Leadership Team

Vicki Cabrera
President

Vicki Cabrera is a well-being and social impact consultant. More

She is an expert in well-being science, positive psychology, and organizational psychology with PhD training in research and evaluation and a background in nonprofit, program, and product management.

Vicki conducts and publishes research on well-being and her evidence-based consulting helps organizations with program and intervention design, applied research, evaluation, and training in the U.S., the Philippines, and internationally. She is passionate about helping others reach their full potential, especially those from marginalized groups, and specializes in the social impact sector and well-being, personal & professional development, workforce development, organizational development, and positive psychology interventions. In 2021, she was a recipient of the IPPA WOD Exemplary Research to Practice Award.

Vicki is a PhD Candidate in Positive Organizational Psychology with a co-concentration in Evaluation & Applied Research Methods at Claremont Graduate University and holds an MPA in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy from New York University. She is based in Los Angeles, California.

Lisa Sansom
President-Elect

Lisa Sansom is the owner of LVS Consulting, using positive psychology tools and techniques with her clients through speaking, corporate training, consulting, and coaching. More

Lisa has been working in Organizational Development, Leadership Development and Change Management since 2000. She is a certified coach at the PCC level (with the International Coaching Federation) and has written several articles and chapters.

Lisa completed her MAPP (Master of Applied Positive Psychology) from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010, one of the first five Canadians to do so. She is also certified in Prosci Change Management, ShiftPositive 360, Designing Your Life (Stanford), Gallup Strengths Certified Coach, Process Management (Excellence Canada) and Change Cycle™. Lisa is currently enrolled in the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) program at Royal Roads University researching the workplace impacts of positive feedback.

Sunil Hasmukharay
Communities of Practice Co-Chair

Sunil Hasmukharay is a much sought after keynote speaker, professional facilitator & leadership coach in the areas of positive organization designs, leadership development, culture transformation and change management. More

Sunil is a catalyst in supporting organizations globally to reinvent their organization culture, build high performance teams, re-design their Learning & Development strategies and cultivating Strengths Driven, Solution Focused Culture. In the last decade, he has developed more then 250 customized intervention, positively impacting more than 250,000 people in Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe and Middle East. All the interventions designed by Sunil are based on the Solution Focused approaches, Positive Psychology and Appreciative Inquiry.

Sunil is the Group CEO of HC Consultants Group and currently serves as a Council Member on Malaysia Institute of Human Resources Management (MIHRM). He is the Founder & President of Malaysia Positive Psychology Association (MPPA) and Co-Founder & Immediate Past President of Malaysia Association of Professional Trainers & Coaches (MAPTAC). In line with his vision to enrich people’s life and building happier corporate cultures, he founded the ASEAN Corporate Happiness Culture Community amongst the HR Community to drive corporate Happiness Culture in the region. Sunil currently serving as the Ambassador for Malaysia in the European Coaching & Mentoring Council (EMCC) Asia Pacific Region an contributed as a Subject Matter Expert in the development of the ISO standards for Learning & Development, ISO 30422.

Duncan Ferguson
Communities of Practice Co-Chair

Duncan co-facilitated a Work and Organizations division community of practice group in 2022- 23, and is a poster presenter at the 2023 World Congress. More

He is currently working as an Advisor for Eudaimonic by Design which helps design eudaimonic
organizations by applying research from Positive Psychology, using evidence-based solutions to
harness strengths and amplify the potential of organizations committed to doing good in the
world.

He is a MAPP graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, is Certified in Appreciative Inquiry
under David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve University and has completed the
Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching curriculum of CRR Global.
His Capstone for the MAPP program focused on uncovering hidden strengths in the workplace
utilizing mattering, psychological safety, the Pygmalion effect, whole systems engagement, and
leveraging difference. He was a speaker at the UPenn Alumni Fete in October of 2022 where he
presented his capstone thesis.

He is formerly Director of Community Engagement and has practiced Community Network
Building. In this role Duncan helped launch a not-for-profit to do this work using Appreciative
Inquiry.

For the last two years he has engaged actively in mindfulness, meditation, and self-care.

Nathalie Grand
Head of communication

Nathalie is a passionate positive psychology practitioner, a social scientist, a nutritionist, a physical trainer and a marketing and sales executive. More

Her first career is in marketing and sales FMCG companies where she enjoys the fast-paced environment, the creativity, and the growth opportunities. This also led her to see the flip side of the coin and led her to go back to university to have the evidence-based tools to truly fulfil her purpose of having a positive impact on the people around her, to help them flourish and thrive. She opened a boutique resilience and well-being consultancy firm where she passionately helps individuals as well as companies, to be the best version of themselves, and build positive mindsets and behaviours with tools from positive psychology, behavioural sciences, movement and sport science, nutrition and her own experience working for top 500 Fortune companies over 15 years.

An ex-track and field athlete, she enjoys working out, being in nature, meeting new people, travelling, and researching resilience (yes! This gets her into flow) – walking the talk is an important value she lives by and hopes to transmit and inspire.

Luis A. Marrero
Digests and Dialogues

A long-time member of IPPA, Luis is a founding member of the Work & Organization Division. More

He founded The Boston Institute for Meaningful Purpose and is the pioneer of Meaningful Purpose Psychology and Organization Development 2.0.

