Bio

Mary Gordon, C.M., O.N.L., O.ON., LL.D., D.Litt. is recognized internationally as an award-winning social entrepreneur, speaker, educator, author, child advocate and parenting expert who has created programs informed by the power of empathy. She is the founder and president of Roots of Empathy, a children’s charity, evidence-based to reduce aggression and bullying and increase pro-social behaviour. Ms. Gordon’s earliest innovation was to create Canada’s first school-based Parenting and Family Literacy Centre, which have now been replicated across Canada and internationally. In 1996, Ms. Gordon created the Roots of Empathy program later creating a Canadian children’s charity of the same name that offers empathy based programs to elementary school students. Its mission is “to build caring, peaceful and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults”. Roots of Empathy shows children the most powerful model of empathy, the loving relationship between a baby and parent. Roots of Empathy offers programs on four continents in multiple languages, and has reached over 1 million children. As part of their empathy movement, every year, in May, Roots of Empathy holds a Research Symposium bringing together teachers, parents and educators with scientists and experts who probe deep into empathy. For more information on our Symposium, visit “Symposium 2021” on our website. Ms. Gordon also speaks to and consults with governments, educational organizations, public institutions, including WHO, the UN and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. She was the Co-Chair of both the Ontario Ministry of Education Safe and Caring Schools Expert Panel and the Ontario Ministry of Education Student Well-Being Advisory Committee and has had dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. To hear Mary Gordon’s exciting Tedx Talks, visit Roots of Empathy on YouTube. To learn more about Mary Gordon’s speaking engagements, see ''Mary Gordon'' on our website. To book Mary Gordon, please contact the President’s Office at iguerra@rootsofempathy.org. Both Ms. Gordon and the program have been featured in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the BBC, The Globe and Mail, Time Magazine, Japan’s NHK, CBC and in features on PBS, CNN, NBC and the Huffington Post. Mary Gordon’s book, Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child by Child, is a Canadian bestseller and is available in multiple languages.