ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS


Cynthia Milani

Founder & Director

Neuroanthropologist, Neuroleadership Coach, Author, Gamification

About us


Cynthia Milani is a public speaker, intercultural business consultant and trainer with thirty years of experience in a wide variety of skills building training for multinational corporations throughout Europe, Asia, America and the Middle East. She is a certified mediator from Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation, a certified neuroleadership coach with David Rock’s prestigious NeuroLeadership Institute, as well as a certified BrainStates practitioner with Shannon Murphy, and Srini Pillay of Harvard Medical School, among many others. 


Cynthia has had a long interest in neuroscience and the brain. She learned about the impact of epigenetics working with emotionally disturbed children in stress environments while working in the PEACE CORPS. After completing her Masters Degree in physical anthropology (with honors) at Columbia University, she lived among African tribes practicing witchcraft and voodoo to understand the power of the mind and emotions. As an anthropologist, she studied with, and was later sponsored by, the renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead for a project with the National Cancer Institute’s think tank on Biofeedback, cancer and mind control before going into the field of intercultural training and conflict resolution. She is now combining her expertise in leadership and cultural diversity training with the emerging field of neuroanthropology.


Cynthia is passionate about helping people understand the brain, so they can take control of their emotions, make decisions with their higher brain, become  more inclusive leaders and live better lives. She does this by lecturing to clients and participants in over 60 countries, and through professional gamification. She is the author and developer of the popular NeuroDiversophy (2019), and NeuroLeadership (2025).


She has delivered her customized trainings for a wide variety of clients including:

AGIP Petroleum, Amadeus, AT&T, AXA, Bic, Bayer, The BBC (London), Berlitz Cross Cultural, BP/Amoco, Chanel, Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) /Credit Suisse, Danone, Disney, DOW, Egypt Oil & Gas, ENI, Essar India, FIAT, France Telecom, Global Dynamics, NIKE, Johnson & Johnson, Fiat, GM, Heineken, EMEA, IBM, ING, KPMG, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, Nestle, Roche, Shell Oil, Saatchi & Saatchi, Saudi Aramco, SAP, Siemens, Shell, Sun Microsystems, Texaco, Texas Instruments, The United Nations, Unilever, Vodafone, Westinghouse, Whirlpool, to name but a few. 

Cynthia teaches her BRAIN+BODY+CULTURE related courses, lectures and/or held retreats for the following universities & institutes: 

American University of Paris, EDHEC, The European Parliament, European Board of Education, Istituto Dirigenti Italiani (IDI), Istituto Europea, S.I.E.T.A.R Europa. France, Italy, U.S.A., United Nations, The University of Rochester, NY for Ecohumanity. SKEMA U., and CONI Sports & Health for Olympic and Italian National Champions, and the upcoming UN University of Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica.


Cynthia Milani has delivered the following Key Note & Public Speaker Presentations in person & virtually:


  • How to Apply Polyvagal & BrainSkills Theories to Successfully Navigate VUCA & Trauma
  • The Neuroscience of Culture and Crisis: How to Use Neuroscience in the Workplace & Crossing Cultures to Resolve Conflicts
  • Change Your Brain Change Your Game: How to Use Neuroscience in the Workplace To Implement Inclusion and Diversity,…The Right way!
  • The Neuroscience of Inclusion & Diversity: How The Brain Can Be Re-wired to Build Trust and Successfully Manage Bias as a Tool for inter culturalists
  • Quantum Physics and Flow: The Powerful New Paradigms for Happiness
  • Change Your Brain Change Your Game: How to use Neuroscience in A VUCA world
  • How Flow & Quantum Physics Can Enhance Leadership & Resilience in Intercultural Settings, with Practical Tools to Starting Using Now!
  • Neuroma Brain Meetings for Athletes: Culture & Emotional Intelligence
  • How To Apply Polyvagal & the Principles of Somatic Healing to Leadership in the Intercultural Workplace
  • The Neuroscience of Culture & Crisis: How to Use Neuroscience in the Workplace and Crossing Cultures For Better Results
  • NeuroLeadearship & Gender: Myth and Realities
  • What Makes You, You & Them, Them: Conversations with a NeuroAnthropologist
  • How to Implement Myers Briggs & Emotional IQ in the Workplace, a guide for Leaders
  • Mind Matters: How to Use Neuroscience for Better Results in Training & Beyond 


