Tenzin Gyatso, the XIVth Dalai Lama, is a moral figure and spiritual leader revered worldwide. He was born to a farming family on July 6, 1935 in a small village called Taktser in northeastern Tibet. He was recognized, in accordance with Tibetan tradition, at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the XIIIth Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be Embodiments of Compassion, who choose to reincarnate for the purpose of serving humanity. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1989, he is universally respected as a spokesman for the compassionate and peaceful resolution of human conflict. Most recently he was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 in recognition for his “many enduring and outstanding contributions to peace, non-violence, human rights and religious understanding.” He has traveled extensively, speaking on subjects including universal responsibility, love, compassion and kindness.His Holiness is committed to the promotion of the human values of compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline – what he calls secular ethics – and also promotes religious harmony and understanding among the world’s major religious traditions.

Deborah Ancona is the Seley Distinguished Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Faculty Director of the MIT Leadership Center.Deborah’s pioneering research into how successful teams operate has highlighted the critical importance of managing outside the team’s boundary as well as inside it. This research has led directly to the concept of X-Teams as a vehicle for driving innovation within large organizations. Her book, X-teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, and Succeed was published by Harvard Business School Press in June, 2007.Deborah’s work has also focused on the concept of distributed leadership, and the development of research-based tools, practices, and teaching/coaching models that enable organizations to foster creative leadership at every level. This work was highlighted in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, In Praise of the Incomplete Leader, February, 2007.In addition to X-Teams, Deborah’s studies of team performance have also been published in the Administrative Science Quarterly, the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, and the Sloan Management Review. Her previous book, Managing for the Future: Organizational Behavior and Processes (South-Western College Publishing, 1999, 2005) centers on the skills and processes needed in today’s diverse and changing organization.Deborah received her BA and MS in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in management from Columbia University. She has served as a consultant on leadership and innovation to premier companies such as AT&T, BP,Credit Suisse First Boston, HP, Merrill Lynch, Newscorp, and Vale.

Rebecca Henderson is the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard University, where she has a joint appointment at the Harvard Business School in the General Management and Strategy units and is the Co-Director of the Business and Environment Initiative. Professor Henderson is also a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her work explores how organizations respond to large-scale technological shifts, most recently in regard to energy and the environment. She teaches Leadership and Corporate Accountability and the field study seminar Building Green Businesses in the MBA Program.From 1998 to 2009, Professor Henderson was the Eastman Kodak Professor of Management at the Sloan School of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she ran the strategy group and taught courses in strategy, technology strategy, and sustainability. She received an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and a doctorate in business economics from Harvard.Professor Henderson sits on the boards of Amgen and of IDEXX Laboratories, and she has worked with both members of the Fortune 100 and small, technology-orientated start-ups. She was retained by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with the remedies phase of the Microsoft trial, and in 2001 she was named Teacher of the Year at the Sloan School. Her work has been published in a range of scholarly journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Research Policy, The RAND Journal of Economics, andOrganization Science.Her most recent publication is Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors, edited jointly with Richard Newell and published by the University of Chicago Press for National Bureau of Economic Research.

John Sterman
Jay W. Forrester Professor in Computer ScienceProfessor of System Dynamics and Engineering Systems
Director, MIT System Dynamics GroupJohn D. Sterman is the Jay W. Forrester Professor in Computer Science, a Professor of System Dynamics and Engineering Systems,and the Director of the System Dynamics Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management.His research includes systems thinking and organizational learning, computer simulation of corporate strategy and public policy issues, and environmental sustainability. He is the author of many scholarly and popular articles on the challenges and opportunities facing organizations today, including the book, Modeling for Organizational Learning, and the award-winning textbook, Business Dynamics. Sterman’s research centers on improving decision-making in complex systems, including corporate strategy and operations, energy policy, public health, environmental sustainability, and climate change. He has pioneered the development of “management flight simulators” of corporate and economic systems, which are now used by corporations, universities, and governments around the world. His research ranges from the dynamics of organizational change and the implementation of sustainable improvement programs to climate change and the implementation of policies to promote a sustainable world.Sterman has twice been awarded the Jay W. Forrester Prize for the best published work in system dynamics, has won an IBM Faculty Award as well as the Accenture Award for the best paper of the year published in theCalifornia Management Review, has seven times won awards for teaching excellence, and was named one of MIT Sloan’s “Outstanding Faculty” by the BusinessWeek Guide to the Best Business Schools. He has been featured on Public Television’s News Hour, National Public Radio’s Marketplace, CBC television, Fortune, theFinancial Times, BusinessWeek, and other media for his research and innovative use of interactive simulations in management education and policymaking.Sterman holds an AB in engineering and environmental systems from Dartmouth College and a PhD in system dynamics from MIT.

