Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine. As a researcher for over 25 years, Marc has focused on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. Marc is the author of the bestselling book, Permission To Feel, which has been translated into 22 languages. Most recently, with Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann, Marc and his team co-created HowWeFeel, a free Apple award-winning app designed to teach emotion skills and enhance well-being. Marc has published over 150 scholarly articles and has received numerous awards, including the Joseph E. Zins Award for his research on social and emotional learning and an honorary doctorate from Manhattanville College. He is on the board of directors of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), on the program board of the Mental Health Coalition, founded by Kenneth Cole, and is a member of the Rare Beauty Mental Health Council, founded by Selena Gomez. He also is featured regularly in popular media outlets such as the New York Times, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, and The Today Show.Marc is the lead developer of RULER, a systemic, evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning that has been adopted by over 4,500 schools reaching over 4M children across the United States and in 27 other countries, including Australia, China, England, Italy, Mexico, and Spain. He is co-founder of Oji Life Lab, a corporate learning firm that develops innovative digital learning systems for emotional intelligence.

Felicity Harley-McGowan, Ph.D., is an art historian whose work centres on the origins and development of Christian iconography within the visual culture of Roman late antiquity. She has held research fellowships at the Warburg Institute, University of London, and the British School at Rome; and before coming to Yale Divinity School, she was the Gerry Higgins Lecturer in Medieval Art History at the University of Melbourne. Through her teaching and research, Felicity explores the ways that objects can inform our understanding of religions; and in particular, she is interested in the ways that art has been and continues to be used by Christians to relate their own experiences to those of Jesus and the saints. 

Rachel Hatch, M.A.R., is the COO at the Institute for the Future after five years of work in philanthropy, where she was selected for Council on Foundations’ Career Pathways program. While working at a private philanthropic foundation, she led community vitality grantmaking and grant-seeking efforts, engaging in public-private partnerships to garner place-based investments from California’s Strategic Growth Council, Caltrans, Housing and Community Development, and the California Energy Commission; as well as New Markets Tax Credit funding from CDFIs and CDEs. Previously, Rachel served on IFTF’s leadership team and was a research director, working with a wide range of corporate, government, philanthropic, and nonprofit clients. She is the author of Museum 2040: Citizen Artists & the New Economy (American Alliance of Museums), co-author of Hack Your Way to a Better Future (Forbes), and a featured speaker for “Forecasting Four Alternative Futures for California,” hosted by the California Research Bureau. As is fitting, her first research project at IFTF, in 2008, was The Future of Giving, a ten-year forecast about philanthropy. In 2011, she authored a Yale Divinity School Reflections magazine essay, Already-Not Yet: Hopes and Fears for 2021. Rachel serves on the Board of Directors for California Humanities and she holds master’s degrees from Trinity College Dublin and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Saint Olaf College.

Peter Holland has over 40 years of consulting and Fortune 100 and not-for-profit experience in real estate and shared services, including organization metrics, design and performance improvement, tenant representation, corporate site selection, procurement and sourcing, global outsourcing, business continuity, and facilities operations and management. He is skilled at aligning real estate strategies in support of an organization’s key mission and its financial and operational objectives. Peter is a founder and CEO of BenchCore, a corporate real estate benchmarking service now owned by RefineRE, a Dallas-based property, data, and technology company. BenchCore’s clients include Google, Exxon, Adobe, and Travelers Insurance. Peter has served on numerous non-profit boards for both professional and community service organizations, including CoreNet Global, Church Homes Retirement Communities, the Local Initiative Support Corporation or LISC, Loaves and Fishes Ministries, and The Essex, CT Land Trust, among others. He is a former member of the Counselors of Real Estate and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as well as a licensed real estate broker in Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts. Peter has served on a variety of committees and as a member of the vestry at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Simsbury, CT. He now attends St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex, CT where he participates on a newly formed Finance Committee.

