Jo Ann Gaines
Jo Ann Gaines' commitment to service and creative collaboration began relatively early in life. While a student at Douglass College/Rutgers, deep focus/meditation on abstract math problems registered surprising results, and Jo Ann was soon drawn to creative group meditation as a powerful force for good in the world.
She has been active all her adult life in meditation work, as well as various aspects of the arts, and for the last decade in grassroots activism. She has served on several nonprofit Boards in related fields.
Aside from her work with Compassionate California, Jo Ann volunteers in a leadership role in the L.A. area with The Peace Alliance. In the 90s, she co-founded and administered a community-based Contemporary Museum of Art touted for its focus on ideas and issues of community and global significance.
Jo Ann developed many of her skills while working for 2 decades in the business world in the N.Y. City, D.C. and L.A. areas, and held strategic management positions at a national level in the areas of systems support, education, product planning and program management.
She currently lives in Redondo Beach. Jo Ann and her daughter share a passion for working for a peaceful, just and compassionate world.Felecia Lenee Williams
Felecia Lenee Williams, better known as Fe Love to her fans, in addition to her leadership role with Compassionate California, is also with Emerging Arts Leaders/Los Angeles, and co-founder of Compassionate ARTS in Action. She also works as the Youth Program Director and Creative Strategist for the national project, Posts for Peace & Justice. Fe Love is the host and creator of the Artist Eclectic pLAygROUND, a “pop-up” event space that supports new as well as established artists and innovative entrepreneurs primarily in the Pasadena and Greater Los Angeles area.
Felecia has a B.F.A. from CalArts where she trained as an actress. Her goals are to support youth, with a focus on health, public safety and social and environmental justice. Felecia's recent public appearances highlighting youth include: March for Our Lives, Los Angeles; Youth Action Summit, Memphis, TN, the U.S. Human Rights Network National Conference, Atlanta, GA, and the 26th Anniversary of the American Disabilities Act at the White House.
Felecia Lenee is a healer and a certified massage therapist with a concentration on energy balancing. She has been in 16 films, has over 25 years of performing live on stage as a host and entertainer, and in several podcasts promoting racial, gender equality and justice for all.Kira Carrillo Corser
Kira Carrillo Corser is an award-winning artist with over 20 years of experience, including a Masters in Fine Art and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism with several documentary films and books, exhibited on national broadcasts with President Clinton's Town Halls on Health Care, 10 years at PBS and national showings including the Carter Center, Center for Civil and Human Rights, Smithsonian, U.S. Congressional Office Buildings (House and Senate), and other sites in 19 states.
Currently, she writes curriculum, plans national projects, and teaches K-12 and university level arts classes. She specializes in community projects, often connecting local leaders with schools, libraries, Boys and Girls Clubs, and refugee and immigrant groups. Her main focus is Human Rights, Health Care, Social Justice and Environmental Issues.
Her collaborative work impacts can be seen with communities, policy makers, and educational institutions at: CompassionateARTS.org, PostsForPeaceAndJustice.org, and SeaChanges.org.Dr. Jennifer Colby
Dr. Jennifer Colby, Ph. D., artist, scholar, curator, educator, and co-director of Partners for the Advancement of Teaching, received her PhD in Humanities and Women’s Spirituality, a Masters in Theology, Religions and the Arts, and a Master’s in Studio Art. She was named 2007 Champion of the Arts – Educator for Monterey County.
Dr. Colby has taught Arts Integration (AI) to teachers since 1990, most recently in the Lesley University master’s program and CSU Monterey Bay. Dr. Colby has an art studio in Pacific Grove and in her home in Aromas.
She is President of the School Board for the Aromas San Juan Unified School District, and chair of the city of San Juan Bautista strategic planning committee for Art, Culture, Recreation and Wellness, where she owned an art gallery for 21 years. Her forthcoming book chronicles the representation of Our Lady of Gudalupe in women’s art.Lisa A. Berkley, PhD
Lisa A. Berkley, PhD, is the founder of the Institute for Inner Economy & Compassionate Governance, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to operationalizing positive peace for governance, diplomacy, and civil progress, and establishing compassionate governance, at the local, national, and international level.
As the founder of Compassionate Marina, Co-Founder of Compassionate Monterey County, and the lead for the Charter for Compassion’s Peace Sector, Dr. Berkley is an elected Councilmember in her home city of Marina, California where she serves on a number of County and State boards.
Dr. Berkley is certified in different modalities of mind-body healing as well as holds a B.A. in Environmental Science and Economics, an M.A. in International Policy, focusing on Counterterrorism and Transitional Justice, and both an M.A. and PhD in Leadership and Change. She is the co-author of the book chapter “Female Leadership for Peace and Human Security: A Case Study of Israel/Palestine," which can be found in Women and Leadership Around the World, Vol. III (Information Age Publishing, 2015).
Dr. Berkley’s current focus is on guiding small to mid-sized cities adopt wholistic city frameworks in order to be in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Compassionate Cities Movement. You can read more about her here.Dr. Diana Chavez Ketterman
Dr. Diana Chavez Ketterman is a licensed educational psychologist with more than 42 years of experience working in schools, community organizations and in private practice. She is the founder of the Character Champions Foundation - a nonprofit agency (www.characterchampions.org) dedicated to spreading compassion and global wellness.
She shares her expertise internationally with families, school districts, hospitals, churches, civic/business organizations, community colleges, and universities. Affectionately known as Dr. K. to her clients and friends, she provides therapy and mindset coaching with her therapy pup, Juntos to youth as young as three and seniors too. She is the author of several books about compassion, individual differences, growth mindsets, parenting, and success psychology.
Dr. K. and the Character Champion team are passionate about sharing and applying the Character Champions framework for building compassionate communities to make the world a better place. They continue to help people find their Champion Within so that their lives go from black and white thinking to colorful options.
Together, they join with others for a common purpose and united goals centered on compassion.Girish Shah
Girish Shah, a community volunteer, is a Jain Lay leader. He is Co-founder & Board Chair of the Jain Center of Northern California (JCNC), and Board Chair of the Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (SiVIC) in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also a member of the Bay Area Interfaith Council Leaders Conference. Girish is a frequent speaker in Interfaith circles and has been a speaker in the last 3 Parliament of the World’s Religions and International Jain conferences.
Girish was instrumental in Santa Clara County adopting the Charter for Compassion and declaring the county a Compassionate County in 2017. He currently is participating in an effort to declare California as the first Compassionate State. He organized Compassionate Silicon Valley and is a champion for the Compassion Games in the Valley.
He was a Founding Board Member of Carry the Vision - a nonviolence education non-profit; an advisory board member of Alum Rock Counseling Center; and has established an Award program and was a Co-founder of South Asian Heart Center at El Camino Hospital.
Girish is a Co-founder of Federation of Jain Associations In North America (JAINA) and a recipient of JAINA Ratna award. He chairs the JAINA Technology Committee and is a member of several committees for JAINA Convention 2021. He is also involved with the translation team of Jain scriptures at Jain Aagam Mission, Mumbai.
Professionally, Girish is a retired IBM Executive Consultant.
Andrew Beath
Andrew Beath has traveled to 90 countries studying spiritual practices and consciousness. He founded EarthWays Foundation in 1985. For the past 25 years, EarthWays has initiated many projects to protect wilderness and assist threatened indigenous communities in South, Central and North America.
Andrew's current work is focused on understanding human consciousness and on "conscious activism", as described in his books, Consciousness in Action (Lantern Press), and The New Creation Story, a trilogy of books.
Andrew is also the founder and president of SEE – Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs (www.saveourplanet.org) whose mission is “to nurture and encourage ecological and humanitarian activism and education for the purpose of creating a more harmonious civilization for all.” Over the years he has started several “centers for conscious activism” to teach environmental education and techniques that facilitate social change.
Andrew graduated from Duke University and earned a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School. He is:- Founder and current Executive Director of EarthWays www.earthways.org
- Founder and current Board President of Social and Environmental
Entrepreneurs www.saveourplanet.org - Current Board President of 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica.
- A founding board member and current board officer of Amazon Watch
- Founder of the public charities ETINA and Foundation for World Arts
- Founder and current Executive Director of EarthWays www.earthways.org
Laura M. Burgis, Ph.D.
Dr. Laura Burgis is President & CEO of The Human Values Center, which provides holistic professional education, training and tech-based tools to foster healthy culture in organizations for improved climates where people live out shared values and flourish. Prior to the team formation in 2018, she devoted 25 years to the field of higher education: at Arizona State University within senior administrative leadership roles and on the faculty. More recently, Dr. Burgis served as Executive Vice President of Claremont Lincoln University.
Laura has a passion for higher education innovation and community development – the human(e) approaches to leadership and community evolution. Her current research focuses on leadership development to promote culture transformation on campuses; and how exponential technologies like AI, robotics and remote learning platforms can be applied to the interpersonal landscape development and collective growth of organizations.