The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi is the Founding Director of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his undergraduate degree (summa cum laude) and was also an Integral Honors Scholar (studying Philosophy and Physics), and has a graduate degree in Comparative Philosophy of Religion from Harvard University. He studied, trained and was ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.He has been interviewed by the National Public Radio and articles on him and his work have appeared in the New York Times and the Boston Globe. He also speaks at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and various institutes of learning.Venerable Tenzin also serves on the Board of several academic, humanitarian, and religious organizations. He lectures internationally on subjects ranging from philosophy, science, ethics and religion to socio-political thought.

Marshall Ganz grew up in Bakersfield, California, where his father was a Rabbi and his mother, a teacher. He entered Harvard College in the fall of 1960. He left a year before graduating to volunteer with the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. He found a “calling” as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and, in the fall of 1965, joined Cesar Chavez in his effort to unionize California farm workers. During 16 years with the United Farm Workers he gained experience in union, political, and community organizing, became Director of Organizing, and was elected to the national executive board on which he served for 8 years. During the 1980s, he worked with grassroots groups to develop new organizing programs and designed innovative voter mobilization strategies for local, state, and national electoral campaigns. In 1991, in order to deepen his intellectual understanding of his work, he returned to Harvard College and, after a 28-year “leave of absence,” completed his undergraduate degree in history and government. He was awarded an MPA by the Kennedy School in 1993 and completed his PhD in sociology in 2000. As senior lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, he teaches, researches, and writes on leadership, organization, and strategy in social movements, civic associations, and politics. He has published in theAmerican Journal of Sociology, American Political Science Review, American Prospect,Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. His newest book, Why David Sometimes Wins: leadership, organization and strategy in the California farm worker movement was published in 2009, earning the Michael J. Harrington Book Award of the American Political Science Association. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in divinity by the Episcopal Divinity School in 2010.Marshall Ganz also teaches “Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change” an online program designed to help leaders of civic associations, advocacy groups and social movements learn how to organize communities that can mobilize power to make change.

When Vivienne Harr was eight years old, she saw a photo of two boys, her age, from Nepal living in modern-day slavery.She said: “Compassion is not compassion without action.”Vivienne “made a stand” with “the only business experience I had.” She set up her lemonade stand every day rain or shine, to “end child slavery.” On day #52, The New York Times broke her story and a moment became a movement. On day #173 in Times Square, Vivienne reached her goal of $100,000.

She went on to become the first child in American history to bottle her lemonade-stand lemonade. Make a Stand Lemon-aid is a B Corporation with five-percent of net revenues going to leading organizations that eradicate child slavery.

Vivienne is the youngest person to be included in Town & Country’s “50 Most Influential Philanthropists in America.” She is also the youngest person to give a featured TEDx talk. Vivienne is an honorary member of The World Affairs Council where she introduced Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo. She has spoken at Twitter, Google, Square, Linkedin, SOCAP—and The United Nations where she was “a voice for the 18 million children without one.”

