THE HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE
HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE DECEMBER 2018 WHO’S WHO
We point the way for activism in the happiness movement through deed and word. We ensure integrity and provide direction through our voices and actions.
Happiness + Well-being + Quality of Life +Sustainability + Resilience + Flourishing
AIMÉE CHRISTENSEN
Aimée is CEO of Christensen Global Strategies and Executive Director of the Sun Valley Institute, collaborating with industries, governments, organizations and individuals worldwide to develop solutions for a resilient world. She has twenty-five years’ experience in policy, law, investment, business and philanthropy including with Google, the World Bank, Baker & McKenzie, and the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2012 she served as Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General's High-level Group on Sustainable Energy For All and she advised Virgin Unite in shaping three of Sir Richard Branson’s initiatives: The Elders, The Carbon War Room, and The B Team. In 2009 she moved home to Sun Valley, Idaho where she founded the Sun Valley Institute to build global and local resilience and quality of place. She serves on the boards of the National Forest Foundation, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute on Sustainability at Arizona State University, and the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University. Aimée is a 2017 Women in Leadership & Zions Bank laureate, the 2011 Hillary Institute laureate and a 2010 Aspen Institute Catto Fellow. She has a BA from Smith College and a JD from Stanford Law School.
YAMOUNA DAVID
Yamouna was born in India in 1963. She studied law both in King’s College London and Sorbonne and practiced as advocate at Paris bar association for 20 years. She is now the director of the permanent training of advocates for the South-center of France at EFACS, and has helped to set up the International happiness observatory (OIB), with the aim to contribute to the emergence and implementation of a new, world based, ethical paradigm, through the tools of law
PAULA FRANCIS
Paula is a co-founder & President of GNHUSA, and chief Happiness Walker. She has been enamored with the idea of an economy grounded in happiness since first learning about the concept in 2008. Soon after, she became one of the original organizers of Gross National Happiness USA (GNHUSA) and traveled to Bhutan to witness GNH in action. In 2014, she committed to the Happiness Walk full-time to further the research goals of GNHUSA and to ignite a national conversation about what matters most in life. Influenced by the Peace Pilgrim and her unrelenting quest to share goodwill while traversing the country on foot, Paula likewise leans on her strong spiritual foundation to create social change: one-person, one-step at a time. This Happiness Walker also applies her learning in values clarification, compassionate communication, appreciative inquiry, community organizing, peace building, and positive psychology to inspire local action around creating a world that works for everyone – and the planet! Prior to this, Paula offered organizational services to social-profits through her business, Inspired Consultation. As her grown daughters have set out to create their own happy lives, Paula has made the road her new home.
ANDREW JONES
Andrew grew up in the hotel business as his parents managed Country Inns and Restaurants in the United Kingdom. Over the past 45 years, he has worked in numerous senior management and corporate positions for prestigious hotels, resorts and management companies in London, Bermuda, Canada, Hong Kong and across Asia. In 1996, Andrew embarked on a new journey. He founded and became the Guardian of Sanctuary Resorts a resort management company creating responsible and sustainable tourism experiences where people their body, mind and spirit in an environmentally friendly space. As part of his service to Industry, Andrew is a Past Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the Board of Trustees for the PATA Foundation, and Advisor on CSR and Responsible and Sustainable Tourism. Andrew was also a member of the World Travel Market World Responsible Tourism Day Advisory Panel. Andrew is a Certified Hotel Administrator of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality. ​Andrew believes in directly contributing to the community in which he lives and is Chairman Emeritus of the KELY (Kid’s Everywhere Like You) Support Group.
