Louis Gagnon is the CEO of Total Brain, a mental health and wellness platform offering monitoring and support.  He is Advisor to TPG Capital, a top-tier US private equity firm who named him CEO of Ride, a portfolio company that he restructured.  As a corporate executive, Louis held dual Chief Product Officer and Chief Marketing Officer roles at Audible/Amazon, Yodle and Monster Worldwide.  As an entrepreneur, Louis created and led 5 business and social enterprises on four continents, many of which were in the field of reproductive health.  He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Laval University in Quebec City and a Masters of Science in Marketing from HEC-Montreal. His career has been awarded by his alma maters and his work has been featured in a number of management books and magazines including The Economist. 
 

1. Will Semmes runs a strategic consulting firm in LA focusing on security and management clients. Prior to his current work, Will served in various leadership roles in California Governor Schwarzenegger's administration, from the Department of General Services to the California Conservation Corps (where he oversaw over 2000 employees). Before working for the Governor, Will started and sold an innovative nutrition company. He is a graduate of Tulane University and after that he served as an infantry platoon commander and paratrooper forward air controller in the US Marine Corps. 

Dr Evian Gordon is Founder and Chairman Brain Resource Company and TotalBrain (2000). Founder of the largest standardized International Brain Database. Scientific Chairman and Founding Director, The Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Hospital. Director of BRAINnet.net. • Principal Investigator of the first study (iSPOT) to predict treatment response in Depression. Over 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications. H-Index of over 70. Recipient of the inaugural Royal Societies Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research (2003). • Published the first book on Integrative Neuroscience, titled: “Integrative Neuroscience: Bringing together biological, psychological and clinical models of the human brain” (Harwood Academic Press: London, 2000). • Brain Database: Over 1 million Datasets from 6-100 years of age and in 10 Brain Disorders and over 40 leading US Corporates (including Boeing, AARP, Cerner). The diverse measures of the brain reflect: Cognition and Emotion; Screening for mental illness; Genetics, Brain Structure and brain function (EEG, ERP, fMRI). • Over 300 scientists and 300 publications are linked to the BRC International consortium and over 250 projects in the USA, Europe and Australia use the International Database via the independent U.S. Foundation BRAINnet.net.

1. Will Semmes runs a strategic consulting firm in LA focusing on security and management clients. Prior to his current work, Will served in various leadership roles in California Governor Schwarzenegger's administration, from the Department of General Services to the California Conservation Corps (where he oversaw over 2000 employees). Before working for the Governor, Will started and sold an innovative nutrition company. He is a graduate of Tulane University and after that he served as an infantry platoon commander and paratrooper forward air controller in the US Marine Corps. 

Professor Anthony Hannan is an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow and Head of the Epigenetics and Neural Plasticity Laboratory. Prof. Hannan received his undergraduate training and PhD in neuroscience from the University of Sydney. He was then awarded a Nuffield Medical Fellowship at the University of Oxford, where he subsequently held other research positions before returning to Australia on an NHMRC RD Wright Career Development Fellowship to establish a laboratory at the Florey Institute. He subsequently won other fellowships and awards, including an ARC FT3 Future Fellowship, the British Council Eureka Prize, the International Society for Neurochemistry Young Lecturer Award and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies Anniversary Prize. He is a founding Associate Editor of the Journal of Huntington’s Disease, editorial board member of 6 other international journals, including Neurobiology of Disease, and member of the Brain & Mind Committee, Australian Academy of Science.

Prof. Hannan and colleagues provided the first demonstration in any genetic animal model that environmental stimulation can be therapeutic. This has led to new insights into gene-environment interactions in various brain disorders, including Huntington’s disease, dementia, depression, schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. His research team at the Florey explore how genes and the environment combine via experience-dependent plasticity in the healthy and diseased brain. Their research includes models of specific neurological and psychiatric disorders which involve cognitive and affective dysfunction, investigated at behavioural, cellular and molecular levels so as to identify pathogenic mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles in international journals, which have been cited more than 7,000 times.