George Lopez’s multi-faceted career encompasses television, film, standup comedy and late-night television. For two seasons, Lopez hosted Lopez Tonight, a late-night television talk show on TBS, which represented Lopez’s return to series television after co-creating, writing, producing and starring in Warner Bros. Television’s groundbreaking hit sitcom George Lopez, which ran for six seasons on ABC. George Lopez remains a hit with viewers in syndication on both broadcast stations and cable’s Nick at Nite, ranking as one of the top-rated shows on the network and among the top five comedies and top 20 weekly programs in syndication. George Lopez is one of only four off-net comedies to post weekly ratings gains among households from the 2007-’08 to 2008-’09 season.Lopez most recently starred in the multi-camera ensemble comedy Saint George.  Co-created by Lopez, Saint George aired on FX.  In 2013, released his second memoir, I’m Not Gonna Lie And Other Lies You Tell When You Turn 50, where he tells the unabashed and hilarious truth about aging – as only he can.  In 2012, Lopez debuted his third solo stand-up special It’s Not Me, It’s You on HBO.  Lopez also voiced animated characters in a string of animated blockbuster films including Rafael in Rio and Rio 2 along with Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg, Thurman in Escape from Planet Earth opposite Jane Lynch and Sofia Vergara, Grouchy Smurf in The Smurfs 1 and 2, and The Beverly Hills Chihuahua 1, 2, and 3.  His other most recent film credits include the box-office hit Valentine’s Day  directed by Garry Marshall,  Swing Vote, Henry Poole Is Here and Balls of Fury.In August 2009, Lopez filmed his second HBO Comedy Special, Tall, Dark and Chicano, which was nominated for a GRAMMY in the category of Best Comedy Album.  He headlined his first HBO Comedy Special, America’s Mexican, in 2007. Lopez has also performed as part of HBO and TBS’s Comic Relief 2006. His acclaimed comedy concert, Why You Crying?, debuted on Showtime in 2004. He released his third standup CD, El Mas Chingon, in 2006, which also earned Lopez a GRAMMY nomination in the category of Best Comedy Album. Prior to that, in 2004, he was nominated for a GRAMMY in the same category for his CD Team Leader. In May 2004, his autobiography, Why You Crying?, entered The New York TimesBestsellers List top 20. The book was co-written by Emmy winning writer and sportscaster Armen Keteyian. Lopez also was the focus of the award-winning documentary Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream.

In 2006, Lopez received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition, Time magazine named him one of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America, and the Harris Poll named him one of the Top Ten Favorite Television Personalities.

Redefining cool for a new generation, Pharrell Williams is a creative force, using music, fashion, and design to express his distinctive style. From his beginnings as a teenage prodigy and multi-instrumentalist in Virginia Beach back in the early ’90s, through enough hits to earn him Billboard’s Producer of the Decade in 2010, to his current status as multi-media superstar, Williams has never stopped creating. Starting his producing career as one half of The Neptunes with Chad Hugo, Williams has helped create such classics as Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Jay-Z’s “I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me),” Britney Spears’s “I’m A Slave 4 U,” and Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You.” With over 100 million copies of his productions sold, his music sounds like something no one else has thought of just yet. He’s also created a new way of looking at established stars like Snoop Dogg, Madonna, and even the Rolling Stones. Over four albums, Williams and Hugo along with Shae Haley created an unpredictable hybrid as part of the alt-rock/hip-hop group N.E.R.D. The music industry has honored Pharrell with 7 Grammy Awards (including 2004’s and 2014’s “Producer of the Year”) and ASCAP’s prestigious Golden Note Award in 2012. He also received a 2014 Academy Award Nomination for his original song “Happy” featured in the animated film Despicable Me 2. “Happy” remained atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for ten consecutive weeks, peaked at #1 on iTunes in 103 markets worldwide, and is the lead single off of his new album “G I R L.” Pharrell’s second solo album “G I R L” was released on March 3, 2014 to rave reviews. His prolific body of work also ranges from designing a sculpture with Tokyo-born artist Takashi Murakami to accessories and jewelry for luxury goods brand Louis Vuitton, to t-shirts for Japanese mega-brand Uniqlo, to adidas sportswear and to the forthcoming perfume collaboration with Comme des Garcons. Pharrell’s work in the humanitarian field is an extension of his humble success. In 2008, he founded From One Hand To AnOTHER (FOHTA), a foundation focused on supporting the Pharrell Williams Resource Centers’ learning programs for underserved youth in at risk communities across the nation. This past March Pharrell partnered with the United Nations Foundation to celebrate the International Day of Happiness inspiring individuals all over the globe to demonstrate their unique “happy.” Now, with his latest venture i am OTHER — a multi-media creative collective that serves as an umbrella for all his endeavors, including Billionaire Boys Club & ICECREAM apparel, textile company Bionic Yarn and a dedicated YouTube channel — Williams’s vision continues to push pop culture forward. This fall, Pharrell will continue to spread this vision and happiness as he heads out on a 23-date “Dear G I R L” tour across Europe.

