MEDIATORS BEYOND BORDERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Indigenous Support Project Synergist / Read Bio
Annabel Morris is a senior from Rumson, New Jersey, studying Political Science and Middle East & Islamic Studies at Colgate University. She is the executive editor for The Colgate Maroon-News, Colgate's newspaper and the longest running weekly college publication in the country. Annabel is an avid runner and is participating in the 2022 Chicago Marathon in support of Every Mother Counts, an organization that raises funds and awareness for inequities in maternal care around the world. She is interested in civil rights and journalism and hopes to attend law school post graduation. Annabel has been a member of MBBI since 2022, and is currently working on the indigenous support project as an intern.
Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri did his B.Com. Honours from University of Delhi in 1974 and two Post Graduate Diplomas in Company Law and Administrative Law from ILI, in 1975 and 76, getting first position in both. He topped in LL.B. from Delhi Law Faculty in 1977 and completed his LL.M. in 1980, again getting first position in 3 years' course. He has been conferred Doctorate of Laws, Honoris Causa, by National Law University Delhi on 31st August, 2018 and by Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow, on November 2013.
Justice Sikri started his practice at Delhi High Court in 1977 and handled all types of cases, with specialisation in Arbitration, Commercial, Labour and Constitutional matters. He was counsel for various public sector undertakings, banks and financial institutions. He taught Law at Campus Law Centre from 1984 to 1989. In 1997, he was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Delhi High Court; and in 1999 he became a judge of Delhi High Court, and in 2011 it's Acting Chief Justice. In September 2012, he was elevated as the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court and in April 2013, he was appointed as the judge of the Supreme Court. He superannuated in March 2019 as the senior most puisne judge.
Justice Sikri has authored over 4700 reported judgements in different fields of law. He was chosen as one of the 50 most influential persons in the world who impacted the growth of Intellectual Property Laws for the year 2007 by MIPA. He wrote scholarly articles in various journals and presented learned papers in various national and international conferences. He has several articles in the field of human rights, commercial laws, arbitration and mediation.
Currently, he is the Judge of Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC); Chairman of National Court Management Systems Committee (NCMS); Chairperson of the Committee for Formulating an Action Plan for Online Dispute Resolution under NITI Aayog, Government of India; Chairman of News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), Chairperson, Grievance Redressal Board, Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council (DPCGC) and Ombudsman of Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS). He is also the visiting Professor of various Law Universities.
Job Titles:
- Communications and Operations Manager
- Security Politics Specialist
Ben Lutz is a Middle East security politics specialist and has lived in Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, and Oman conducting research on interfaith diplomacy, refugee migration, and economic development while finishing his Masters in Middle East Politics and Security Studies from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom.
He speaks English and Arabic and enjoys anything in nature!
Since 2013, Charles A. Pillsbury ("Charlie") has served as Co-Director, Center on Dispute Resolution, and as a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence in Dispute Resolution at Quinnipiac University School of Law.
From 2009 to January 2014, Charlie also served as the Executive Director of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI). He currently is MBBI's Treasurer and a co-leader of MBBI's Colombia project team. From 1989-2009, Charlie was the Executive Director of Community Mediation, Inc., in New Haven, CT. During that time, he also was a founding Board member of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) in 1994, and co-chaired NAFCM's Board of Directors from 1999-2001.
He is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and Yale University. Before joining Community Mediation in 1989, Charlie practiced law for 14 years in the New Haven area. He is married to the Rev. Allie Perry, and is a member of Shalom United Church of Christ in New Haven.
Dana Moldovan was a partner in a high tech company that was acquired by a public company. After completing her contract with the buyer, Dana started her own 501©3 nonprofit organization, Children Skills for Life, and now works full time on humanitarian projects. Children Skills for Life organization's mission is to help children build their future through education. Dana joined Rotary International in 2002 and is an active member of Newbury Park Club, District 5240. She is Past President and currently serves as Inter-Country Committee National Coordinator USA. She has participated in polio immunization campaigns in Nigeria and India and in many humanitarian projects in Romania, Honduras, El Salvador, and India.
Dana has a passion for "peace and conflict resolution" and women's rights. She participated in several missions of Reconciliation working with minorities of Syria and also was involved in Peace Building Projects in Israel. Dana also is involved with other nonprofit organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Thousand Oaks Philharmonic, PACE Universal, Blue Heron, PACIS Project of Pepperdine University School of Law and Advisory Board of the Pepperdine School of Psychology and Education for the Social Entrepreneurship and Change Master Program. Dana joined MBB in 2013 and is an active member of MBB - Los Angles Regional Group.
Dana participated at the 2013 MBB Congress in Istanbul, Turkey where she was a presenter and she was the 2015 MBB Congress Chair that took place in Bucharest, Romania. Dana is a trained mediator and mediated hundreds of cases in the Los Angeles Courts.
