Our Network
Mikey Siegel
Mikey Siegel is a technologist, researcher, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology, human connection, and consciousness. With an M.S. from the MIT Media Lab and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from UC Santa Cruz, he has founded and led multiple pioneering initiatives, including Consciousness Hacking, the Awakened Futures Summit, and the first Transformative Technology Conference. His work has been instrumental in shaping the Transformative Technology industry, fostering innovation at the intersection of science, well-being, and entrepreneurship.
In addition to founding startups and research initiatives, Mikey has consulted for and advised emerging ventures, helping integrate cutting-edge technology with human flourishing. As a lecturer at Stanford University and a board member at the California Institute of Integral Studies, he has also played a key role in shaping the dialogue on transformative technology. Currently, he collaborates with UCSB’s META Lab, exploring physiological synchrony in real-time interaction. His diverse experience—spanning academia, startups, and large-scale conferences—makes him a seasoned leader in bridging research, technology, and entrepreneurship to drive meaningful innovation.
Aneel Chima, Ph.D
Aneel is formally the executive director of the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. Before that he spent twelve years at Stanford University where he was Director of the Division of Health and Human Performance and Founding Director of the Stanford Flourishing Project. He was also Chair of the Board of Trustees at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Chair of the Board of the Veterans, Immigrants, and Refugees Trauma Institute of Sacramento (now the Ulysses Project at the UC Davis School of Medicine). Previously, outside of academia, he was co-founder and managing partner of At The Core, a management consultancy specializing in facilitating transformative change through enhancing the emotional, social, and neurophysiological drivers of team and leadership thriving. He has worked one-on-one with over 350 senior executives and directly with several dozen executive leadership teams. His work has been published in Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and other journals. Aneel is a longtime Buddhist practitioner who has a lifetime interest in the world’s contemplative and wisdom traditions.
David Germano, Ph.d
David Germano is Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he has led many Centers and projects over the years in software development, entrepreneurship, cultural documentation, media production, student flourishing, educational reform, and contemplative sciences. His has a deep expertise in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation and in the tantric and Great Perfection (dzokchen) traditions in particular. Since 2011, he has drawn upon that expertise to extensively support the creation and application of new forms of contemplative practice, environments, and applications in education, architecture, entrepreneurship, engineering, and many other contexts. He founded the Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA in 2012 and currently directs the Generative Contemplation Initiative, which brings together scholars, lineage holders, meditation teachers, and designers to explore the past and future of contemplation through the prism of ancient wisdom traditions.
Yingzhao Liu
Yingzhao Liu is currently a senior advisor at Conscious Consulting Group, a strategist for the network leadership organization Converge for Impact, and lecturer at Stanford University on Designing for Well-being. She has recently been design director for international markets at LinkedIn, leading teams from diverse cultures. She has a practice of integrating deep spiritual practice with our complex modern life—drawing from Zen Buddhism as well as the Native American path, Ying supports others on their journey of inner and outer transformation by shifting consciousness to deeper and deeper levels.
She also leads experiential education for American students in Asia, for a pioneering company called Where There Be Dragons. Ying is native to mainland China and came to the U.S. at age 18, at home in liminal spaces and eventually found her tribe of global citizens, artists, and quiet revolutionaries who live in both the modern and the timeless.
Jonathan Schooler, Ph.D
Dr. Jonathan W. Schooler is a psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the META Lab and the Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential. After earning his B.A. in psychology from Hamilton College (1981) and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington (1987), he joined the University of Pittsburgh, rising to full professor before relocating to UBC as a Canada Research Chair (2004–2007) and later to UCSB (2007–present) . A prolific scholar with over 200 publications, Schooler is widely known for pioneering studies on mind-wandering, meta-awareness, verbal overshadowing, creativity, memory, belief in free will, and the controversial “decline effect” and anomalous cognition . A fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and an Osher Fellow at the Exploratorium, his work explores the intersection of philosophy and psychology, investigating how language, consciousness, and philosophical beliefs shape cognitive behavior .
Dustin DiPerna
Dustin DiPerna is a Harvard-trained scholar of world religions. He currently serves as adjunct professor at Stanford University where he teaches classes on meditation, human flourishing, and purpose finding.
Dustin spent 20 years studying with Ken Wilber and is considered an expert in Integral Theory. He is a senior teacher of Tibetan meditation practices and studied with his main meditation teacher, Daniel P. Brown, for 16 years. Dustin and Dan co-taught Mahamudra and Dzogchen meditation retreats together for 10 years until Dan’s passing. Dustin teaches regularly in the US, Europe, Australia, and China.
Through his writing, teaching, and entrepreneurship, Dustin helps people find happier and more fulfilling ways of being in the world. His books include Streams of Wisdom, Evolution's Ally, and Earth is Eden. An avid lover of art, design, and nature, he lives in California with his wife, Amanda, and daughters, Jaya and Rumi. | dustindiperna.org