About Rich Fernandez

Rich Fernandez, Ph.D., is the CEO of SIY Global, a global professional development organization that originated at Google, where it was known as Search Inside Yourself. Rich has dedicated his career to building more purposeful, mindful, and high-performing workplaces. Rich draws on his past experience as Head of Executive Education at Google, as well as senior leadership roles at eBay/PayPal, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America. Rich received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. Rich is a poetry and meditation enthusiast and lives in San Francisco, where he finds sources of renewal and inspiration in long hikes on the coast and in the nearby redwood forests. Carolina Lasso is the author of The Path to Flourishing, founder of Plenari.co, and the creator of the PlenaMente podcast. She served as the Global Head of Marketing at SIY Global and is a certified Search Inside Yourself teacher. She's passionate about creating practical tools to help organizations and individuals align with their purpose and flourish, by combining her business background with her experience as a personal development teacher. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and an MBA from New York University, specializing in marketing and finance. She worked as a marketing leader at Google, American Express, and Telemundo/ZGS. Carolina is a certified Life Purpose Coach, speaker, certified mindfulness facilitator, marketing instructor, consultant, and bilingual meditation narrator. She enjoys oil painting, dancing, visiting her family in her native Colombia, and discovering new places around the world. Steph Stern is a leadership coach and facilitator with a passion for helping people find more purpose and fulfillment in their work and lives. Steph served as a Director and key member of the leadership team at the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute for several years. There, Steph worked directly with many organizations, including Google, SAP, Disney, Salesforce, and MIT, to bring mindfulness and emotional intelligence into how people and organizations work. She has more than ten years working with individuals and organizations to develop greater awareness and compassion for themselves and for others. Previously, she worked for more than a decade on environmental policies and programs in both the public and private sector. Steph is a Certified Internal Family Systems practitioner, and holds a Masters in City Planning from MIT and a bachelors from Wellesley. She lives in the Bay Area where she loves to hike and dive into creative projects.