Marlene Ogawa

Synergos

Marlene is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she works with cross- and multi-sectoral leaders on the Bridging Leadership project, building collaborative and purpose-driven servant leadership principles. Her work centers on relational leadership and social connectedness, emphasizing personal change, common purpose, and collaborative action.

Marlene partners with clients to design and facilitate processes around compassionate leadership and foster effective intercultural diversity, equity, and inclusion (ICDEI) environments. She designs strategic development processes, leads courses, and consults on and facilitates various ICDEI and organizational development initiatives around themes like race, gender, and social transformation. Marlene’s approach encourages impactful dialogue spaces and focuses on building the capacity of leaders to hold space, lead teams, and model the institution’s vision. She is the author of several publications, including the book, Thriving Women, Thriving World: An Invitation to Dialogue, Healing and Inspired Actions.

Marlene has a degree from the University of Johannesburg and various certificates in project management and ICT. Her experience working with decision makers across diverse sectors, including philanthropy, children/youth services, academia, local governance, and the broader business and development sector, has enriched her work, equipping her with tools from cutting-edge methodologies, including World Café, Open Space Technology, and Appreciative Inquiry.

Aaron Pereira

Project Lead at The Wellbeing Project

Paris,
France

Connect with Aaron Pereira on social media :

Aaron recently came across an old and slightly dusty high school paper and was more than a bit surprised to see it explored the connection between inner lives and social change. It was lovely to (re)discover that his work in the Project touches on a life long interest alongside other wonderful things in life like travel, meeting people, reading, and hosting dinner parties or really gatherings of all kinds.

Aaron’s mom got him involved in social change work (some time before the high school paper) and it stuck. The key thread in much of his work is exploring the way we live together. Sometimes that’s taken the form of pop up experiments, boards, or running an organisation. A few other times he’s been a co-founder such as with CanadaHelps. CanadaHelps, one of Canada’s leading charities, engages over 3 million Canadians to raise over $400 million a year for social causes across Canada and around the world.

Taking time for a morning cup of tea helps his day start out gently and well. It started as a (gentle) daily ritual sometime during a 7 year walk-about which was all about taking time for and re-centering his inner life. Something the cup of tea helps with every day. He loves being based in Paris and continuing to spend a lot of time in India.

Jennifer Woodlard

Georgetown University

Connect with Jennifer Woodlard on social media :

A Professor of psychology and adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, Jennifer Woolard began her career at the National Victims Resource Center. While obtaining her doctoral degree in developmental and community psychology at the University of Virginia she also served as a victim-witness volunteer in the county police department, a staff member to the Virginia Commission on Family Violence Prevention, and a consultant with Virginians Against Domestic Violence (now Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance) . She then joined the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice and became an assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Center for Studies in Criminology and Law. In 2002 she joined the psychology faculty at Georgetown University. Her research and action laboratory, the Georgetown Community Research Group, studies individual and family experiences with systems of care and control in order to create fair, effective, and just legal processes. Projects examine how youth and parents understand the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and the right to a trial. Her lab is the evaluation partner for the Youth In Custody Practice Model initiative, which helps juvenile correctional institutions implement evidence-informed and developmentally-appropriate practices. Dr. Woolard has testified as an expert before federal and state legislatures as well as in juvenile and criminal cases. She has presented her research findings to a wide variety of academic, legal, and policy audiences, and won several awards for teaching excellence, including the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence. She currently serves as chair of the Psychology Department.

Bill Kelly

Co-Creation Team Advisor

Trained as a lawyer, and a social entrepreneur by instinct, over a long career I worked in government, practiced law, and co-founded a nonprofit affordable housing consortium. I was an Ashoka board member for many years and now serve on the board of the Low Income Investment Fund, a lender to and supporter of community facilities around the United States.

My wife Cindy, sons Pat and Brian in Minneapolis and Nairobi, and four grandkids continue to enrich my life in so many ways, with their diverse interests, their high ambitions, their ideas and their love. Cindy and I live among the trees in Washington DC, love the wilderness, and celebrate the fact that we are a part of nature, often by biking, canoeing, or hiking.  Avid readers of many genres, we learn from discussions in several book groups.