Faculty

We appreciate all the Faculty members who bring compassionate leadership certification, training, workshops, and Compassionate Leadership Teacher Training to life.

Click on their picture to read more about each Faculty member or scroll down the page.

Lead Faculty

Evan Harrel is the Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Compassionate Leadership. He leads the Center’s thought leadership efforts and the integration of scientific and business research into the work of the Center. For the last twenty years, he has worked in the nonprofit field, including as an executive director and as a consultant and board member to several nonprofits. Evan has taught about compassion to both nonprofit organizations and for-profit corporate boards.

Prior to beginning work in the nonprofit sector, Evan was an investment manager for over twenty years where he managed a thirty-billion-dollar equity mutual fund. He was awarded a Master of Business Administration degree, with distinction, from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Princeton University.

Laura Berland is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Compassionate Leadership. She is a weaver of transformative organizations and experiences, as a serial tech entrepreneur, Fortune 500 executive, transformational facilitator, nonprofit board member, meditation teacher, yoga therapist, and executive advisor.

Now, through the Center for Compassionate Leadership, she has developed a new model for these turbulent times that melds evidence-based principles of modern leadership and the latest scientific research with the wisdom of contemplative practices. Laura has extensive experience working with global executives, entrepreneurs, graduate students, military veterans, and yoga/meditation teachers. She is an E-RYT500 (accredited educator) from Yoga Alliance, and C-IAYT (certified yoga therapist) from International Association of Yoga Therapists. Laura is an alumna of Cornell University and New York University.

Burrell Poe is the Director of the Goldin Institute’s Chicago Peace Fellows program where he brings people together as a community of practice, learning and working together to promote peace at a grassroots level. He has been actively involved in his community on the West Side of Chicago since he was 10 years old.

Burrell is a US Army veteran and has extensive experience as a nonviolence trainer, community organizer, and workshop facilitator. He is passionate about creating social and environmental justice throughout the world and has strengthened peacebuilding, compassion, and reconciliation from Chicago to Colombia and Uganda. He has been a certified Compassion Cultivation Training Instructor since 2015, and has worked with Compassion It, the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, and the Mikva Challenge in his devotion to creating a more compassionate world. Burrell embodies his environmental justice care through his commitment to biking, gardening, and composting.

Monica C. Worline, PhD, is one of the leading voices bringing compassionate practices into organizations, having co-authored the foundational book Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations. She is the founder and CEO of EnlivenWork, an organization that partners with thought leaders in the field to help organizations tap into courageous thinking, compassionate leadership, and the curiosity to bring their best work to life. Dr. Worline is the Faculty Director for Engaged Learning and Innovation at the Center for Positive Organizations, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. She is also a collaborating research scientist at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education and Executive Director of CompassionLab, the world’s leading research collaboratory focused on compassion in the workplace.

Peter Bonanno, Ed.M., translates mindfulness-based practices and research into training programs that are broadly accessible to the public. For the past 15 years he has designed training programs in the areas of mindfulness, emotional intelligence, compassion, and leadership, and then has grown these programs to reach large numbers of participants.

Peter is a founding faculty member of the Center for Compassionate Leadership's Teacher Training program, advising on curriculum and teacher training.

Peter has also served as a founding team member of the nonprofit Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. In his role as Director of Program Development, he designed and taught a train-the-trainer program that built a global network of over 800 certified trainers, reaching over 100,000 participants.

He is a founding team member and founding faculty member of Humanize, which offers an innovative online peer-to-peer “daily Dyad” practice to help people reconnect with themselves, others, and humanity.

His creative work has been featured on three apps, for which he has been a curriculum designer, game designer, meditation teacher, and filmed instructor: Simple Habit, ReThink Care, and Balance. Peter is currently writing Start Here: A Field Guide to Your Inner Life, a visual introduction to contemplative practices.

David Addiss, MD, MPH, is a leader in the field of compassion in global health. He is currently the director of the Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics at the Task Force for Global Health. In addition, he is the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Global Health.

