A note from our CEO
It’s hard to believe how taking action from that “not on my watch” moment years ago when my community was senselessly losing young lives has propelled our Worldmaker team through hundreds of thousands of miles traveled and lives touched across the U.S. and around the world,
Our Values
Whole-hearted: We commit; we’re builders; we care.
Positive: We bring vision; we bring purpose; we bring hope.
Trailblazers: We innovate; we’re experts; we lead.
We do everything with integrity.
Our Vision
A world prepared to THRIVE through adversity.
What We Do
- Convene experts to create narratives of thriving and needed field tools.
- Serve as the premiere global resource for human resilience education.
- Direct the National Resilience Institute (US) and help communities around the world prepare for and respond to disruptions.
- Commission academic research and translate the findings into freely available resources.
- Lead global professional development experiences that strengthen helpers and vulnerable communities.
Why Our Work Matters
We live in turbulent times. Too often, when bad things happen, structures that help people cope are not in place. People are suffering unnecessarily. Worldmaker International is the NGO that equips leaders and helpers to thrive and to unleash the power of human potential. We shape academic work understood by the few into practical tools used by the many.
YOUR WORLDMAKER TEAM
Our Board and Executive Team collaborate closely, leading with clarity of vision and
generating impact that provides donors with a strong return on their philanthropic investments.
Dr. Mollie Marti, PhD, JD, Chief Executive Officer
Mollie Marti, PhD, JD, Founding CEO of Worldmaker International, is a social psychologist, attorney and resilience researcher. She began this work in response to the tragic loss of young lives by suicide and then led the growth of the U.S. based nonprofit National Resilience Institute, working across school safety, military and crisis response resilience, organizational wellness, and leadership. She is known for adapting research into effective applications, including the THRIVE Resilience Model™ that Worldmaker uses to go beyond individual traits to help build environments that repair trauma and nurture connections between people and their communities.
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Liz Coenen, M.Div., Chief Operating Officer
Liz has been an educator, chaplain, and philanthropic leader whose work is rooted in the belief that mutual relationships inspire positive transformation in communities, individuals, and organizations. She currently works as an independent consultant building capacity among individuals, teams, and collectives facing uncertainty and complexities. For 15 years, she served as the executive director of a private operating foundation whose primary work was using a strengths-based approach within socially and economically disadvantaged communities to support children and families through the development of mutual relationships with community-based organizations. Liz’s skills include human systems dynamics, organizational design, strengths-based leadership development, implementation and assessment, community-based program development, teacher formation, and board development.
Kristen Hayes, M.A., Research & Education Manager
Kristen's passion is supporting positive and holistic youth development by bringing practical and evidence-based tools and support to the adults who work with them. She has worked in various roles within the education system, and she is particularly interested in working with schools to help their students become well-equipped, well-resourced human beings. She has a M.A. in Developmental Psychology and a B.A. in Education.
Rachel Laborde, JD, Development Associate
Rachel came to understand the deep importance of human resilience after enduring a family trauma in 2016. Since then, she has been fueled to increase awareness of and access to evidenced-based human resiliency training. As Worldmaker International’s Development Associate, she knows that #WeThriveTogether is more than a hashtag, it is a life-saving mantra supported by decades of research. When she isn’t advancing Worldmaker, you can find her on a hiking trail, enjoying coffee and a book, gardening, or celebrating life with friends and family. Rachel attended Marquette University where she obtained her Juris Doctorate in 2014 and Bachelor of Arts in 2011.
Katie Foy, Communications Associate
Katie works to cultivate communities of resilience, understanding, and healing by transforming the way society responds to adversity, especially in the lives of children.
Katie draws on her communication and social media experiences in the non-profit sector, coupled with her various roles working with infants and adolescences, to connect the dots between research and real-world application. Her goal is to ensure each child receives the tools and resources needed to become healthy, thriving human beings.
She has B.A. in communication and journalism with concentrations in Psychology and Sustainability.
David Richmond, Board Chair
David serves as Board Chair of Worldmaker International, a multi-disciplinary consortium of global experts dedicated to building human resilience. After 26 years of British Army service, he received a medical discharge for serious battle wounds that required four years of surgery and rehabilitation. He went on to serve as Recovery Director at Help for Heroes, overseeing services for over 18,000 wounded and sick servicemen, veterans and families. David was awarded the rank of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his leadership, including serving as Chairman of the Contact Group, which brings together UK military charities and governmental agencies engaged in delivering mental health support to veterans..
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Ivy Kusinga, Board Vice Chair
Ivy Kusinga is the Chief Culture and Talent Officer at Chubb; a global property and casualty insurer serving large corporate, mid-market, small business, and lower-middle income to high-net-worth consumers through brokerage, agency and direct-to-consumer distribution channels. With more than 25 years of work experience, she partners with other leaders to strengthen Chubb’s culture and provide an inclusive, equitable environment that enables high performance. She also works with leadership teams across Chubb to support a focus on attracting, developing and retaining talent. Prior to this role, Ivy led the talent management function for Chubb North America and worked for Chubb Overseas General as VP, Business Development, International Accident & Health. Ivy speaks extensively on issues of corporate culture, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion and serves on several non-profit boards in addition to Worldmaker International. Born in Uganda, she attended university in Nova Scotia, Canada and currently resides in Philadelphia.
Board Members
Maya Tadmor-Anderman, MBA
Consultant, Community Resilience and Social Impact
Jeffrey Buchanan
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (retired)
Kirk Ferguson
Director of Special Projects, R2P Innovations, US
Thembi Gola
Clinical & Operations Director, Consolidated Africa Services, Zimbabwe
Lola Olakunbi, M.D.
National Health Service, UK
Fiona Sweny
Founder, Ingo Health, UK
Sean Taylor
Director, Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, UK
Giacomo Tormene, PhD
Managing Director, Carma Laboratories, US
Bob VandePol, MSW
Executive Director of Employee, Church & School Assistance Programs, US
April Smith, JD
Immediate Past Chair, Managing Attorney, Office of the Texas Attorney General