A prolific writer and author of two books, Luis penned the award-winning The Path to a Meaningful Purpose: Psychological Foundations of Logoteleology (2013) and, with co-author Daniel Persuitte, Meaningful Purpose: A Primer in Logoteleology (2022). Luis services global Fortune 500 companies on three continents as a coach, consultant, facilitator, and leadership assessment and development expert. Through his Institute, Luis trains and certifies practitioners in the Meaningful Purpose Psychology (Logoteleology) method. He has held senior Human Resource and OD consulting positions in firms such as YSC Business Psychologists and The Walt Disney Company. Luis earned his BA in History at Siena Heights University (Adrian, Michigan) and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management at the University of Puerto Rico. He did his thesis work in Transactional Analysis Psychology, which started a deep passion for anything psychological.

Luis is bi-lingual (Spanish and English) and is versed in leading in different cultural settings. He resides in Westfield, Massachusetts, and Deltona, Florida, with his wife, Nahir.

Dr. Rona Hart
Director of Professionalization

Rona is a Senior lecturer in higher education, course leader, researcher, practitioner, and author in Applied Positive Psychology. More

Rona began her academic career as a Social Psychology researcher in Education, and completed her PhD at King’s College London. She also has BA and MA in Education, an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Group Counselling.

She began to engage with Positive Psychology research and apply its interventions during her PhD, when she developed and delivered a cross-cultural psycho-educational programme for overseas students. In her subsequent jobs she developed and delivered several training programmes, which incorporate Positive Psychology interventions, which are tailored for occupational settings, including Stress Management, Resilience Building, Occupational Wellbeing, Prosocial Behaviour, Strength Work, and Mindfulness.

In terms of research, Rona’s current work is interdisciplinary and ties together topics from Positive Work and Organisational Psychology, Economic and Consumer Psychology, and Social Psychology. She has recently launched a novel discipline that integrates Positive Psychology and Economic Psychology – Positive Economic Psychology.

Rona is currently the Course Leader for the PGCert online distance learning course: The Psychology of Kindness and Wellbeing at Work at the University of Sussex, UK. She’s also the former course leader for the MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and the MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology at the University of East London, UK.

Rona has published 3 books and numerous papers. Her last book Positive Psychology: the Basics (Routledge) is a textbook used for teaching in higher education. Recently she’s taken the role of Guest Editor in two journals: Behavioural Sciences – special issue on Promoting Flourishing at Work: Innovations in Positive Work and Organisational Psychology, and Open Psychology – special issue on Positive Economic Psychology.

Within the Division Rona holds the position of Director of Professionalisation, overseeing the progress of the Professionalising Positive Psychology Policy initiative, Director of Communities, which coordinates the division’s Communities of Practice venture, and she also co-leads the EMEA Community of Practice.

Donald Officer
Leadership Committee Member

Donald R. Officer, The Intention Coach, is a practising writer, editor, researcher, coach, facilitator, consultant, trainer and lecturer with over 30 years experience in the workplace, field and classroom. More

A regular contributor to several blogs, websites and e-zines, he is a also a certified facilitator developing and delivering workshops to business, education, and public sector organizations. He has taught applied psychology to university undergraduates and maintains theintentioncoach.com blog. His goal is to help others better understand our changing workplace and culture while contributing to positive and applied psychology, through publication of science based books and articles.

Elizabeth (Liz) Corcoran
Past-President

Liz has been a member of IPPA for 16 years, enabling her to attend eight World Congresses. More

She has had the priviledge of presenting at the 2023 and 2021 Congresses. Liz received the prestigious James O. Pawelski Positive Catalyst Award at the 2021 IPPA World Congress for her contributions to IPPA and the WOD Division.

Liz, SVP Design of Impact Performance, has 23 years of experience leading an organization that specializes in research, program design, development, and facilitation of custom leadership, sales, and service solutions infused with positive psychology that enable organizations to deepen client relationships and ignite employee engagement. Liz has worked extensively with Fortune 500 companies to enhance sales productivity, enhance employee well-being, increase service effectiveness, and enable leadership and coaching skills in financial markets, manufacturing, healthcare, and retail industries.

Liz is a Certified Practitioner in Appreciative Inquiry, Strengthscope Coach, Daniel Goleman Emotional Intelligence Coach, International Coaching Federation ACC, and ATD member. Liz is Past President of IPPA Work & Org Division. She holds a BS in Marketing from Boston College, MBA from New York University, and Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from University of Pennsylvania. She resides in Wellesley, Massachusetts with her husband, Joe, and her three children.

Giselle Timmerman
Leadership Committee Member (and W&O Division Past-President)

Giselle was part of the Work & Org Division’s initial steering committee in 2012 and was elected President-elect in 2013. More

She has enjoyed helping to get IPPA’s first professional Division off the ground and is committed to maximizing the Division’s value for its members.

After studying under Martin Seligman in his first Masters class (’05), Giselle has navigated a unique career path, starting as a management and strategy consultant applying positive psychology to strategy, leadership, and organizations. In 2012, she started her own company, Positive Work, where she designs and manages projects that help organizations build positive leaders, engaged and resilient teams, and exceptional work cultures. Giselle has worked with social, public, and private sector organizations, and with a range of global leaders, from community champions to Fortune 100 executives.

Giselle holds a Master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) with a concentration in Organizational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Psychology, Sociology, and Public Policy from New York University. She is an American currently living in Barcelona, Spain with her French husband and young daughter.