Jón Sigfússon
Jón Sigfússon is the Chairman of Planet Youth. Jon supervises the Youth in Iceland and Planet Youth programs; evidence-based projects of primary community-based health promotion intervention. Paralleling his main responsibilities, Jon has served as a board member and coordinator on various projects also aimed at enhancing social factors and well-being of youth and promoting effective intervention, based on proven methods. Jon has held numerous lectures on Evidence Based Prevention at international conferences for years.
Dagur B. Eggertson is an Icelandic politician who is the Mayor of Reykjavik City. He was the vice-chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance from 2009 until 2013. He was first elected to the city council of Reykjavík in a 2002 election and became the mayor on 16 October 2007. Dagur is formally educated as a physician but also has a master’s degree in Human Rights and International Law from the University of Lund in Sweden. Dagur played an important part in implementing the Icelandic Model in Reykjavik after the foundation of ICSRA.
H.E. Marie-Louise Cleiro Preca is the former President of Malta and is the current President of Eurochild.
Brian Morales is the Branch Chief of Counternarcotics at the Office of Global Programs and Policy, INL Bureau at U.S. Department of State Global Challenges in Addressing Substance Use and the Urgency for International Collaboration.
Since 1997, Jimena Kalawski has worked in the field of consumption in different contexts. As director of several treatment programs, she later developed and implemented outreach programs, as well as individual and family psychotherapy. With a Master’s Degree in Drug Addiction, Jimena was Head of the Programming Division of the National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drug and Alcohol Consumption (SENDA) of Chile. Since June 1, 2019, Jimena is the Chief of the Demand Reduction Unit of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Páll Ríkharðsson is the Planet Youth Chief Executive Officer.
Tumokai Morgan is the Operations Manager for Tūturu, a uniquely Aotearoa New Zealand approach that brings schools and health services together, so that students can learn, be well, and be prepared for a modern world. Based out of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Tumokai’s focus areas cover a range of spaces within public health where his strong alignment with the harm-reduction philosophy is embraced. Working in the ‘grey area’ between health and education, he is driven to challenge alcohol and other drug related stigma wherever he can. Tumokai’s passion for the youth space motivates him to create, encourage, and promote opportunities for positive change and outcomes.
Dr. Kristjansson is an Associate Professor of Public Health at West Virginia University (WVU) School of Public Health and Center PI for the West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WVPRC), a senior researcher with ICSRA, and lead evaluator for Planet Youth. He earned his PhD in Social Medicine from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden in 2010 and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York City between 2010-2012. Dr. Kristjansson has published widely on the Icelandic Prevention Model, as well as more generally on adolescent behavioral development and the well-being of children and youth. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator (PI) of several US-based federally funded studies, including the Young Mountaineer Health Study funded by NIAAA, and the Integrated Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via the WVPRC. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts in scholarly journals within public health, health education, preventive medicine and multidisciplinary journals focused on children and adolescents.
Matej Košir is the Director of the Institute for Research and Development »Utrip« (UTRIP) (www.institut-utrip.si). He’s been working in prevention and advocacy in the field of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for more than 22 years. In Slovenia, he has been leading the network »Preventive Platform« (www.preventivna-platforma.si) for more than 10 years, in which over 40 mostly NGOs and local governments actively participate or support. Since 2006, he has been involved in more than 25 European projects in the fields of health, justice, education, youth and research as a project or work package leader. He is the co-author and co-developer of the European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC), published by the EMCDDA in September 2019, and the contributor to the second updated edition of the International Standards on Drug Use Prevention, issued in 2018 by the UNODC and WHO. He is a PhD candidate in Preventive Science at the University of Zagreb (Croatia), President of the International Confederation of Research Associations in the field of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ICARA) and Deputy Chairperson of the Vienna NGO Committee (VNGOC) on Drugs.
