SCI - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Practitioner & Researcher
Ken Pendleton earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oregon having written his dissertation on how standards of reasonableness are applied to hostile environment sexual harassment cases. After teaching courses about reasoning & writing, ethics, existentialism, and social & political theory at Oregon State University for more than a decade, he changed his professional focus to his lifelong passion, sports. He conducted research, assisted with program development, and taught highly successful courses on sports & cultural studies at the Competition Not Conflict program at the U of O. In general terms, the purpose of his teaching and research was to show how the line between healthy competition, on the one hand, and destructive conflict, on the other, is reshaped by class, race, nationality, gender, and other factors, such as commercialism.
He and Joshua Gordon are now working together at Sports Conflict Institute, which focuses on projects that help stakeholders understand, resolve, and prevent institutional problems that arise at all level of sports. He has also consulted with London-based Football Marketing & Management International (FMMI) since 2006. His work with FMMI centered around his encyclopedic knowledge of both the major American sports and international soccer, including doing deep background research on a groundbreaking comprehensive study on the North American soccer landscape, Soccer in North America: The Commercial Opportunities.
Ken Pendleton earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oregon having written his dissertation on how Read more >
Gary Furlong has extensive experience in mediation, alternative dispute resolution, organizational facilitation, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Mr. Furlong is past president of the ADR Institute of Ontario, is a Chartered Mediator (C. Med.) and holds his Master of Laws (ADR) from Osgoode Hall Law School. Gary is the author of The Conflict Resolution Toolbox (Wiley, 2020), Brainfishing (Indigo, 2019), and co-authored The Sports Playbook: Building Teams That Outperform Year After Year (Routledge, 2018). He was awarded the McGowan Award of Excellence in ADR in 2005 by the ADR Institute of Canada.
As a mediator, Mr. Furlong has worked in the areas of commercial, personal injury, estates, construction, shareholder, insurance, wrongful dismissal, real estate, and workplace conflicts, and specializes in intervening in difficult organizational and workplace disputes. Mr. Furlong was regularly called in to the court-annexed ADR Centre in Toronto in its first three years, and was appointed a Roster Mediator, Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program, for close to 10 years. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Furlong has mediated litigation claims ranging from $50,000 to over $100 million. Mr. Furlong was a regular mediator and factfinder with the Education Relations Commission, and was also appointed a Provincial Facilitator and Mediator with the Education Improvement Commission, assisting with the financial reorganization and amalgamation of school boards in Ontario. Mr. Furlong has also been on the Law Society of Upper Canada's complaint mediation panel, and the Teachers College of Ontario mediation panel.
Mr. Furlong has delivered ADR and conflict management training for judges from across the country through the National Judicial Institute, and for hundreds of lawyers through the Law Society of Upper Canada and numerous law firms in Toronto. In addition, Mr. Furlong has trained police officers, firefighters, by-law enforcement officers, as well as thousands of managers and union leaders in the private sector and in numerous departments of the federal government, provincial government, and many municipalities. Mr. Furlong has worked with the Queen's University Industrial Relations Department conducting research into employment models of dispute resolution in Canadian companies, and teaches Negotiation Skills at the Queen's University Industrial Relations Centre. Mr. Furlong also spent 6 years as an organizational development consultant to both large and small corporations in Canada and the U.K.
Mr. Furlong is a Partnering facilitator to the construction industry, and has pioneered the use of Partnering in unique organizational settings. Mr. Furlong has mediated a number of construction matters, both construction design and contract issues, along with construction lien disputes. Mr. Furlong has facilitated conflict systems design projects for numerous clients, including the Royal Bank of Canada. Mr. Furlong is a principal with Agree Dispute Resolution, and is a graduate of Stanford University in California.
Gary Furlong has extensive experience in mediation, alternative dispute resolution, organizational facilitation, Read more >
Paul J. Greene, Esq.
Paul J. Greene, the Founder of Global Sports Advocates, is recognized by Chambers USA and Super Lawyers as one of Read more >
Job Titles:
- Founder & Senior Practitioner
A conflict management professional for more than twenty-five years, Mr. Gordon is an experienced mediator, arbitrator, facilitator, educator, and organizational capability builder. Mr. Gordon specializes in sports related conflict management building on a history of contexts that have included business-to-business, organizational change, energy, environmental, real estate and housing, family, and gang-related conflict and disputes. He especially appreciates and enjoys complex, multi-party conflict that requires non-traditional solutions to impasse.
