Leadership
Steven Reiss, Ph.D. is Executive Director. He holds degrees from Dartmouth and Yale and received clinical training at Harvard/Mass. General's Child Psychiatry unit. In the course of 36 years as a college professor, most recently at Ohio State, Reiss received five national awards for research, clinical services, and leadership. He has produced an influential academic model of anxiety, called anxiety sensitivity (AS). AS permits the early identification of people at risk for various anxiety and stress related disorders, facilitating large-scale NIH funded and military research on prevention. He constructed the "Reiss Motivation Profile®" assessment instrument for determining what motivates someone. He has challenged the conceptual distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and has written on the importance of reducing use of situational motives in favor of deeper, more enduring needs and life motives. Steven Reiss has successfully organized several large medical and professional conferences, including one endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Institutes of Health, and eight other national medical, professional, or disabilities groups.
Peter Boltersdorf is the WSMSP's first President. He is a German athletic and business coach pioneering the application of human needs to world class athletic competition. He is a graduate of the Sports University of Cologne, which trains Germany's athletic coaches and is home to several German national (Olympic) teams. In August 2008 one of his clients (Mathias Steiner, now "Strongest Man in World") won the Gold Medal in weightlifting at the Olympic games in Beijing. Another one of his teams competed in a major league national soccer championship game.
The Society's first membership meeting was held on September 4. Peter Boltersdorf, an athletic and business coaching consultant from Germany , was elected President. James Wiltz, Ph.D., a consulting psychologist in intellectual disabilities from Indiana , was elected Vice President. Maggi Reiss, M. A., a school psychologist in Ohio , was elected secretary. Maximilan Koch, Ph.D., a business consultant from Austria , was elected treasurer. Steven Reiss, Ph.D., a retired American research professor and clinical psychologist, was named Executive Director.