Lou Ryan, PHD
CEO & Founder
SelfHelpWorks, Inc.
Lou Ryan, CEO and Founder of SelfHelpWorks, created the progenitor company to SelfHelpWorks in 1979 with the goal of promoting health and wellness initiatives amongst a broad demographic and has not looked back. Mr. Ryan, whose degrees and background are in education, the physical sciences, instructional design, and motivational speaking, is a pioneer in combining traditional scientific principals with cognitive behavioral theories into structured trainings.
Working with top professionals in their fields in the late 70's and 80's, Mr. Ryan created a process that, when applied to human actions, empower individuals to break free of the emotional ties that keep them bound to detrimental cognitive and behavioral relationships such as smoking, mindless and emotional eating, alcohol, stress triggers and exercise.
His programs evolved from the collaboration with and guidance of the late Albert Ellis PhD, developer of rational emotive therapy; Diane Hambrick MD, currently medical Director at St Helena Hospital Center for Health and practitioner of Addiction Psychiatry for over 37 years; Dr. Mary Steinhardt, Professor of Kinesiology at University of Texas in Austin, a national authority on resiliency; John E. Martin Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University and Director of its Behavioral Medicine Clinic, among others.
Major hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and Fortune 500 Companies nationwide have licensed Mr. Ryan's programs and process over the last 30 years. Hundreds of psychologists, disease management professionals, and health and wellness coaches have been trained in the delivery of the SelfHelpWorks' live programs. The programs are now delivered over the Internet and are changing over a million lives.
Thirty years of experience working with top professionals coupled with his unique virtual approach to health makes Mr. Ryan a leading pioneer in wellness-based programs.
Reuben E. Polk, MBA
Senior Vice President Business Development
SelfHelpWorks, Inc.
Mr. Polk oversees all aspects of the Empower Wellness Portal of SelfHelpWorks. He brings a wealth of business development experience, having spent 24 years in the communications technology industry; 20 of which were spent building and managing sales organizations for AT&T/Lucent Technologies. Prior to coming to SelfHelpWorks and creating the Empower Wellness Portal, Mr. Polk spent six plus years with Wellsource, Inc. – one of the oldest names in the wellness industry. He quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder at Wellsource to become President and an expert in the field of wellness. Mr. Polk's experience includes creating strategic alliances and partnerships to promote healthy and productive workplaces. He is very much a "customer first" advocate.
Mr. Polk earned his Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of California Berkeley Haas School Of Business with a focus on Business Management and Leadership. He received his Bachelor's degree from the Memphis State University School of Business (the school has since been renamed the University of Memphis).
A former world-class sprinter and Olympic qualifier, Reuben enjoys time in the gym and taking long walks.
Marion M. Olsen, MBA
Vice President of Corporate Marketing
SelfHelpWorks, Inc.
As SelfHelpWorks' Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Mrs. Olsen reports directly to the CEO of the company. She is responsible for overseeing all marketing strategy and efforts, branding and identity, corporate communications, corporate event management and media and community relations activities for the company.
Prior to joining SelfHelpWorks, Olsen was the Director of Marketing for Wellsource, the leader in Health Risk Assessment technology. She has over eight years of marketing experience in small to midsize corporations serving in the following industries: wellness, software as a service, and government/defense contracting. In addition, she has successfully launched a thriving web and graphic design company.
Mrs. Olsen received her Master's Degree in Business Administration from Marylhurst University and also holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Oregon.
In her spare time Mrs. Olsen enjoys spending time with her family, running, cycling and swimming. She regularly participates in marathons, triathlons and century distance cycling events.
Jerry Roxas
Operations Manager
SelfHelpWorks, Inc.
Mr. Roxas is a seasoned management professional specializing in operations and software development. His work experience includes executive level management positions in the financial services market, where his computerized predictive models were directly responsible for raising over $150 million in working capital lines of credit used for the acquisition, servicing and sale of bundled consumer debt portfolios. In addition, Mr. Roxas has worked extensively in the health and wellness industries, co-developing and managing an orthotic scanning and ordering software application deployed at over 300+ podiatrists offices nationwide. Mr. Roxas was also responsible for overseeing the day to day operations of the organization, effectively doubling output while reducing FTE costs through the implementation of standard balance line theories.
At SelfHelpWorks, Mr. Roxas is responsible for managing and maintaining our support personnel in both the Technical and Customer Service departments. As such, he is tasked with prioritization and completion of all software development, which includes bugs, fixes and enhancements to our existing applications. In addition to overseeing our technological infrastructure, Mr. Roxas is also directly responsible for providing technical and customer service support (both internally and externally) within the high standards of SelfHelpWorks.
Evan Griffiths
Subject Matter Expert
SelfHelpWorks, Inc.
Mr. Griffiths is the Empower Wellness Portal Subject-Matter Expert. Mr. Griffiths' role is to support our Strategic Business Partners. Mr. Griffiths is responsible for initial client portal and HRA set-up and configuration. He is also responsible for clients' initial administration training.
Mr. Griffiths says he is honored to be able to provide support to the customers that he services. Their success is his success.
Mr. Griffiths is a graduate of Whitman College, Washington. He is an avid and competitive cyclist - winning several class medals and awards competing nationally and internationally in road and mountain biking.