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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, a company which has been recently purchased by Humana.

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, Science Director

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, Emeritus 

Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D., served as a VIA Trustee for its first 10 years.  He 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.

Leaders of Workshops & Courses:

Dr. Donna Mayerson, Director of Applied Practice at the VIA Institute, is a licensed psychologist and earned her master's degree in special education.  She was formerly coaching director of Hummingbird Coaching Services, now Humana.  She is a certified coach who has used her deep knowledge of the VIA strengths as a framework for individual and organizational change with hundreds of education administrators and teachers, leaders of youth-serving organizations, in training coaches/practitioners, and with individuals and families.

 
Dr. Ryan M. Niemiec, VIA's Education Director, is co-author of Positive Psychology at the Movies: Using Films to Build Virtues and Character Strengths and Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology. Ryan is a licensed psychologist and a certified coach.  Dr. Niemiec develops VIA's courses and Interpretive Reports.  He uses the VIA Character Strengths extensively in clinical work, coaching and consulting.He has presented internationally on a variety of positive psychology topics, ranging from strengths-based practice, positive assessment and positive interventions, to spirituality and mindfulness meditation.

Tayyab Rashid, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist, is Lead Consultant for Applied Research for the VIA Institute, a position he balances with his post at the Health &  Wellness Centre at the University of Toronto , Scarborough. He is co-developer of Positive Psychotherapy with Dr. Martin Seligman.  Tayyab has served as a trainer, in the U.S. and abroad, in positive interventions with the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his pre-and post-doctoral clinical training.