Board of Directors

Ralph Wolff
President

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Founder and former President of The Quality Assurance Commons, and an independent policy consultant focusing on accreditation and quality assurance processes in the US and internationally. 

Ralph previously served as the president of the WASC Senior College and University Commission from 1996 through August 2013, and as Associate Executive Director since 1981. He is a member of the University Quality Assurance International Board (UQAIB) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and on the National Advisory Boards of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) and for the Lumina Foundation on the Degree Qualifications Profile. He also is a member of the Board of Trustees of the United States International University Africa, located in Nairobi, Kenya and Palo Alto University.

He has published multiple articles and book chapters on accreditation, quality assurance, distance education, and the changing role of the library. Before joining the staff of WASC, Mr. Wolff was one of the founders of the Antioch School of Law in Washington DC, which now continues to operate as the David A. Clarke Law School at the University of the District of Columbia. The law school was the first-ever designed to prepare lawyers to serve in public interest and poverty law settings. He later became dean of the Antioch Graduate School of Education.

He also served as Associate Provost, setting up internal quality assurance processes for the geographically dispersed college. In 1976, he was appointed a law professor at the University of Dayton. A graduate of Tufts University, Mr. Wolff received his JD with honors from the National Law Center at George Washington University.

He continues to be a member of the Washington, DC bar. For his service in support of quality assurance and improvement in the WASC region and nationally he was awarded in 2008 the Virginia B. Smith Award for Innovation in Higher education and, in 2013, an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Loma Linda University.

Garry Jacobs
Chair of the Board / CEO

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President and CEO of the World Academy of Art & Science, Managing Editor of Cadmus Journal and President of The Mother’s Service Society, a social science research institute in India.

Garry is Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Person-Centered Approach, Italy. Formerly he served as Chair of the Board of the World Academy (2011-13) and Chair of its Strategic Planning Committee. In 1989 he co-founded the International Commission on Peace and Food, served for 5 years as its Member-Secretary, convener of ICPF’s working groups on Employment and on Transition in Eastern Europe, coordinator of the research team that evolved a strategy to generate 100 million new jobs in India, and editor of the Commission’s report to the UN entitled Uncommon Opportunities. Following completion of the Commission’s report, he became President, International Center for Peace & Development in California. He is an American born consultant on management and economic development conducting research on economic, social development, employment, business strategy, organizational theory, psychology, education and psychology and development strategies.

Alberto Zucconi
Secretary General

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Chair of the Board of the World Academy of Art & Science and President of the Person-Centred Approach Institute (IACP), dedicated to research in human behavior.

A clinical psychologist, Alberto is a former student and collaborator of the late Carl Rogers one of the founding fathers of Humanistic Psychology and originator of the Client-Centred Therapy and the Person Centred Approach, a scientifically formulated paradigm that has impacted the fields of psychology, education and management. He is also a Fellow of the International Leadership Forum (ILF), and a senior staff member of the Carl Rogers Institute for Peace.

He has been working internationally for 40 years as a trainer, lecturer and consultant for public and private organizations and is currently teaching Client Centred Therapy and the Person Centred Approach at the post graduate level at the University of Siena (Italy).

S.S. Sreejith
Treasurer

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Founder & CEO of the Global Institute of Integral Management Studies, Associate Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science and Knowledge Partner of Confederation of Indian Industries. 

He is Chief Organizer of Double It! India, a series of conferences arranged in India, intended for rapid growth and profitability of Indian enterprises. Being a graduate in agricultural sciences and a post graduate in international business, he is an expert in multi-dimensional planting system and in international trade of agro-commodities. Sreejith is also an academic consultant to many self financing colleges in south India, helping them to improve their quality of education, class room delivery and in establishing sustainable models of education.

Mila Popovich

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Founder of EvolvED Leadership, a community for transformational leadership and Director General Directorate for Interculturalism, Government of Montenegro.

