Dr. Walter H. Smith, Jr. is a licensed psychologist. He currently serves as a trustee of the Casey Family Programs foundation based in Seattle, Washington. This 2.6-billion-dollar operating foundation has a mission to provide, improve – an ultimately prevent the need for – foster care, and operates in all fifty states, District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Walter Howard Smith, Jr.’s career focuses on the use of Bowen family systems theory to understand the functioning of families, organizations, and social groups. (1978-present) Dr. Smith has focused on understanding how family functioning from this perspective leads to family violence, particularly child abuse. (1987-present) He attended the post-graduate training program in Bowen theory at the Georgetown University Family Center. (1980-1983) Dr. Smith is board member of the Pittsburgh Foundation, a community foundation that has a mission to improve the quality of life of the Pittsburgh region. (Member 2008-2020 and 2021-present) Dr. Smith is a licensed psychologist with a private practice that specializes in treating children, families, and couples. His practice includes executive coaching, business and organization consultation, conferences and lectures on child abuse and family violence from a family systems perspective. (1985-present) Dr. Smith is the retired Deputy Director and Clinical Director at the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. He led child welfare services for a 1.2 million population county. Services under his leadership included child welfare services, and prevention and community-based family support services. The annual budget of these services was 260 million dollars, and services involved approximately 700 staff. (2012-2018) For twenty-five years, Dr. Smith was the clinical director and subsequently the executive director of Family Resources, a non-profit organization that provided child abuse prevention and treatment services. (1987-2012)

Guillermo and Erik Thompson discuss meditation, marriage, Bowen Family Systems Theory, and the importance of play. Erik Thompson is the founder and president of Thompson Leadership Development (www.thompsonleadership.com), an executive coaching firm designed to assist high performing teams in becoming exceptional leaders together. Trained as a leadership psychologist, Erik Thompson’s focus is on the DNA of successful teams. He uses this knowledge to challenge high-performing leaders to expand their impact. Through thousands of meaningful conversations with senior leaders, Erik was inspired to launch the LeaderSight interview podcast. LeaderSight explores topics ranging from CEO succession to the art of coaching and the profound lessons we learn from personal loss. Beyond his work in leadership development, Erik Thompson is deeply invested in family health and well-being. He is a co-founder and Executive Director of the Vermont Center for Family Studies, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering family leaders to cultivate stability, maturity, responsibility, and effective communication within their families. As a 40-year practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, Erik understands the value of presence in leadership. When he’s not immersed in the world of leadership development, you might find him playing pickleball, cheering on his daughter’s high school basketball team, or reading on his porch. The picturesque mountains of Vermont are his home, where he enjoys hiking alongside his wife Sarah, and their daughters, nephews, and nieces.

A conversation with Guillermo Cancio-Bello and Jim Rudes about the idea that we live in and amidst relationships.