Your Speakers:

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. After graduating from Dartmouth College in Asian Studies in 1967 he joined the Peace Corps and worked on tropical medicine teams in the Mekong River valley. He met and studied as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma.

Returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings, and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a father, husband and activist.

Rich Fernandez is the CEO of SIYLI. He was previously the director of executive education and people development at Google, where he was also one of the first SIY teachers.

Rich previously founded Wisdom Labs and has also served in senior roles at eBay, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America. He received his PhD in Psychology from Columbia University and is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review.

Before launching Wisdom Labs, Rich was the head of executive education at Google, responsible for leadership development content, tools and programs for senior leaders.  He also led some of the efforts focused on employee well being at Google. Rich was also previously head of learning and organization development at eBay, and prior to that he was a learning and leadership development executive at Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Rich was trained as a psychologist and received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and M.A. in Organizational Psychology both from Columbia University. Rich received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.