Kim Anenberg Cavallo

With 25 years experience raising money for nonprofit organizations, event planning and building community, Kim Anenberg Cavallo has been passionately focused on the intersection of social impact and digital wellbeing since she founded lilspace in 2016 — where the Unplug for a Cause® concept was born. Now a part of Unplug Collaborative, this program inspires people to spend their time offline being of service and is being incorporated in schools across the country through Unplug-A-Thons and a partnership with a fundraising platform that has helped schools raise over $2M.

In addition to serving as the Unplug Collaborative’s Board of Director’s, Executive Director, Kim works part-time, for her husband’s artist management and music production companies.

Claudia Erickson

Claudia Erickson is Co-founder, Director of Community Partnerships and serves as the Board Secretary and Treasurer. With a bachelor’s degree in social work and master’s in public health Claudia has over 20 years’ experience working in maternal child health for businesses such as San Diego State University, Scripps, Children’s Hospital, the San Diego Police Foundation and the San Diego Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Her work experience spans various public health issues from STD prevention, immunization education, breastfeeding, cyber-safety and literacy. She started the Unplugged Village®, now an initiative of the Unplug Collaborative, to empower people to mobilize their communities to spend less time with technology, and more time increasing authentic human connection. Activities and events have included everything from craft and trivia nights, pop up comedy shows to unplugged dining nights and scavenger hunts. Claudia is available for digital well-being speaking engagements (online or in-person) as well as event activations. Contact her HERE for more information.

Becky Tahel

With a background as a writer, producer, and performer, Becky Tahel has collaborated with top creators like Jay Shetty, Gabby Bernstein, Jake Paul, and Eric Andre, generating over 40 million views for brands worldwide. She’s the director/producer/host of the award-winning documentary American Birthright and co-runs Mannafest Media, where she helps brands clarify their essence and occupy unique impact spaces through strategic storytelling. A global speaker on content creation and self-actualization, Becky’s approach blends mindful tech use with ethical content creation, and she proudly wears the hat of “brand helicopter mom” for the Global Day of Unplugging. In her role as Brand and Marketing Director, she’s dedicated to amplifying the movement’s mission to reconnect people offline for real-world impact, fueled by her passion for human connection and digital well-being.

Jay Van Dyke

Jay Van Dyke is a musician, teacher, and technologist whose enlightening projects bring people together, forge new paths of understanding between divergent perspectives and celebrate the thrill of collaborative music. Jay is currently working as a freelance web designer and a technology / computer science teacher. In addition, he is an actively performing musician, songwriter, and recording artist who has worked with Grammy nominated artists and appeared on platinum-selling records. Previously, he was part of a team that created the Sand Noise Device (SND), an augmented reality musical sandbox. Jay began working with us as a web designer and has recently expanded his role to work on all things tech for NDU.

Heather M. Butts

Heather M. Butts received her B.A. from Princeton University. She was a history major, concentrating in American and African-American Studies. She received her J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law, her Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University and her Master’s in Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Professor Butts is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Healthcare and Public Administration and Public Health Law and Bioethics at LIU Post. She is also the Director of the LIU Post Honors College.  In addition, has held appointments as an Adjunct Professor in Health Law and Bioethics at St. John’s School of Law and Columbia University School of Public Health.

Prior to teaching, she served as a regulatory specialist at Columbia University’s Medical Center Institutional Review Board (IRB). Her responsibilities included training and educational efforts of the Columbia University research community. Before that professional experience, she functioned as a Senior Associate at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLP in New York City where she performed compliance risk assessments on projects involving reviews of faculty group practices, policies and procedures. 

Professor Butts is the co-founder or H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths, Inc. a nonprofit organization which focuses on college readiness and preparation. Her organization partners with 53 programs each year to help more than 4,000 students achieve their dream of going to college. During COVID-19, H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths has worked on dozens of projects to help the community including: turning Little Free Libraries into food pantries; getting resources to under-privileged families; organizing several community gardening programs to get fresh produce to those in need.

Professor Butts’ publications include: Alexander Thomas Augusta: Physician, Teacher and Human Rights Activist  for the Journal of the National Medical Association, Personality and Policy Perception: What Responses are Seen as Appropriate for COVID-19, Federal Agencies Continue Focus on Clinical Trial Oversight (co-author) , Housing Bias and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder(co-author) and two books including  African American Medicine in Washington, D.C.: Healing the Capital During the Civil War Era and Healing Civil War Veterans in New York and Washington, D.C.

