Laura is a mindfulness teacher, published researcher, and co-founder of Inner Explorer, a non-profit organization that brings mindfulness-based social emotional learning (MBSEL) programming to preschool through high school classrooms. She has studied the positive academic and mental health effects of daily mindfulness practice and intends to make this programming available and ideally embedded into the school day so all children can benefit from less stress, greater wellbeing, and increased performance. Laura worked for twenty years in large, multinational companies, including GE where she brought a mindfulness program to her team with record results. Laura earned a bachelor of science degree from Boston College, a Ph.D. from Sofia University, was trained as a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts, is an Allstate Foundation Non-Profit Fellow, and a lead partner on the LG Electronics USA -Experience Happiness Initiative.

Janice has over fifteen years experience in the education field working directly with youth as well as with educators. She has a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Northeastern University. As a Co-Founder of Inner Explorer, she widely promotes a Mindfulness Based Social Emotional Learning (MBSEL) program nationwide that brings mindfulness to education. Janice was trained in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) through the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness and has over a decade and a half of experience practicing mindfulness skills.

Sherita T. Ceasar is senior vice president of technology environments and strategy at Comcast Cable. Sherita leads strategy, design, build, and support of Comcast engineering laboratory operations and strategic planning supporting technology/product roadmaps for 1600+ technical facilities within Comcast’s Next Generation Access Network organization. She has over thirty-five years in the telecommunications industry shaping and delivering innovative technologies, including the first Comcast Universal Caller ID cross platform application and both remote and cloud DVR, among others. During her career, she has served on the national board of WICT and was past national president of the Society of Women Engineers.

Mike is an assurance manager at AAFCPAs, a best-value CPA & business advisory firm located in Boston, Westborough & Wellesley, MA. Mike provides assurance & business advisory solutions to various types of nonprofit organizations, including: community health centers, community development corporations, early education and care (EEC) agencies, and multi-service human & social services organizations. He advises nonprofit clients on optimizing their financial strategies to ultimately direct more money back into fulfilling their missions. Mike will apply his depth of expertise in serving sophisticated, national nonprofits to provide Inner Explorer with strategic direction and advice on financial aspects of new and existing programs. He resides in Wrentham, MA with his wife Elizabeth, who is a 4th grade teacher, and their two daughters. Joe has served in several statewide committees and has held offices in the Ohio Schools-Speech-Language Pathology Audiology Coalition and the Ohio Speech and Hearing Association. Joe provides professional development for topics as diverse as children’s communication, understanding student behavior, and team communication skill building. He has presented to speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, paraprofessionals, and school administrators.

Samantha is the co-founder of Leverage Advisors, a management consulting practice that provides strategic planning, acquisition integration, project management and change management consulting services to a variety of businesses (including public companies, private equity investments and non-profit entities). Prior to founding Leverage Advisors, Samantha held a variety of leadership positions during a seventeen-year career in General Electric’s healthcare and financial services businesses. She has achieved Six Sigma Black Belt and Quality Leader certifications and is a certified Change Acceleration Process facilitator. As Chairperson of Inner Explorer's Board of Directors, Samantha ensures the organization consistently balances the passion to reach millions of children with daily mindfulness practices with sustainable operating procedures and practices to ensure the organization's long-term viability.

Paul Sugar is the founder and director of the Scottsdale Institute for Health and Medicine Center for Mindfulness. Paul completed the advanced Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher training in 1994 at the Center for Mindfulness pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is a certified MBSR instructor through the Mindfulness Based Professional Training Institute at the University of California San Diego. In addition, he is a mentor for the MBSR certification candidates there. He has taught over one hundred eight-week MBSR and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programs and has delivered hundreds of mindfulness based workshops and retreats for over twenty-five years. Paul also teaches Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention for Addictive Behaviors (MBRP). He has taught mindfulness in the health care, business, schools, sports and private sectors. Paul has been practicing and teaching meditation, yoga and tai chi for over forty-five years. Paul’s MBSR classes offer continuing education for social workers, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, licensed professional counselors, nurses, acupuncturists, and massage therapists and bodyworkers. In 1998 Paul created the Attention Academy school program which became a seminal study for the development of mindfulness in the schools. He has also spearheaded a number of mindfulness based research studies in the healthcare field.In his role as a business entrepreneur he is a health care management professional, has founded and operated a number of highly successful service related businesses in the healthcare field and serves on the board of directors of three mindfulness based non-profit organizations. Beyond combining management, financial, and marketing skills to maximize the growth of these organizations, Paul has applied the principles of MBSR and Peak Performance to create a uniquely effective business model.

An entrepreneurial executive leader creating breakthrough business impact. At present, advising new ventures, scaling software and services companies and multi-national organizations following a 30+ year career at Accenture.
While at Accenture, Saideep launched their software-as-a-service practice, including the Salesforce Business group, from inception to a multi-billion-dollar business with over 18,000 practitioners and dozens of industry solutions. As Accenture Global Innovation Lead, he helped clients and entrepreneurs harness and scale innovation, leading a network of R&D, incubation, consulting teams across 92 cities and 35 countries. In these roles over the past decade, Saideep successfully integrated 7 acquisitions of all sizes to help accelerate scaling of talent and solutions. Saideep has shaped and delivered digital transformation journeys for clients across multiple geographies and industries including High-Tech, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Telecommunications and Utilities. A creative thinker able to maximize the potential of people and teams, Saideep is tackling passion areas in AI, Sustainability, Disruptive Growth, Equity in Community. He is currently based in Philadelphia with his wife and three adult children.

Morris was born in Sumter, SC, in 1958. His first career was in aviation. In 1994, he founded a company that manages end-of-life processing and repurposes or recycles technology for large entities. Suffering brought him to mindfulness. He graduated from the MBSR course in 2013. He has traveled by foot and bike across the US, India, and Africa. He reads a lot and enjoys traveling with his wife, Erika, and his two daughters. He especially values long-term friendships.