distinct cultures, spanning 45 countries.

A lifelong coastal Mainer and proud public educator, Dr. Leigh Alley is the Coordinator of Teacher Education at the University of Maine at Augusta, where she prepares educators to lead with empathy, adaptability, and a holistic mindset. Her teaching and research focus on whole-child education, trauma-informed practice, social-emotional learning (SEL), and educator resilience in a rapidly evolving educational landscape.

Dr. Alley designed the world’s first dedicated Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Whole Child Education—a pioneering graduate program rooted in neuroscience and holistic pedagogy. At UMA, she teaches courses such as The Whole Child, Educator Self-Care and Resilience, and Trauma-Sensitive Practices, helping educators sustain both their purpose and effectiveness in classrooms where they foreground wholeness-centered teaching and learning.

Dr. Alley is the co-founder of xSELeratED, a consulting and professional learning collaborative that supports educators in implementing SEL-integrated leadership and teaching strategies. She also served for nearly a decade as Executive Director of Maine ASCD, leading state- and nationwide efforts in curriculum and instructional leadership, and receiving a global award from ASCD, voted upon by its affiliate leaders in all 50 states and 128 countries, for excellence in professional learning design.

Nationally, Dr. Alley serves on the advisory board for the Institute for Humane Education, where she contributes to solutionary curriculum and leadership approaches grounded in ethics, empathy, and systems thinking. She is also a featured contributor and incubator host with The Worthy Educator, a platform devoted to sustaining educator well-being and purpose-driven practice.

In addition to her academic and consulting work, Dr. Alley is the award-winning author of the Shiny Friends Super Squad social-emotional learning series for tweens, which promotes emotional intelligence, centers strong and relatable female protagonists, and fosters impactful reflection and discussion. The series has received multiple honors, including the Northern Lights Book Award in both 2023 and 2024, and achieved #1 New Release status on Amazon.com.

Dr. Alley holds a B.A. in English from the University of Maine at Machias and an Ed.D. in Transformative Leadership from the University of New England, along with a number of other advanced graduate degrees in educational leadership, literacy, and curriculum development. Through her work in higher education, policy, and publishing, she continues to champion the development of compassionate, reflective, and resilient educators and learners across Maine and beyond.

Raya Bidshahri is a serial education entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and award-winning educator with the mission of reinventing education. Raya is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the School of Humanity, a revolutionary online high school with a progressive model and skill-based curriculum. Raya serves as an advisory board member to multiple EdTech companies and is a member of the Bett Future Education Council.

Megan Bourke is an outdoor and environmental enthusiast, and an extreme lover of animals. Raised in the mountains of Colorado, Megan has an MBA from Columbia University and spends the majority of her time assisting with her husband’s cancer and research company IMMUNOLIGHT.

She is a fitness enthusiast who coaches CrossFit in Maine and Colorado, in-between her work and volunteer projects. Her hobbies include photography and making dogs happy.

Business owners often spin complicated stories about themselves, but Haj’s tale is very simple. To him, founding Trueline and being its CEO is all about community—working with a tightknit group of people to create and provide great marketing, branding, content, and design from Portland, Maine. His credentials include founding and running multiple, successful companies involved in marketing, communication, and sales. A Hawaii native, an avid salsa dancer, and a father, activist, and vegan, he’s an on-the-move, hands-on person who enjoys speaking engagements, mentoring, and any opportunity to swap ideas.

“I come from an ethnically diverse family, and my experiences growing up definitely shaped my perspective and eventual exploration of solutionary learning. My mother is (white-passing) Creole with roots in New Orleans, and my father is African American. Even though he was a straight-edge guy, never breaking the rules, I remember watching, helplessly, as he was physically assaulted by police for driving through a yellow traffic light. He didn’t struggle; he didn’t resist the police. He just signaled to my mom to follow him to the station. Later, my mom explained to me that he was roughed up because he appeared to be with a white woman, her. It was a ‘crime’ without a law to support it, but where we lived in Kansas City at the time, an offense nevertheless. And that was just one instance. Many of my family members turned to drugs and crime, trapped in a world where access to jobs was poor and education even poorer.

When we moved to Hawaii to escape this trap, I learned that inequality had no borders. On the one hand, the aloha spirit was alive and well within a rich culture; on the other, there was a declining indigenous population of native Hawaiians, who – despite being the source of so much richness – had been deeply impacted by exploitation and colonization of land, art, and culture. This experience opened my eyes to other inequalities far away from those beautiful islands. As a child, I remember learning about endangered animals around the world and how poaching and deforestation affects their ability to thrive. I also recall being deeply unnerved about the clearcutting of rainforests. When I went to college, I was preoccupied with how to change the world. I recognized my goal was lofty (to say the least!), so I became fixated on what issues were most pressing and wanted to solve multiple problems at once. It was around this time that I became part of the solutionary movement without even knowing it. Through my research, I learned that my childhood observations were correct: the world is indeed unfair (though it needn’t be). I also grew convinced that uncovering and addressing root causes to big problems is the only way to change things. We don’t just need to solve problems; we need to fundamentally change our thinking and our systems.”