She is available to deliver any of these courses virtually, or in person at the Institute



Certifications

Shannon Murphy

CEO BrainSkills@Work, Keynote Speaker, Author

About us



Shannon Is a highly praised and sought after Key Note Speaker. She is co-founder of BrainSkills@Work, a revolutionary approach to neuroleadership & diversity that uses neuroscience based skills and tools to help change the world and make it more inclusive, optimistic, kind and caring.  Shannon’s wide range of information, solid science-based tools and charismatic leadership have made her highly in demand. The IgD Center for Neuroleadership & Diversity is privileged to have Shannon Murphy host her popular BrainStates Certification RETREATS with us.


Shannon and her partner, Mary Casey, created the BrainStates Awareness Profile, a set of highly effective brain-based models, skills and tools that can unlock your highest state and potential that are the basis of the BrainStates Retreat  at the igD Center in Provence. Shannon established one of the first consulting companies to directly apply neuroscience to inclusion and cultural agility, and create competent thought leaders in the field. In 2012, she achieved Advanced Certification as NeuroBusiness Coaches at Harvard with Dr. Srini Pillay. 


Shannon has successfully created and implemented large-scale diversity and inclusion training initiatives (20,000+ employees) with clients such as Deloitte, Deluxe, Boston Scientific, SwedishAmerican Hospital, Aetna, Cargill, Mayo Clinic, University of Michigan, and Medtronic, among many others, so she knows how to execute results. We invite you to visit Shannon’s website to learn more about her activities and contributions to the field of neuroscience, diversity and leadership.  www.brainskillsatwork.com

Shannon is co-author of the exciting new book Neuroscience of Inclusion: New Skills for New Times, the BrainStates Self-Awareness Profile, and white paper on The Neuroscience of Inclusion: Managing Unconscious Bias.  She is on the faculty of the Intercultural Communication Institute in Portland, OR, teaching neuroscience of inclusion.


Shannon Murphy & Cynthia Milani are co-hosts of the highly praised BrainStates Certification this summer in Provence, France (Sophia Antipolis)


OUR CERTIFICATION PROGRAM PROVIDES YOU WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO SUCCESSFULLY ADMINISTER THE BRAINSTATES AWARENESS

 

UPON CERTIFICATION, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

Receive all of the materials and know-how you need to Administer the BrainStates Awareness Profile in your organization or with your clients

Debrief individual and group results

Facilitate training or coaching on Profile results andthe neuroscience underlying BrainStates Management™

Interpret and describe individuals’ BrainState tendencies, and how these directly impact self-awareness, perception, and choices

Present and discuss individual results on the 7 dimensions of neuroscience underlying their BrainStates results

Describe and model 2 key skills to recognize and shift to higher levels of self-awareness, more open-minded perceptions, and engage in more conscious behaviors


Shannon teaches the following courses:


·      Neuroscience of Inclusion: Good Intentions Are Not Enough

·      Understanding the Brain, Bias and Behavior

·      A.C.T. Inclusively™ – Override and Repattern Bias in the Brain

·      Cultural Agility

·      S.A.V.E. Communication from the Defensive Brain

·      Leverage the Brain and Body to Increase Inclusion & Racial Equity 

·      Understanding and Leveraging Neurodiversity

·      Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Learning Communities

·      Train-the-Trainer

·      Energy Healing & Traditional Wisdom for Stress & Trauma Release

 



About us

Dean Foster

 Global Business Expert, Key note speaker, Author,

Founder of DFA Intercultural Global solutions



Dean is the founder of DFA Intercultural Global Solutions , and  former Worldwide Director of Berlitz Cross-Cultural. Based in New York City, Dean has played a central role in the development of the field of cross-cultural training and consulting.