Marjolaine Chirpaz

Marjolaine Chirpaz is the Creative Partnerships Manager at Opal, the screen time app. She joined the Opal team in April, bringing with her a wealth of experience from co-founding the first French agency dedicated to TikTok, where she led a talented team of 20 while simultaneously pursuing her studies in economics in Paris. Now, at Opal, she channels her expertise into combating screen addiction, a mission fueled by her firsthand observations of the troubling effects of intense social media use. Marjolaine is dedicated to helping users find a healthier balance with their digital devices.

Kenneth Schlenker

Kenneth Schlenker is founder and CEO of Opal, the #1 screen time app.

Prior to Opal, Kenneth held roles as a product manager and founder of a wide variety of companies:

• Founder and CEO of online marketplace ArtList, which was acquired by artnet (FRA:ART) in 2017. Kenneth became CMO of artnet.

• Product Marketing Manager for Google in New York and Paris, where he worked on quantitative analysis to improve Maps, YouTube, and Adwords.

• General Manager of Bird (global leader in micro-mobility), where he started international operations in 2018, built Bird's largest market globally (Paris), and helped the organization scale from a US-only business to a predominantly European business.

• Co-founder and Product partner of Stellar Base, a software studio and product consultancy.

• Speaker on subjects that include digital mindfulness, micro-mobility, smart cities as well as art market technology and innovation.

Kenneth works remotely and lives with his wife Alexi and son Micah between Paris and NYC, with frequent visits to the Alps and LA.

Kenneth received a master’s degree in finance and strategy and a BA in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris, and spent the rest of his life learning to think like an engineer.

Mario Sgarrella

Mario is the founder of unpluggo.ch, digital liberator, trainer and keynote speaker. For over a decade, he worked in marketing, PR, advertising and lobbying. He regularly used social media to gather vast amounts of data on the “engagement” of target audiences in order to re-target them with intrusive messages. And in his free time, he was addicted to social media. Then his son Luca was born. It was a wake-up call: the “net” discovers that you’ve become a father and bombards you with all kinds of baby products, ads and suggestions. Too much was too much. He cancelled all his social media accounts and took control of my smartphone notifications, emails and instant messages. And he started unpluggo: Switzerland’s first digital wellness centre.

Iliana Grosse-Buening

Iliana Grosse-Buening is a social entrepreneur with over eight years professional experience working in management and operational positions in Berlin, Nairobi, Shanghai, and London.

During an 11-day abstinence from digital devices at a silent retreat in Nepal, she first experienced the profound impact of taking a break from a constantly connected world.  She founded the personal growth education platform and community Quiet Social Club in 2021 with the mission to promote individual, community and workplace wellbeing in the digital age. QSC translates insights from psychology, neuroscience and behavioural science into everyday life in the form of self-coaching tools, products, workshops and events. In line with Sustainable Development Goal #3, the focus is especially on educating about and establishing behavioural health strategies for more wellbeing & productivity, and a better tech-life and work-life balance.

Prior to founding Quiet Social Club, Iliana served as Managing Director of Right for Education, the leading Sub-Saharan African E-learning platform, distributing educational content on financial and digital literacy, African culture, health, human and womens’ rights to 45 countries in Africa. She holds a Bachelor from Oxford University, Masters from IE Business School and is recipient of the CSC Chinese Language Scholarship in Shanghai.

Linde Kouwenhoven & Nini Fritz

Selamat Pagi (good day) from the beautiful island of Bali, we are Linde & Nini, the co-founders of the Digital Detox game eyeConnect - stronger than wifi. As self-renowned Digital Detox experts (...at least Nini wrote her master thesis about it), we are on a mission to make the world a more meaningfully connected place.

Because we believe that real connection is what happens in between two wifi signals and therefore we invented a conversation-sparking card game that is created to make real people more exciting than social media. From Bali into the world we want to raise awareness that the best things in life happen when we look up from our phones.

Jennifer Broughton

Jenifer Broughton is the Director of Operations for The GenWell Project and is excited to be collaborating with the Global Day of Unplugging to raise awareness about the impact that digital distraction is having on our human interactions and relationships.

