VIA’s Founders, Advisors, Contributors

Dr. Neal H. Mayerson

Dr. Neal H. Mayerson received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Utah. His specialties were chronic pain and eating disorders. He worked in hospital, community mental health and private practice settings for 15 years as a psychotherapist.  In 1992, Dr. Mayerson was named president of the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation, a private family foundation, and president of The Mayerson Company, a real estate investment and management company. He is a founder of Hummingbird Coaching Services, a pioneer in the delivery of online coaching services.

In his work with the Foundation, he has initiated and/or been a principal developer of numerous nonprofit organizations and programs, including: The Mayerson Academy, the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children, the Inclusion Network, the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Program at Northern Kentucky University and RISE Learning Solutions.

Dr. Christopher Peterson

Christopher Peterson, Ph.D., is professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, where he has been the director of clinical training and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, an award given to honor his contributions to teaching. On two separate occasions, a course he taught has been voted the "best undergraduate class" at the University of Michigan. His research centers on personality and its relationship to adaptation. Peterson is among the youngest researchers included on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute list of the 250 most highly cited psychologists and psychiatrists over the past 20 years.

Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman

Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D., is Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He received both the American Psychological Society's William James Award (for basic science) and the Cattell Award (for the application of science). In 1997, he was elected president of the American Psychological Association by the largest vote in modern history. The National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation have supported his research. He is the director of the Positive Psychology Network, and his current mission is to transform social science to work on the best things in life - virtue, positive emotion, and positive institutions - and not just on healing pathology.

Advisory Board (for Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification)

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, Claremont Graduate School

Ed Diener, University of Illinois

Raymond D. Fowler, Past CEO, American Psychological Association

Barbara L. Fredrickson, University of Michigan

Howard Gardner, Harvard University

David Myers, Hope College

C. Rick Snyder, University of Kansas

Charles Spielberger, University of South Florida

Claude Steele, Stanford University

Robert Sternberg, Yale University

George Vaillant, Harvard University

Ellen Winner, Harvard University & Boston College

Youth Advisory Board (for Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification)

Bonnie Benard, WestEd

Robert Blum, Center for Adolescent Health

Dale Blyth, Center for Youth Development

Sonia Chessen, White House Council of Youth Violence

Reginald Clark, Clark & Associates

Lucy Davidson, Center for Child Well-being

Daniel Hart, Camden College of Arts and Sciences

Thaddeus Ferber, Forum for Youth Investment

Kenneth Maton, University of Maryland

Heather Johnston Nicholson, Girls Incorporated

Karen Pittman, Forum for Youth Investment

Jane Quinn, Children's Aid Society

Constancia Warren, Academy for Educational Development