Mr. Gordon has developed creative organizational solutions to ensure competitive success for a number of teams and leagues from collegiate through the professional levels. He has presented to audiences that have included individuals and teams from the NCAA, NBA, NFL, MLS, NRL, MLB, USATF, USTA, PGA, LPGA, and ATP.
Mr. Gordon founded the Sports Conflict Institute (SCI) after previously directing the Competition Not Conflict (CNC) project at the University of Oregon School of Law Appropriate Dispute Resolution Center. Mr. Gordon sees the importance of supporting competitive goals in athletics through understanding, preventing, and resolving destructive conflicts that occur both inside and outside the lines. He is dedicated to minimizing destructive costs of conflict in sports, by looking far below the tip of the iceberg, and fostering the positive value sports can provide to athletes, coaches, supporters, and administrators.
Mr. Gordon has created a number of cutting-edge conflict management tools and curriculum, including, the Play-By-Play Model™, Outside the Box / Inside the Ring™, Stop Bully!™, Sports Conflict Observations Tools (SCOTs)™, and myriad others. He takes a systemic approach to problems that arise in sport through the use of powerful assessment instruments and interventions designed to specifically address the challenge at hand.
Mr. Gordon has a track record of bringing innovative solutions to problems in sports. Examples include establishing one of the first sports ombuds programs in the country; facilitating the introduction of digital trainers to promote cognitive skills associated with competencies such as high-speed decision making, emotional regulation, and feedback mechanisms to Oregon Football, Softball, and Baseball in coordination with Axon Sports; and developing positive reward and accountability systems for Oregon Football program including testing against 500+ cases to ensure behavior outcomes consistent with Coach Chip Kelly's values, expectations, and goals.
Mr. Gordon has trained thousands of students in mediation, negotiation, and conflict management. As part of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, he Instituted mediation and conflict resolution training programs in school systems throughout Massachusetts and was a member of the Conflict Intervention Team designed as first responders to gang violence.
Mr. Gordon continues to teach undergraduates and graduates at the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR on courses related to negotiation, law & sports business, sport brand management, sport & society, sports conflict management, and dispute resolution. He has served the negotiation coach for the ABA Moot Court Negotiation Competition where he successfully coached multiple teams to the National Competition, including the 2013 ABA National Champion which then competed in the International Negotiation Competition as the United States representative.
Mr. Gordon is an arbitrator with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is on both the Football List and the General List.
Mr. Gordon serves on the Editorial Board for LawInSport, a knowledge hub and global community that provides expert analysis and commentary on the latest legal developments in sport.
In addition to his career in conflict management and dispute resolution, Mr. Gordon is a competitive runner with recent Masters All-American performances in the mile, 3K, 5K, and 10K distances. He competes as part of the University of Oregon Running Club and the Bowerman Track Club with consistent top 1% finishes.
Mr. Gordon received his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School, both his Master of Arts and a Graduate Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts Boston, and his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology / Sociology with an Certificate in Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Mr. Gordon now resides in Eugene, Oregon with his wife, Renee, daughter, Joelie, and their dog Rennen after spending 15 years in Boston, Massachusetts.
A conflict management professional for more than twenty-five years, Mr. Gordon is an experienced mediator, arbitrator, Read more >
Maggie Langlas Ward is an experienced dispute resolution practitioner and former standout collegiate athlete. She is Read more >
Job Titles:
- Founder of Global Sports Advocates
Paul J. Greene, the Founder of Global Sports Advocates, is recognized by
Chambers USA and Super Lawyers as one of America's leading sports lawyers. Mr. Greene handles sports law matters around the world, including before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Tom Szumita is an experienced accounting and finance professional with 20 years of business operations experience. He has worked extensively in college athletics, investment banking and higher education financial administration.
Tom has had a history of success identifying operational inefficiencies, implementing process improvements and establishing more effective controls. He focuses on process development and believes that preparation and communication are the keys to sustainable success.
Tom earned a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts, an MBA from Marshall University and a Master of Accountancy from Saint Joseph's College. Tom was a competitive collegiate distance runner at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He currently resides with his wife, Lauren, in Amherst, MA.
Tom Szumita is an experienced accounting and finance professional with 20 years of business operations experience. He Read more >