David received his MD from the Medical College of Georgia and his MPH from Johns Hopkins University. He co-directed the WHO’s Collaborating Center for Control and Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis in the Americas, based at the CDC, served as the director of the Fetzer Institute’s program in science and spirituality, and directed the Children Without Worms program at the Task Force for Global Health. David has co-authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications, a book, and several book chapters.

Global Ambassadors

Louise Chester’s decades of business and contemplative experience have been brought together in the creation of programs that have benefited individuals, organizations, and the greater good worldwide. Following a distinguished and recognized career in finance in the City, she founded Witherdens Hall Organic Retreat in 2005 and Mindfulness at Work in 2010 with the express mission of bringing mindful compassion and purpose to the corporate world. Her evidence-based ‘Inner Game’ training enables others to create value and thrive in the workplace and in all areas of their life.

Louise has shared her wellbeing, purpose, and culture change programs to over 250 organizations and over 150,000 people in the corporate and nonprofit worlds including Cisco, Citigroup, and Unilever. She also supports C-suite leaders in 1:1 coaching relationships. She is a certified Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) teacher, and co-developed a program to bring this work into the UK NHS.

Louise completed a Masters Degree from Edinburgh University, and has written extensively on leadership. She co-authored the regularly cited article, “Power Can Corrupt Leaders. Compassion Can Save Them.” in the Harvard Business Review, and was a contributor to The Mind of a Leader, Wise Compassion, and Conscious Capitalism – the Workbook.

Daniel Stane is a leading international facilitator, coach, consultant, and speaker whose practice guides leaders to create a more human, compassionate, inclusive and future-fit approach to business and leadership. He is the founding director of UK based specialist consultancy Inclusion Partners. 

Daniel draws on his committed mindfulness practice and his decades of business leadership experience in his approach to leadership development which includes the integration of mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and potential-oriented psychology. Daniel has consulted and offered keynote presentations to thousands of leaders from FTSE250 / Fortune 500 companies from a diverse range of sectors including consumer goods, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, technology and finance. 

Daniel is fluent in several European languages including English, French, and Czech, and has worked in over thirty countries across the globe, which provide a foundation for his strong ability to connect well in a diverse range of national and cultural contexts. He has written extensively on leadership, team performance, innovation and inclusion. Daniel is also a certified compassionate leadership, mindfulness, inclusion, and emotional intelligence coach and facilitator, and he holds a BA(hons) in International Business, and a DipM in Strategic Marketing. He is also a visiting lecturer at London Business School.

Guest Faculty

Kenya Casey, MSW, serves as senior faculty for the Center for Compassionate Leadership’s Certification programs. Kenya is experienced in creating cultures of safety, connection and belonging within organizations and has catalyzed profound organizational impact and change throughout her career. Her approach is rooted in the importance of relationships, kindness, mentoring, and mindfulness.

Kenya is the Director of Global Safety and Security for Emory University. She strengthens support for Emory students’ and employees’ travel health, safety and security, with a particular focus on ensuring best practices for all international travel. She also leads university wide efforts to enhance health, safety, and security before, during, and after travel to Emory community members who are engaged in and/or support international travel.

Kenya previously served as senior associate director of Overseas Operations for The Carter Center Health Programs for 7 years, managing daily office operations of five program areas and eleven field offices, and serving as senior advisor on security of international staff and Carter Center travelers. While at the Carter Center, she helped foster a movement that continues to this day to deepen the Center’s compassionate culture.

Previously, she worked in Emory’s Center for International Programs Abroad, where she trained administrators on best practices and ways to increase participation and belonging among student groups historically underrepresented in study abroad.

Kenya earned her B.A. in Psychology from Clark Atlanta University and her Master’s degree in social work from Howard University. As a certified Workplace Mindfulness Facilitator, she leads monthly meditations for The Carter Center domestic and international staff, as well as leading weekly mindfulness sessions for a diverse group of practitioners.

Michael West CBE is Senior Visiting Fellow at The King’s Fund, London and Professor of Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, Visiting Professor at University College, Dublin, and Emeritus Professor at Aston University, where he was formerly Executive Dean of Aston Business School. 

He has authored, edited and co-edited 20 books and has published more than 200 articles in scientific and practitioner publications on teamwork, innovation, leadership, and culture, particularly in healthcare. The Center for Compassionate Leadership considers his latest book, Compassionate Leadership: Sustaining wisdom, humanity and presence in health and social care, an invaluable resource for compassionate leaders.

He assisted in developing the national People Plan for the NHS in England focused on compassionate and inclusive leadership and in Northern Ireland in developing the Collective and Compassionate Leadership Strategy for Health and Social Care, and he led the NHS National Staff Survey development and initial implementation. He is supporting Health Education and Improvement Wales to develop the national health and care compassionate leadership strategy for health and social care. 

He was appointed a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2020 for services to compassion and innovation in healthcare.

Lakiba Pittman is a renowned educator and artist from Palo Alto, California, dedicated to compassionate leadership. An honored professor at Menlo College and alumnus of the Center for Compassionate Leadership, Lakiba’s expertise extends from diversity and cultural expressions in media to mindfulness and trauma healing. Recognized by Stanford University’s CCARE as an Ambassador of Compassion and Senior Instructor, she also collaborates with the Compassion Institute and the Global Compassion Coalition. Beyond her academic and professional achievements, Lakiba is a recipient of the CORO Lead Bay Area Fellow and an Honorary Doctor of Ministry for her service to marginalized communities. In her personal life, she finds joy in her grandchildren, her garden and her loyal dog, “Ori.” Lakiba holds a BA from San Jose State University and an MA from University of San Francisco.

Senior Faculty

Laura Banks is a Certified Compassion Cultivation© (CCT) Instructor, dual-certified by Compassion Institute and Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). While studying, working, and raising a family around the world, she has witnessed how meeting the challenges of life with compassion reduces suffering and transforms the very things people thought would break them into the most resilient and beautiful parts of who they are. This powerful combination of training and personal experience shape Laura’s commitment to strengthen her own and others’ capacity to thrive, especially through the cultivation of compassion.

Laura is an alumna of Brigham Young University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an RYT-200 Yoga Alliance certified yoga instructor. She grew up in a bilingual/bicultural home and has lived in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. She has extensive experience teaching and leading groups in multicultural settings.

Dr. Leisl Bryant is a seasoned, board-certified psychologist with extensive teaching and group leadership experience in which she promotes personal change as a means to healing and improving the world. With over two decades integrating clinical and forensic psychology, ethics and risk-management, non-profit leadership, as well as various meditation, yoga, and earth-based practices, Leisl's life-work manifests a compelling blend of professional intelligence and a caring heart. In the roles of psychologist, consultant, teacher, and mentor/coach, Leisl brings a rigorous and sensitive understanding of personal and organizational dynamics into her efforts to facilitate awareness and growth. 

As an alumna of the University of West Florida and Duquesne University, Leisl has worked in a variety of clinical and forensic settings - including hospitals, prisons, courts, outpatient treatment centers, and private practice. She has also trained as a KRI Kundalini Yoga Instructor and been a dedicated student of meditation and growth/expansion practices for many years. Currently she is completing a two-year training program in the teaching of mindfulness through UC Berkeley's Good Science Center, Sounds True, and the Awareness Training Institute.

Bornali Basu is a licensed psychologist on the clinical faculty at the Department of Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She maintains a private psychotherapy practice in New York focused on compassion and mindfulness-based approaches to cultivating joy. She completed her internship and a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiac psychology at the NYU School of Medicine, and previously was a senior staff psychologist at Bellevue Hospital where she founded and was the Director of the Mind-Body Program. She is dually certified to teach CCT through the Center for Compassion & Altruism Research & Education at the Stanford School of Medicine (CCARE), and by Compassion Institute. Bornali is particularly interested in addressing burnout among healthcare professionals and has presented at national conferences on the topic including at the American Psychological Association’s Annual Convention (2022). She has facilitated compassion-based burnout prevention programs at multiple healthcare systems including NYU Langone, Columbia University Medical Center, and the NYU Silver School of Social Work’s Office of Global & Lifelong Learning. She is a founding board member of the Compassion Education Alliance.