Jerry Sternin (1938-2008) is regarded as the founder of the Positive Deviance approach. An international development practitioner, Jerry served the Peace Corps for eight years in the Philippines, Nepal, Mauritania and Rwanda, and 16 years as a Save the Children Director in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Egypt, Philippines, and Myanmar. Thanks to Jerry’s passion for this behavior and social change approach and his exceptional communication and training skills, the PD approach has been applied in over 60 countries around the world.

Richard was instrumental in negotiating the funding of the PD nutrition Viet Nam project with British Petroleum (BP) for the INGO, Save the Children in the late 1980’s. He championed the use of the PD approach in business via his yearly course at the Oxford Said Business School and at many other venues and platforms. Over the decades, he provided his full and steadfast support to the PD Initiative and was instrumental in making the PD approach part of the mainstream behavior and social change approaches.

Muhammad Shafique is a sociologist with 20 years of experience in social and behavior change communication (SBCC). His aspiration is to bring about positive social and behavioral changes to improve the quality of life for all community members. Shafique’s encounter with Positive Deviance started in his home country Pakistan in the North East Region in 2001. He has applied the PD approach to maternal and newborn health, malaria prevention and control, dengue control, and polio eradication in Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

David Gasser is a free lance consultant who has been involved with the Positive Deviance Approach for over 17 years. He first encountered the approach through Jerry Sternin in Mexico in 2003, working on the PD Merk project. His sector of expertise with the PD include the private sector, public agencies, health care, and education in the US, Puerto Rico and a few countries in Latin America. David also volunteered many days working with the PD Initiative in PD training design and facilitation. Here, David reflects on his journey with Positive Deviance.

Gretchen Berggren has dedicated most of her life to children survival in the developing world and especially in Haiti. She was a health advisor at Save the Children when she introduced the Sternins to the work of Marian Zietlin and others on the use of Positive Deviance in Child nutrition. In Viet Nam, she provided invaluable advice and coaching on growth monitoring and other technical aspects of childhood nutrition.

Lars Thuesen is a global social change leader and strategic innovation facilitator with more than 20 years of experience as a leader, senior civil servant and consultant in the public sector and internationally. In 2014 Lars founded WIN (the Welfare Improvement Network) a network of international consultants that helps leaders, organizations and communities initiate and sustain social change using innovative approaches. He has used the Adaptive Leadership model and the Positive Deviance Approach to solve wicked social problems, e.g. gender and equality challenges, illiteracy in Roma communities and reducing violence among youth.