Mission
The Paul Ekman Group seeks to enhance emotional awareness. Building on decades of research, we offer resources to build competency in evaluating truthfulness, and improving emotional life and compassionate connection. PEG creates online training that facilitates effective communication in professional and personal relationships, and supports global workshops to that end.
Our Guiding Principles
- We believe that effective communication skills are the most important skills in life.
- Our training is evidence-based, leavened by real life experience. We err on the side of under- rather than over-representing the benefits.
- We seek to maximize usage of our trainings and workshops rather than focusing solely on maximizing profit. We undertake relevant pro bono work. Our training tools are made available to accredited researchers at no cost on a case-by-case basis.
- We believe research should have practical application. We offer our training to:
- National Security and law enforcement
- Health and social welfare institutions
- Educational settings
- Corporate settings
- The general public, families, students, and researchers
- We will never conduct evaluations of individuals running for or currently in public office, or in litigation.
History
Dr. Paul Ekman founded the Paul Ekman Group (PEG) when he retired from University of California-San Francisco, where he was a professor for nearly forty years. He wanted to translate his research findings into practical tools that would equip anyone to lead a more skillful emotional life, and to enable those in law enforcement to more accurately evaluate truthfulness. His emotional skills training tools have been used by governments, security organizations, teachers, therapists, physicians, salespeople, nurses, doctors, and corporate executives all over the world. Dr. Ekman has personally conducted workshops for the FBI, the CIA, the US Department of Defense, the Counter-Intelligence School, and the New York Police Department. PEG provides a range of quality-assured Paul Ekman Workshops through Paul Ekman International (PEI) and its network of Licensed Delivery Centers around the globe, making his work more accessible to businesses and individuals. PEG continues to develop online interactive training tools.
Dr. Paul Ekman
Founder
Dr. Paul Ekman is the co-discoverer of micro expressions, the originator of training tools Micro Expressions, Subtle Expressions, Micro Expressions Applied Training, CAP (Charting your Anger Profile) and the author, co-author, or editor of 13 books. Dr. Ekman is recognized as the pioneer in facial expression, deception, and emotion. He was the scientific consultant for the FOX TV series ‘Lie to Me,’ and appeared in Time Magazine’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2009. His numerous books convey his passion for his life’s work; most relevant to PEG are Telling Lies and Emotions Revealed, as well as Emotional Awareness, co-authored with the Dalai Lama.
PAST EMPLOYMENT: Professor of psychology, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical School,1972-2004; now Emeritus
EDUCATION: University of Chicago, New York University, and Adelphi University (PhD).
HONORS:
-Identified by the American Psychological Association as one of the 100 most influential psychologists of the twentieth century (2000).
-Deemed one of the 100 most influential persons in the world by Time Magazine (2009).
-Invited by the Royal Scientific Society in England to give the opening address to celebrate Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday (2009).
-Honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, Adelphi University, and the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
-Professorship in Ekman’s name endowed at the University of California, San Francisco (2010).
-Ranked fifteenth among the most influential psychologists of the 21st century by Archives of Scientific Psychology (2014)
Read More about Paul Ekman
Mary Ann Mason, J.D., Ph.D.
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Mary Ann Mason J.D., PhD is a Professor at the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley. She is an expert on public policy issues related to the effects of parenting on academic careers, as well as national policy issues regarding working families, child custody, step-families, and children’s rights.
From 2000 to 2007, she served as the first woman Dean of the Graduate Division at UC Berkeley, with responsibility for nearly 10,000 students in more than 100 graduate programs. During her tenure, she championed diversity in the student population, promoted equity for student parents, and pioneered measures to enhance career/life balance for all students.
As the wife of Paul Ekman, Mary Ann joined PEG in 2011. She is enthusiastic about the fact that he can now apply his fifty years of research on emotion and deception to populations like families, couples and the workplace, as well as law enforcement.