Paul K. Chappell is an international peace educator and serves as the Peace Literacy Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He graduated from West Point, was deployed to Iraq, and left active duty as a Captain. Realizing that humanity is facing new challenges that require us to become as well-trained in waging peace as soldiers are in waging war, Chappell created Peace Literacy to help students and adults from all backgrounds work toward their full potential and a more peaceful world. Chappell facilitates workshops for educators, community leaders, activists, engineers, veterans, first responders, and faith-based organizations, and teaches college courses on Peace Literacy and Leadership.

Elizabeth O. Crawford is an associate professor of elementary education in the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Watson College of Education where she teaches courses in instructional design, social studies methods, global education, and play and the creative arts. She recently co-authored the book, Worldwise Learning: A Teacher’s Guide to Shaping a Just, Sustainable Future, that aims to support K-8 educators and their students as they learn about and address contemporary local and global challenges in their unique contexts. The book’s Pedagogy for People, Planet, and Prosperity framework was informed by humane education, underscoring the interconnectedness of ecological and social issues and solutions. Elizabeth’s research and teaching focus on promising practices that nurture teachers’ and students’ global competence. She has published in diverse journals like The Journal of Social Studies Research,Social Studies Research & Practice, International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, Social Studies and the Young Learner, and Childhood Education where she and her co-author received the 2017 Distinguished Childhood Education Article award for their article, “Conscientious Consumerism: A Curriculum Pilot to Support the Sustainable Development Goals.” Elizabeth was a 2017–2018 Global Teacher Education Fellow sponsored by the Longview Foundation and currently serves as an Ambassador at HundrED and on the Educator Advisory Committee Member at the Global Oneness Project. Previously, she served on the board of directors of the Institute for Humane Education. Elizabeth collaborates with educators, faculty, and non-profit organizations around the world with the shared vision of creating a more peaceful, equitable, and sustainable world for all.

Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and Phi Beta Kappa from Grinnell College and also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics. Bruce is a popular speaker on college campuses and has delivered presentations on food innovation at most of the nation’s top universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. Bruce has co-authored two books, including Clean Protein: The Revolution That Will Reshape Your Body, Boost Your Energy—and Save Our Planet with New York Times bestselling author Kathy Freston, contributed chapters to five books, and authored seven law review articles.

Caryn Ginsberg has more than 20 years experience helping businesses and non-profits improve results through better strategy and marketing. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies and leading animal protection organizations such as the ASPCA, Farm Sanctuary, The Humane Society of the United States and PetSmart Charities.

Paul C. Gorski is an associate professor of Integrative Studies in George Mason University’s School of Integrative Studies, where he teaches classes such as Poverty, Wealth, and Inequality; Social Justice Education; Social Justice Consciousness and Personal Transformation; and Contemporary Issues in Social Justice and Human Rights. He recently led the design and development of the new Social Justice and Human Right undergraduate and graduate programs. Paul is a Senior Research Fellow for the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and is serving his third term on the board of the International Association for Intercultural Education. He has been an active consultant, presenter, and trainer for nearly twenty years, conducting workshops and providing guidance for schools and community organizations committed to equity and diversity. He created and continues to manage the Multicultural Pavilion, an award-winning Web site focused on critical multicultural education. He has published more than 50 articles and eight books, focusing most recently on topics like poverty and educational opportunity, racial equity, and activist resiliency. He also has taught for the University of Virginia, the University of Maryland, Hamline University, and the Humane Society University. He lives in Virginia with his cat, Buster.

Hans Hageman is a social entrepreneur. He has developed visionary solutions to improve education from Harlem to India. Hans grew up in Spanish Harlem, New York. His home was Exodus House, a pioneering residential drug treatment center started by his father.

Hans’s parents were his first teachers in the importance of service to others. He went on to attend Princeton University and Columbia University School of Law. After law school, he went on to work as a prosecutor, chief counsel to a U.S. Senate subcommittee and as a defense attorney. In the early 1990s, he shifted his mission to work

In the early 1990s, he shifted his mission to work with children who had been underserved by the education establishment. This led to his founding of the East Harlem School at Exodus, an independent school that predated charter legislation in New York. His work there was honored with an Essence Magazine award and the Robin Hood Foundation.

His work there was honored with an Essence Magazine award and the Robin Hood Foundation Heroes Award, among others. It also brought him national media coverage from CNN, the New York Times, People Magazine, and the major television networks.

