WHO WE ARE
We are a collaborative group of researchers, scholars, practitioners with expertise in holistic human development, education technology, culture transformation, leadership and many areas of expertise that when brought together, have created ways to help optimize human potential. This foundational shift allows for culture change and evolution. For each person. For every organization. All communities.
Our approach: To engage heart and mind, use research-based approaches to our professional education, certifications and accredited professional credentials. All our of our ed tools combine this holistic approach for personal growth and well-being, and that organization. Sustainable results in systems change and culture shift, creating happier people who engage more collaboratively, openly, creatively to elevate the lived values of your organization.
Laura M. Burgis, Ph.D.
Dr. Laura Burgis is president & CEO of the Human Values Center. Prior to the team formation in 2018, she devoted 25 years to the field of higher education: at Arizona State University within senior administrative leadership roles and on the faculty. More recently, Dr. Burgis served as Executive Vice President of Claremont Lincoln University.
Laura has a passion for higher education innovation and community development – the human(e) approaches to leadership and community evolution. Her current research focuses on leadership development to promote culture transformation on campuses; and how exponential technologies like AI, robotics and remote learning platforms can be applied to the interpersonal landscape development and collective growth of organizations.
Currently Dr. Burgis serves on the Charter for Compassion International Board of Trustees, Cities for Peace board of directors and consults with numerous university and college boards.
FACULTY FELLOWS
Dr. Debbie Ling is an expert on compassionate healthcare and serves on faculty of the Social Work Department at Monash University, Australia. She is an experienced social worker, educator and group facilitator with over 25 years experience. Ling sits on the Australian Compassion Council, Charter for Compassion Australia and the Australia21 Mindful Futures Network Advisory Group.
Dr. Immanual Joseph, Ph.D., CPC is a former cancer drug discovery scientist, who chose to become an evangelist of human compassion in workplaces following a period taking care of people in end-of-life situations.
Immanual has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, and is a certified professional coach from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching.
Terri Givens is the CEO and Founder of the Center for Higher Education. She is a political scientist, former provost at Menlo College and vice provost at the University of Texas at Austin.
Renee Levi, Ph.D. is an organization systems consultant with thirty years of experience working with executives in the corporate, public and not-for-profit sectors. Dr. Levi’s funded research projects have focused on inquiry into the influence of place, space and environment on Collective Transformation, an understanding of how where people meet affects how the group functions to achieve desired results. Dr. Levi has served as a trustee for Saybrook University and advisory board of Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.
Lisa A. Berkley, PhD is faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she serves as a Founding Director of the Center for Applied Values and Ethics in Advancing Technologies (CAVEAT). She is the Founding Director of the Institute for Inner Economy & Compassionate Governance. As a licensed massage therapist and Reiki teacher certified in mind-body-spirit healing, Dr. Berkley has more than 30 years teaching meditation and working in the healing arts; this background serves as the underpinning of her life’s work exploring how we heal, as individuals and society.
Renee Ronika Bhatti-Klug [bah-HOT-tee Kloog] is an innovative educational leader and researcher committed to the topics of developing Cultural Intelligence, building academically rigorous curricula, and fostering inclusive environments. She has been educating students and training leaders from over 70 nations for twenty years. Renee holds a leadership position at Arizona State University, spearheading culture intelligence initiatives for students and faculty development.
Dr. Stephanie J. Fujii is the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Scottsdale Community College (SCC), a comprehensive community college serving approximately 10,000 students in the greater Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area. She has spent nearly 30 years in higher education working in public, private, community college, and research I university settings. Her experience encompasses Academic and Student Affairs as well as Career/Technical Education having served as a faculty member, counselor, and an administrator.
Lisa Schenk, Ph.D. has over 20 years’ experience helping teams build alignment, improving critical interpersonal dynamics, and creating and sustaining behaviors that get results. Lisa has spent her career helping organizations work for people and firmly believes that by doing business well, we can make the world better. Her BOLD Leadership Development program has helped hundreds of leaders become more effective.
Lisa has taught at the Annenberg School and the Marshall School of Business at USC, Northwestern University and the Drucker School of Management. She is the co-founder of Conscious Capitalism, Los Angeles, an organization committed to the idea that business done well, is also good for society.
Laura I Rendón is Professor Emerita at the University of Texas-San Antonio. She is also affiliated with SpeakOut as a featured speaker at higher education institutions and conferences throughout the nation. Her presentations focus on topics such as student success, Latinx STEM students, deep learning experiences, self-care and healing.
Rendón’s passion is ensuring that the nation’s educational system fosters success for all students, especially those who are low income and first generation. Rendón developed “validation theory,” an asset-based student success framework that has been employed to frame research studies and programmatic activities in two- and four-year colleges and universities.
Dr. Victor Manalo is a retired university professor, former councilman, and consultant. From 2002-2015, he was Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at California State University, Los Angeles, and, for over eleven years, he served as a member of the Artesia City Council. He continues to serve his community as a Planning Commissioner, a Board Member for a local nonprofit, and as a local government consultant, advising his clients on pedestrian safety issues and on children and families in the foster care system. He earned a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Southern California and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from California State University, Long Beach.
Renée Smith is the Founder and CEO of A Human Workplace, she champions a more loving, human workplace where everyone is welcome to bring their true selves to work. She leads a team of more than 20 Human Workplace practitioners who host virtual and in-person Gatherings of A Human Workplace and provide coaching, consulting, and learning services. Through her work, Renee provides organizations ways to rediscover their human values and practice what it is to be human at work. Renée also conducts primary research, writes, and speaks on Making Work More Human, to accelerate the movement for more loving, human workplaces globally.
Eduardo Lozano specializes in leadership development, managerial competencies, and team integration processes, as well as cultural change initiatives in organizations, applying experiential training, workshop facilitation and personal and team coaching, according to the customer’s specific needs. In Latin America, he and his organization provide consulting for the corporate business community and educational institutions.
Dr. Paul Atkins Paul Atkins is a facilitator, author and researcher. He is co-founder and Vice President of Prosocial World, a not for profit focused on conscious evolution to enhance cooperation and trust in mission-driven groups globally. Paul is also a Visiting Associate Professor with the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. His research has focused on interventions to reduce stress while enhancing relationships, wellbeing, perspective taking and cooperation in groups and organizations. He has published extensively, including his most recent book “Prosocial: Using Evolutionary Science to Build Productive, Equitable, and Collaborative Groups”. Paul is a registered psychologist with board endorsement as an organizational psychologist. He is past President of the ANZ Association for Contextual Behavioural Science and a Fellow of the international ACBS as well as a board member of the World Happiness Foundation.
Ellen Robinson, founder of TEAM Performance, is passionate about inspiring people to bring their best self to work. Ellen assists leaders in creating positive culture change and building trust. She has been leading Barrett Values Certifications since 2004 and has trained over 500 consultants around the world to bring Barrett Values into their workplaces.
Ellen holds a marketing degree from The University of Texas at Austin and during the past 35 years has earned numerous certifications around trust-building, culture change and leadership development. Her expertise is in successfully connecting people with the organization’s culture to create a better than imagined future for humanity.
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