PRESS KIT
Background
The nonprofit Center for Compassionate Leadership is dedicated to the advancement of compassionate methods of leadership around the globe.
The Center melds evidence-based principles of leadership and the latest neuroscience and behavioral research with the wisdom of contemplative practices. As the hub for a global community of compassionate leaders, the Center offers curriculum and training, thought leadership, collaboration, and research.
The Center for Compassionate Leadership strives for a world where compassionate leadership is the norm, not the exception. Where we can live and work in communities of safety, connection, and belonging. Where we recognize our common humanity and treat each other with love and compassion.
The Center’s leadership are subject matter experts who are available to comment on:
Building cultures of safety, connection, and belonging
Compassionate leadership as it relates to organizational wellbeing and management; diversity, equity, and belonging; women and leadership; human resources; and mindful leadership
Re-igniting employees after pandemic isolation, exhaustion, and overwhelm
Compassion as an innate skill we can all cultivate
Compassion as a path to flourishing
How to create systems change with courageous compassion
Executive Biographies
Laura Berland, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Compassionate Leadership, serves as Lead Faculty for the Center’s public certification programs, customized training for organizations, and Compassionate Leadership Teacher Training. At 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 trained over 500 leaders from 44 countries in the Center’s flagship Compassionate Leadership Certification Program.
She has been a weaver of transformative organizations and experiences, as a serial media and tech entrepreneur, Fortune 500 executive, transformational facilitator, nonprofit board member, meditation educator, yoga therapist, and executive advisor. 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.
Evan Harrel is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Compassionate Leadership. He leads the Center’s thought leadership efforts, the integration of scientific and business research into the work of the Center, and the development and delivery of the Center’s leadership training programs. For the last fifteen years, he has worked in the nonprofit field, including as the executive director of a group of inner-city Houston preschools and of Houston Habitat for Humanity. More recently, as a consultant and board member to several nonprofits, he has focused on developing meaningful measurable outcomes and devising strategies to further organizational mission and impact for a number of clients. 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.
Advisory Board
David Addiss, MD, MPH, is a leader in the field of compassion in global health and is currently the director of the Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics at the Task Force for Global Health.
Kenya Casey lives and leads compassionately as the associate director of international support for The Carter Center Health Programs, and leads meditations for organizations.
Shelton Davis founded Empathy Lab to help guide product and technology creators in how to build, support, and practice being empathetic with themselves and others.
Miriam Eaves is the Head of origination at BP LaunchPad, BP’s business builder to address issues of climate change and sustainable energy.
Renée Edelman serves as a Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources, at Edelman, a global communications firm.
Laurent Lam Fontaine spearheaded the initial development of compassionate leadership in Asia at Human Capital Leadership Institute which is supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Singapore Ministry of Manpower.
Patti Freeman Evans was the Executive Vice President at Forrester Research, and has advised start-up and large companies to flourish in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Fernando Gómez-Baquero, PhD, is a nanoscale engineer, an entrepreneur, and a mentor and is the director of Runway and Spinouts at Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech.
Professor Liz Grant, MA, PhD, FRSE, FRCPE, MFPH, is one of the Assistant Principals (President) at the University of Edinburgh, responsible for Global Health. She is a Co-Director of the University’s Global Compassion Initiative and Director of the Global Health Academy.
Jonathan Gregory is the Chief Executive Officer of RMX Resources, LLC, an independent oil and gas company in La Habra Heights, CA.
Carson Kelly is the founder and CEO of Benevolently, a social venture aimed at scaling compassion through an enterprise wellness platform.
Matthew T. Lee, PhD, is Director of Empirical Research at the Human Flourishing Program in the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University.
Lori Schwanbeck is a senior faculty member at Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), where she mentors and trains teachers, and designs and facilitates mindfulness based emotional intelligence programs.
Stephen Trzeciak, MD, MPH, is a physician scientist, Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care, and Professor and Chair of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey.
Monica Worline is co-author of Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations, founder and CEO of EnlivenWork, a collaborating research scientist at Stanford University, and Executive Director of CompassionLab.
Partners and Clients
We are dedicated to working with thoughtful partners and clients to advance compassionate leadership in organizations around the globe. The companies, educational institutions, nonprofits, government agencies and associations referenced below are some of the organizations we have worked with through collaborations and by conducting workshops for or training their employees.
Speaking Engagements
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In The News
Here are just some of the news outlets and publishers that have reported on the Center for Compassionate Leadership.
Visit our In The News page to read our coverage.
Digital Artwork
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Laura Berland and Evan Harrel (square photo)
Press, Public Relations and Speaking Inquiries
Please email Laura Berland:
laura@cfcl.org
For General Inquiries, please email: