OUR SPEAKERS
THO HA VINH - KEYNOTE SPEAKER
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Founder of ELI: Eurasia Learning Institute for happiness and Wellbeing, Chairman of Eurasia Foundation.
He was the Program Director GNH center Bhutan from 2012 to 2018.
As former Head of Training, Learning and Development at the International Committee of the Red Cross, he has trained humanitarian professionals working in war zones and emergency response in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
He is a visiting professor in adult education and humanitarian work in several Universities (UCL/Belgium, Geneva/Switzerland, Schumacher College /UK, Hue University / Vietnam.
He is a well-known international speaker on GNH, Happiness and Wellbeing and beyond GDP for education, business and communities.
Together with his beloved wife, Lisi, he is the co-founder of Eurasia Foundation (http://eurasia-foundation.org.), a humanitarian NGO developing educational programs for children and youths living with disabilities, as well as ecological projects in Vietnam for 20 years.
Eurasia created the Peaceful Bamboo Family (Tinh Truc Gia) in Hue in 2009, a community for people with special needs, member of the Camphill Movement, and a living example of implementing Gross national Happiness at community level, thanks to its holistic development in community building, bio-dynamic farming, special education, green technology etc.
He is a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute/USA, and a member of the Presencing Institute/USA).
He wrote the Happy Schools in Vietnam Curriculum an innovative educational program introducing Mindfulness, Social and Emotional Learning and Care for the Planet in the Vietnamese education system.
He consults with companies wanting to implement Gross National Happiness principles in their organization, including B. Grimm /Thailand, Happy Mandala / China and BITIS / Vietnam.
He is the author of several books and many articles.
ARNAUD DURAND
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING TRAINER
Arnaud is a social and emotional learning trainer, facilitator and mediator. His practice gives priority to the quality of the relationship between stakeholders to achieve desired and lasting results.
He is also project manager for the Education4Peace Foundation which advocates integrating social and emotional learning into education for the future generations.
Arnaud is one the founder of the Gross National Happiness in Switzerland, a think-tank to reflect about a more inclusive paradigm of development and act to make this change possible.
He is a Vice-President of the Eurasia learning institute for happiness and wellbeing to promote a culture of peace and nonviolence.
EDITH FAVOREU
Wellness Expert
Edith is senior adviser at ELI. She is also the co-director of the Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) ”Happiness in organisations”, developped in partnership with ELI and the Geneva Management School.
Edith holds degrees in Public and International Law, Political Science and Humanitarian Action. She has a PhD in comparative public law.
Since 2005, she was involved in training for Aid workers as training manager (Bioforce; Eirene Suisse; Isango). She joined the CERAH (University of Geneva-Graduate Institute) in 2010 as training coordinator and deputy director.
She conceptualized and was one of the leaders of the Humanitarian Encyclopedia Project.
She has worked in fragile context and post-conflict areas for over sixteen years, in the field and at headquarters.
She used to facilitate transformative processes (collectives and institutional) and coordinate collaborative and transdisciplinary projects. She specialized in community engagement, organisational change and participatory approaches.
Edith integrates the GNH approach in her teachings as well as in her way of life. She became in September 2016 the Swiss coordinator of the Gross National Happiness movement. She is member of Eurasia Foundation since 2014.
ROMAINE BOVIER
WELLNESS GURU
Since her childhood, Romaine was curious about the relationships between the mind and the moving body. She studied visual art, therapy – oriented towards intermodal expression, then Tibetan yoga and improvisation dance. The art of mindfulness and inner transformation through the moving body are her fields of exploration. Today, she continues to train with great Tibetan masters as well as in the artistic fields.
(Graduate | HEA in Visual Art | ISIS Institute, Zürich | Certified | Buddhist Medical Centre Nangten Menlang, Austria | Rikon Institute, Switzerland. www.romainebovier.ch
NATHALIE BOUDOU
HEALTH SPECIALIST
Natalie Boudou is an executive coach and facilitator working with executives, senior management and leadership teams from a wide range of corporates and international organizations. Throughout her career, Natalie has worked closely with multinationals, the UN and NGO’s developing resilient leaders and engaged teams. Besides this, she has over 20 years of international business experience in demanding and challenging roles. She started her career as a commercial lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions and then moved into corporate communications where she held senior roles at Hitachi and the World Health Organisation Since becoming a trainer and executive coach, she has become a specialist in resilience and leadership development working in areas such as emotional and positive intelligence.
BRUNO POIRIER
CONSULTANT IN CREATIVE THINKING AND COMMUNICATION
Bruno is a Consultant in Creative Thinking and Communication who is passionate about the creative process and who has always believed in the power of ideas and stories to « change the world ». He also deeply believes the time is ripe for radically new visions of our future - individually and collectively. To allow these new perspectives to emerge Bruno believes Creative Thinking has to be developed at all levels of society.
Bruno has recently begun exploring the power of Mindfulness as a way to bring about positive transformation in organisations. Indeed with more awareness, more focus and more clarity of thought employees can work in a more harmonious way without sacrificing performance.
Before becoming a Consultant, Bruno has held various Marketing Management positions in Canada and Europe in the food and beverage industry. Over the past 15 years he has led hundreds of workshops for a wide range of clients in more than 20 countries. Bruno is Canadian and Swiss and currently lives near Lausanne, Switzerland. He holds a “Bachelor of Commerce” from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. He works in French and English.
Bruno also studied filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in New York City. As part of his filmmaking work he recently completed the creation of the film series « Creative Lifestyles » as well as corporate films for global clients.
DOMINIQUE ARA
CONVERSATIONAL INTELLIGENCE® COACH AND TRAINER
Dominique is a certified Conversational Intelligence® coach and trainer. She has focused her studies around human relationships, psychology, leadership, self-development and communication for over twenty years. Her thing is to joyfully express humanity and shed light on growth possibilities in life and work of business leaders and individuals and inspire them transform their lives.
ISABELLE BESTER
HEALTH SPECIALIST
Isabelle Bester is an executive coach and consultant specialising in energy management, talent development and team synergy. She is an expert in resilience and has developed trainings and coaching programme to build physical, emotional, mental and social capacities for teams and individuals to thrive in fast paced environment. Isabelle has worked both internationally and locally for FMCG’s, Medical Device corporation and NGO’s as well as Universities, Public Administration, Private Clinique and Hospitals. She is passionate about interpersonal communication skills and personal energy management and holds various degrees in several fields including Business Administration, Communication, Coaching, Stress Management and Nutrition.