Small Business University: Mindful in the Workplace

Entrepreneurs and business owners wear many different hats. How can you stay focused? 
Join the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and California Institute of Integral Studies and learn how to stay present in today’s hectic business world.
 

Panelists:
Ling Lam, Licensed Psychotherapist & Executive Coach, California Institute of Integral Studies
Ling Lam, Ph.D., (TheRealLing.com) is a leadership coach and licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in San Francisco and Palo Alto. He has worked with hundreds of high tech professionals, managers and executives on emotional intelligence, relationship counseling, perfectionism, anxiety, and job burnout. Ling has provided onsite counseling at Google since 2012 and facilitated learning groups for the popular elective, Interpersonal Dynamics, at Stanford Business School since 2007. Previously, Ling was the founding Clinical Director of the Silicon Valley chapter of A Home Within, the largest national non-profit dedicated to serving the emotional needs of foster children. He continues to provide pro-bono therapy through A Home Within as well as Give An Hour Foundation, a non-profit serving the mental health needs of military veterans and their families.
Before he became a psychotherapist, Ling worked as an engineer in Silicon Valley and was part of the original engineering team that invented the world’s first HDMI chip. Ling holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University, Ph.D. in Psychology from Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and is a graduate of the Group Facilitation Training Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

​René Durazzo, Principal, All-In Strategies

​René Durazzo is the founder of All-In Strategies and is a trained executive leadership coach through the Co-Active Institute. René has spent over 20 years as a senior executive in the nonprofit and for profit sectors. He specializes in supporting CEO’s and executive teams who strive to create workplaces that thrive on cohesion, openness, understanding and respect, creativity, joyfulness and a passion for exceptional results. In René’s language, these workplaces are the creation of  “All-In Leadership.” René partners with CEO’s, executive teams, nonprofit boards and governmental leaders to adopt the mindfulness and everyday practices of “All-In Leadership.” His process and approach is based on leaders experiencing rapid positive results in themselves and in their executive team members. His clients represent a broad range of sectors, including healthcare, education, government, and international development. 

Michelle Gale, M.S.
Michelle is a Mindfulness Educator as well as an Executive Leadership and Parenting Coach. She is developing wellness-at-work solutions focused on the intersection of awareness based practices and work life integration. She emphasizes the role of mindfulness in cultivating strong and healthy relationships at work and home. 
A central question Michelle works to address is how we can live in a way that is meaningfully connected to oneself and others, even as the demands and complexity of contemporary life and work are accelerated. Life is messy, and she believes it’s exactly within this messiness where we find our greatest potential for growth.
Michelle was formerly the Head of Learning and Leadership Development at Twitter and spent most of her career working in high growth technology start-ups. She’s currently an advisor to the Mindful Schools, Wisdom 2.0, Tilt365, and on the board of the Holistic Life Foundation. She is the Co-Founder of the Family Awareness Project and a Strategic Partner with the Trium Group. 
Michelle lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two sons, who are by far her greatest life teachers. 

Emily Wirowek, Attorney-at-Law; President of the National Association of Women Business Owners - San Francisco Bay Area
Simply put, my job is to make sure families do not self-destruct after the death or disability of a loved one. For that reason, I have chosen to dedicate my career to helping families and individuals plan for the future and protect the well-being of their loved ones. As an estate planning attorney, my passion is to help people plan for and successfully navigate both the inevitable and the unexpected events in life, to ensure that: 1) personal, family and business goals are realized, 2) risks and expenses are minimized, and 3) peace of mind is achieved.  I take pride in providing each of my clients with personal attention, clear communication, timely assistance and excellent results.