Advisory Board

Tim Ryan is a relentless advocate for working families in Ohio’s 13th District. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and was sworn in on January 7, 2003. Successfully reelected six times, he is now serving in his seventh term. Congressman Ryan currently serves as a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee which controls the expenditure of money by the federal government. Ryan’s primary focus remains on the economy and quality-of-life in Northeast Ohio. He works closely with local officials and community leaders to advance local projects that enhance the economic competitiveness and help attract high-quality, high-paying jobs. Congressman Ryan is both an author and a mindfulness practitioner. He has worked to bring mindfulness education to schools, and has promoted the use of mindfulness and meditation into the health care of our soldiers and veterans. In 2012, he wrote A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit. His second book, The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries, and the Return of the American Family Farm, was published in 2014. Ryan was born on July 16, 1973 in Niles, Ohio and currently resides in Howland, Ohio with his wife Andrea and three children.

Joseph is a licensed attorney living and working around his native Northeastern Ohio. Drawing on experience in a myriad of industries (law, corporate governance, entertainment, energy production, and other entrepreneurial ventures), Joseph enjoys advising and supporting organizations whose mission he believes in and that seek to make an impact in a positive way. Through his work in juvenile law, Joseph became interested in non-traditional ways to help at-risk children develop into their full potential; this search led him to Inner Explorer who he’s proud to advise and advocate on behalf of. In addition to his Juris Doctorate degree, Joseph’s also earned undergraduate degrees in both Finance and Entrepreneurship. Joe has served in several statewide committees and has held offices in the Ohio Schools-Speech-Language Pathology Audiology Coalition and the Ohio Speech and Hearing Association. Joe provides professional development for topics as diverse as children’s communication, understanding student behavior, and team communication skill building. He has presented to speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, paraprofessionals, and school administrators.

Jutta Tobias Mortlock, PhD, is a social psychologist dedicated to generating capacity and positive behaviour change. She has worked with organisations for over 20 years, advising clients such as McKinsey and Goldman Sachs on their strategy implementation, and she currently serves on the faculty at City, University of London. Jutta teaches and regularly speaks on workplace mindfulness and leadership, e.g. in the UK House of Commons, Cabinet Office, and the Department of Health. Jutta's work has been published in a number of academic journals and in the Financial Times, The Sunday Times, and on the BBC World Service.

Kathryn is a member of Robinson & Cole, LLP’s Business Litigation Group and the firm’s Data Privacy + Security Team. She concentrates her practice on privacy and security compliance under both state and federal regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Prior to joining the Robinson & Cole, Kathryn was an associate at Nixon Peabody. Kathryn is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association Health Law Section Council and the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Young Professionals Committee. She is also a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Joseph Petrarca is currently the Associate Director in the Office for Exceptional Children, a position he has help since April 2019. He has held numerous leadership positions in Northeast Ohio, most recently in the Streetsboro City Schools, where he was the Director of Student Services. He has experience as a Human Resources Director though the Summit County Educational Service Center; previous to that position he was the Director of Student Services for the Service Center. Joseph was the Director of Student Services for Lake Local Schools. He was the Speech-Language Pathology Supervisor/Consultant for the Stark County Educational Service Center where he provided services to 12 local and 4 city districts. Joseph is a licensed speech-language pathologist and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competency, which is the national certification for this field. He has an Administrative Specialist license and completed his administrative coursework at Cleveland State University. He is passionate about helping children with special needs and coordinating services for children with disabilities and their parents.

John has had a 30 year private practice of psychotherapy for children, adolescents and adults. Over that time span, he has introduced mindfulness and mindful awareness practices to many clients, young and old, as part of their therapeutic work. He is authorized to teach the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course (MBSR) through the Center for Mindfulness at the U-Mass. Medical Center, Worcester, MA. Utilizing the Inner Explorer program, an MBSR program adapted for teachers and programming from Courage & Renewal Northeast, he’s implemented a two-year program to integrate mindful awareness training to enhance the resilience and well-being of both students and teachers at an elementary school in Westfield, MA. Currently, he is a leader and coordinator of the Westfield Meditation Group that meets at the Genesis Spiritual Life & Conference Center where he has taught several MBSR courses. He was also the lead co-author of the article, “Integrating Mindfulness Into K-12 Education: Fostering The Resilience Of Teachers & Students”, which appeared in the journal Mindfulness in December 2012.

Edgar is a Teach For America teacher at Reach Academy in Oakland, CA. Reach is part of the Oakland Unified School District and serves a diverse student population. Edgar is the Chair of Mindfulness in Education team, which is part of the US Dept of Education Teach to Lead Initiative. Edgar provides Inner Explorer with a depth of understanding of the needs of students in urban classrooms, as well as a vision for what is needed so that they may expand their potential and flourish.