The Right Rev’d Dr. Vicentia Rofiloe Kgabe, Bishop of Lesotho, was born and raised in Soweto, South Africa. She served for seven years as the Rector and Principal of the Transfiguration Theological College based in Grahamstown/Makhanda ¾ the only residential seminary and training center in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Kgabe lectured in Pastoral Care and Counselling as well as Youth Ministry. She also was a facilitator of the College of Transfiguration Leadership Development Program. Kgabe is passionate about issues of leadership, social justice, and active citizenry. She is the chairperson of the Board of HOPE Africa, the Social Development Program for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and she is the co-chair of Makhanda (Grahamstown) Circle of Unity. Kgabe is a research fellow in the Desmond Tutu Center for Religion and Social Justice. She is a scholar with several degrees including a Diploma in Theology, College of Transfiguration; Bachelor of Arts in Theology (summa cum laude), University of Pretoria; PhD in Practical Theology, University of Pretoria; and Post Graduate Diploma in Enterprise Management; Rhodes University Business School, among others.

Donyelle McCray, Ph.D., studies homiletics and Christian spirituality, focusing on African American preaching, sermon genre, and modes of authority. In her work, the sermon occupies the shoreline between sacred and profane speech and holds emancipatory potential within Christian liturgies and beyond them.  She writes about the ways African American women and lay people use the sermon to play, remember, invent, and disrupt. Her recent book, The Censored Pulpit: Julian of Norwich as Preacher, offers a homiletical reading of Julian’s life and ministry and attends to the relationship between preaching, embodiment, and authority. Her current research examines the preaching and spirituality of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray. She is also working on a documentary film as part of the Louisville Institute’s Clergy-Scholar Research team on Race, Church, and Theological Practices.

The Very Rev’d Andrew McGowan, Ph.D., was appointed Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School in 2014. An Anglican priest and historian, his scholarly work focuses on the life of early Christian communities, and on aspects of contemporary Anglicanism. He is author or editor of six books; his project of re-describing early eucharistic practice in relation to ancient food and meals is found in Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (Oxford, 1999) and in subsequent articles and chapters produced in conversation with members of the Meals in the Greco-Roman World group of the Society of Biblical Literature. In Ancient Christian Worship (Baker Academic, 2014; Italian translation Il Culto Cristiano dei Primi Secoli [Dehoniane, 2019]) he considers discursive and ritual practice in the ancient Church, including use of music and speech as well as sacramental ritual, acknowledging the diversity of early Christian belief and practice. He is currently working on how early Christian and other ancient Mediterranean groups used, changed, and created notions of sacrifice.

Westina Matthews, Ph.D., is an author, public speaker, spiritual director, and retreat leader who has found a way to connect with others through her books, essays, lectures, and teaching. She is a trustee of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, a facilitator and board member of the Gathering of Leaders, a board member of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, a mentor for the Trinity Leadership Fellows Program, and a former vestry member of Trinity Church Wall Street. Westina earned her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Chicago and completed postdoctoral research fellowships at both Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. After a successful 24-year career on Wall Street, she was a fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Tracey Meyers, Psy.D., is an advanced yoga instructor, C-IAYT yoga therapist, and licensed clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience in the areas of neuropsychological assessment, psychotherapy including trauma-informed therapies, and positive behavioral planning.  In addition, Tracey has extensive training in integrative medicine modalities to support optimal mental health.  She is certified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindful Self-Compassion, iRest, and Breath-Body-Mind. She lectures across the country and internationally on different integrative medicine topics for healing. She authored several publications and book chapters around holistic behavioral treatment for mental health conditions. She is the author of the recently released book, Yin Yoga Therapy and Mental Health (Singing Dragon, 2022).

Brandon Nappi, D.Min., is the Executive Director of Leadership Programs at Berkeley Divinity School. With twenty years of retreat ministry, Brandon founded Copper Beech Institute, a worldwide spiritual community of 50,000 people from over 50 countries dedicated to sharing contemplative practice to heal our aching world. Brandon’s life has been deeply nourished by Christian mysticism, mindfulness, interreligious dialogue, and Zen practice. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Yale Divinity School, he holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Homiletics from Aquinas Institute of Theology. Brandon walks alongside seekers as a spiritual director and supports emerging leaders as a lecturer in Homiletics at Yale Divinity School.

The Rev’d Blair Pogue, D.Min., is canon for vitality and innovation in the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, where she nurtures discipleship, congregational renewal, and innovative expressions of ministry. She has decades of congregational leadership experience in urban, suburban and rural settings, including serving as rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota for over 16 years. A graduate of Whitman College (BA), Yale University (MDiv) and Luther Seminary (DMin), she also pursued doctoral studies in American religious history at the College of William and Mary.