Hans went on to found two more schools. One school worked with teens who had left the public education system. Those students learned about the wider world through activities like desert survival training with Boulder Outdoor Survival School and First Responder training. They furthered their real-world learning with service projects to Ghana, Senegal, and Nicaragua.

The other school was for poor Hindu and Muslim girls at the primary/elementary levels in India. During this time Hans also worked with major metropolitan police departments to improve their communications with the local communities.

In 2014, he became the interim Executive Director for Jitegemee, Inc., a program that works with homeless children in Kenya. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Children of Conservation (CofC). CofC supports sanctuaries for chimpanzees, gorillas, and elephants in Africa. It does this in large part by addressing the roots of poverty in the local communities. Extreme poverty in these communities leads to poaching and environmental destruction.

Hans’s time in the Army Reserve, training as a Reiki master, Ashtanga yoga teacher training under David Swenson and his certification training in Permaculture Design through PRI, all inform his approach to the work.

Jeremy Jiménez (jeremy.jimenez@cortland.edu) is an assistant professor in the Foundations and Social Advocacy Department at SUNY Cortland. He received his PhD in International and Comparative Education from Stanford University, his MA in sociology (Stanford), and his MEd in social studies education (Rutgers University). His publications have primarily focused on school textbook analysis as well as students’ and teachers’ engagement with social justice issues (such as anti-racism, environmental justice, and gender identity). He teaches future teacher candidates about race, class, gender, international, and ecological issues, increasingly from indigenous perspectives. He has previously taught high school social studies for over a decade in Norway, the United States, and Venezuela. Having now studied, conducted research, and/or traveled in over 160 countries around the world, these days Jeremy prefers to spend his time hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing and cultivating his permaculture garden (and treasuring the beautiful biodiversity that emerges).

Having directed an international school in Guatemala, been the principal of a middle school in Singapore, and taught in schools across the globe, Mike Johnston is currently an independent educational consultant and assistant head of school at Frankfurt International School starting in the 2020/21 school year. He has led workshops and given keynotes for educators around the world on sustainability, K-12 global curriculum, and how service learning should not just be what you do, but who you are as a school. As a member of the Compass Education team, he is part of a growing community of passionate educators aiming to equip schools as learning communities to educate and act for a sustainable future. He has dedicated much of his time not only to ensuring students are properly prepared for the world’s most pressing issues, but also inspiring them to take action.

Rudy Karsan has been a unicorn builder, entrepreneur, investor, CEO, actuary and mentor for over three decades and a Managing Partner at Karlani Capital since 2014. Give him a great idea and a stellar team to work with, and he will help grow it into a transformative enterprise. Rudy’s first unicorn was Kenexa, an enterprise HR SaaS company which he took public in 2005 and then sold to IBM in 2012 in a record deal. He has been recognized multiple times for his entrepreneurial and humanitarian achievements and is the author of a New York Times bestselling book on employee engagement, We.

Gonca Keskin is an educator based at the Çarşamba Science High School, a public school in Samsun, the biggest city on the north coast of Turkey. She has been teaching English since 2001. She is the co-founder of the Global Teachers Club (GTC), where she has had the privilege of collaborating with a large, diverse group of teachers from around the world. GTC’s mission is to foster global citizenship and promote cross-cultural understanding besides achieving the SDGs.

Gonca is particularly passionate about connecting students to the world through programs like Erasmus grants, which offer invaluable opportunities for international exchange and learning. Through her dedication and hard work, she strives to provide her students with the tools they need to broaden their horizons and make a positive impact on a global scale. This endeavor is deeply important to her because she believes that a globally connected education system not only enriches individual lives but also contributes to a more harmonious and interconnected world.

Christian Long currently serves as the Chief Growth Officer for THINK Learning Studio, the consulting, strategy, and professional development arm of the THINK Global School, the world’s first/only all-traveling, all-project-based learning, international high school.

Prior to this role, he led strategy and development for ROTO, a globally recognized design-build firm serving science centers, museums, zoos, theme parks, and other immersive experience cultural centers; he founded The WONDER Project, a design studio that helps schools and learning communities design and develop at the intersection of their mission and moonshot; he was a co-founder of WONDER, By Design, a multi-disciplinary school design studio; he co-founded The Third Teacher+ studio within CannonDesign’s global Education practice; he founded Be Playful Design and Prototype Design Labs; and he taught and directed experiential education programs in a variety of high schools across the United States.

Christian works nationally and internationally to design agile schools for the future. He regularly presents keynote addresses at conferences around the world focusing on the relationship between human-centered design and the future of education. Overall he is an unapologetic advocate for wonder and curiosity as the root of all learning worth doing.

A much older version of Christian Long – many years into the future – can be found in semi-retirement at a tree-covered summer camp where he’ll continue to marvel first-hand at the shared joy of children and adults alike.