Paul Kelly
Director for Law Enforcement and Security Workshops within North America
Paul F. Kelly has been with the Paul Ekman Group since 2005, and currently serves as Director for North American Workshops, and as Liaison to Law Enforcement, Military, National Security, and Corporate Security clients. He also serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. After graduating from Brown University (B.A. Political Science), Paul received a commission as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. A decorated Vietnam veteran, he served with the 3rd Force Recon Co. and MACV. His military training included the US Army’s Interrogation, PSYOP, and Civil Affairs/Military Government Schools, and the USMC Command and Staff College. He attained the rank of Major, USMC(R). After receiving his M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii, Paul served for over twenty years as a special agent in the US Secret Service in a variety of protective, investigative, intelligence, and training assignments. He retired as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the White House Division. Other training billets have included: the Adjunct Faculty for the National Security Agency’s National Cryptologic School, the Department of State’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, and the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary.
Paul is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and ASIS International; other professional affiliations have included the OPSEC Professionals’ Society, the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators, and the International Organization of Asian Crime Investigators & Specialists.
Cliff Lansley
Chairman of Paul Ekman International plc
Cliff Lansley (B. Ed.(Hons), Manchester University) leads the international development of the Paul Ekman Group’s Licensed Delivery Centers and Approved Trainers through Paul Ekman International with head office and laboratory in Manchester, UK and the USA. Cliff is a member of the Association of Business Psychologists and of the Institute of Directors. He and John Pearse deliver the high level Trainer Training on behalf of Dr Ekman with around 50 approved trainers operating around the globe.
Cliff is a specialist in high stake truth/deception detection, elicitation strategies and related consultancy (including direct work with several military/commercial/HR/intelligence/security/police). He has worked as Behavior Consultant/Advisor to BBC and featured as a Behavioral Analysis Expert to ITVs “The Lying Game – Crimes that Fooled Britain”. www.crimesthatfooledbritain.com. ‘Face and Emotions’ on Channel 4 and Deception and Industrial Espionage on HR-TV.
He is a Keynote/Speaker/Trainer/Consultant for ACFE, ABRESCE, NISI(Hague), Cabinet Office(UK), Romanian Intelligence Service (Anti-Terrorist Brigade), AvSec, ICF, ICC, ASTD(ATD), CIPD, Euro Air Marshalls, GM Police, DISC(UK), Law Society, International Bar Association, YPO, Euro Chamber of Commerce, plus multiple corporate/agency conferences globally.
Eve Ekman
Professional Trainer, Emotional Skills
Eve Ekman is an interdisciplinary scholar, researcher and trainer in the fields of stress management, empathy, mindfulness and the psychology of wellness, with a background in applied clinical skills, including six years as a medical social worker at San Francisco General Hospital Emergency Department, and acute mental health crisis intervention for children and adolescents. Ekman was a UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center fellow and is a program evaluation research and training consultant to Mindful Schools in Oakland and AtentaMente in Mexico City to support their mindfulness in education training programs. Ekman has been the emotion skills teacher trainer for the randomized controlled trial emotion and mindfulness training, Cultivating Emotional Balance, for the last four years. She completed her Ph.D. in Social Welfare, May 2014. Ekman’s dissertation study, Inside Insight, developing and evaluating a pilot training for Juvenile Justice Officers, is a mixed-method intervention study. The 16-hour pilot intervention was developed from an analysis of the workplace and stress challenges specific to this population of human service care providers working in Juvenile Jail with the most troubled youth in every county across the country. The two-day pilot included emotion regulation, developing sustainable professional empathy, mindfulness meditation practices and reconnection to motivation and meaning in the work.
Eve lives in her beloved hometown of San Francisco and enjoys surfing, cooking and getting lost in nature. You can learn more at eveekman.com.
Stephanie Lefler
Director of Communications
Stephanie’s background is rooted in clinical psychology and the application of therapeutic interventions. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2014 with a BS in Biological and Evolutionary Psychology with a minor in Sociology. She has significant experience working as a mental health counselor, and finds that much of her training in promoting emotional awareness and communication has aligned with her current work at PEG.
Ellen Turner
Creative Project Manager
Ellen has a passion for living an active holistic lifestyle. She received her BA in Philosophy from Colorado College, graduating magna cum laude in 2014. Soon after, she completed training at the Berkana Institute of Massage Therapy and is now a Licensed Massage Therapist. She looks forward to integrating mind and body in her graduate studies of Somatic Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. In her free time, Ellen loves to explore the great outdoors, spend time with animals and improvise in the kitchen.
Amy Kittiver
Finance
Amy Kittiver has been a consultant and bookkeeper to small businesses and individuals since 2001. Amy received her BA degree from University of California, San Diego and her Masters degree in Taxation from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
