Speakers

The 2009 Gallup Well-Being Forum features nationally recognized speakers from business, government, and colleges and universities.

Confirmed Speakers

Dan Buettner

Dan Buettner is the New York Times best-selling author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest. Buettner is an internationally recognized explorer who founded Blue Zones--a project that researches the world's best practices in health, happiness, and longevity, and he shares that information to help people live longer, and better. The article Buettner wrote for National Geographic magazine in November 2005, "Secrets of Living Longer," was the third-highest selling issue in the magazine's history and made Buettner a National Magazine Award finalist. Buettner has appeared as a longevity expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Today, ABC World News, CBS' The Early Show, and CNN. He is also a member of Cooking Light magazine's Advisory Board.

Jim Clifton

Jim Clifton is best known in the polling and survey research field for leading the acquisition of The Gallup Organization in 1988, at which time he became CEO of the organization founded by the renowned polling pioneer, Dr. George H. Gallup. His most recent innovation, the Gallup World Poll, is designed to tell the 10 million people who lead, govern, and manage the world what the world's 6 billion citizens are thinking. Questions in this ground-breaking project delve into individual and social needs, including food and shelter, safety and security, mental and physical health, education, jobs, economics and finances, transportation, water and air quality, hope and futurism, leadership approval, religion, and war and peace.

Joseph F. Coughlin, Ph.D.

Joseph F. Coughlin is founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab -- the first multi-disciplinary research program created to understand the behavior of the 45+ population, the role of technology, and the opportunity for innovations to improve the quality of life of older adults and their families. Dr. Coughlin's own research focuses on how the convergence of baby boomer expectations and technology will shape the future of public policy and drive innovation across global industries -- including the financial services, insurance, health, IT, telecommunications, automobile, and retail sectors. He has published his work in a variety of business, engineering, and policy journals. In February 2008, The Wall Street Journal named him one of America's 12 pioneers inventing the future of retirement and aging. Dr. Coughlin was recently recognized by the Visiting Nurse Association as a "Home Health Hero" for his research in technology-enabled innovation in home healthcare services for the elderly.

Angus Deaton, Ph.D.

Angus Deaton, Ph.D., is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University. Dr. Deaton's research areas include health, economic development, and the analysis of household behavior, especially at the microeconomic level. His current research focuses on the determinants of health in rich and poor countries as well as on the measurement of poverty in India and around the world. Dr. Deaton is a British citizen and has taught at Cambridge University and the University of Bristol. He is a corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. In 1978, he was the first recipient of the Society's Frisch Medal. He is President Elect of the American Economic Association and will serve as its president in 2009.

Ed Diener, Ph.D.

Ed Diener, Ph.D., is an Alumni Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois, where he has been a faculty member since 1974. Dr. Diener joined Gallup as a Senior Scientist in 1999. In this role, he advises Gallup on research in the areas of well-being and positive psychology. Dr. Diener's work has appeared in more than 210 publications; about 170 of these are in the area of the psychology of well-being. His work has appeared in journals such as Psychological Science, American Psychologist, and Psychological Inquiry. Dr. Diener is past president of the International Society of Quality of Life Studies and the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. He is a fellow of five professional societies, including the American Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association.

Archelle Georgiou, M.D.

Dr. Archelle Georgiou, M.D., established Georgiou Consulting, which helps large healthcare companies crystallize their healthcare outcomes into meaningful and differentiating messages that drive growth and profitability. Dr. Georgiou is a Senior Fellow of the Center for Health Transformation (CHT) and a well-recognized leader in healthcare with a passion for empowering individuals to be responsible healthcare consumers. Her expertise is focused on consumer-centered care and leveraging communication, information, and technology to influence decisions and buying behavior. Dr. Georgiou currently serves on the board of directors for WomenVenture and the Society for Women's Health Research. She is on the advisory board for Misys Healthcare System's Center for Community Health Leadership.

Jim Hartzfeld

Jim Hartzfeld is the Managing Director of InterfaceRAISE. Jim mobilizes executives and equips their companies to define and cultivate business growth opportunities
based on sustainability as a core business model. Through InterfaceRAISE's advisory services, Jim is sharing
his experience gained through guiding Interface on its own technical and cultural transformation as well as his work with organizations such as the US Green Building Council, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the President's Council on Sustainable Development.

James K. Harter, Ph.D.

James K. Harter, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist Workplace Management and Well-Being for Gallup's workplace management practice and the Gallup World Poll. He is coauthor of the New York Times bestseller 12: The Elements of Great Managing, an exploration of the 12 crucial ingredients for creating and harnessing employee engagement. His research has been popularized in the business bestsellers First, Break All the Rules and How Full Is Your Bucket? and in academic articles, book chapters, and publications such as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Dr. Harter received his doctorate in psychological and cultural studies in quantitative and qualitative methods from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D.

Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D., is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology (emeritus) and Professor of Public Affairs (emeritus) in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He is also a fellow at the Center for Rationality at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A 2002 Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences, Dr. Kahneman has laid the foundation for a new field of research called behavioral economics by discovering how human judgment may take shortcuts that systematically depart from basic principles of probability. Through his work, he has pushed the frontiers of research by introducing psychologically realistic models of economic agents into economic theory.

Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D.

Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D., Gallup Senior Scientist in Residence, is the director of the annual Gallup Well-Being Forum, which convenes scholars, leaders, and decision makers to discuss healthcare and global well-being. He also serves as the Research Director for the Clifton Strengths School. Dr. Lopez has published more than 100 articles and chapters and seven books, including Positive Psychology: Exploring the Best in People and The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology. Dr. Lopez is the past associate editor of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, an editorial board member of The Journal of Positive Psychology, and an ad-hoc reviewer for many psychology journals. He is a licensed psychologist, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and an educational advisor for Discovery Television.

Haley Rushing

Haley Rushing cofounded the Purpose Institute with Roy Spence and coauthored The Wall Street Journal bestselling book entitled: It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven By Purpose. Haley has helped a number of the country's most visionary organizations develop business strategies that are founded on a strong core purpose and authentic core values, including Fortune 500 companies like Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart, Charles Schwab, Whole Foods Market, Univision; non-profits like The American Council on Education and the American Red Cross; institutions of higher learning, like Texas A&M; and recently, she has applied the principles of purpose to galvanize the leadership of Louisiana through a purpose-driven approach to economic development for the state.

Betsey Stevenson, Ph.D.

Betsey Stevenson is an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the impact of public policies on the welfare of women and families as well as analyzing trends in American families and women's lives. Dr. Stevenson has published widely in leading economics journals, and her research has been frequently covered by both print and television media. Her research has demonstrated a tight link between income and measures of subjective well-being such as life satisfaction and has found that this relationship continues even at high levels of income. Dr. Stevenson has also investigated trends in gender differences in measures of subjective well-being data, finding that the reported subjective well-being of women has fallen over the past four decades relative to that of their male counterparts.

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