
About IAHV

The International Association for Human Values (IAHV) was registered as a 501(c)(3) in the United States in 1998. IAHV offers programs to reduce stress and develop leaders so that human values can flourish in people and communities. We foster the daily practice of human values – a sense of connectedness and respect for all people and the natural environment, an attitude of non-violence, and an ethic of social service. Our programs enhance clarity of mind, shift attitudes and behaviors, and develop leaders and communities that are resilient, responsible, and inspired. IAHV is registered in the following countries: France, Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, USA, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, India, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and St. Lucia.
Read more about IAHV’s other programs and impact: http://us.iahv.org
The Art of Living is one of the largest non-profit organizations in the world, founded in 1981 by renowned spiritual teacher and humanitarian Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. It is committed to uplifting and empowering individuals and communities through a blend of ancient wisdom and modern science, with a particular focus on stress reduction and mental well-being.
The foundation’s mission is to create a happier, stress-free world by providing tools for personal transformation. The vision is to foster a global community that seeks positive change and well-being for all individuals. The Art of Living offers transformative, evidence-based techniques and courses that facilitate significant stress reduction. These tools also foster deep and profound inner peace, happiness, and well-being for all individuals.
Read more about Art of Living Foundation: www.artofliving.org

Our Inspiration
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is the founder of both IAHV and Art of Living Foundation. Recognized by world leaders, as a voice of peace and nonviolence, Sri Sri was instrumental in enabling peace through dialogue in Colombia, Iraq and several other locations worldwide eg Ivory Coast, Venezuela, Kashmir, etc. Sri Sri has consistently emphasized the need for reinforcing human values and encourages multi-cultural education as the remedy for fanaticism and terrorism to achieve sustainable peace on our planet. Sri Sri has touched the lives of millions around the world, going beyond the barriers of race, nationality and religion with the message of a one-world family free from stress and violence that can be created through the reawakening of human values and service.
Read more about Sri Sri’s peace initiative efforts: www.srisri.org
Team

Mandar Apte
Executive Director
Mandar has worked at Shell for 17 years and managed Shell’s prestigious GameChanger social innovation program investing in ideas that create shared value – business value and social impact. In 2016, Mandar produced the From India With Love documentary film to reinvigorate the message of nonviolence (or Ahimsa) in the world. Aligned with this mission, in Oct 2018, Mandar hosted the inaugural World Summit for Countering Violence & Extremism that brought together peace activists and law enforcement executives from across the world in the spirit of promoting promote peace and compassion in the world.Â
For over a decade, Mandar has taught leadership programs using meditation practices for the International Association for Human Values and the Art of Living Foundation.

Deepak Sridhar
National Director
Deepak is a Breathwork and Meditation Instructor with the IAHV Prison Program as well as the Art of Living Foundation, a global non-profit organization. He was the Director of Operations for the World Summit for Countering Violence & Extremism and has served as Director, Strategic Partnerships for the From India With Love initiative. He also works in Silicon Management at Apple Inc. He has been working on community peace programs since 2012 and has pioneered new workshops and ways of engaging with the community.
A meditator since the age of 11, he has travelled through a diverse spiritual and an intense personal journey before finding his calling with the Art of Living Foundation’s work. He is the brains behind the Foundation’s extremely successful and innovate YogaFEST and is very passionate about taking the true knowledge of Yoga and Meditation to communities all over the world.

Brinda Sivaramakrishnan
Program Director
Brinda Sivaramakrishnan is a Community Health Professor and Program chair at Tacoma Community College. In the last 10 years she has worked in research capacities at City University of New York’s World Trade Center Asthma Study, the Urban Indian Health Institute. Currently she is working as a consultant with the University of Washington’s Food and Economic Security study related to COVID-19. Brinda has taught meditation based leadership programs to students in high schools and universities since 2011 as a volunteer for IAHV.

Gabriella Savelli
National Director, Prison Program
Ms Savelli became Director of the IAHV Prison Program (Stress Management & Rehabilitation Training) in 2009. She is a prison silence course pioneer, and has taught IAHV courses to thousands nationwide, as well as internationally. In 2016, she won the Washington DC DOC “Making a Difference” George Strawn Award, and in 2018 Gabriella became the International Coordinator. She served on the Board of SELA Red Cross, and is a graduate of the Office of Victim’s Assistance Leadership Program. Prior to working with IAHV, Gabriella graduated Magna Cum Laude from Edinboro University, and served as a Public Welfare caseworker for 10 years.