Dean has worked with most major Fortune 500 companies, national governments and NGOs (the United Nations and World Trade Institutes, among others), and as guest lecturer and faculty for premier educational institutions, including Harvard Business School, Columbia University School of Business, New York University, and Darden Business School. His work has taken him to more than 100 countries. He is the host on CNN of the nationwide “Doing Business in … ” series; a frequent guest commentator on culture, global work and social issues for CNN, CNBC, the BBC and other radio and TV shows; and has been interviewed in Newsweek, USA Today, New York Times, and elsewhere. He is the creator and host of the more than irreverent podcast, "Oops, Your Culture's Showing!"


Dean is a frequent presenter at major international conferences related to international cultural issues. He is an active member of and speaker at the annual international conferences of Worldwide ERC©, the National Foreign Trade Council, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the International Institute for Human Resources (IIHR), and other organizations.

In 2012 Dean was inducted into Worldwide ERC’s prestigious “Hall of Leaders”; in 2013 he received the Forum for Expatriate Management’s acclaimed Lifetime Achievement Award.


Dean has written many articles and published five books, including Bargaining Across Borders, voted as one of the top ten business books of the year by the American Library Association. As a contributing editor with National Geographic, he wrote the monthly “CultureWise” column appearing in National Geographic Traveler Magazine.

Dean is on the faculty of American University's Intercultural Management Institute in Washington, DC. He received his Master’s degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, NYC.


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George Simons

Interculturalist & Director/Developer DIVERSOPHY

About us


Dr. George F. Simons is editor-in-chief of the award-winning diversophy® game series, a collection of over 100 training, tools, in multiple languages, which includes NEUROdiverosphy and the upcoming NEUROLeadership games by Cynthia MILANI which are played during many of our workshops at the IgD Center for Neuroleadership & Diversity, as well as online for an international audience. The purpose of the games is to help players to develop intercultural competence in training rooms, as well as for online learning and with other new technologies and sciences (www.diversophy.com).


Dr. Simons is the founder and owner of George Simons International, a virtual consulting network specializing in intercultural communication, global negotiation, and team development. He is a frequent university lecturer on international business, and trains and coaches managers and staff of global corporations, NGOs, and SMEs in influence and negotiation skills. He is also a prolific author including co-authoring eight packages in the Cultural Detective® series as well as many articles, reviews, and poems. 


Author and editor of EuroDiversity: a Business Guide to Managing Difference, he also co-authored Putting Diversity to Wor, and diversophy-Gamification and Storytelling-Connecting our Stories for a More Inclusive Future.

 

George has served on the Board of Directors of SIETAR Europa, and on the conseil d’administration of SIETAR France. He moderates a LinkedIn discussion group on “Competence in Intercultural Professions.” George lives in France, works in English, French, German, and Spanish, and has a working knowledge of Italian, Dutch, Indonesian, and Russian.


What is diversophy®


diversophy®, created by Dr. George Simons, currently offers more than 100 games in many languages that can be played offline or online, some address specific cultural groups, while others develop skills like cultural competence, teamwork and negotiation, or explore themes such as identity, the emerging field of neuroscience, healthcare, immigration, ecology, and many other current cultural and social issues.  Playing diversophy® connects players with each other by encouraging them to share their diverse experiences, cultural stories, and to listen to each other. It inspires. mutual discovery, synergy, creativity, and collaboration Visit www.diversophy.com or play NEUROiversophy with us online or at the IgD Center for NeuroLeadership & Diversity with George & Cynthia. Here we are playing NEURODiversophy with our colleagues at SIETAR……



Armando Milani

Eco Humanity & Peace Advocate, Designer, Author

About us


Armando Milani is a is a leading figure in the art of peace. Based in Milan, Italy, he is the creator of the timely Eco-Humanity Collection.

A world-renowned graphic designer and an icon in the international world of visual arts, he is best known for his prolific work in promoting peace and conflict resolution through the medium of design. He has hosted many of the workshops over the years to students from Europe, Asia, and the Americas who want to learn how they can communicate peace and environmental protection through the arts.

