R. Adam Engle is the co-founder of the Mind and Life Institute. He was educated at the University of Colorado, Harvard University and Stanford University, where he received his B.A., J.D., and M.B.A. degrees respectively. He has divided his professional life as a lawyer and entrepreneur between the for-profit and non-profit sectors.

In the for-profit sector, Mr. Engle began his career as a lawyer, practicing for 10 years in Beverly Hills, Albuquerque, Santa Barbara, and Teheran. After leaving the practice of law, he formed an investment management firm, focusing on global portfolio management on behalf of individual clients. He also started several business ventures in the United States and Australia.

Mr. Engle began working with various groups in the non-profit sector in 1965. In addition to the Mind and Life Institute, he also co-founded the Colorado Friends of Tibet, a statewide Tibetan support group based in Boulder, Colorado; was a founding member of the Social Venture Network; and has advised numerous other non-profit organizations.

Barry Hershey is a filmmaker who has written and directed eight films. He has been involved in various capacities in two dozen other films, including as executive producer of The Dalai Lama—Scientist. Most recently, he has produced the documentary film, Climate Emergencies: Feedback Loops, as well as the one-hour broadcast film Earth Emergency. He received his MFA from USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is currently working on a fiction script, Shadowpoem. For over 30 years, he has been involved with the Mind & Life Institute and joined its board in 2012.

Raymond L. “Rip” Gellein Jr. today leads a family investment vehicle, RBG Capital Advisors LLC, which invests in early stage operating companies in the construction, marketing and technology spaces. In addition he currently serves on the Board of Directors of Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Inc.

Prior to this, Rip had a long career in the hospitality and real estate industry. He served as the Chairman and CEO of Strategic Hotels and Resorts, Inc from 2012 to 2015. Prior to that he was the President of Global Development for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Prior to that position, he was the Chairman and CEO of Starwood Vacation Ownership, the subsidiary of Starwood that was formed from the acquisition of Vistana, Inc in 1999. Rip served as the Chairman and Co-CEO of Vistana Inc when it went public in 1997 and was intimately involved with the founding of Vistana in 1980 and led that enterprise through its sale to Starwood. Prior to Vistana, he served as Vice President and Division Manager in Real Estate for Continental Illinois National Bank in Chicago.

Rip holds an MBA in Finance, Accounting and Marketing from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management (1974), as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Denison University (1969). Between college and graduate school, he taught mathematics and psychology as well as coached basketball, football and tennis at two private schools, the last two years at the Groton School in Groton Massachusetts.

Rip is married and, together with his wife Jacque, have a total of 6 children and 11 grandchildren.

Rip Gellein served on the Mind & Life Board of Directors from 2009 to 2021.

DIANA CHAPMAN WALSH, PhD is President emerita of Wellesley College, Senior Advisor to Stanford University’s Center for Innovation in Global Health, life member emerita of the MIT Corporation, co-founder of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, and former board member of the Broad Institute (chair), the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the State Street Corporation and Amherst College. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former professor and department chair at the Harvard School of Public Health. 

Diana Chapman Walsh served on the Mind & Life Board of Directors from 2012 to 2017.

Daniel is currently Associate Professor in Sustainable Architecture & Cities (with deep interest in equitable green-economies as well) at the School of Architecture & Planning, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is an architect and urban environmental policy planner focusing on sustainability and the built environment. With research and consultancy interests focused on developing countries, his core interest is the understanding and applied resolution to the dilemma of achieving socio-economic development for all within the tightening eco-limits of our planet. Daniel’s key interests is the coupling of green innovations to socio-economic development priorities such as jobs/skills and eco-entrepreneurship. One of the newly emerging themes of his research interest is the transitioning to sustainable cities and how a better understanding of assumed human behavior models could enhance humanity’s transitioning endeavors, especially when based on emerging insights from neuroscience, and especially neuro-phenomenology as conceptualized by pioneer scholars such as Francisco Varela, Roberto Maturana, and Gregory Batson. 

Daniel has earned academic and professional merit awards including a Fulbright Scholarship for his Masters studies in the US, Certificate of Merit on a competition-entry on Eco-Village and Eco-Coastal Settlements organised by the International Federation of Young Architects (IFYA) in 1993. A Solar Academy for Southern Africa (organised at Wits in collaboration with International Solar Energy Society in Germany and Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa) was awarded the SESSA Renewable Energy Project of the Year Award for 2002.

Lisette Cooper, PhD, Vice Chair of Fiduciary Trust International and former CEO of Athena Capital Advisors, has over 30 years of investment management experience. She is a member of Fiduciary Trust’s Board of Directors and a member of Franklin Templeton’s Management Committee. Dr. Cooper founded Athena Capital Advisors, an award-winning OCIO (outsourced Chief Investment Officer) and wealth management firm, which was sold to Fiduciary Trust International in March 2020. Dr. Cooper helped establish Athena Capital as one of the leaders in the field of sustainable and impact investing. At Fiduciary Trust, Dr. Cooper guides the firm’s investment risk strategy and leads its impact investing practice. She is a pioneer in guiding individuals and organizations to integrate their social values into their investing. Described by AUM Boston as taking “the revolutionary charge of changing the world through values-based investing,” and named a 2017 “Women to Watch” honoree by InvestmentNews, Dr. Cooper is a leading advocate on gender equality and diversity through shareholder activism. Dr. Cooper is a board member of the Boston Youth Sanctuary and the Center for Heathy Minds Innovations. She is former chair of the board of The Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. She is a Mind and Life Fellow and has served as an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab. Dr. Cooper received her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and a PhD from Harvard University. She holds the CFA designation as well as several patents.

Bobbi Patterson’s scholarship focuses on lived religion and place, human and earth ecosystems, and pedagogy, particularly those involving community-based partnerships. Her scholarly training and teaching engages Christian and Buddhist contemplative traditions and practices, American Religious cultures, feminist and womanist approaches to women’s spiritual practices, and methodologies and methods. She presents and leads workshops on effective teaching and learning at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as contemplative teaching and learning strategies including ethical decision-making. Her recent pedagogical publications describes pertinent assessment strategies. Bobbi authored the book Building Resilience Through Contemplative Practice: A Field Manual for Helping Professionals and Volunteers. 

Bobbi’s B.A. is from Smith College with a major in Religion. Her Masters of Divinity degree is from Harvard Divinity School, and her Ph.D. is from the Institute of Liberal Arts, an Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. from Emory University.

Bobbi served as the co-chair of the 2020 and 2021 Summer Research Institutes.

Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to the book How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, Dr. Barrett has published over 200 peer-reviewed, scientific papers appearing in Science, Nature Neuroscience, and other top journals in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, as well as six academic volumes published by Guilford Press. She has also given a popular TED talk.

Dr. Barrett received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for her revolutionary research on emotion in the brain. These highly competitive, multimillion dollar awards are given to scientists of exceptional creativity who are expected to transform biomedical and behavioral research. She also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019.

Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Barrett has testified before Congress, presented her research to the FBI, consulted to the National Cancer Institute, appeared on Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman and The Today Show with Maria Shriver, and been a featured guest on public television and worldwide radio programs. She is also an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada.

Dr. Barrett was featured on the Mind & Life podcast episode Your Emotions Aren’t What You Think.

Sheila Kinkade is a writer and Advancement Strategist with the Mind & Life Institute. A communications professional and filmmaker, she has 25 years of experience helping nonprofit, corporate, and public sector clients tell the human story driving their social change work. Sheila co-produced Cafeteria Man, a documentary about school food reform, and co-authored Our Time is Now: Young People Changing the World. She received an MS from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and BA in English/Political Science from Duke University. Sheila loves a good story, walks in nature, and learning from other cultures.