Chip Conley is the founder and executive chairman of MEA, the world’s first midlife wisdom school dedicated to helping people navigate life’s longest and most transformative phase. A celebrated entrepreneur, bestselling author, and internationally recognized thought leader on aging, purpose, and transitions, Chip is known for reframing midlife from a period of decline into one of growth, reinvention, and renewed possibility.

In his 20s, he founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality, transforming it into the second-largest boutique hotel brand in the US. In his 50s, he became Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, mentoring the company’s young founders while helping shape the modern hospitality experience. Chip is the author of Learning to Love Midlife, The Midlife Manifesto, and several other influential books exploring longevity, emotional wellbeing, and purposeful living.

Through MEA, his writing, and his speaking, he’s become one of the leading voices redefining what it means to grow older in the 21st century.

Arthur Brooks is a professor at Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and one of the world's leading authorities on happiness and human flourishing. His books – including From Strength to Strength, Build the Life You Want (with Oprah Winfrey), and The Meaning of Your Life – have reached millions worldwide.

Brooks is not, as he's the first to say, a naturally happy person. He learned this. He tracks his happiness on a spreadsheet. He has walked the Camino. He has sat with the same questions he now teaches – and found the only way through is not analysis, but living.

Chris is a passionate advocate for human connection and positive workplace culture across higher education, corporate, nonprofit, and foundation settings. He also serves on the advisory board of the International Positive Psychology Association.

Lori is a passionate advocate for creating lives of meaning and engagement in both the personal and professional realms. She’s a senior faculty member at Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), an organization born at Google, where she mentors and trains teachers, and designs and facilitates mindfulness-based emotional intelligence programs.

Lori holds an MA in psychology and is a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, trained by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through the Greater Good Science Center. She’s involved in a two-year project in Bhutan working in partnership with the Gross National Happiness initiative bringing SIYLI’s program to all levels of the Bhutanese government.

She’s also curriculum contributor and facilitator at LinkedIn, Purpose Blue, Wisdom Labs, Mindfulness Rx and the Mindfulness Training Institute, and leads nature-based mindfulness retreats at MEA, Esalen Institute, and Canyon Ranch.

Sherry is former CEO of Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox.

In 1996, she became the first woman to be named Pioneer of the Year by the Foundation of the Motion Picture Pioneers and was the first woman to head a major studio when she took control of 20th Century Fox in 1980. In 2001, she was named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by Ladies' Home Journal, and The Hollywood Reporter named her fourth on its Power 100 list in 2003.

Richard is an internationally recognized psychologist, executive coach, and pioneer in the field of purpose-driven living. For more than four decades, he’s helped individuals and organizations navigate transitions, align work with meaning, and approach aging as a period of continued growth and contribution.

He’s the founder of Inventure – The Purpose Company and bestselling author or co-author of numerous influential books, including The Power of Purpose, Repacking Your Bags, and Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old? Blending psychology, leadership development, and practical wisdom, Richard’s work has shaped global conversations around longevity, midlife reinvention, and living with deeper intention.

Mark Nepo is what happens when profound wisdom meets accessible heart.

A cancer survivor who’s spent decades translating the insights of spiritual traditions into the language of daily life, he's guided millions of readers through his books, including the New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. His work has been called “a masterclass in what it means to be human” by Elizabeth Gilbert, and Parker Palmer describes him as “one of the finest guides of our time.

Shelley Paxton is a speaker, author, and Chief Soul Officer at Soulbbatical. At 46, she boldly left an executive role at Harley-Davidson to reclaim her soul and rewrite her own script of success. That journey launched her business and bestselling book, Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life. She’s on a mission to liberate a billion souls.

Barbara has spent 20 years proving something the longevity mainstream is only beginning to accept: how you think about aging changes your biology. She works with adults midlife and better, not to fight time but to design toward it, with intention, vitality, and the full expectation of getting better.

She’s a gerontologist by training, a credentialed coach by practice, and a counter-cultural voice by conviction. That combination is what makes her work different: the science is real, the coaching goes deep, and the perspective is unapologetically pro-aging.

Barbara serves on the Advisory Council for the Stanford Center on Longevity, co-leads Stanford's Lifestyle Medicine Gratitude and Purpose pillar, and is a resident faculty member and advisor at the Modern Elder Academy. Her insights have appeared on CBS This Morning and Thrive Global. Her books, including The Middlescence Manifesto, have shaped how a generation thinks about midlife.