 

Armando has designed logos, corporate identities, books, packaging and posters for a long list of prestigious clients. But, after traveling the world, and seeing the widespread poverty from regional conflicts and climate change, he turned his focus to creating his highly praised collection, From the Eye to the Heart - a way of translating emotions into an art form that allows the viewer to rationalize with their higher brain state. An example of that is his famous Dove of World Peace for the United Nations, a poster that has become the symbol for peace in much of the world. 


Armando received a gold medal for his humanitarian posters and EcoHumanity Collection from the University Anahuac in Mexico City, and his work has been highlighted at a number of conferences on Peace, most recently at the International Day of living Together In Peace, Peace at the Heart of Education sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva.

 

Armando has taught at Cooper Union and the Art Directors Club in New York, the Santo Domingo School of Design, the University of Beijing, the IED (European Institute of Design) and the Politecnico University in Milan. He has co-hosted a series of popular workshops at the IgD Center for Neurleadership & Diversity in Provence during our early years for the Rochester School of Design with Massimo Vignelli, the American University of Paris, University of Kansas, and private clients from around the world interested in learning how to create peace through design and imaging.


Join Armando Milani for one of his popular EcoHumanity workshops at the Center, and learn how to use design to communicate peace and improve the human condition through imagery and neuroscience. This event is taught in conjunction with our IgD brain+body+cuture presenters who will teach the neuroscience that connect art, emotions, and the higher brain. Join us for this unique opportunity to learn how to visually create a more peaceful world, and become certified by a master of human communication in this skills-building event. 


Maeva Bec

Aromatic and Medicinal Plant Expert, Local Craftswoman

About us



Maeva Bec is a local craftswoman and flower picker by passion. Originally from Belgium, she lives and works in the hills of the magnificent Alpes-Maritimes, where she founded her own company Maeva Bec, its purpose is to play an active role in respecting all living beings and the planet's resources Through her lively, picturesque workshops, Maeva shares the beauty and strategies of plants that surround us, and how to use them in our everyday lives. Maeva holds a diploma in farm management of aromatic and medicinal plants, and a Masters degree in Visual Communication from Creapole design school in Paris. She has trained in all earth-related trades, including intensive market gardening, agroecology, picking, growing and food processing, goat breeding, rose farming and herbalism, in France and northern Spain. The IgD Center for Neurleadership & Diversity is pleased to have Maeva as a speaker on a variety of topics that we tie to discussions in our brain+body+culture workshops in new and fascinating ways


Topics include:

  1. Learn about co-existence from a pro. In this lively and highly original interactive presentation, Maeva Bec shares with us some of the strategies plants use to communicate and co-evolve. You will discover the various modes of exchange, and the multiple interactions plants have with other living organisms, through the lens of roots, trees and other on the grounds of the IgD Center and in picturesque locales. 
  2. Discover how collaboration and collective intelligence forms the foundation of plants personality since their beings, which we tie to our key themes of human development and conflict resolution.
  3. Share with Maeva our popular traditions and ancient wisdom that lies at the root of our cultural heritage.
  4. Uncover the non-dual approach to the heart of plants genius as we learn to use all of our senses and work with the higher brain in our own gardens.


Practice your new skills among the lavender, roses, and olive trees the Center provides. 

Maddalena Abouhussein

Neuroscience Coach, Positive Discipline Educator,  Parent Coach

About us


As a Positive Discipline Educator, Parenting Coach, and Neuroscience Coach, Maddalena brings a deep understanding of the brain and nervous system to her work with families and individuals. She integrates cutting-edge neuroscience into her coaching approach, helping clients unlock their full potential by understanding how brain function influences behavior, decision-making, and emotional regulation. Her expertise in the science of the brain empowers parents, educators, and leaders to create more compassionate, effective, and resilient environments. Passionate about the intersection of neuroscience and human development, Maddalena is committed to using the latest research to guide individuals toward positive change and lasting transformation. Maddalena live and works in Cairo, Egypt and is one of the presenters in our Egypt based retreats.