Parenting for the Future

Dr. Lisa Damour is a proud mother of two engaging girls and Yale educated psychotherapist who writes the monthly adolescent's column for the New York Times. She serves as a regular contributor to CBS news, maintains a private psychotherapy practice, is a senior advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western University, and the executive director of Laurel's School Center for Research on Girls. She is also the author of two New York times best-selling books, Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood and Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls. Not surprisingly, she is affectionately sometimes called the teen whisperer.

At an historic 2015 United Nations Summit, all 192 UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which sets out a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for all people and for the preservation of our planet. At its heart, are 17 Sustainable Development Goals which, when taken together, aim to: end poverty and hunger, combat inequality, protect human rights and ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources. No one is more knowledgeable about the scope of the SDGs than world-renowned economist, global leader in sustainable development and Columbia University Professor, Jeffrey Sachs.  Professor Sachs is Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. He is a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, and has served as Special Advisor to every UN Secretary General appointed between 2001 and 2018. Professor Sachs has worked closely with most of the world’s development banks and has advised heads of state and governments on economic strategy in over 125 countries. He has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers and was the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He was twice named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders and ranked by The Economist as among the three most influential living economists. Professor Sachs is father of three children and grandfather to four precocious, energetic grand-daughters.

Hitendra is a father to a brilliant teenage daughter who is already positively impacting her world. He is a Professor of Practice at Columbia Business School where he teaches the business school’s most popular MBA leadership class on Personal Leadership & Success, along with classes Driving Strategic Impact and Leading from the Inside Out. Hitendra is also the founder of the Mentora Institute (formerly the Institute of Personal Leadership) which is at the forefront of the new science of Personal Leadership. By integrating the latest findings about human nature from neuroscience, psychology, genetics, sociology, psychotherapy and behavioral economics with the lessons learned from the lives of great leaders in human history, the Institute teaches leaders how to achieve ever-growing Outer Impact through ever-deepening Inner Mastery. Hitendra’s widely acclaimed research and teaching on leadership have been covered by Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, Inc. Magazine, The Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, the BBC World Service and others.  As his former student, I can personally attest to the life-changing nature of his work.

Angela Duckworth is a mother to two spirited daughters, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book, "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance". She is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, a MacArthur Fellow, and the CEO of The Character Lab, an organization whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development. 

Ted Bunch is a father to six wonderful children. He is the Chief Development Officer of A Call to Men, a global organization with a unique and powerful mission: prevent violence against women, in all its forms, by educating and training men and boys to embrace and promote a new definition of manhood – one that is healthy and respectful and venerates rather than violates women. Before joining A Call to Men, Ted co-created the largest program for domestic violence offenders in America, a program which led to the development best practices for engaging men to end violence against women. He is also the co-author of the LIVERESPECT™ Coaching Healthy & Respectful Manhood Curriculum, designed to prevent violence and bullying in school and sports. He is an adviser to the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball and has developed and implemented model response programs for police and fire departments, and other first responders dealing with domestic violence. Ted is also an international lecturer for the U.S. State Department and was appointed by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to Unite, an international network of male leaders working to end violence against women.

Christopher Willard is father to two wonderful children. He is a clinical psychologist and consultant who teaches at Harvard Medical School. He has been a mindfulness meditation practitioner for over two decades and specializes in integrating mindfulness into education and psychotherapy. He is a thought leader who has authored more than 11 books including the bestsellers, Child’s Mind (2010), Growing Up Mindful (2016) and Raising Resilience (2017). He has presented at TEDx conferences and several news organizations including CNN and ABC. His thoughts have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Parents Magazine, among many other publications. Christopher's therapeutic games and card sets for children and adults are available in more than ten languages and he has traversed the globe, from Australia to Bhutan to Uruguay and just about every country in between, to speak and teach on Mindfulness. He currently serves on the board of directors at the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy and is the president of the Mindfulness in Education Network. 

Elizabeth Emens is a mother to two spirited, curious children and the author of a new, thought-provoking book called, Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More. She is a devoted practitioner of Mindfulness Meditation and yoga. She is also a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Her principal areas of publishing and teaching include disability law, family, anti-discrimination and contracts law, and law and sexuality.