 Founder and Chairman Brain Resource Company and TotalBrain (2000). Founder of the largest standardized International Brain Database. Scientific Chairman and Founding Director, The Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Hospital. Director of BRAINnet.net. • Principal Investigator of the first study (iSPOT) to predict treatment response in Depression. Over 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications. H-Index of over 70. Recipient of the inaugural Royal Societies Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research (2003). • Published the first book on Integrative Neuroscience, titled: “Integrative Neuroscience: Bringing together biological, psychological and clinical models of the human brain” (Harwood Academic Press: London, 2000). • Brain Database: Over 1 million Datasets from 6-100 years of age and in 10 Brain Disorders and over 40 leading US Corporates (including Boeing, AARP, Cerner). The diverse measures of the brain reflect: Cognition and Emotion; Screening for mental illness; Genetics, Brain Structure and brain function (EEG, ERP, fMRI). • Over 300 scientists and 300 publications are linked to the BRC International consortium and over 250 projects in the USA, Europe and Australia use the International Database via the independent U.S. Foundation BRAINnet.net. 

Dr. Shelley Carson PhD is a Harvard-trained psychologist; she continues to lecture and conduct research in the Harvard Department of Psychology.  She is also member of Harvard's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Program and a founding member of the Brain Health Initiative. Her research on resilience and creativity has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals, and she is well-known internationally as an expert in the field of creativity. She has served as a Subject Matter expert for the U.S. Department of Defense on Resilience projects, and she in the author of several critically acclaimed books, including Your Creative Brain. Recently, Dr. Carson has extended her resilience work to study the importance of social connectedness and social support for brain health and stress management. And that's what she will be talking about with us today. 

Chris Darwin is a great great grandson of Charles Darwin. Early in life his grandmother gave him the advice of his life, ‘If you cannot be first, be different.’ 

He has a degree in Psychology and Physical Geography. His first career was in advertising. His second was as an adventurer. Two of his expeditions were world firsts. 

He is on a life quest to bring about global peak meat. He has created The Darwin Challenge, which is an app that shows people the 10 benefits of moderating their meat consumption. He lives in the Blue Mountains of Australia with the love of his life, Jacqui, and their three kids. He cannot believe his luck.

1. Stay calm to respond instead of reacting
2. Awareness gives me choice. Choice gives me freedom
3. With Practice… I can have emotional control 

 John Assaraf is one of the leading mindset and behavioral experts in the world who has appeared numerous times on Larry King Live, Anderson Cooper and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

 His latest bestselling book Innercise: The Proven Science to Unleash Your Brain’s Hidden Power, helps individuals recognize and release the mental and emotional blocks that prevent them from achieving their fullest potential.

 John has built 5 multimillion-dollar behavior change companies. 

 He has written 2 New York Times Bestselling books that have been translated to 35 languages and has been featured in 10 movies, including the blockbuster hit “The Secret” and "Quest For Success" with Richard Branson and the Dalai Lama. 

 Today, he is the founder and CEO of MyNeuroGym.com, a company dedicated to using the most advanced technologies and evidence-based brain training methods to help individuals strengthen their mindset, so they unleash their inner power and maximize their results.

MyNeuroGym.com

1. Crystal Fernando is the Owner and Founding Partner of WhatBox Innovation Partners.  Crystal is a global leader and change-maker with over twenty years of experience in strategy activation, start-up growth, technology, innovation and service design. She has advised leaders and teams in more than 20 countries with a focus on bringing new ideas to market. Before starting WhatBox, Crystal acted as a trusted advisor to some of the world’s leading service industry icons like Walt Disney, MGM Resorts, and Ritz-Carlton as well as a 15-year tenure with IHG, where she most recently led Global Commercial Delivery. Today she uses her service mindset to help leaders artfully blend sharp strategy, deep empathy and informed design with empowered and energized teams to fuel sustained growth. Crystal believes in checking ego at the door, injecting creativity into every step of the journey, and having fun along the way.