Education:

• M.Ed. – Harvard Graduate School of Education with a concentration on School Design
• Alumni – Design Discovery program at Harvard Graduate School of Design
• Alumni – Klingenstein Institute (for Emerging School Leaders) at Teachers College, Columbia University
• B.A. – Indiana University with a degree in English and K-12 teaching certification

Ayo MagwoAyo Magwood is an educational consultant and founder of Uprooting Inequity who specializes in evidence-based seminars on historical and structural racism. Her ProEquity model is an evidence-based K-12 instructional framework for teaching about historical and structural racism while fostering civic reasoning and discourse skills, an “honest yet appreciative” view of U.S. history, and an equity-conscious “we” identity. She has a B.A. in economics and international relations from Brown University and a M.Sc. in applied economics from Cornell University. Ayo is the author of the book chapter “Why ‘Elite’ Independent Schools Can’t Retain Black and Brown Faculty” in K. Swalwell & D. Spikes (Eds.) Anti-Oppressive Education in “Elite” Schools: Promising Practices and Cautionary Tales (2021).

Irshad Manji is founder of the Moral Courage Project. Its mission is to build a global community of certified mentors who teach people to communicate constructively across divides. The recipient of Oprah’s “Chutzpah Award” for boldness, Irshad is also a New York Times bestselling author. Her latest book is Don’t Label Me: How to Do Diversity WIthout Inflaming the Culture Wars. (Fun fact: Chris Rock calls the book “genius.” Another fun fact: Not everybody agrees with Chris Rock.)A leadership professor at New York University for many years, Irshad now teaches with the Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights.

Diane Y. Miller is the Chief Program Officerat the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS), where she administers all educational and interpretive programming and content. She has spent the last two decades in leadership roles designing and implementing programs, working with formal and informal educators, parents, and community organizations to boost student achievement in STEM disciplines. Before joining the DZS, she was Chief School and Community Partnerships Officer at the Saint Louis Science Center where she worked for 17 years and was the architect of an educational science program for youth known as YES (Youth Exploring Science). The program received the 2005 Association of Science and Technology Centers Leading Edge award. The Noyce Foundation selected her from among science center and children’s museum executives worldwide as a Leadership Fellow. Miller received her Bachelor of Arts from California State University Chico.

Dawn Moncrief is the Founder and Executive Director of A Well-Fed World, a vegan hunger relief and animal protection organization that partners with and financially strengthens (1) plant-based feeding/farming programs, (2) farmed animal care/rescue, (3) advocacy campaigns, and (4) movement building. She holds a master’s degree in international relations and another women’s studies, both with a focus on economic development. Her work highlights the ways in which the consumption of animal-sourced foods in the U.S. and internationally exacerbate global hunger, food insecurity, and climate change. Special projects include Plants-4-Hunger, which provides alternatives to “gifting” animals for food in low-income countries.

Dana is the Co-Founder and CEO of World Savvy, a national education nonprofit working to educate and engage youth as responsible global citizens. World Savvy supports change agents in K-12 education to create more inclusive, adaptive schools that ensure all young people can develop the skills and dispositions needed to thrive in a more diverse, interconnected world. World Savvy programs provide support at three critical levels to deeply integrate global competence into teaching, learning and culture: student engagement, teacher capacity and school and district leadership support. Since 2002 she has led the organization through significant national expansion, reaching nearly 750,000 middle and high school youth and more than 6,000 educators across 38 states and 28 countries, from offices based in Minneapolis, San Francisco and New York.

Dana is an Ashoka Fellow, was named one of The New Leaders Council’s 40 under 40 Progressive American Leaders, and was the winner of the Tides Foundation’s Jane Bagley Lehman award for excellence in public advocacy in 2014. She is a frequent speaker on global education and social entrepreneurship at high-profile convenings nationally and internationally, and World Savvy’s work has been featured on PBS, the The New York Times, Edutopia, and a range of local and national media outlets covering education and innovation.

For me, education is about the world I am building . . . and that world is a place of liberation for everyone, including non-human animals.

Dana McPhall has over 30 years of experience in the nonprofit, government, and legal sectors, and holds a Master’s Degree in Education through the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), as well as a Juris Doctorate and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy. Since earning her M.Ed. degree, Dana has dedicated herself to exploring the intersection of humane education and racial justice, particularly the link between race and animality, and to teaching educators, advocates, and parents about the intertwined systemic roots of anti-Black racism and animal exploitation. As part of that work, Dana has chaired a working group of IHE staff and alumni dedicated to integrating racial justice issues more deeply into the field of humane education.

