Dr. Laura Burgis presenting award to Satish Kumar
Chair, Board of Trustees, Charter for Compassion; President & CEO, Human Values Center
Dr. Laura Burgis is the President and CEO of the Human Values Center (HVC), a nonprofit dedicated to fostering social, economic, ecological, and community well-being through values-based leadership and nature-rooted education. Under her leadership, HVC partners with schools, governments, and businesses to design programs that inspire compassionate action and align with both the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Inner Development Goals.
With a career spanning more than 25 years in academia, Dr. Burgis has served as Associate Dean at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business and as founding Executive Vice President and Provost of Claremont Lincoln University. Her scholarship and teaching focus on inner development, indigenous learning traditions, and service-learning models that strengthen resilience and co-creative community engagement.
As Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Charter for Compassion, Dr. Burgis helps guide global initiatives to heal divisions, cultivate compassionate communities, and embed empathy into leadership at every level. A lifelong advocate for unlocking human potential, she brings together the wisdom of education, the insight of lived experience, and a deep commitment to the flourishing of all beings.
Gard Jameson, Ph.D. presenting the award to Rainn Wilson
Secretary-Treasurer, Board of Trustees, Charter for Compassion
Gard Jameson, often called “Gard,” is a visionary leader dedicated to weaving compassion into the heart of communities. He is the founder of Compassionate Las Vegas, a citywide initiative uniting civic, nonprofit, business, faith, and educational partners to cultivate a culture of compassion. He also established the Jameson Fellowship, which brings together cross-sector leaders in Southern Nevada to build trust, collaboration, and collective impact.
With his wife Florence, Gard co-founded Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada, which provides free medical, dental, and behavioral health care for those without access. He also helped launch the Children’s Advocacy Alliance, advancing the health, safety, and education of Nevada’s children.
Gard has been a driving force in interfaith and community development, serving as a co-founder of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada and as a leader with the Nevada Community Foundation, the Stillpoint Center for Spiritual Development, and numerous other service initiatives. His compassion extends to restorative justice, food security through Delivering with Dignity, and projects that foster dignity and wellbeing for the most vulnerable.
An author of several books exploring myth, spirituality, and the human condition, Gard brings wisdom, heart, and a deep commitment to practical compassion. He and Florence are the proud parents of two daughters, MJ and Julia.
Robin Little Wing Sigo presenting award to Dr. Lyla June Johnston
Robin Little Wing Sigo, is the Director of the Suquamish Research & Strategic Development Department, which includes the Suquamish Foundation. She is a member of the Suquamish Tribe and sits on the Tribal Council. Ms. Sigo obtained her MSW at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work in 2006. With this she ran the Suquamish Tribe Wellness Center, provided mental health counseling, specializing in dual-disorders and complex trauma. She left this work to pursue research, as the Investigator of the Healing of the Canoe project for 10+ years, developing an adaptable curriculum to increase a sense of community belonging and reduce substance abuse among tribal youth. At the conclusion of this study, she began her current role as Director.
Ms. Sigo is a mom to four children, ages 9-17. She has also been an active member of the community serving on the Port Madison Enterprises Board, Kids in Concert Board, participating in her children’s school parent group, assisting other community organizations and has been a tribal foster parent for nearly 18 years. She lobbies in Washington D.C. for tribal sovereignty and mental health parity several times a year. In her free time, you can find her knitting, with a cup of tea of her side, a cat at her feet and thinking of ways to destroy the patriarchy and imagining her great-grandchildren playing on the shores of the Salish Sea.
Dr. Robert A. Paul presenting the award to Lobsang Tenzin Negi
Robert A. Paul is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University. His research interests include psychological anthropology, comparative religion, myth and ritual, and the ethnography of Nepal, Tibet, the Himalayas, and South and Central Asia
Along with Dr. Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Dr. Paul co-founded the Emory-Tibet Partnership in 1998, A unique academic initiative bringing together the best of the Tibetan and western traditions, the Partnership has since evolved into the multi-dimensional Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University. The Compassion Center, as it’s known, advances the shared vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Emory University to educate both heart and mind. The Robert A. Paul Emory-Tibet Science Initiative was named in his honor.
Dr. Paul received his B.A. from Harvard College and his M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago. He came to Emory University in 1977 as associate professor in the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts. He helped establish Emory's Anthropology Department and served as its first acting chair. In 1987, Dr. Paul began clinical training at the Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute, located in Emory's School of Medicine. He graduated in 1992 and was certified by the Board on Professional Standards of the American Psychoanalytic Association in 1997 after which he established Emory's widely recognized Psychoanalytic Studies Program. From 2001-2010, he served as dean of Emory College. His extensive scholarly publications include The Tibetan Symbolic World and Moses and Civilization: The Meaning Behind Freud's Myth.