Currently, Dr. Burgis serves on the Charter for Compassion International Board of Trustees, Board Vice Chair, Cities for Peace board of directors, and consults with numerous university and college boards.Rev. Laura Hansen
Social entrepreneur, best-selling author, minister, patent-holding product designer, artist and strategic business advisor.
Founder and Board President, Chill Sacramento, 501(c)3 educational organization with the mission to give individuals and communities the tools and connection to resources they seek for making decisions that serve their individual and collective good – including perspectives and practices for personal wellness and development, cultural understanding and celebration, volunteer resiliency, servant leadership and neighborhood economic activation.
Founder of Compassionate Capital Region, a Chill Sacramento social impact project for the seven-county region in and around Sacramento, California’s capital. Team lead for the Compassionate Sacramento project, a collaboration between Compassionate Capital Region, the Mayor’s office of Civic Engagement and over 50 community organizations and businesses.
Organizer and moderator team lead for the Future of Philanthropy project, an on-going series of gatherings of the Sacramento region’s high net worth philanthropists, social impact organizations (nonprofits, BCorps and Benefit Corporations), social impact investors and city and county elected officials.
Advisor, Compassionate California: a member of the global organization, Charter for Compassion, in partnership with the office of the Dalai Lama.Joan Marie
In memory of Joan Marie who passed June 22, 2021.
Joan Marie was a MultiSensory Artist, Conscious Touch Educator and owner of Compassion Central, an Educational Sanctuary for Peace in Carmichael.
She was the co-founder with Laura Hansen of Compassionate Capital Region (CCR), and worked with the City of Sacramento on the Compassionate Sacramento initiative. A resolution was passed in July 2017 making Sacramento the first formal Compassionate Community within the 7 county Region.
Joan was also an Advisor with Compassionate California, on the Compassionate Arts Council as well as the Charter for Compassion Women and Girls task force, producer of the CW&G’s V2020 webinar series, and Steward of the Red Tent in the Sacramento area.
She continued her work within the Region as a Compassion Ambassador (a program developed for Sacramento’s 8 districts), with A Therapeutic Alternative’s Compassion Program, the Peace Pole Garden Project, and as a producer/co-producer of events of Compassion In Action, including SHIFT Network, InterDependence Day, UN International Day of Peace, and the 1st Annual Symposium on Compassionate Living and Dying (2019).
As VP of Healing Hands Healing Hearts, Joan founded their Alfred J Goularte Veterans Care Program in honor of her father, working with veterans dealing with PTSD, anxiety and chronic pain.Marilyn Turkovich
Marilyn Turkovich started with the Charter for Compassion in 2013 as the education director and is currently Executive Director. Marilyn's background has been primarily in higher education and most specifically in directing teacher training programs for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and chairing Columbia College-Chicago's master's program in multicultural and global education.
She has done a considerable amount of curriculum writing through the years, much of it related to international and cultural topics. She worked with Independent Broadcasting Associates on a series for airing on National Public Radio, BBC and the Australian Broadcasting organizations.
As a trainer and facilitator Ms. Turkovich has worked on issues of strategic planning, anti-racism, diversity and race and social justice, change management, coaching, performance feedback and leadership.
Her training credits include working with leadership and projects for Casey Family Programs, Chevron, Puget Sound Energy, Coors Brewing, Medtronics Physio-Control, Microsoft, and City of Seattle Departments, The Chicago Community Trust (i.e., working with community organizations on research, red-lining issues, community advocacy), U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Family Services’ State of Utah, Washington Health Foundation, and a number of national and international educational organizations including the U.S. Department of Education, the Peace Corps, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Education Resource Center (India).Rev. Carolyn Wilkins
Rev. Carolyn Wilkins is an Ambassador of Peace with a global message of dignity, justice, compassion and inclusion. She is founder of PeaceNet, a voice for women, president of Inspirational Consulting, and chair of the Culver City Area Interfaith Alliance.
Rev. Carolyn is a staff minister, on the Leadership Council, and director of the GlobalWorks Ministry at Agape International Spiritual Center, promoting love and peace in the world. She teaches compassion, nonviolence and dignity to groups, and peer mediation to youth.
She is an advisor to international humanitarian leaders and was co-director of global outreach for Oprah Winfrey’s Belief series on the OWN Network. She is the author of an upcoming book entitled “Peace, Hope and Happiness: A World of Possibilities.”