Marlene Sandhu
Regional Director
Ms. Sandhu oversees the IAHV partnership with the Washington, DC Mayor’s office FITDC program through which IAHV has reached thousands of DC residents with free weekly, monthly and event-based stress relief programming both online and in person.
Ms. Sandhu began teaching with IAHV in 2008 and has delivered leadership and trauma-relief seminars to institutions such as the DC Office of the Attorney General, DC Department of Human Services, Children’s National Hospital; World Bank, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Previously Ms. Sandhu was a member of the inaugural team of the National Digital Library Program of the US Library of Congress. She lives in Falls Church, Virginia with her husband and two children.

Ravi Matta
Director, Marketing & Communications
During the day, Ravi channels his expertise at Bloomberg, pioneering innovation in financial technology. His altruistic endeavors began with contributions to the Red Cross, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and God’s Love We Deliver.
Advisors

Dr. Carson
Dr. Carson, serves as the founding Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Selected in 1985 by Mrs. Coretta Scott King to edit and publish the papers of her late husband, Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson has devoted most of his professional life to the study of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the movements that Dr. King inspired. Under Dr. Carson’s direction, the King Papers Project has produced seven volumes of a definitive, comprehensive edition of King’s speeches, sermons, correspondence, publications, and unpublished writings. Dr. Carson has also edited numerous other books based on King’s papers, including The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Andrew Russell
Andrew Russell is a specialist in peacebuilding and organizational change with three decades of experience in the United Nations. Andrew has worked in Central America, Cyprus and, most recently, in Kosovo, where he served as UN Development Coordinator and UN Development Programme Resident Representative. He holds specialized expertise in crisis prevention and recovery and his field experiences have primarily been within the context of managing programmes in support of the transition from conflict to peace and development and the promotion of multi-stakeholder dialogue in ethnically or politically divided contexts.
Andrew holds a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University and has taught development and peacebuilding studies at the undergraduate and graduate level, including at Queen’s University in Canada where he currently is an adjunct professor.

Dr. Lisa Fears-Hackett
Lisa is currently an adjunct professor at National University. She is also currently the Director of Educational Programs for the National College Recourses Foundation. Prior to this, Lisa was an assistant principal for Inglewood Community Adult School for over six years. Lisa has a BA in Communicative Disorders from California State University Fullerton. And two Masters degrees, one in special education from National University (NU) and the other in educational administration from California State University Dominguez Hills. She has been a passionate educator for the past three decades and enjoys networking and building professional relationships with those in the educational ecosystems and to design educational programs to empower youth.

AdeSola Winley
AdeSola (Sola), is considered by many to be a trusted advisor, thought partner, spiritual guide and friend. His professional path has been rewardingly unconventional and personally transformational. Taking him from a young marketing professional traveling the globe for the National Football League, to serving children and families in NYC’s foster care system, to founding a leadership and organizational development consulting firm, to serving as a private practice psychotherapist and Executive Coach, to C-Suite media executive, to yoga and meditation practitioner and teacher.
He completed his 200 Hour Dharma Yoga Teacher Training, is Certified by the International Association for Human Values as an Ambassador of Peace and is a graduate of the Martin Luther King Center’s Non Violence 360 training. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has an undergraduate degree in communications and advanced degrees in education, social work and business. He is a loving father and husband born of bi-racial descent to a white Jewish mother and Black Pentecostal father.

John Kobara
For nearly forty years, John has led and managed diverse and complex nonprofit and for-profit organizations. John was engaged in three pioneering start-ups traversing education and entertainment. He regards himself as a social entrepreneur who specializes in building successful and growing organizations through change management, innovation and a focus on social outcomes. After serving 5 years on the Board of Directors, John served as Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer for the California Community Foundation ( CCF ) for 12 years. He has also served as President/CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, and Vice Chancellor of External Affairs at UCLA. More than anything, John considers himself a facilitator of change. John currently serves on the boards of the MLK Community Hospital Foundation, Japanese American National Museum, SCGA Foundation and Walden University.

Seth Weiner
I am a restorative justice enthusiast and advocate, originally from Los Angeles, I now live in Weehawken, New Jersey with my wife, Ngoc, and two young boys, Shem and Sol. I came of age around incredible peacemakers and healers from the Shadetree Multicultural Foundation, Homeboy Industries Watts, Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural, the Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation, the Community Self-Determination Institute and others. I earned a degree in Community Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz and later a JD from Loyola Law School, where I helped run the Center for Restorative Justice. I am also a graduate of the Consciousness Studies program at the Rudolf Steiner College and the Grantmaking and Foundations program at NYU. I have been working for more than a decade with private foundations, Universities and non-profits on initiatives pursuing restorative justice, criminal justice reform, immigration reform, homelessness and wellness in indigenous communities around the US and abroad. Throughout my life I have been holding questions about justice and healing and the ways in which they connect. What I have learned so far is that I am only at the beginning.