Five years ago, Dana joined IHE’s faculty at Antioch University to facilitate a self-designed course called Race, Intersectionality and Veganism. Dana is also the author of “What I’ve Learned by Applying an Antiracist Framework to My Animal Advocacy,” which was published in 2020 by Sentient Media and included in the influential book “Antiracism in Animal Advocacy: Igniting Cultural Transformation.” More recently, Dana has led nonprofit educational programs designed to support educators and advocates in promoting interrelated issues of social justice within the U.S. food system. In 2023, Dana started her own educational project called Liberate In Mind, whose purpose is to deepen understanding, shift movement narratives, and direct social action toward justice and liberation for Black people and nonhuman animals as one common undertaking through education.

Sherri Mitchell was born and raised on the Penobscot Indian reservation. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maine, and received her Juris Doctorate and a certificate in Indigenous People’s Law and Policy from the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. Sherri is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador program, and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship program. In 2010, she received the Mahoney Dunn International Human Rights and Humanitarian Award, for research into Human Rights violations against Indigenous Peoples. In 2015, she received the Spirit of Maine Award, for commitment and excellence in the field of International Human Rights. And, in 2016, Sherri’s portrait was added to the esteemed portrait series, Americans Who Tell the Truth, by artist Robert Shetterly.

Sherri was a longtime advisor to the American Indian Institute’s Healing the Future Program and currently serves as an advisor to the Indigenous Elders and Medicine People’s Council of North and South America. She is the Founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the global protection of Indigenous rights and the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. Prior to forming the Land Peace Foundation, Sherri served as a law clerk to the Solicitor of the United States Department of Interior; as an Associate with Fredericks, Peebles and Morgan Law Firm; and a civil rights educator for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, and; she was the Staff Attorney for the Native American Unit of Pine Tree Legal.

Sherri speaks and teaches around the world on issues of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and spiritual change. Her broad base of knowledge allows her to synthesize these many subjects into a cohesive whole, weaving together the legal, political, and spiritual aspects surrounding a multitude of complex issues. Her work is being featured in an upcoming documentary film titled Dancing with the Cannibal Giant, and her first book Sacred Instructions will be in print in February of 2018. Sherri is also the cohost of the radio program Love (and revolution) Radio, which focuses on real-life stories of heart-based activism and revolutionary spiritual change.

Peggy Koch Palmer has been involved with both education and entertainment her whole life. She has worked as a producer, production coordinator, and assistant director in film, television, and commercials both in New York and LA. She has also been a talent agent for theater, TV, and film in New York and LA as well as a literary assistant. After the birth of her two boys, Peggy began teaching and subsequently, became very involved with the International Baccalaureate Program at her sons’ school, Agoura High School, by founding a parents association for the fledgling program and helping to raise significant funds over several years during a time of severe state budget cuts. She has also been a booster club board member for Agoura’s award-winning music program and has maintained a blog for Agoura’s College and Career Center. She founded Road to Admission, LLC in 2013 to help high school students find the perfect college for them. During the summers, Peggy volunteers her time with College Summit, helping rising high school seniors from low-income districts apply to college.

Peggy holds a BA from University of Vermont and an MA in Education as well as a teaching credential from Pepperdine University. She holds a graduate level Certificate in College Counseling from UC Irvine and is a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), the Western Association of College Admissions Counseling (WACAC), and is an associate member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA).

Akash Patel began his teaching career in very small rural communities in Oklahoma where people had never seen or met “a brown Indian guy who spoke five languages and had traveled to over 50 countries”. He used his travel experiences to design all of his lessons. For example, he used his experiences of working with elephants in South Asia to teach children to make elephant poopoopaper and map elephant DNA to study poaching patterns. He currently teaches ESL with Oklahoma City Community College and serves as Epic Charter Schools’ Math+ Instructor and ELL Liaison. Patel previously taught Spanish with the Dallas Independent School District and fourth grade at Hayes elementary school in Oklahoma City. In both schools, his students have come from very difficult backgrounds and have included gang members, drug addicts and juvenile delinquents. The majority of his students at both schools had never traveled outside the US.

In his first year of teaching, he was recognized by the State Department of Education and the Multicultural Education Institute as the January 2015 Educator of the Month and the 2015 Multicultural Teacher of the Year for promoting global citizenship in his classroom and achieving a successful academic turnaround. In December 2017, Patel was selected from over 30,000 nominations as one of the top 50 teachers around the world and shortlisted as a finalist for the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize, a $1 million prize that is awarded annually to one teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession: https://bit.ly/2JKeXF5 In June 2020, Patel was elected to the National Council of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) to serve the 2020-2022 term. At UNA-USA, Patel chairs the Global Engagement Summit committee, the largest gathering of grassroots changemakers and global activists in the General Assembly Hall at the UN and the Educators Affinity group, responsible for helping educators from across USA champion the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their classrooms.

