The Biophilic Leadership Summit is the only multi-day conference entirely focused on biophilic projects, research & principles, bringing together top industry thought-leaders in an intimate natural setting to network, build partnerships, and learn from each other.
Join Summit hosts The Biophilic Institute, Biophilic Cities, and Serenbe for the 7th Annual Summit on March 30 - April 1, 2025.
2025 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Aruni Bhatnagar, PhD, University of Louisville
Aruni Bhatnagar is the Smith and Lucille Gibson Professor of Medicine and a Distinguished University Scholar. He has spearheaded the development of the new field of environmental cardiology, which examines how environmental exposures affect cardiovascular health and disease risk. He is the principal investigator of The Green Heart Louisville Project, a groundbreaking, community-based clinical trial to examine how an increase in neighborhood greenery affects the levels of air pollution and cardiovascular disease risk.
Susie Ellis, Chair & CEO of the Global Wellness Institute and Global Wellness Summit
Susie Ellis is the chair and CEO of the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute, considered the industry’s leading global research and educational resource. She is also chair and CEO of the Global Wellness Summit, an organization at the heart of the multitrillion-dollar global wellness economy focused on facilitating collaboration amongst industry thought leaders.
Tye Farrow, Senior Partner, Farrow Partners Architects
Tye Farrow has gained international recognition for designing places that enhance our capacity to thrive—culturally, economically, mentally and physically. He has been invited to present his ideas at leading institutions including the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, as well as venues from Helsinki to Houston. His portfolio includes multiple international awards for designing some of the most technically advanced facilities in the world.
THE 2025 BIOPHILIC LEADERSHIP SUMMIT AGENDA
Biophilic Wellness
This is a working agenda. Exact times & presentation titles are subject to change.
DAY ONE | SUNDAY March 30
4:00 PM | Registration Table Opens
5:00 PM | Opening Remarks
Steve Nygren, Board Chair, The Biophilic Institute
5:05 PM | Keynote Address
Susie Ellis, CEO of the Global Wellness Institute and Global Wellness Summit
5:45 PM | Cocktails & Author Book Signing
6:30 PM | Dinner on the Guest House Lawn
DAY TWO | Monday March 31
8:00 AM | Registration Table Opens
9:00 AM | Keynote Address
Tye Farrow, Founding Principal, Farrow Architects
9:45 AM | Refreshment Break & Tye Farrow Book Signing
10:00 AM | Regenerative Architecture
Thomas Robinson, Founder, LEVER Architects
10:45 AM | Healthy Cities
Lawrence Frank, PhD, Urban Studies and Planning, UC San Diego; President and Founder, Urban Design 4 Health, Inc.
11:30 AM | Refreshment Break
11:55 AM | Focus Activation Meditation
12:00 PM | Materials Impact: Redesigning the Materials Economy to be In Balance with Earth’s Natural Systems
Priya Premchandran, Vice President, Market Transformation Habitable
12:30 PM | Fireside Chat: A.I.’s Impact on Biophilia
Tuwanda Green, PhD, Virginia Technical Institute
Zai Ortiz, Founder, Everything Wondrous
Jeff Smith, PhD, Managing Partner, QuantumIOT
Moderated by Vanessa Champion, Editor, The Journal of Biophilic Design
1:00 PM | Student Presentations
Owen Phillips & Maya Schlitz, Kennesaw State University
Kyle Smith, Georgia Technical Institute
Mica Caine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Moderated by R. Alfie Vick, Georgia Power Professor in Environmental Ethics and Director of Environmental Ethics Certificate Program, University of Georgia
1:30 PM | Lunch
2:30 PM | Forest Therapy Walk
3:00 PM | Biophilic Design
Nicole Craanen, Founder, Biophilic Design Institute
3:30 PM | Panel: Biophilic Retail Spaces
David Kepron, Founder, NXTLVL Experience Design
4:15 PM | The Biophilic Nature of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (R)
Dee Schlotter, Principal, Dee Schlotter Consulting, LLC
4:45 PM | Refreshment Break
5:15 PM | Academic Roundtable: Biophilic Wellness Design
Gail Brager Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Robin Puttock, Assistant Professor, Kennesaw State University
Meghan Mick, Assistant Professor, Florida State University
Kendra Ordia, Assistant Professor of Interior Design, College of Architecture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
6:30 PM | Wellness Walk to Cocktails
7:00 PM | Refreshments & Heavy Hors d'oeuvres
9:30 PM | Biophilia Visual & Audio Experiential Program
Kyle Smith, Student, Georgia Technical Institute
DAY THREE | Tuesday April 1
8:00 AM | Registration Table Opens
9:00 AM | Keynote Address
Aruni Bhatnagar, PhD, Lucille Gibson Professor of Medicine and a Distinguished University Scholar, University of Louisville
9:45 AM | Refreshment Break & Aruni Bhatnagar Book Signing
10:00 AM | Building As Body: A High-Performance Approach to Integrating Nature In Architecture
Chris Sharples, Founding Principal, SHoP Architects
10:45 AM | Yale School of Architecture & Environment Presentation
Anna Dyson-Hines, Professor of Architecture at the Yale School of Architecture and Environment
11:30 AM | Refreshment Break
11:55 AM | Focus Activation Meditation
12:00 PM | Panel: The Economics of Biophilic Wellness
Carolina Fernandez-Jansink, Founder, Cascading Consulting
Marilyn Specht, Senior Principal and the Director of Sustainability Integration, SmithGroup
12:45 PM | Author Talk: Wellness Architecture & Urban Design
Phill Tabb, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, Texas A&M University
Moderated by Jennifer Walsh, Founder, Lost Art of Being Human (LABH)
1:30 PM | Lunch
Lunch Workshop: Wellness at Work: Nature’s Wisdom for Leaders & Teams
Rebecca Magee, Founder, Sister Seasons
Kindred Lane
2:30 PM | All Species Wellness
Josiah Cain, Design Ecology
3:15 PM | Biophilia, Biophobia, and the Environment’s Role in Generational Wellness
Tuwanda Green, PhD, Virginia Technical Institute
3:45 PM | Refreshment Break
4:15 PM | Building Community Through Biophilic Wellness
Tony Cuviello, Founder, Allchemy: A Biophilic Farmacy
April LaCerra, Founder, Allchemy: A Biophilic Farmacy
Gina Iliopoulos, Chief Horticultural Specialist, Keeler Gardens
5:00 PM | Serenbe Walking Tour, Cocktails & Book Signing
Steve Nygren, Founder, Serenbe; Board Chair, The Biophilic Institute
Hills & Hamlets Bookshop
7:00 PM | Dinner at The Farmhouse Restaurant
9:00 PM | Biophilic Cities Short Film Screening & Dessert
Tim Beatley, PhD, Founder, Biophilic Cities; Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture, University of Virginia
2025 SPEAKERS
Check back often as new speakers will be added in the coming weeks.
