Research from Shawn Achor (Harvard Business Review, 2012) shows that when teams operate from a positive cognitive state:
• ~31% increase in productive energy
• ~37% higher sales performance
• ~40% greater likelihood of promotion (leadership readiness)
• Up to 3× greater creativity
• ~23% reduction in the negative effects of stress
These effects are durable. When positive habits are practiced for as little as three weeks, gains persist months later — indicating systemic change in how the brain processes information, not temporary motivation.
March 20, 2026
9am-2pm
Summit 2 Banquet Room
Crown Plaza Hotel
401 W Summit Hill Dr SW
Downtown Knoxville, TN 37902
A retreat-style experience for leaders who need to refuel.
This is not another conference.
It’s a pause.
The World Happiness Fellowship is an in-person retreat designed for leaders across industries and disciplines who are carrying a lot—and want to leave resourced, grounded, and clear.
Who will be there:
Leaders from business, nonprofit, government, education, healthcare, and community organizations.
Come as you are.
Leave refueled.
HR professionals can earn 3 PDCs toward SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification for an additional $15 optional add on; Attendees will receive a separate email with instructions to add PDCs.
Opening Keynote
Elia Gourgouris, PhD
America’s Happiness Doctor
How to Effectively Navigate ANY Life Challenge with Resilience & Manifest Success & Happiness
Dr. Elia Gourgouris, widely known as America’s Happiness Doctor, is the author of the #1 best-selling Amazon book 7 Paths to Lasting Happiness, which has been translated into five languages. He is also the co-author of the highly acclaimed book 7 Keys to Navigating a Crisis: A Practical Guide to Emotionally Dealing with Pandemics and Other Disasters.
He is the President and Co-Founder of The Kindness Factor International and recently produced the documentary feature film For Such a Time As This, exploring the global impact of kindness.
This keynote equips professionals with a framework for navigating challenges with resilience and for creating workplace cultures that foster well‑being, engagement, and performance. Attendees will explore four personality responses to challenges and learn to shift to a Navigator mindset, enabling effective leadership in any circumstance. The session highlights the power of H.O.T. (Honest, Open, Transparent) communication, the traits that define resilient leaders, and practical strategies for building inclusive, resilient, high‑trust cultures that drive organizational success. Participants will leave with actionable insights to strengthen resilience skills across their teams and enhance overall organizational effectiveness.
Interactive Speaker
Kim Black
Kim Black is the Founder of Sage Leadership & Wellness and a leadership consultant, certified executive coach, and speaker whose work sits at the intersection of organizational psychology, happiness science, and leadership effectiveness.
She brings over 25 years of experience at PwC, where she held multiple senior leadership roles, including serving as Wellbeing Director for PwC’s U.S. and Mexico workforce of approximately 75,000 employees.
Interactive Experience; The Belonging Effect: Escape Room Edition - Unlocking the Keys to Trust & Wellbeing
- Experience how trust, and wellbeing influence team performance under pressure.
- Diagnose three everyday leadership blind spots that erode belonging and design rituals to fix them and prevent them from happening again.
- Leave with a ready-to-use “Belonging Ritual” to implement immediately - and a business case to sustain it.
Closing Keynote
Enrique Rubio CEO & Founder Hacking HR
Top voice and disruptor of HR, Fulbright scholar Engineer
Technology with a Soul: How We Can Leverage AI to Strengthen Human Happiness at Work
Can we leverage AI to make people happier at work?
AI alone will not create happiness, but how we design work, relationships, and communities around AI absolutely can. This keynote explores why community, belonging, and human connection matter more than ever as technology reshapes how we work.
While AI promises efficiency, speed, and scale, it also risks deepening isolation, fragmentation, and disconnection if deployed without intention. Drawing on insights from global organizations and communities, this session challenges the assumption that smarter tools automatically lead to better work experiences. Instead, it reframes AI as a powerful enabler that can either erode or strengthen trust, collaboration, and well-being depending on the choices leaders make.
The session introduces the idea of being connected by design: intentionally shaping workplaces where AI supports human relationships. Participants will explore how AI can help reduce friction, free up time for meaningful interactions, and reinforce a sense of belonging, when guided by human-centered values and community-first thinking.
Ultimately, this keynote invites leaders to rethink the future of work not as a technological race, but as a human one. Moving from isolation to belonging requires more than new tools. It requires new ways of thinking, new forms of leadership, and a renewed commitment to building workplaces where people feel seen, supported, and connected in an AI-powered world.
Session Objectives
By the end of this keynote, participants will be able to:
- Reframe the role of AI at work from a productivity tool to a human-enabling force that supports happiness and well-being.
- Understand why community and belonging are critical drivers of happiness in increasingly digital and AI-augmented workplaces.
- Identify how poorly designed AI implementations can unintentionally increase isolation and unhappiness, and how to avoid it.
- Explore practical ways leaders can design AI-enabled environments that strengthen trust, collaboration, and connection.
- Rethink leadership in the age of AI by placing human happiness, relationships, and purpose at the center of technology decisions.
In Partnership With
The Fellowship is just the beginning. It connects you to the Knoxville Happiness Coalition’s year-round leadership community; where monthly academy offerings and in-person gatherings support leaders in sustaining clarity, energy, and wellbeing long after the event ends.
Presenting Sponsor
