The Global Organisation for Humanitarian Work Psychology is led by an Executive Board consisting of a Chair, Vice Chair, six Executive Board Members, and a Student Representative. The members and the positions they hold are listed below. You can click on any name to learn more about that individual.

  • Chair – Jeffrey Godbout (2018 – 2019)
  • Vice Chair – Recia Gomez (2018 – 2019)
  • Executive Board Members –
    • Mahima Saxena (2017 – 2019)
    • Mary O’Neill Berry (2018 – 2020)
    • Inusah Abdul-Nasiru (2017 – 2019)
    • Ishbel McWha-Hermann (2018 – 2020)
    • Megan Church-Nally (2018 – 2020)
    • Erik Zito (2018 – 2019)
  • Student Board Representative –
    • Tanja Karakas (2018-2019)

Chair – Jeffrey Godbout Bio: Forthcoming

Vice Chair – Recia Gomez

Bio: Recia earned a Master’s in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Florida International University in Miami, Florida and works as a practitioner in the development of assessments for Law Enforcement hiring and promotional Assessment Center processes. She is currently based in the Caribbean to develop promotional assessments for a national police force project. In the past, she has worked with the Organization of American States (OAS) in conducting feasibility studies to engage international donor organizations to establish regional investment funds for natural disaster relief in the Caribbean region. Recia is interested in the cross-cultural application of assessments, to better understand how items differentially function across geographic region, culture and language. She joined GOHWP in 2014 and hopes to contribute to its development through increased representation, member involvement and collaborative work.

Executive Board Member – Mahima Saxena  (Illinois Institute of Technology, USA)

Bio: Mahima is an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology.  Mahima’s research explores the intersection of work experiences and health from a person-centric perspective. Mahima generally uses the experience sampling method in her research and is passionate about using I-O methods for humanitarian work psychology projects. She was also awarded a SIOP grant to explore work-experiences of informal workers in South Asia. Mahima earned her Ph.D. from Purdue University in Indiana. She is a founding member of GOHWP and is passionate about using I-O for furthering humanitarian goals and facilitating research and practice of the field of HWP globally.

Executive Board Member – Mary O’Neill Berry (Retired Executive Vice President, Sirota Consulting)

Bio: Mary is an organisational psychologist and management consultant specialising in international survey and evaluation research, particularly in the non-profit arena. She obtained her Ph.D. in social psychology from Columbia University. She is past Co-Chair of the Global Organisation for Humanitarian Work Psychology. Her current research focuses on the global implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as Project GLOW (Global Living Organizational Wage).

 

Executive Board Member – Erik Zito

Bio: Erik is a recent graduate of Xavier University, where he completed his Masters in I-O Psychology. Erik completed his thesis by explaining the effects of Exercise and Self-Reported Workplace Stress to show how exercise reduces employees’ stress and increases job satisfaction, productivity, and motivation in the workplace. Previous to attending Xavier University, Erik received his B.A.S. in Psychology and Human Resource Management and minored in Dance and American Sign Language. Erik is currently working for a consulting firm specializing in Organizational Change Management and Leadership Development.

Executive Board Member – Megan Church-Nally (University of Cincinnati, USA)

Bio: Dr. Megan Church-Nally is an Assistant Professor- Educator in the Department in Psychology (Organizational Leadership) at the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include occupational stress and job satisfaction, graduate school well-being and persistence, and bettering the employee-employer experience in nonprofit realm. She has served as a methodologist on variety of studies ranging from entrepreneurship, safety, community initiatives,  and franchising. She spent five years in corporate realm as a Compensation Consultant before beginning her career in academia. Megan earned her Master’s from Xavier University and her PhD from University of Louisville.  Her focus is on using HWP and  IO knowledge to better the community and nonprofit sphere and sector. In light of funding cuts and challenges in nonprofit and community organizations, now more than ever we need HWP to step in.

Executive Board Member – Ishbel McWha-Hermann (University of Edinburgh Business School) Bio: Forthcoming

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Executive Board Member – Inusah Abdul-Nasiru (University of Ghana, Ghana) Bio: Forthcoming

 

 

 

Student Representative  –  Tanja Karakas (University of Osijek, Croatia) Bio: Forthcoming

 

To view the Executive Boards from past years, click on the appropriate link below: