Winners 2022

Strong track record as a passionate leader of Talent, Performance, Employee Engagement and Strategic Workforce Planning in an international corporate environment. Experience as HR Business Partner, Management Consultant and Mechanical Engineer. PhD, international speaker and guest lecturer. Husband and father of two. Age 23 plus 25 years of experience.

Bridget Grenville Cleave is director of the MSc in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) programme at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge UK. She is a positive psychology consultant and trainer for both the public and private sectors in the UK and abroad. She designs and delivers evidence-based training programmes such as ‘Happiness and Wellbeing at Work’ for the UAE Ministry of State for Happiness as well as school and university happiness curricula for staff and students. She also runs online Positive Psychology Masterclasses and other well-being and resilience courses. Bridget is an accredited trainer for the Strengthscope® strengths profile and the school well-being and resilience programme, Bounce Back. She is the author of five Positive Psychology books including Creating the world we want to live in: How Positive Psychology can build a brighter future (2021, Routledge) and Achieve lasting happiness: A practical guide to Positive Psychology (2018, Icon Books) and co-editor with Dr Abbe Brady of the first positive psychology text-book for sports coaches, teachers and athletes, Positive Psychology in sport and physical activity: An introduction (2018, Routledge).

Gudrun Snorradottir is one of the most sought-after executive leadership coaches in Iceland. She has created a unique set of relatable and practical strategies for leaders to develop and flourish as human beings by combining more than a decade of senior leadership experience with her passion for cutting-edge research in positive psychology. Gudrun is a motivational speaker, an educator, HR consultant, certified Appreciative Inquiry trainer and a PCC executive coach. She has practiced Positive Psychology since 2009 as a leader and as a HR consultant. She is the founder and CEO of her company, Human Leader.

Jo Rispoli has worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) since 2002. He is currently Head of the Human Resources Administration Unit (HRAU). Prior to this role, he had been elected the first Chairperson of IOM’s Global Staff Association Committee (GSAC) as well as worked in various capacities in different IOM missions in Africa for over 15 years. Jo is a Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD) from the Association for Talent Development (ATD), specialising in Training Delivery (English, French, and Italian). He holds an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology from Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K. as well as an M.A. in International Relations and a B.A. in History from Syracuse University in the U.S.

Lucy supports people and organisations to initiate and sustain positive transformation that benefits both performance and well-being. She does this via consultancy, coaching (one-to-one or group), training and facilitation, or organisation-wide programmes comprising several of these in diverse formats.
Lucy believes that real solutions come from working with organisations – and the people that make them up – to tailor evidence-based and scientifically validated practices to meet their needs whilst embedding them into existing day-to-day activities.
She is a Senior Lecturer Practitioner at Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge, UK) on the Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology.

Business and psychology: engagement, motivation and purpose at work. Social impact through volunteer time off.

Romeo has supported over 250 leaders and 100 organisations in the areas of mindfulness, positive leadership and resilience. As a long-time executive, consultant and coach, he has known the 24/7 business world first-hand for almost 20 years. He is also a mindfulness teacher (MBSR), ICF executive coach (PCC), business economist and associate coach of the Swiss Resilience Hub. In his role at the consulting firm pragmatic solutions in Zurich, he advises companies on new leadership, organisational development and agility.

Rula is a passionate speaker. She advocates organisational wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and equity. She is change and growth catalyst and brand architect.
Rula has extensive experience supporting organisational development and growth through a culture of learning, inclusion, and well-being. She specialises in the big picture where corporate reputation and communications flourish through the strategic development of leadership and human resources. Over the last 28 years Rula enabled executive board development, cultural change, organisational growth, advised on brand strategies, and developed bespoke and creative training programmes. She has worked across four continents with a wide range of industries and organisations such as Royal Dutch Shell, the European Commission, and the University of London.

Sarah is a postgraduate lecturer on positive organisational psychology, including positive leadership and consultancy, on the Anglia Ruskin MAPP programme. She has also published five books in this area and is a regular international workshop and keynote speaker. She has worked as a consultant to organizations in the area of positive change and development for thirty years, across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and is a specialist in strengths-based approaches such as Appreciative Inquiry. She also runs Thepositivepsychologyshop.com, an online store, that provides positive psychology tools to support to leaders, consultants and trainers in their work.

As a director at Humatica and HVD Partners, Valentina Pozzobon leads complex organizational transformation projects for private equity-backed portfolio companies. Currently acting as the CFO of an Engineering Industrial Italian Group, she enjoys mastering the business challenges of turnarounds and restructuring cases. A strong advocate of the importance of human capital for any successful corporate change, Valentina has a track record of delivering international carve out, merger, reorganization and restructuring initiatives in Europe, Asia and North America. She holds an MSc in Accounting and Financial Management from the Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden) and Keio University (Japan).