Krishna is an unconventional coach, social entrepreneur and change agent who uses a playful approach to empower people make mindful choices in life. He is founder and Chief Empowerment Officer of the ChoiceLadder Institute whose mission is to illuminate our many blind spots and putting the power to choose back in our hands. In 2013, he co-founded the Mindful Nation Foundation, a brainchild of Congressman Tim Ryan. He is also the host of Janice Marturano’s Mindful Leadership Online Workshops. For over twenty five years, he has impacted individuals and teams using his simple, yet practical, framework distilled from his varied career experiences. His transformational approach has been featured on TEDx, New York Times, Huffington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Inc. magazine among others. Additionally, he has been an accomplished software entrepreneur, award-winning multimedia producer, inventor and sought-after business growth and personal advisor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed book Beyond the PIG and the APE: Realizing Success and true Happiness. Krishna received his B.S. in civil engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, his M.S. in education foundations and media technology from Indiana State University, and has attended executive management programs at both Carnegie Mellon and Harvard universities. He is also a graduate of Landmark Education’s Curriculum for Living.

Rick is an Extension Field Specialist on the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (UNHCE) Youth & Family Team, promoting positive youth and family development efforts in partnership with other UNH faculty, local organizations, schools, coalitions and communities. Rick has provided leadership in youth development programs addressing the needs of young people and their families, including those experiencing significant personal and social challenges. He has assisted community-based efforts to involve youth through coalition building, demonstration programming, staff training, grant development, and other partnerships. Rick has enjoyed learning side-by-side young people through boards, committees, support groups, workshops, community service and other educational efforts. Rick works to promote positive youth development in partnership with other UNH colleagues through collaboration and cooperation involving young people, parent/guardian/family members, educators, service providers and community leaders.

Dixie has study philosophy and world religions throughout her life and holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology. She has trained, certified and taught in many different techniques and technologies in the arena of consciousness, brain training and learning: Phono-Graphix, Interactive Metronome, Accelerated Learning, Irlen Scotopic Sensitivity, and Birthing From Within, to name just a few. Her passion for teaching is matched only by her dedication as a volunteer to help children directly experience the many gifts that a mindfulness practice can provide them, as well as their families and communities. Dixie's multi modality background and her broad relationships across industries provide Inner Explorer with a unique opportunity to gain insight and perspective regarding programs and working with children.

Peter DeWitt (Ed.D) is a former K-5 teacher (11 years) and principal (8 years). He runs workshops and provides keynotes nationally and internationally focusing on collaborative leadership, fostering inclusive school climates, and connected learning. Within North America, his work has been adopted at the state level, university level, and he works with numerous districts and school boards, where he trains leadership teams and coaches building leaders.

His Finding Common Ground blog was published 3 times a week by Education Week for 6 years and is not a monthly column. He is the 2013 School Administrators Association of New York State's (SAANYS) Outstanding Educator of the Year, and the 2015 Education Blogger of the Year (Academy of Education Arts & Sciences).

Peter is the author of several books including Collaborative Leadership: 6 Influences That Matter Most (Corwin Press/Learning Forward) and School Climate: Leading with Collective efficiency (Corwin Press/Ontario Principals Council. 2017) and Coach It Forward: Using the Art of Coaching to Improve Leadership (Corwin Press. 2018).

Patton Sarley (also known by his Sanskrit name, Dinabandhu) has been a leader in the fields of yoga, spirituality, and human development for 45 years. He has lived a unique blend of dedicated spiritual inquiry and high impact social entrepreneurship in the field of whole person development. Patton spent two decades as a dedicated “yoga monastic” living in spiritual community focusing on deep spiritual study and practice.

In his secular pursuits, Patton has also held the key leadership position in the two largest and most successful holistic educational centers in the United States during their periods of greatest institutional vitality. Patton served as CEO of the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health from 2004-2010 where he and his wife Ila led a renewal of vision, mission, and business development, that brought the organization back from the brink of bankruptcy to its current position as the largest and most successful yoga retreat center in the U.S.

Patton most recently served as the lead program officer with the 1440 Foundation where he conceived of and implemented a national program to bring daily meditation practice to public schools as a way to improve academic performance, reduce stress, improve school climate and increase overall systemic resiliency. As part of his work at 1440, Patton was also a founding member of the 100 million dollar 1440 Multiversity, a state of the art adult holistic learning center recently opened in Santa Cruz CA.

Kay Annis Wilson is a retired executive bringing expertise to Inner Explorer in communications, community outreach, partnerships, management and strategic planning. Kay’s nonprofit experience focuses on the education and success of students and she is currently serving on the boards of Champions for Children and Social Venture Partners Tampa Bay. Prior to retirement, Kay was the CEO/Founder of Circlepoint, a communications consulting firm in San Francisco and Director of Special Projects for the Office of Government and Community Relations at Stanford University.