Board of Directors

Bill Craig 

President and Board Chair 

Bill is the current President and Board Chair of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association (CPPA) and is passionate about strengthening wellbeing literacy and developing wellbeing policies and strategies to support human thriving, flourishing and improved wellbeing outcomes for all Canadians and the world. He believes that the Canadian public, researchers, practitioners, governments, businesses, academia, civil-society organizations, the CPPA, and other whole-of-system/society participants need to work collaboratively to develop and promote a new vision of Canadian Wellbeing and Wellbeing Literacy that is strongly based on the tenants, research, and practices of positive psychology. 

For the last six years Bill has been actively involved in the broad based multi-disciplinary assessment of wellbeing, happiness and quality of life at the community, business, municipal, regional levels. Bill’s area of specialty is around how to use wellbeing assessment results and bring about whole system (all stakeholders) changes to policies, programs, services and behaviors to improve human thriving, flourishing, and wellbeing outcomes.   Bill works at the global governance level with a variety of UN bodies, governments, civil society and faith-based organizations related to human thriving. flourishing, wellbeing, and human rights learning.

 

Bill has two science-related degrees, and has completed the certification in applied positive psychology, and training in appreciative inquiry, and positive change management.

 

Besides Bill’s focus on wellbeing literacy, policy and strategy, his current interest is in the synergy of positive psychology and organization design, development and operations in building flourishing enterprises with a focus on positive organizations, positive education, positive culture, positive leadership, positive teams/teaming, positive change management and positive innovation. 

Louisa Jewell, MAPP

Past-President

 

Louisa Jewell is the Founder and Past-President of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association and she is passionate about being the bridge between researchers and practitioners to share the latest knowledge on psychological well-being to improve the mental health of all Canadians. Louisa is a speaker, author and well-being expert who has facilitated thousands of people towards greater flourishing both at work and in their personal lives.

Louisa is a graduate of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania where she was taught by the field’s founder, renowned psychologist, Dr. Martin Seligman. Louisa was an instructor of positive psychology at the University of Toronto, teaches at the University of Texas Dallas and regularly delivers webinars and workshops to educators and practitioners around the world. Louisa is also a facilitator of the Certificate of Applied Positive Psychology program with the Flourishing Center in Canada. She holds her certificate in Solution Focused Brief Coaching from the University of Toronto.

Her work has been featured in Forbes, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Huffington Post, Canadian Living Magazine, Live Happy Magazine, Chatelaine, Psychology Today, Women's Agenda, Toronto Sun, to name a few. She is a contributing author to the European Handbook of Positive Psychology, Positive Psychology at Work and Positive Psychology News Daily.  She is also a contributing author to the #1 Bestselling book Ready Set Live; Empowering Strategies for an Enlightened Life and her latest book Wire Your Brain for Confidence; The Science of Conquering Self-Doubt will be released September, 2017. To find out more visit www.louisajewell.com  

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Greg Evans, Ph.D. 

Board Chair 

 

Greg Evans earned a PhD from the University of Queensland studying the area of positive psychology; a relatively new field in psychology that focuses primarily on identifying and building what is right with people and societies, rather than simply diagnosing and treating what is wrong. Greg is currently the director of The Happiness Enhancement Group (HEG) which attempts to promote and increase happiness and human flourishing in individuals, couples, families, organizations, schools, and communities through the applied use of evidence-based positive psychology. 

He is the creator of The Applied Positive Psychology Program; A professional evidence-based certification course on the science, philosophy, and experience of happiness. Greg also works with organizations based on a large amount of research suggesting happiness (i.e., human flourishing or a state of maximum human functioning) is the primary precursor to success, rather than just the result or what is known in academic and corporate circles as the happiness advantage.

 

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Lisa Gervais

Director 

Lisa Gervais is the Founder and Chief Experience Officer at Redwing Institute, an organization that delivers experiential learning programs based in nature and grounded in the science of positive psychology. Lisa has developed programs that focus on developing character strengths, creativity & innovative thinking and self-esteem/self-confidence.

Lisa spent the early part of her career in Digital Marketing, working for large national and global brands such as IBM, Rogers Communications and Fidelity Investments as well as several small start-up companies. She is also a serial entrepreneur, which is what led her to the emerging field of positive psychology. She holds a General B.A. from the University of Ottawa and a combined B.A. in Communications and English from York University.

Leanne Tran, JD, MD

Director

Dr. Leanne Tran is a health lawyer at JD MD Solutions. She previously worked in-house, at a health law boutique and a global law firm. Leanne offers services at the interface of law, medicine, science and research with expertise in contracting, regulatory, IP, commercialization, data security, privacy and risk management matters. She also provides medical and scientific due diligence and consulting in personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability and class action cases.

Leanne is passionate about healthcare, improving patient outcomes and systems, and knowledge translation through legal avenues, education and research. She has published, written and spoken extensively on medical and legal matters, having taught courses and conducted workshops at the University of Toronto and its affiliated hospitals. Leanne has also conducted research at several academic hospitals and at NASA.

Ionela Bacain

Treasurer

Ionela Bacain is a professional accountant with a huge interest in positive psychology. She has a Ph.D. in Accounting and an extensive international industry accounting experience. Currently, she teaches at Humber College and applies the principles of positive psychology in her teaching philosophy as well as in her day-to-day interactions with family, peers, neighbors, community members, and people that she meets. She is looking at new ways of influencing her students in a positive way and add more value to their learning experience in and outside of the classroom. In her mentoring and coaching role, she applies positive reinforcement and motivational skills to guide her students on their academic and non-academic path. 

She is also passionate about positive psychology and bringing happiness and inspiration into people’s lives. She has a deep curiosity about human relationships as it relates to social interactions and understanding the effects of healthy relationships in the personal and professional life of an individual. She has been involved in Uniterra Programs and served as a Leave for Change volunteer overseas. She hopes to help CPPA towards its mission and vision particularly in the financial needs.