Patricia Ros Garcia is the Regional Director for Planet Youth in Spain and Latin-America. She served as the Director of the Municipal Prevention Service of Addictions, in Tarragona City Hall since 1991. Patricia is a Clinical Psychologist, from the University of Barcelona (1986), and has a Master degree in Psychotherapy of groups and organizations, University of Deusto (Bilbao 1994).
Daníel Díaz Martínez is the Secretary of Health of Guanajuato in Mexico. PhD Quality of Health Systems. MSc Public Health. Dr. Daniel has published over 20 papers in international journals. He has led the attention of the pandemic and has positioned Guanajuato among the best states in the response to COVID 19. Thanks to Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo, Governor of Guanajuato, in 2018 he learned about the Icelandic model for addiction prevention among youth. Since then, he has led the most ambitious social project to implement it in a territory with a population of more than 6 million and more than 2 million children and adolescents.
Roberto de Petris Mayol is the National Director (s) of SENDA, the National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drug and Alcohol Consumption. Roberto completed his law studies at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile and has been mainly engaged in the prosecution and litigation of administrative, labor and civil cases. Furthermore, he has focused his professional career in public service through various public institutions, such as Legal Director of the Municipality of La Florida, Prosecutor of the Undersecretary of Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and Head of the Legal Division of SENDA – appointed by competition of High Public Management. Roberto has also worked as a professor at the School of Government of the Universidad del Desarrollo.
Dr. Mariano Montenegro is a doctor and psychiatrist from the University of Chile with a master’s degree in substance addiction, he is currently the director of the Colombo Plan office for Latin America and the Caribbean and an external trainer for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna (UNODC), working as a trainer for policymakers in Latin America on demand reduction. Previously, he was National Director of the National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drugs and Alcohol (SENDA), in the Ministry of the Interior of Chile, and from 2000-2010 Head of the Health, Treatment, Rehabilitation and Reinsertion Unit, in the National Council of Drugs from Chile (CONACE, currently SENDA). Dr. Montenegro has participated as a consultant and expert in initiatives of international organizations working in the field of drugs, including the OAS/CICAD, COPOLAD (European Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). ), and has advised numerous Latin American governments on demand reduction policy.”
Kristina Sperkova is the President of Novendi International.
Dr. Ingibjorg Eva Thorisdottir is Planet Youth’s Chief Analytics and Advisory Officer. At Planet Youth, she ensures that the data collection runs smoothly and provides feedback to our partners. Her primary focus is on mental health, dissemination practices, and upstream prevention.
Harvey Milkman is Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, Metropolitan State University of Denver. He is Visiting Professor at Reykjavik University, Iceland (2015 – present). He received a Fulbright Scholar award at the Department of Psychology, Reykjavik University (January – May, 2019. Dr. Milkman is author of numerous scholarly articles and books on the causes, consequences and treatment choices for the broad spectrum of addictive behaviors. His most recent publication is: Craving for Ecstasy and Natural Highs: A Positive Approach to Mood Alteration (2nd Edition), Milkman, H., Sunderwirth, S., & Hill, K. Cognella Academic Publishing, (2019).
Willum Þór Þórsson is the Icelandic Minister of Health.
Michael J. Mann spent almost 20 years working as a teacher, principal, regional director, operations leader, and program founder in the alternative school setting. Currently, he is an associate professor and the interim divisional dean in Boise State University’s School of Public and Population Health. His teaching and research are focused on promoting child and adolescent health, especially in schools and through school-community partnerships. Michael is also the current editor of the Journal of School Health and has worked on the Icelandic Prevention Model since 2012. He completed his Ph.D. in Health and Human Behavior at the University of Florida in 2007.
Amelia Berry is Director of Just Say Yes, an innovative youth substance use prevention coalition based at the Franklin County Health Department in Frankfort, Kentucky, USA. Amelia came to prevention work through the arts, serving from 2018 to 2021 as founding Executive Director of Yes Arts, a non-profit working to mobilize the power of community and the arts to disrupt the cycle of addiction. In 2019, Amelia was named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader. Prior to relocating to Kentucky, Amelia worked as a consultant in international affairs for the United Nations, the China Law Society and the Consensus Building Institute. In 2016 Amelia was elected to the Frankfort Independent Schools Board of Education, where she currently serves as Vice Chairperson.
Geoff Couldrey is Chief Transformation Officer at United Way Calgary and Area, Canada. Geoff leads the innovation and transformation portfolio and is responsible for United Way’s Planet Youth implementation.
Geoff has a strong background in transformation, innovation, and technology working in the non-profit and for-profit sectors.
Prior to taking the role at United Way, Geoff has held executive positions for several charities in Canada in the immigrant and refugee, education, and mental health fields.
Geoff has an Executive MBA with a specialization in Innovation Leadership from the University of Fredericton.
Maik Dünnbier is the Director of Strategy and Advocacy at Movendi International. Movendi International is the leading global social movement for preventing and reducing alcohol harm. Maik has over 15 years of experience in the field of alcohol prevention. He has an academic background in political science, philosophy, and history of ideas, as well as global development from Dresden University, in Germany and Stockholm University, in Sweden.
In addition, he has extensive experience in youth work on local, national, and European levels, having volunteered for more than a decade in different functions for Movendi International. Maik leads Movendi International’s advocacy work on global and regional level, including the engagement with the UN system to ensure more people are protected from the harms caused by alcohol and other drugs.
Emmet Major is acting as the Planet Youth Coordinator in the West of Ireland. He is responsible for the three Planet Youth sites there: Planet Youth Galway, Planet Youth Mayo, and Planet Youth Roscommon. Emmet has over twenty years of experience in the health sector, specialising particularly in the area of substance use. He has worked as an addiction counsellor, rehabilitation centre manager and is currently a community worker with the Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force.Geoff has a strong background in transformation, innovation, and technology working in the non-profit and for-profit sectors.
Prior to taking the role at United Way, Geoff has held executive positions for several charities in Canada in the immigrant and refugee, education, and mental health fields.
Geoff has an Executive MBA with a specialization in Innovation Leadership from the University of Fredericton.
Matías Delgado Fabres is an advisor to the Prevention and Promotion Area and is in charge of implementing the Icelandic model in Chile through the National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drug and Alcohol Consumption (SENDA). Matías completed his law studies at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and has specialized in models and strategies of Implementation Science, the formulation of projects based on Data Science and Universal Prevention of substance use.Prior to taking the role at United Way, Geoff has held executive positions for several charities in Canada in the immigrant and refugee, education, and mental health fields.
Geoff has an Executive MBA with a specialization in Innovation Leadership from the University of Fredericton.
Planet Youth Regional Representative – Central-Europe, Associate Professor, Social Work and Religious Studies, Bucharest University.
Melanie Cormier is a Senior Program Advisor with Public Health New Brunswick and project lead with Planet Youth New Brunswick. Melanie is particularly interested in upstream prevention and action on the social and commercial determinants of health. She has worked in Public Health for the past 9 years with a range of experiences working across important population health topics such as substance use prevention, healthy food environments, school health promotion, harm reduction, and action on the commercial determinants of health.Geoff has an Executive MBA with a specialization in Innovation Leadership from the University of Fredericton.
Dr. Manuel Aguilar Romo is the head of the Mental Health Direction of the Secretary of Health of the Mexican State of Guanajuato. Manuel Aguilar Romo is a General Practitioner with a specialty in Internal Medicine. He has a master’s in public administration from the National Institute of Public Administration. He has worked for the national public service in the Secretary of Health, National Health Council, and the National Commission for Social Protection in Health. State wise, he has worked for the Secretary of Health and the Family Development System of Guanajuato. He has also worked as a practitioner in several hospitals of the Mexican states of Coahuila, Michoacán, Tamaulipas, Mexico City and Guanajuato.