In January 2021, Patel was inducted in the International Literacy Association’s 30 Under 30 List. In January 2022, Patel was elected as the first-ever immigrant President of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). In June 2022, Patel was elected Vice-Chairman of the National Council of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) to serve the 2022-2024 term and in June 2024, he was elected Chair of the same organization to serve the 2024-2026 term. Patel was also featured as a 2022 TIME Magazine Innovative Educator of the Year.

Akash has connected all of his classrooms with people and professionals worldwide using virtual platforms such as Facebook video calling, Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. At first, he started inviting his friends from social media platforms. Eventually, he mobilized over 1,000 volunteers from over 150 countries to join his Global Connect database at the Happy World Foundation (www.happyworldfoundation.us), a Texas based global education nonprofit he founded after the passing of his twin brother Anand Happy Patel.

Patel frequently speaks at regional, national and international conferences about his classroom experience. He has also trained over 100,000 teachers to use the Global Connect database and other multicultural programs. Today, thousands of American children travel to countries worldwide through Happy World Foundation’s global education programs.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s compassionate living philosophy is propelling plant-based eating into the mainstream and forever changing how we regard animals.

A recognized expert and thought leader on the culinary, social, ethical, and practical aspects of living compassionately and healthfully, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is an award-winning author of several books, including the bestselling The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan’s Daily Companion, On Being Vegan, and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge. Her next book, The Joyful Vegan’s Guide to Life, is due out in 2019. She is an acclaimed speaker and beloved host of the inspiring podcast, “Food for Thought,” which was voted Favorite Podcast by VegNews magazine readers several years in a row. She launched a spin-off podcast called Animalogy in 2017. Along with fellow advocates, she recently formed a political action committee called East Bay Animal PAC to work with government officials on animal issues in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Colleen shares her message of compassion and wellness on national and regional TV and radio programs, including on monthly segment on Good Day Sacramento and as a monthly contributor on National Public Radio (KQED). She has appeared on the Food Network, CBS, PBS, and FOX; interviews with her have been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, U.S. News and World Report; and her recipes have been featured on Epicurious.com and Oprah.com.

Colleen lives in Oakland, CA with her husband David and two cats, Charlie and Michiko.

Joaquin Phoenix is an actor, producer, music video director, musician, and activist. For his work as an artist, Phoenix has received a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations. Aside from his acting career, he has also ventured into directing music videos, as well as producing films and television shows. Phoenix is a social activist, lending his support to a number of charities and humanitarian organizations including Amnesty International, The Art of Elysium, and the Peace Alliance. Phoenix is also known for his animal rights activism. In 2005 he was awarded the Humanitarian Award at the San Diego Film Festival for his work and contribution to Earthlings, a video about the investigation of animal abuse in factory farms, pet mills, industry, and research.

Scott Plous is Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and Founding Executive Director of Social Psychology Network, a nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to promote peace, social justice, and sustainable living through public education, research, and the advancement of psychology.

Scott holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University, where he subsequently completed a MacArthur Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in International Peace and Cooperation. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and has received the American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Award for Distinguished Teaching and been named “Connecticut Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

In 2013, Scott began teaching a free online Social Psychology class that has now enrolled more than one million students from over 200 countries. In that course as well as classes that he teaches at Wesleyan University, Scott uses a socially engaged style of instruction known as action teaching, in which students contribute to the welfare of others as part of the learning experience.

Scott’s research interests focus on prejudice and discrimination, decision making, information technology, and ethical issues surrounding the use of animals. Most recently, his research team developed eInterview.org, a website that conducts humanlike interviews by simulating text message exchanges with site visitors.

Scott Plous is Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and Founding Executive Director of Social Psychology Network, a nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to promote peace, social justice, and sustainable living through public education, research, and the advancement of psychology.

Scott holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University, where he subsequently completed a MacArthur Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in International Peace and Cooperation. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and has received the American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Award for Distinguished Teaching and been named “Connecticut Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

In 2013, Scott began teaching a free online Social Psychology class that has now enrolled more than one million students from over 200 countries. In that course as well as classes that he teaches at Wesleyan University, Scott uses a socially engaged style of instruction known as action teaching, in which students contribute to the welfare of others as part of the learning experience.

Scott’s research interests focus on prejudice and discrimination, decision making, information technology, and ethical issues surrounding the use of animals. Most recently, his research team developed eInterview.org, a website that conducts humanlike interviews by simulating text message exchanges with site visitors.

Dr. Lisa Rivard is a K–12 Consultant and Outreach Specialist at Michigan State University, where she earned her Ph.D. in Learning Design and Technology after earlier studies at both Michigan State and Wayne State University. A passionate advocate for empowering youth to address global ethical challenges, she draws on transformative experiences such as Michigan State University’s Global Education Policy Leadership Program to enrich her work with educators and students.