Kerry Alys Robinson, M.A.R., is Executive Partner for Global and National Initiatives at Leadership Roundtable and Executive Director of the Opus Prize Foundation. Kerry has been with Leadership Roundtable since its inception serving first as its founding executive director for eleven years, then as its global ambassador for four years, and now as executive partner for global and national initiatives. Leadership Roundtable is dedicated to promoting excellence and best practices in the management, finances and human resource development of the Catholic Church by harnessing the managerial expertise and financial acumen of senior level lay executives. The Opus Prize Foundation, which Kerry has directed since 2021, is responsible for an annual international million-dollar honoring people of faith whose lives are dedicated to the alleviation of human suffering.

Emma Seppälä, Ph.D., is the Faculty Director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program and is the author of The Happiness Track.  Her areas of expertise are positive leadership, emotional intelligence, well-being and social connection. Seppälä advises leaders on how to build a positive organization and is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, the Washington Post, and Psychology Today. A repeat guest on Good Morning America, Seppälä’s work and research have been featured in top media and television outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, The Boston Globe, ABC News and CBS News. Her research on yoga-based breathing for military veterans returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan was highlighted in the documentary Free the Mind. She is also featured in a number of other documentaries like The Altruism Revolution and What You Do Matters. She graduated from Yale (BA), Columbia (MA), and Stanford (PhD). Originally from Paris, France, she is a native speaker of French, English, and German and conversant in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

The Rev’d Carolyn J. Sharp, Ph.D., is Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School. Her research explores the poetics and theology of biblical texts as resources for homiletical theory and practice. An Episcopal priest, she is interested in ways in which preaching can catalyze the spiritual formation of Christian believers via insights from biblical studies, feminist perspectives on power, and ecotheology. Professor Sharp’s books include a commentary on Jeremiah 26–52 (2022), a commentary on Joshua (2019), and Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible (2009). Among the professional guilds in which she participates are the Societas Homiletica, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Academy of Homiletics, for which she serves as convener of the Hermeneutics and Biblical Studies workgroup.

Miroslav Volf, Ph.D., is the founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. His books include Allah: A Christian Response (2011); Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (2006), which was the Archbishop of Canterbury Lenten book for 2006; Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (1996), a winner of the 2002 Grawemeyer Award; and After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (1998), winner of the Christianity Today book award. A member of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Professor Volf has been involved in international ecumenical dialogues (for instance, with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) and interfaith dialogues (on the executive board of C-1 World Dialogue), and is active participant in the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum. A native of Croatia, he regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and across North America. Professor Volf is a fellow of Berkeley College at Yale.

The Very Rev’d Dr. Robert Willis is an Anglican priest, theologian, chaplain and music composer. In 2001 he was installed as the 39th Dean of Canterbury. Canterbury Cathedral is the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The cathedral is both a holy place and part of a World Heritage Site. Willis is an accomplished pianist and opera enthusiast. He has written many hymns and contributed to recent editions of Hymns Ancient & Modern and New English Praise. Among his hymns are “The Kingdom is Upon You” and “Let us Light a Candle.” Before becoming Dean of Canterbury Willis was Dean of Hereford for nine years. He is a trustee of Canterbury Cathedral Trust and a Development Committee member. He has been chairman of the Deans’ Conference of the Church of England since 1999 and a member of the General Synod since 1985. He was made a Freeman of the City of Canterbury in 2008. He is Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Kent. He was awarded the Cross of St. Augustine for services to the Anglican Communion in 2012 and is a Knight of the Order of St. John. Robert Willis was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Yale University in 2009 and Doctor of Civil Law degree by the University of Kent in 2011. He was educated at Warwick University, Worcester College, Oxford and Cuddesdon College, Oxford.

The Rev’d Dwight Zscheile, Ph.D., is vice president of innovation and professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is author of Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God into a Hopeful Future(with Michael Binder and Tessa Pinkstaff, Fortress, 2023), Participating in God’s Mission: A Theological Missiology for the Church in America (with Craig Van Gelder, Eerdmans, 2018), The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age (Morehouse Publishing, 2014), People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity (Morehouse Publishing, 2012) and The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation (with Craig Van Gelder, Baker Academic 2011) and editor of Cultivating Sent Communities: Missional Spiritual Formation(Eerdmans, 2012). A graduate of Stanford University (BA), Yale University (MDiv) and Luther Seminary (PhD, Congregational Mission and Leadership), he is an ordained Episcopal priest and has served congregations in Minnesota, Virginia and Connecticut.