Daniel Cortez is the head of the Mental Health Care Program of the Secretary of Health of the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Daniel Cortez is a psychologist from the Iberoamericana University in León, with a master in psychoanalysis from the Buenos Aires University. Daniel has divided his professional activity between his private clinical practice and his work in the public service attending mental health and suicide prevention.
General director of Human Development.
Tyson Brown is the Project Lead – Planet Youth Australia with the Alcohol and Drug Foundation and has responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the Planet Youth Model across six regions in Australia. Tyson has a Masters of Business Administration and various qualifications in Youth Work, Juvenile Justice and Alcohol and Other Drug Work. Tyson has over 17 years’ experience working alongside community in the Non-Government sector as well as Local and State Governments leading youth, recreation and community cultural development teams. Geoff has an Executive MBA with a specialization in Innovation Leadership from the University of Fredericton.
Hans Quaghebeur is a coordinator for Planet Youth in the coastal town of Blankenberge in Belgium. This is the first Planet Youth project in the country. Hans is the local chief of police. He has had a career of over 40 years in nearly all domains of policing in the former Belgian gendarmerie, the federal and the local police. He worked several years in the Belgian Interpol office, and as a liaison officer to the federal minister of Justice. He also holds a Master diploma in Criminology from the University of Ghent, Belgium.
Hafthór Barði Birgisson Hafthór Barði Birgisson is the Director of Sport and Leisure at the Reykjanesbær Municipality in Iceland. He graduated from the Faculty of Health Promotion, Sport and Leisure Studies of University of Iceland in 2006 and has the Bachelor degree in Leisure Studies. Hafthór Barði Birgisson has been working on leisure and prevention issues among children and adolescents at Reykjanesbær for the last 23 years. During his presentation “Reykjanesbaer municipality on the right track!” he will talk about his professional experience in past and in present and will focus on the future of the Icelandic Prevention model.
Professor of Computer Science at Reykjavík University, Director of the Icelandic Institute for Intelligent Machines.
Þorfinnur Skúlason is the Communication Director for Planet Youth. Thorfinnur holds a master’s degree in Icelandic 18th-century literature from the University of Iceland but also studied business and Arts. He has over 20 years of experience in digital marketing from the pharmaceutical industry, telecommunications, and the software industry. He was the senior global webmaster for Alvogen pharmaceuticals, Manager of web-solutions for Nova mobile, web consultant for Advania and a webmaster for Siminn Telecom. Thorfinnur was a board member for the counsel of the University of Iceland 2010-2014, a lecturer at the University of Iceland and has an editorial and publishing background.
Robin Katrick is the community development advisor for Planet Youth. She holds a Master in Public Health from the University of Vermont and a BA in Community Development. She brings 10 years of experience in community development, community health, and program development to her role at Planet Youth. Her main responsibilities at Planet Youth are community advising, project development, and project management. Better than AI: Agent-Based Simulation of Human (Addiction) Behavior.
PhD student in sports psychology and program director of Menntaskólinn í Kópavogi dual career academy. Dadi is also a lecturer at Reykjavik University’s Department of Sports Science and a teacher at the Icelandic Football Association’s UEFA A and B courses. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Iceland and has 18 years experience of working as a football coach at all age levels. For years, Dadi held the position of head of the youth academy of Iceland’s largest youth club, Breiðablik and was the assistant coach of Chinese women’s FA Cup winners Jiangsu Suning in 2017. His PhD research is on the 5C’s sports psychology framework as an analytical model and intervention method in youth football.
Born in Rovereto on 10 April 1956, lived in Linfano di Arco-TN since birth. After my middle school studies, I attended the ITIS in Rovereto and then the triennial in Trento for mechanical experts. In October 1976 I won the competition to enter the ISEF in Verona, obtaining my diploma in February 1980. Already during the first year of attendance at ISEF, I started teaching physical education at the middle school in Riva del Garda SCIPIO SIGHELE. I continued in the following years at the accounting institutes, Damiano Chiesa Riva medium, medium in Dro, medium and high school in Pozza di Fassa.