A former President of the Michigan Reading Association and advisor for the Institute for Humane Education, Dr. Rivard champions literacy as a catalyst for community progress and social good. She also serves on Michigan’s Governor’s Educator Advisory Council and is an alum of the Educational Policy Fellowship Program. Across all of her roles, Dr. Rivard’s work focuses on redefining the essential competencies needed to prepare the next generation for meaningful success in an interconnected world.

Rohan is the director of the Dubai Science Festival. He is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of several global organisations including, Intelligent Optimism, Café Scientifique Dubai and Awecademy. He is the Head of Future Learning at GEMS Education (world’s largest private education provider) where he is responsible for promoting Innovation Strategy Planning and developing new educational models across 40+ institutions of learning in the UAE & rest of the MENA region. More details: www.rohanroberts.com.

Paola is originally from Colombia. She has a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics and a Graduate Certificate in Humane Education. In 2017, she left her job in Big Ag to focus her energy on fields related to advocacy for animals, humans and the environment. She currently serves on the board of directors of VegLifeDes Moines and volunteers at Iowa Farm Sanctuary. She also teaches Hispanic adults who want to complete their high school equivalency diploma, at a local community college.

Paola lives in Iowa with her husband, a loving dog, two bossy cats and with many house and garden plants. She is an avid gardener with a special passion for prairie plants.

Kiran Bir Sethi is the Founder/Director of The Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India. She is also the founder of ‘aProCh’—an initiative to make our cities more child-friendly, for which she was awarded the Ashoka Fellow in 2008. In 2009, she received the “Call to Conscience Award” by the King Centre at Stanford.

In 2009, she founded ‘Design for Change’ (DFC) – the world’s largest movement of change – of and by children. DFC is now in 44 countries—impacting over 2.2 million children and 65,000 Teachers. In September 2011, she won the prestigious “INDEX – Design to Improve Life Award.” In June 2012, she was awarded the “Rockefeller Foundation Youth Innovation Award.” In February 2014, she received the “Patricia Blunt Koldyke Fellowship 2013” from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Design for Change was declared Lego Foundation’s “Reimagine Learning Challenge Champion” in November 2014. In March 2015, she was amongst the Top 10 Educators, nominated for the Global Teacher Prize – instituted by the Varkey GEMS Foundation. In June 2015, Design for Change won the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Award. Kiran was conferred the Asia Game Changer 2015 Award by Asia Society in October 2015. In February, 2017 she was conferred the “Excellence in Instructional Leadership” Award at NDTV’s National Education Awards. She has been appointed as Ambassador, Vital Voices, in February, 2017 and in May, 2017, she has been nominated as a member of VVLead Fellowship, a partnership between Pond’s and Vital Voices. On 9th June, she met the Pope in the Vatican to sign an Agreement whereby D.F.C. will be introduced in over 460,000 Catholic Schools across the Globe.

Robert Shetterly was born in 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated in 1969 from Harvard College with a degree in English Literature. At Harvard he took some courses in drawing which changed the direction of his creative life — from the written word to the image. Also, during this time, he was active in Civil Rights and in the Anti-Vietnam War movement.

After college and moving to Maine in 1970, he taught himself drawing, printmaking, and painting. While trying to become proficient in printmaking and painting, he illustrated widely. For twelve years he did the editorial page drawings for The Maine Times newspaper, illustrated National Audubon’s children’s newspaper Audubon Adventures, and approximately 30 books.

Robert´s paintings and prints are in collections all over the U.S. and Europe. A collection of his drawings & etchings, Speaking Fire at Stones, was published in 1993. He is well known for his series of 70 painted etchings based on William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell”, and for another series of 50 painted etchings reflecting on the metaphor of the Annunciation.

His painting has tended toward the narrative and the surreal, however, for more than ten years he has been painting the series of portraits Americans Who Tell the Truth. The exhibit has been traveling around the country since 2003. Venues have included everything from university museums and grade school libraries to sandwich shops, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City, and the Superior Court in San Francisco. To date, the exhibits have visited 26 states. In 2005, Dutton published a book of the portraits by the same name. In 2006, the book won the top award of the International Reading Association for Intermediate non-fiction.

The portraits have given Shetterly an opportunity to speak with children and adults all over this country about the necessity of dissent in a democracy, the obligations of citizenship, sustainability, US history, and how democracy cannot function if politicians don’t tell the truth, if the media don’t report it, and if the people don’t demand it.

Shetterly has engaged in a wide variety of political and humanitarian work with many of the people whose portraits he has painted. In the spring of 2007, he traveled to Rwanda with Lily Yeh and Terry Tempest Williams to work in a village of survivors of the 1994 genocide there. Much of his current work focuses on honoring and working with the activists trying to bring an end to the terrible practice of Mountaintop Removal by coal companies in Appalachia, on climate change, and on the continuation of systemic racism in the US particularly in relation to the school-to-prison pipeline.

