Board of Directors

She is the inaugural Director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program (2013 – 2015) and is a registered psychologist and a Member of the Australian Psychological Society and College of Health Psychologists. She founded the Positive Psychology Network in Australia and has served as Treasurer and Secretary of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and is currently on the IPPA Council of Advisors. Dianne has been an inaugural Editor in Chief of the Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice journal (2011-2016) and has Co-Directed the 2008, 2010 and 2014 Australian Positive Psychology and Well-being conferences. She serves on numerous research advisory boards, regularly reviews scientific papers for leading journals and has received around $3 million funding for her research. Dianne’s research interests include the development and evaluation of well-being programs, particularly in the areas of positive education and performance optimization. She specializes in innovative mixed method designs which utilize the latest technology, experience sampling method and biological indices of well-being. Her research has a special focus on young people. She also integrates ethical and professional practice issues in much of her work and is currently the Ethics Chair at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Dianne also has extensive experience with scale development and psychometric testing having been involved in the development of numerous well-being measures including the Wuzzup app, MoodPrism and Wellbeing Profiler.

He grew up in Cleveland, the oldest child of a schoolteacher and an immigrant businessman. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton in 1978 and did a postdoctoral fellowship in sociology at the University of California at Berkeley.

He spent over two decades at Case Western Reserve University, where he eventually was the first to hold the Elsie Smith professorship. He has also worked at the University of Texas, the University of Virginia, the Max-Planck-Institute, the VU Free University of Amsterdam, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Russell Sage Foundation, and Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

He is a Faculty Associate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard and a visiting scientist at the Chan School of Public Health, Harvard. Dr. Rashid is also a faculty member with the VIA Institute on Character and an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Wellbeing Science, University of Melbourne.

Dr. Rashid’s expertise includes strength-based clinical psychotherapy for complex mental health challenges, resilience, and post-traumatic growth.

He completed his pre- and post-doctoral clinical training at the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Martin Seligman, where he developed and empirically validated the Positive Psychotherapy protocol. Dr. Rashid has worked with individuals who have experienced severe trauma, including survivors of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, 9/11 families, journalists in conflict zones, and survivors of mass shootings and high-suicide-risk areas.

He has delivered over fifty invited talks and keynotes and has trained mental health professionals and educators in more than 25 countries. His books Positive Psychotherapy (2018), co-authored with Martin Seligman, and Strengths-Based Resilience (2025), co-authored with colleagues, are considered among the most comprehensive, evidence-based, and culturally informed positive psychology intervention protocols. These works have been translated into several languages.

Dr. Rashid serves on the Board of Directors for both the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and the VIA Institute on Character. He received the Chancellor Award (2018) from the University of Toronto and the Outstanding Practitioner Award (2017) from the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).

Dr. Rashid has been deeply engaged with IPPA since its inception in 2007. He served as the founding president of the Clinical Division (2016–2019) and co-authored the Ethical Guidelines for Positive Psychology Practice, now translated into 11 languages. He has completed two terms on the IPPA Board of Directors and currently chairs the IPPA Credentialing Task Force, leading the development of global standards for positive psychology education and training. In 2023, he co-chaired the World Congress of Positive Psychology in Vancouver alongside Roy Baumeister and Andrew Soren and has been a regular presenter at every World Congress and several regional conferences. His work continues to shape the field’s scientific rigor, ethical grounding, and cultural relevance.

Websites:

www.tayyabrashid.com

Strengths Based Resilience

Positive Psychotherapy

Rhea’s research involves the application of positive psychology, strengths, and well-being, with a particular interest in children and youth. Her clinical expertise involves neuropsychological assessment and child/adolescent services.

Andrew was a long-time IPPA volunteer and board member before becoming the Executive Director of IPPA. He has played a central role in guiding the organization’s operations and co-chaired the 2023 World Congress in Vancouver. As Executive Director, he partners with the Board to advance IPPA’s mission, foster global collaboration, and strengthen the value the association offers to its members worldwide. Beyond IPPA, Andrew is the Founder of Eudaimonic by Design, a consulting network that helps make work a place where people bring their best to do good. He is also part of the instructional team for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is recognized for his work on meaningful work and eudaimonic organizations. Based in Halifax, Canada, Andrew is passionate about the arts, culture, and creating spaces where people can do extraordinary things together.

A Distinguished University Professor at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), he has played a pivotal role in shaping the fields of positive psychology, well-being science, and evaluation science. As the founding dean of the School of Social Science, Policy, & Evaluation and former Dean of the School of Community & Global Health at CGU, Dr. Donaldson has championed interdisciplinary programs that empower students and professionals to create sustainable societal impact. He also currently leads the Western Positive Psychology Association, Claremont Evaluation Center, The Evaluators’ Institute, promoting global collaboration and innovation in positive psychology and evaluation science.