Dana has an Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from Romania, a Certification in Business Management from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Certification in Dispute Resolution and a Master's Degree in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University.
Dennis Phua is a conflict resolution expert who works with business, community, and government leaders to prevent and mitigate conflict. After a decade working in diverse sectors and industries, Dennis understands the costs of conflict and believes in transforming the structural and cultural conditions that generate it.
Dennis has mediated and trained in Asia and Europe. His public and private sector work includes conflict analysis for multinational corporations and international non-governmental organizations, facilitation design and stakeholder engagement at the national level, and interfaith dialog. In addition to his extensive mediation and peacebuilding experience, Dennis is a seasoned entrepreneur in Singapore.
Dennis is an accredited mediator with the Singapore International Mediation Institute and the Singapore Mediation Centre and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore.
Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Eilidh Bellamy is a second year undergraduate student of International Relations at King's College London. She is particularly interested in human rights and peace-building, and aims to specialise in conflict resolution after graduation, with
Gwendolyn S. Myers has over ten years of experience working in Peace and non- violence education among in and out of school youth. Recently featured as Time Magazine-2019 -Top Eight Young Reformers Across the Globe Shaping the World and 2019-Top Seven-African Women Breaking Barriers in Peacebuilding in Africa #FrontlineWomen. She's the Founder& Executive Director (2008-Present) of a non-profit, youth-led peacebuilding organization; Messengers of Peace- Liberia Inc (MOP-Liberia Inc), managing over one thousand five hundred Young Volunteer Peace Messengers. Her non-profit; Messengers of Peace-Liberia Inc. (MOP) became the first recipient of H. E. President George Manneh Weah National Peace Prize Award 2018 in celebration of the 15 years of unbroken peace in Liberia since the Accra Peace Accord 18th August.
She became a Certified Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), Swedish Agency for Peace, Security and Development Young Mediator after successfully completing a Special Training Programme in Dialogue and Mediation in Sweden, Cambodia & Nepal from November 2016-April 2018. She's presently the Youth Representative at the level of the Technical Working Group on National Reconciliation in Liberia with strong insights on the UN Peacebuilding Architecture as well the Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Goals (PSGs). Through her global peace missions to several countries and regions, she has been able to develop strong networks with major stakeholders working on peacebuilding programs, especially within the region of West & Central Africa.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Resource Development Committee
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair
- Co - Chair / New York, USA
John is an international corporate, commercial lawyer, arbitrator and mediator specializing in complex dispute resolution including international commercial arbitration and mediation. He is trained in the law in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. He is admitted to practice in New York, California and Ontario, Canada. John is certified in advanced commercial mediation.
While he spent much of his career as a trial lawyer litigating commercial disputes before courts, John recognized the advantages of alternative dispute resolution, particularly mediation. Experience showed him that alternative dispute resolution helped to facilitate settlement of disputes, while allowing maximum participation of the parties at a lower cost and often more quickly. John has acted frequently as a mentor training new mediators. John has also acted in an advisor role to governments such as drafting new ethical rules for judges in the State of New York, and lobbying multiple levels of government in Canada.
Job Titles:
- Vice - Chair
- Vice - Chair / Nairobi, Kenya
Hon. Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch, EBS, CBS, (Retired) is a former Judge and First Vice-President of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, The Netherlands.
Prior to that, she was a Judge of the High Court and Court of Appeal in Kenya, having been appointed the second woman Judge in Kenya.
She holds an LLB Degree from the University of Nairobi, and Diploma from the Kenya School of Law. She has a Master's Degree in International Affairs (GMAP), from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in Boston, which granted her the Distinguished Achievement Award in April 2015, and in September 2018, the same University awarded her its top Award, "The Class of 1947 Award" (honoris causa),making her the first black person to receive such an honour to only bestowed on one who has embodied the school's mission and its founding ideals throughout their career.
Judith Gilmore is currently a mediator for the Washington, D.C. Superior Court, the Maryland District Court, the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office, Office of Human Rights, and the Conflict Resolution Center as well as the U.S. government. She mediates small claims, misdemeanors, parenting plans, community conflicts, and employment discrimination and workplace issues. She is also the Chair of the Finance Committee on the Board of Managing Trustees of the International Association of Women Judges.
Previously, Ms. Gilmore had a career in international development at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she was a senior manager. Ms. Gilmore led the USAID regional offices of East Asia and West Africa and managed the technical offices in both Africa and the Latin America and Caribbean Bureaus. Earlier in her career, she was chief of evaluation for NGO and food aid programs and designed the first grant programs at USAID for NGOs. Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Gilmore worked at Oxfam-America, the International Labor Organization, and the Organization of American States.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Ms. Gilmore also earned certificates in French and Spanish translation from Georgetown University's Institute of Language and Linguistics. She received her BA in French literature from Wellesley College.
Justice Aluoch has successfully moved her legal profession to other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, namely, Arbitration and Mediation. She a Certified Mediator, International Mediation Institute (IMI), and Accredited Mediator (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution London). She a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, and the Kenya branch, the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Peace Palace, The Hague, Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration and African Arbitration Association. She conducts mediations under the High Court Annexed Mediation program, Kenya as well as FIDA-Kenya, and private mediations. She is an Accredited Trainer for Foundation Mediation Skills of the Strathmore University Dispute Resolution Centre. She has recently been appointed a Board Member of Mediators Beyond Borders International, the Chair of the Advisory Board of the newly formed Africa-Asia Mediation Association, and Patron of Kisumu Mediation Centre.
She is a recipient of several international and national awards. These include the Presidential honours of Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS), First Class Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS), and The Trail Blazer Award (2018), for services rendered to the Kenyan nation.
Originally from Boulder, Colorado, Katie Perez is a third year undergraduate student of Communications at Allegheny College. She is interested in non-profit work that helps address human rights issues, MBBI's work around the globe with peace-building missions and causing change through education thrills Katie and is why she is pleased to be working with their unique global community and making connections that will further her pursuit of making small changes with big impacts.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus
- Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution
Kenneth Cloke is Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution and a mediator, arbitrator, consultant, and trainer specializing in communication, negotiation, and resolving complex multi-party conflicts, including community, grievance and workplace disputes, collective bargaining negotiations, organizational and school conflicts, sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits, and public policy disputes, and in designing preventative conflict resolution systems for organizations.
He has mediated conflicts and taught dispute resolution in over 20 countries and is a nationally recognized speaker and published author of many journal articles and several books. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, Harvard University's School of Law and Amsterdam University's Institute on Dispute Resolution. Kenneth Cloke is the key founder and leader of Mediators Beyond Borders. He has assembled a team of dedicated conflict resolution professionals to implement the mission of MBB. He is currently involved with MBB's developing Rwanda project as the Board Liaison.
Lydia Ray graduated with a B.A in International Relations with a minor in conflict resolution in 2014. She has a background of working with non-profits whose core mission is to create sustainable communities globally, She was fortunate to be a part of a peace-building delegation to Israel / Palestine where she was able to learn about local organizations on the ground, as well as, international NGO's that collect data regarding settlements, checkpoints, education, and other everyday aspects living in and around the Israeli, and Palestinian areas. she was able to witness protocols in place when tension rises between individuals, and different factions. She has since then turned to her local community, and has been a court mediator for over 4 years before pivoting to family mediation where she then started her own family mediation practice to assist families in dispute.
After over 26 years as a full time, "av-rated" attorney specializing in business, complex commercial and labor and employment cases, Lynn Cole is now a full-time dispute resolution professional. In the U.S., she has a domestic practice in mediation and arbitration and has served as a Special Master, a Special Magistrate, and an SEC Receiver.
She was appointed to the DRC (formerly Mediation Qualifications Board) by the Florida Supreme Court as a founding member, has served as the Chair of the Civil Justice Reform Act Commission for the federal court, and chaired the Thirteenth Judicial Nominations Commission responsible for selecting Judges in the State of Florida. She is Florida-certified and Harvard-trained in mediation and is listed as a neutral by several prestigious ADR international organizations such as: the American Arbitration Association; the International Chamber of Commerce; the United States Council for International Business; the International Institute for Conflict Resolution and Prevention; the World International Property Organization in The Hague; and several others. In 2008, she was an invited attendee of the ABA ADR Section's first International Conference held in The Hague. She has lectured internationally in Commercial Mediation; Ethics; and Basic and Advanced Mediation. She has taught mediation courses domestically for students in several Universities and Law Schools and internationally for judges and mediators from Jordan, Oman, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia.
Location: Tarnów, Poland. Maciej Witek is a Tokyo International University graduate with an MA in International Relations, a former diplomatic trainee at the Delegation of the European Union to Japan, and language support at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He is currently based in Poland, where on top of attending the European Academy of Diplomacy, he serves as a director of the Polish branch of the Japan-Poland Youth Association, and the founder of Global Society - an NGO promoting intercultural communication. Maciej is currently working as an Intercultural Communication Officer at the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (GPAJ) and Kyoto Peacebuilding Center (KPC).
Job Titles:
- Ukraine TIPDA Support Synergist / Read Bio
Job Titles:
- Peace Writer Synergist / Read Bio
Job Titles:
- East Africa Representative
Job Titles:
- Director of Philanthropy and Member Engagement
Job Titles:
- Global Partnerships Manager
Job Titles:
- SouthEast Asia Representative / Read Bio
Job Titles:
- Director of Program, Design, and Evaluation
Job Titles:
- Resource Development Consultant