Mila is an an independent academic and systems scientist, international lecturer and speaker specializing in humanities, gender studies, transdisciplinary research, sustainability, cultural diplomacy and creative future making.

She is the Chair of the Membership Communications Committee at the World Academy of Art and Science, where she is retained also as the Project Manager of the New Economic Theory working group. She is a Fellow of Vital Voices – Global Women’s Leadership, and an Associate Expert on ethics and gender issues at the European Commission.

As a conscious business proponent and advisor, she serves on the Executive Committee of Hazel Henderson’s Ethical Markets Media and as Expert on the impact panel of Katerva – “Nobel Prize in Sustainability.”

She is an educational and social innovator – social artist sourcing her diverse engagements as an academic, performing artist and artistic director, poet, activist and community organizer to engender social transformation and systemic change for individual and collective thriving.

Ketan Patel

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Founder and chairman of Force for Good, an organization established in support of the UN Secretary General’s roadmap for sustainable development.

Force For Good engages 125 leading global financial institutions  and the results are compiled in the annual Capital as a Force for Good, report with 100 leading technology companies, reported in another report: Technology for a Secure, Sustainable and Superior Future.

He is the CEO and co-founder of Greater Pacific Capital, investing in high growth enterprises making an impact, sustainably and profitably, and leading GPC’s research on peace, prosperity and freedom.

Ketan was formerly a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, heading the Strategic Group, providing strategic counsel to leaders from government and business worldwide, including the US, EU, China, India and Japan. Previously, he was a partner, and board member at KPMG, leading the Strategy and Business Transformation business. Prior to which, he worked at Hewlett-Packard.

Ketan is a fellow, member of the executive team, and board of trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science; a member of the senior team of the Human Security for All project of the World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS) and the UN Trust Fund for Human Security; and a member of the working groups of the UN SDSN Senior Working Group on the ‘European Green Deal and the SDGs’ and the ‘Lancet Commission COVID 19 Green Recovery Task Force on Sustainable Finance’; and is a member of the board of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation.

Janani Ramanathan

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Secretary General of the World Academy of Art & Science and a senior research analyst at The Mother’s Service Society in Pondicherry, India.

Janani has been engaged in research in a range of topics spanning the social sciences. She has been working with schools and other educational institutions in India, implementing active, collaborative, person-centered and values-based education. She is also a consultant to nonprofit and business organizations, implementing strategies to improve their efficiency, profitability, and sustainable growth.

Dr. Pavel Luksha

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Founder, Global Education Futures initiative, aimed at transforming education ecosystems globally. Co-founder of the Global Change Leaders movement.

He is a Professor of Practice at Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, where works primarily on the transformation of the higher & professional education sector, and a Professor at ITBA (Technological University of Buenos Aires).

Pavel also works closely with Russian Agency of Strategic Initiatives, one of the primary national vehicles of driving change in professional education development and new technological sectors. He is the coauthor of Rapid Foresight methodology, widely used in sectoral and regional planning, and a primary author of Skills Technology Foresight methodology developed in partnership with International Labor Organization.

Jonathan Miller

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CEO of Integrated Media Co., a special-purpose digital media investment company and a previously partner of Advancit Capital, LLC, a venture capital investment fund.

He was the Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation’s digital media group and News Corporation’s Chief Digital Officer from April 2009 until October 2012. Jonathan had previously been a founding partner of Velocity Interactive Group (“Velocity”), an investment firm focusing on digital media and the consumer Internet, from its inception in February 2007 until April 2009.


Prior to founding Velocity, Jonathan served as Chief Executive Officer of AOL LLC (“AOL”) from August 2002 to December 2006. Prior to joining AOL, he served as Chief Executive Officer and President of USA Information and Services, of USA Interactive, a predecessor to IAC/InterActiveCorp (“IAC”).

Jonathan also served as a director of Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. from August 2008 until January 2010, and as a director of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. from January 2010 through April 2011.