Since 1990, he has been the President of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), and a producer of the UMVA’s Maine Masters Project, an on-going series of video documentaries about Maine artists.

Jennifer Skiff is an award-winning journalist, author, and animal advocate. Her bestselling inspirational books, Rescuing Ladybugs, The Divinity of Dogs, and God Stories are published in seven languages.

For more than a decade Jennifer traveled the world as an investigative environmental correspondent for CNN. Her independently produced programs about animals have aired on the Discovery Channel and other networks throughout the world. Among other honors, she has received the prized Environmental Media Award.

Passionate about animals and their welfare, Jennifer works with charities throughout the world to bring relief to abused, exploited, and abandoned animals.

With her favorite Aussie and beloved dogs, Jennifer spends her life in perpetual summer between Maine and Australia.

Sherry Streeter is an artist and community activist living in Brooklin, Maine. Retired from a career in illustration and graphic design, which included art direction of WoodenBoat and Hope magazines and a number of books, she now spends much of her time painting the natural world and working with non-profit organizations aligned with her love for community and nature. Her recent paintings, which can be seen in several local galleries, focus on avian life, landscape and the night sky. Her volunteer commitments encompass nature (Friends of Acadia, Schoodic Institute); community (Maine Community Foundation, Brooklin Youth Corps, WERU-FM); women’s health and well-being (Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center, Equal Rights Maine), and justice (Americans Who Tell the Truth).

She has been involved in the organization of numerous events in support of these organizations and others, which include art exhibits, film festivals, speakers, fund-raising gatherings, as well as pro bono graphic design work.

Sherry holds a BFA from Syracuse University with further studies at School of Visual Arts, UMO and Southern Connecticut State University. She is a Master Gardener and recipient of a fellowship from Vermont Studio Center. She enjoys sailing, hiking and gardening in the summer and travel in the winter. She is very grateful to be living in Maine with her husband, Jon Wilson, and the extraordinary community that thrives here.

Currently, Shawn serves the Jane Goodall Institute as the Vice President of Communications and Policy where he has worked for 11 years. While today Shawn’s role focuses engaging the Institute’s audiences in all of their research, conservation and education programs, previously, Shawn supported the organization’s youth program Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. Shawn Sweeney is a 2011 alumnus of the Institute for Humane Education’s masters of education program. In 2006, Shawn graduated from the College of Wooster with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. Shawn lives and works from home in Gilbert, Arizona.

The President and CEO of the Foundation is Michael Tobias, a global ecologist, anthropologist, historian, explorer, author and filmmaker.

Tobias obtained his Ph.D. in the Department of History of Consciousness from the University of California-Santa Cruz. Tobias has lectured widely. He was an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies & Adjunct Assistant Professor of English and the Humanities at Dartmouth College, an Associate Professor of Humanities at California State University-Northridge, the Garrey Carruthers Chair of Honors and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies and Regents’ Lecturer, at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Tobias is the author of more than 45 books (both fiction and non-fiction, as well as several edited anthologies). In addition to his numerous books and published research papers, Tobias has written, directed, produced, executive produced or co-executive produced well over 100 films – TV series, documentaries and dramas, most pertaining to environmental, cultural, social or scientific issues. Tobias’ field research has taken him to some 80 countries where he has specialized in an interdisciplinary approach to environmental history, animal rights, scientific, ethical and philosophical frameworks for policy research, strategies and documentation, demographic analysis, ecological anthropology, biodiversity conservation, and non-violence activism. In 1996, Tobias received the “Courage of Conscience Award” for his commitment to nature and non-violence. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Parabola Focus Award for his long-standing body of work aimed at creating a better world.

Andra Yeghoian is the Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Coordinator at the San Mateo County Office of Education. She provides leadership in implementing a broad Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Initiative across San Mateo County. Andra has over 15 years of experience in education across public and private school systems, nationally and internationally, and has served in a variety of roles, including: Director of Sustainability, Secondary Humanities Teacher, Project Manager, Professional Development Facilitator, Adjunct Faculty, and Organizational Consultant. She holds a B.A. in International Relations and a Teaching Credential from UC Davis, and an MBA in Sustainable Systems from Pinchot University (Presidio Graduate School) in Seattle, Washington. Most recently, Andra’s work has focused on implementing visionary leadership for whole school sustainability and climate resiliency integration that take place across all facets of an institution: campus and operations, curriculum and instruction, community engagement, and organizational culture. Additionally, under her leadership she has supported school sites, districts, and county offices in achieving honors such as U.S. Department of Education and California Green Ribbon Award, Bay Area Green Business Certification, and LEED Platinum Certification for New Buildings.