Chade-Meng Tan was one of Google’s earliest engineers. Among many other things, Meng helped build Google’s first mobile search service, and headed the team that kept a vigilant eye on Google’s search quality. After an eight-year stint in Engineering, he now serves with GoogleEDU as the Head of Personal Growth. One of his main projects is Search Inside Yourself — a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence course, which he hopes will eventually contribute to world peace in a meaningful way. His 2012 book is also called Search Inside Yourself — and Dan Pink is a fan.Outside of Google, Meng is the Founder and (Jolly Good) President of the Tan Teo Charitable Foundation, a small foundation dedicated to promoting peace, liberty and enlightenment in the world. He is a founding patron of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE).  He is also a founding patron of the World Peace Festival, and adviser to a number of technology startups.

Born of Thai-Chinese ethnicity, Adrian Anantawan began the violin at nine, and has since established himself as “a rising star in classical music” (Globe and Mail).In 2001, he was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music with a merit-based full scholarship, and completed his bachelor degree under the tutelage of Ida Kavafian. In past summers, he has also studied with Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman.Adrian also holds graduate degrees from Yale and Harvard Universities, and is a winner of the Rosemary Kennedy International Competition. He currently serves as the conductor of the Dudamel Orchestra at the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Boston, MA.

The vocal ensemble Blue Heron, directed by Scott Metcalfe, has been acclaimed by The Boston Globe as “one of the Boston music community’s indispensables” and hailed by Alex Ross in The New Yorker for the “expressive intensity” of its interpretations. Combining a commitment to vivid live performance with the study of original source materials and historical performance practices, Blue Heron ranges over a wide and fascinating repertoire, including 15th-century English and Franco-Flemish polyphony, Spanish music between 1500 and 1600, and neglected early 16th-century English music, especially the rich repertory of the Peterhouse partbooks, copied c. 1540 for Canterbury Cathedral. Blue Heron’s first CD, featuring music by Guillaume Du Fay, was released in 2007. In 2010 the ensemble inaugurated a 5-CD series of Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks; two discs have been released so far, of music by Hugh Aston, Robert Jones, Nicholas Ludford, John Mason, and Richard Pygott. All three of Blue Heron’s recordings have received international critical acclaim and the first Peterhouse CD made the Billboard charts.Blue Heron presents subscription series in Boston and in New York City. The ensemble has appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival; in New York City at The Cloisters, the 92nd Street Y, and Music Before 1800; at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., at Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, California, and at the Berkeley Early Music Festival. Blue Heron is ensemble in residence at the new Center for Early Music Studies at Boston University.

American soprano Sara Heaton, noted for her “gleaming lyricism” by Opera News Online and her “sweet, pure soprano” by the Chicago Tribune, is gaining recognition as a sensitive performer of both opera standards and new works. This season Sara appeared as Violetta in La Traviata with Opera in the Heights in Houston, as a soloist in Beth Morrison Project’s 21c Liederabend, op. 3 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in an evening of opera hits with Symphony by the Sea, in a holiday concert tour with The Santa Fe Opera, in the Prince Igor chorus at the Metropolitan Opera, and as the featured voice in the interactive audio installation Vocal Vibrations at Le Laboratoire in Paris by composer and inventor Tod Machover. Coming up, Sara returns to her hometown of Boston to perform Papagena in Symphony Hall with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Amore in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Boston Baroque, and rings in the new year singing Mozart arias and duets, also with Boston Baroque. She also sings her first Beethoven’s Ninth with The Santa Fe Symphony in May.A deft interpreter of new music, Sara has sung in several premieres, most notably the role of Miranda in the US premiere of Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers for which she was praised for her “daunting power and agility in the stratospheric notes of her final scene,” and was singled out as giving “the finest performance of the evening.” Other new music performances include the role of Tsering with American Opera Projects in excerpts from Numinous City by Pete Wyer, Lidochka in Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cheryomushki with Chicago Opera Theater, and Jenifer in Tippett’s Midsummer Marriage with Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

The Alash Ensemble is a trio of master throat singers (xöömeizhi) from Tuva, a tiny republic in the heart of Central Asia. The ancient art of throat singing (xöömei) developed among the nomadic herdsmen of this region. Alash remains grounded in this tradition while expanding its musical vocabulary with new ideas from the West.Alash’s inaugural U.S. tour was sponsored in 2006 by the Open World Leadership program of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Arts. Since then, they have returned to tour extensively, playing to enthusiastic audiences and presenting workshops to eager students of all ages. The Washington Post described their music as “utterly stunning,” quipping that after the performance “audience members picked their jaws up off the floor.”