An elected Board and Council of Advisors Member of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), Dr. Donaldson is a prolific author with numerous scientific publications, including influential books and scholarly peer-reviewed articles that bridge research and real-world application.  His recent books include: Positive Psychological Science: Improving Everyday Life, Well-being, Work, Education, and Societies Across the Globe (2020); Positive Organizational Psychology Interventions: Design & Evaluation (2021); Flow 2.0: Optimal Experience in a Complex World (2025); and PERMA+4: Building Blocks for Human Flourishing (2025).  A recipient of numerous career achievement awards, Dr. Donaldson is widely celebrated for his leadership, research, mentorship and unwavering dedication to empowering diverse individuals, programs, communities, and organizations to flourish.

She wrote or edited 12 books, developed over 20 pedagogical tools and delivered over 300 keynotes, including a TEDx talk. Passionate about applications of psychological science, Ilona taught and trained tens of thousands of business leaders, HR professionals, trainers and consultants how to optimise well-being and engagement, enhance resilience, develop talents and leadership and use insights from psychological assessment. Her approach blends experiential learning, gamification, and thoughtfully crafted pedagogical design.

Her main expertise lies in the areas of positive psychology, coaching psychology, positive organisational psychology, organisational behaviour, leadership, change management and positive education. Her specific research interests include resilience, subjective time use, time perspective, eudaimonic well-being, measuring well-being and engagement at work, tangible pedagogical tools and applications of positive psychology to business, executive and team coaching.

In addition to teaching on Grande Ecole and Open Executive Education Programmes, Ilona is teaching and provides academic directorship for many custom programmes. She has worked with Schneider, Club Med, L’Oreal, Microsoft, SNCF, EDF, Sanofi, Bull, Mars, Eric Bompard, BNP Paribas, Sanofi, Sodexo, HP, Unilever, Nestle, Fitbit, Facebook, Petit Bambou, Viatris, Tahakom, KSA Ministry of Culture, Bupa Arabia, and many others.

Ilona is an Associate Professor of management and HR at HEC Paris, Faculty of VIA Institute of Character and CEO of Positran. She founded and was the first Chair of the European Network of Positive Psychology (ENPP), serves on the Board of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and is a co-editor of the Applied Positive Psychology Journal.

Because of his work on adolescent well-being, he was awarded the Distinguished QOL Researcher Award by the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies.

Daniel is passionate about teaching and youth development. He has implemented four subjects on leadership and Service Learning with an enrolment of 18,000+ students. He has received several teaching awards, including four QS Reimagine Education Awards (two bronze, one gold and one silver awards) and the University Grants Committee Teaching Award.

Daniel is committed to community service. He is the former Chairman of Action Committee against Narcotics and current Chairman of the Family Council in Hong Kong. Because of his community service, he has been awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star and Silver Bauhinia Star by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

A) Why did you join or become affiliated with IPPA:

I have conducted research on positive youth development (PYD) and developed PYD programs to promote the well-being of adolescents. I am also interested in research and program development in leadership and Service Learning. These research interests and programs are consistent with the vision of IPPA. Through IPPA, I hope I can work together with other colleagues on these initiatives.

B) Why are you agreeing to serve on the IPPA Board:

My understanding is that IPPA has three missions:

1.    Promotion of the science and applications of research in positive psychology
2.    Facilitation of transdisciplinary collaboration amongst different stakeholders across the globe
3.    Sharing findings of positive psychology with a wide range of audience

It is my modest wish to contribute to the work related to these missions.

C) What is something memorable or something you have gained from IPPA or the world of positive psychology:

Together with a group of colleagues, we developed a project entitled “P.A.T.H.S. to Adulthood” to promote the positive development of young people in Hong Kong. It lasted for 14 years. I am very pleased to note the positive changes in the students as well as the teachers after joining the programs.

Kris Peterson brings over 20 years of accounting, administrative systems, and communications and event support experience from across industries to the IPPA organization. She has the unique ability to manage demanding environments and deadlines with a keen understanding of the unique needs of members and volunteers worldwide, and has a discerning eye for the details that go into the day to day operations of an international organization. It is her goal to assist wherever needed to ensure IPPA’s growth and success throughout transitional stages to maintain a sure and true direction for the association.

Outside of work, Kris is a dedicated mother to her daughters, and enjoys spending time at the lake, cooking, boating, and spending quality time with her family and loved ones.

where he focuses on positive psychology, learned helplessness, depression, ethno-political conflict, and optimism. He is a best-selling author of several books including, most recently, Flourish. He received the American Psychological Society’s William James Fellow Award for basic science and Cattell Award for the application of science, and two Distinguished Scientific Contribution awards from the American Psychological Association. In 1996, Seligman was elected president of the American Psychological Association by the largest vote in modern history. His current mission is the attempt to transform social science to work on the best things in life—virtue, positive emotion, good relationships, and positive institutions—and not just on healing pathology.

where he co-founded the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program with Martin Seligman. The Founding Executive Director of IPPA, he is currently leading a three-year, multi-million-dollar grant investigating connections between the science of well-being and the arts and humanities.