NAMGYAL LHENDUM
Namgyal is an expert in planning for Gross National Happiness (GNH) and a practitioner of the ideology both in his personal life through meditation and Buddhist practices and through work experiences in both government, corporate and social communities. Namgyal is a former government officer, responsible for the formulation of Gross national Happiness (GNH) policies for the nation. Later he moved to the corporate world as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Limited (RICBL) and was also the Board Director for Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan Limited (RSEBL) and other organizations. Currently Namgyal is a member of University Council, Royal University of Bhutan, Vice-President of Chendebji Sampa Lhuendrup Drupchen Committee, and member of Sidhi Moenlam Chenmo, Choekor Rabtentse, Tongsa.
LAURA MUSIKANSKI HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE CONVENOR
Laura Musikanski is executive director the Happiness Alliance - happycounts.or She serves as chair for the Wellbeing Committee of IEEE’s Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems and vice-chair for IEEE P7010 The Wellbeing Metrics Standard for Ethical Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems Laura was an invited participant at the 2012 UN High Level Meeting Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm as well as the 2017 and 2018 Dialogue for Global Happiness held in Dubai as part of the World Government Summit, among many other collaborative events supporting the happiness movement. Laura coauthored The Happiness Policy Handbook with Rhonda Phillips and Jean Crowder, to be released in 2019 by New Society Publishing, and Mindfulness for a Happy Life with Robert Beatty, to be released in 2019 by Wipf & Stokk. By training, Laura is a lawyer with an MBA.
PAUL ROGERS HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE CONVENOR
Paul’s PhD centered on tourism, conservation and development issues in Nepal’s Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) National Park. He has over 20 years’ experience as a tourism advisor to national and local governments and tourism organisations, and has worked in more than a dozen countries in South and South-East Asia, Africa and Australia. His focus has been on the policy and planning arena – on using tourism, as one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industries that provides 1 in every 10 jobs worldwide, as a vehicle for development. Paul’s interest in the GNH agenda began with his work as a tourism advisor to the Government of Bhutan, and really ignited through his participation in the “High Level Meeting on Happiness & Wellbeing” at the UN in April 2012, where he represented the UN World Tourism Organisation. Paul directs Planet Happiness, which he co-founded.
KINGA TSHERING
Kinga served in the public sector for 23 years in the Kingdom of Bhutan, most recently as the Member of Parliament in the National Assembly. He has experience in legislation, organization building with formation of Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC), Bhutan Electricity Authority (BEA) and Druk Holding and Investments (DHI). He also has experience in the financial sector, banking, energy and infrastructure projects in the capacity of a CEO and a Board Member. Kinga led corporate restructuring, change management, strategy, and social enterprises, and is looking forward to making a profound impact and transformative change on the society through activism in democracy, innovation in governance, and integration of the Happiness index into mainstream economic theory and development works in the emerging nations. Kinga was a Fulbright Fellow while pursuing his Bsc. in Engineering at the University of Kansas, a Dispute Resolution Fellow at the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution while pursuing his MBA at Pepperdine University, and is now a Ford Foundation Mason Fellow in the Mid Career Masters in Public Administration program at the Harvard Kennedy School.
ERIN WEBER
Erin is the Communications Director for U.S. PIRG New Economy Campaigns. She leads the New Economy Program's work on quality of life issues. Prior to that she was an AmeriCorps Site Coordinator with Reading Partners, and a Crisis Action Campaign Assistant. She received her Masters in Public Administration from the NYU Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
MARK WILLIAMSON
​Mark is a co-founder and Director of Action for Happiness. Mark has taken Action for Happiness from a concept on paper to a mass participation movement with hundreds of thousands of members and a wide range of activities. Mark has a long-standing interest in happiness and well-being and is passionate about creating a more balanced, collaborative society that focuses less on consumption and material wealth and more on helping people and communities thrive. Since creating and launching Action for Happiness in 2011, Mark has engaged with a vast range of organisations, projects and people on the topics of happiness, wellbeing and resilience - including leading academics, major multi-national corporations, public sector organisations, policy makers, SMEs, schools, charities and community organisations. He has led the development of all Action for Happiness resources and activities and has spoken regularly on related topics at events and conferences across the UK and around the world.