Trent Ray

Trent Ray is the Co-founder and Director of the Cyber Safety Project. He and his team are on a mission support young people to self manage their own cyber safety and digital wellbeing. Whilst based in Australia, the Cyber Safety Project team support schools and community groups globally through proactive, evidence based education to create cyber safe communities. As former educator, Trent has seen the direct impact that access to technology has on a young peoples social and emotional wellbeing. Whilst he believes technology plays an important role in learning, connecting and playing for young people today, he too advocates for skill building that can prepare young people to thrive in all aspects of digital life.

Pete Bombaci

Pete Bombaci is a visionary business and social change leader who believes that by doing the right thing every day, exceptional results are created. His engaging leadership style comes from an enthusiasm and genuine desire to help others and the belief that building a more connected world will lead to happier and healthier people and a better society for all. In 2016, Pete launched The GenWell Project, a Canadian NFP and Canada’s Human Connection Movement, which has recently become more relevant than ever. The mission of The GenWell Project is to make the world a happier and healthier place by educating, empowering, and catalyzing Canadians around the importance of proactive face-to-face social connection as an action we can all take for our health, happiness, longevity, and the betterment of society. As the negative impact of some forms of digital technology becomes increasingly obvious, it is important that we find times throughout the course of the year to highlight the distraction that technology is creating in our lives and the impact that the reduced human connection is having on our lives. The GenWell Project is proud to be the official Canadian partner of the Global Day of Unplugging.

Eric Bourgault

Eric Bourgault is the founder of DigiPause, a revolutionary and disruptive nature-based wellness-by-design concept that bridges the gap between health and wellness in the digital age. His entrepreneurial vision is inspired by his personal journey through 20 years of online addiction. Passionate about the healing power of travel and the age-reversing benefits of digital detox, he is an early pioneer of the digital detox movement and a living encyclopedia on the subject.

His passion and lifelong commitment to making wellness accessible to everyone are evident in the projects and social initiatives he has created worldwide. Notably, he spearheaded the first National Day of Unplugging in Canada and the first Digital Wellness Day in India. With a unique multidisciplinary background in social work, education, and tourism, combined with a holistic toolbox and creative visionary mindset, Eric is shaping the future of wellness for service providers in the hotel industry.

As a solution-oriented experience designer, community builder, and innovator in nature-based preventive methods, he connects hotelier offerings with the evolving demands of modern travelers. Eric is also a charismatic and eloquent artist, author, poet, laughter yoga teacher, and certified speaker with over 10 years of stage experience, renowned for his ability to convey his message with unmatched effectiveness.

Mia Ljungberg Nevado

Mia Ljungberg Nevado is the founder of the LookUpMovement. A movement to inspire people to turn off their phones and to be fully present in the moment. LookUp organizes phone free experiences and events in Scandinavia with some of the best artists, galleries, chefs, authors, psychologists and musicians etc to remind people of the joy of seeing, listening, learning, tasting and experiencing something beautiful and interesting without the disturbance of the phone.

Gavino Puggioni

Digital Wellbeing coach and founder of Logout Livenow, first Digital Detox Tour Operator in Europe.

Chris Flack

UnPlug Co-Founder Chris Flack has over 20 years in tech and organisational behaviour consulting and holds an MSc in Organisational Psychology from DCU. He is a LinkedIn learning instructor, accredited as an All-Stars Thought Leader in Behaviour Change, and a lead teacher at the Digital Wellness Institute. Chris, having experienced first-hand the detrimental effects of information overload and the 'always on' culture, is a sought-after speaker globally. He has delivered keynotes at 150+ leading organisations, and speaks regularly at the UN and the University of Cambridge. His research areas of interest are attention management and workplace loneliness.

Stephanie Henson

I’m Stephanie Henson, the founder of techtimeout. Somewhat ironically, I am also a Director of Six Ticks, a busy digital agency and technology provider. Yet, today the two businesses work congruently, as it was only from my personal experience of working in technology that I felt so driven to launch techtimeout. Through my own experience, research and partnering with psychologists, techtimeout was launched to share this expertise to others encountering the same challenges. We believe managing endless notifications, multiple communication channels and blurred work/life boundaries, requires expertise and we strive to deliver that.

Charity Aisha

English/Literature Teacher who cares about childhood and humane technology that builds on human ability.

Calvin Odera

Digital Wellness Advocate, Community Organizer a passionate Social Worker and Founder of the Digital Health And Education Network -Kenya. “I believe it takes a village for impactful sustainable change to occur!”