Maria Fakhoury brings to the Aris Council a deep clinical expertise at the intersection of relational health, trauma recovery, and women’s mental wellness.

As a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Women's Wellness Coordinator, she has dedicated her career to advancing access to compassionate, trauma-informed care for women navigating pivotal life transitions—including fertility challenges, postpartum experiences, hormonal shifts, and burnout.

Through her leadership at Center Focused Therapy in Chicago and previous roles in academic and global consulting settings, she has developed pioneering mental health programs, led educational initiatives on maternal and reproductive well-being, and built strategic partnerships that bridge clinical psychology with community-centered care.

With a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and a neuroscience background from the University of Toronto, she ensures Aris remains attuned to the emotional, relational, and physiological realities of women's mental health—grounding our AI coaching experience in empathy, accessibility, and evidence-based support.

Bill O’Brien serves on the Aris Council as a master architect of human-centered growth and a foundational contributor to the science behind Aris’ transformative coaching experience.

A psychologist and the founder of Mission Development Corp., he has spent over 25 years guiding executive teams and organizations through strategic change, cultural transformation, and leadership development.

As a direct protégé and subject matter expert in the Art of Helping, the pioneering human development framework created by Robert R. Carkhuff, he brings a rare mastery in interpersonal effectiveness, human potential, and applied behavioral science. His strategic counsel has shaped the growth of more than 200 organizations—including Harvard Medical School, PwC, Merck, and Citizens Bank—and his insights have been invaluable to Aris’ founder and science team in establishing the Aris Intelligence Ecosystem.

With a research background at Boston University and award-winning contributions to policy innovation, he ensures that Aris delivers a coaching experience that is not only scalable and sophisticated, but deeply human, empowering individuals and leaders to grow with purpose and integrity.

Chris Newell contributes to the Aris Council a distinguished career at the forefront of organizational development, collaborative leadership, and enterprise learning innovation.

As Senior Director of Organizational Development at Boston Children’s Hospital and President of Newell Consulting, he has guided executive teams, led enterprise-wide succession planning, and advanced performance culture initiatives in some of the nation’s most respected institutions.

With a doctorate in psychology and an extensive career spanning executive roles at Lotus Development, Keane Inc., and Parametric Technology Corporation, he has been a pioneering force in virtual teaming, knowledge management, and collaborative technologies. As co-founder of the IBM Institute for Knowledge Management and the Institute for Global Work at Boston University, he has shaped how organizations worldwide think about team dynamics, culture, and distributed learning.

His insight ensures that Aris remains a leader not only in personal coaching, but in enabling authentic, high-performing relationships in both individual and organizational contexts.

Devin Singh joins the Aris Council as a globally respected thought leader and integrative scholar whose work bridges leadership, ethics, and social insight.

As the founder of Leadership Kinetics, LLC, and a tenured Associate Professor at Dartmouth College, he brings two decades of experience empowering high-achieving leaders to align values, decision-making, and impact through a cross-disciplinary lens informed by philosophy, religion, and social theory.

A Yale-trained scholar with degrees from the University of Chicago, Trinity Divinity School, and Pomona College, he is a published author, international speaker, and seasoned advisor to values-driven organizations worldwide.

His extensive global experience—shaped by a diplomatic upbringing and academic engagements across more than 35 countries—infuses the Council with a deeply inclusive, culturally attuned perspective. His presence ensures that Aris remains not only ethically grounded, but also reflective of the moral and philosophical depth required to guide transformational growth in an interconnected world.

James Brooks brings to the Aris Council a distinguished career in leadership science, executive development, and organizational transformation.

As a globally respected consultant and executive coach, he has advised Fortune 500 companies and top-tier organizations—including Nike, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, the NBA, and Johnson & Johnson—on building high-performing leaders and scalable talent strategies.

A former HR executive at Cisco Systems, he co-founded Cisco’s Leadership Development and Employee Engagement Centers of Excellence, helping shape the company's globally recognized culture of innovation and inclusion.

With a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from DePaul University and advanced credentials in human resources and behavioral science, his expertise spans executive assessment, 360-degree feedback, and organizational change. His contributions to the Council ensure that Aris continues to deliver science-backed coaching that empowers individuals to grow, lead, and thrive—grounded in psychological rigor and inspired by the pursuit of human potential.

Frances Johnston brings to the Aris Council a rare blend of scholarly depth and transformative leadership practice

As a world-renowned scholar-practitioner, researcher, and co-author of Becoming a Resonant Leader (Harvard Business Press), her expertise in adult and organizational development has shaped executive leadership across sectors and continents.

As the founder and CEO of Teleos Leadership Institute, she has spent over three decades guiding C-suite executives, community leaders, and global organizations—including the United Nations, Viacom, and Unilever—through complex change and inclusive leadership transformation.

Her ability to decode group dynamics and unlock human potential at scale makes her a vital force in advancing Aris’ mission. Her presence on the Council ensures that the human-centered coaching framework behind Aris remains rooted in integrity, compassion, and the profound belief that every individual and organization holds the power to lead meaningful change.

Gretchen Schmelzer brings to the Aris Council an unparalleled depth of expertise in trauma recovery, behavioral transformation, and leadership development across individual, organizational, and global systems.

A licensed psychologist, trauma survivor, and the bestselling author of Journey Through Trauma, she has spent over 25 years guiding individuals, communities, and institutions through complex healing and change. Her groundbreaking work has spanned psychiatric units, residential treatment, and global initiatives—including leading trauma-informed leadership programs for survivors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and Alaska Native leaders confronting domestic violence and sexual assault.

As a senior associate at Teleos Leadership Institute and co-founder of The Center for Trauma and Leadership, she has shaped trauma-informed leadership models now used by hospitals, governments, and humanitarian organizations.

A Harvard Medical School Fellow and faculty member at Penn’s Graduate School of Education, she ensures that Aris remains rooted in psychological integrity and emotional safety—so that every user, especially those healing from trauma, experiences coaching as a pathway to true restoration, empowerment, and growth.