Home > News & Events > Member Spotlights

Member Spotlights

MBBI calls its members Peace Builders. Our members contribute their time utilizing their skills and experiences to participate in Working and Regional Groups, and Capacity-Building & Advocacy Initiatives. We hope that through our Spotlights, our members, individually and collectively, will inspire you as much as they inspire us to continue the important work.

To read more about our other current members, log into your profile for the member directory.

A growing number of international requests reach MBBI for partnerships, services, and projects. Help us build our capacity to say “yes” to these requests; consider joining us as a Peace Builder. For more information on how to become involved and for internship and volunteer opportunities, please visit our Join Us page or contact us at info@mediatorsbeyondborders.org.

Our Peace Builders

Creating a Department of Peacebuilding. Member Spotlight: Fernando I. Andrade

Fernando Andrade is originally from Chile and immigrated to the United States over thirty years ago. He has a wide range of professional experiences, beginning his American career in labor…
Read More

Communication and Climate Action. Member Spotlight: Miriah Russo Kelly

Miriah Russo Kelly is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science in the Department of the Environment, Geography and Marine Sciences at Southern Connecticut State University. She completed her Master of…
Read More

Mediating with Eyes Towards the East. Member Spotlight: Ilan Bass

Influenced from an early age by foreign cultures, especially of China, Japan, and Korea, Ilan Bass has continued to cultivate his deep interest throughout his fruitful and successful career in…
Read More

Teaching Effective Communication. Member Spotlight: Shelley Larson

Shelley Larson is a Dispute Resolution Specialist with Pollack Peacebuilding Systems, the Founder and CEO of SBL Communication, and a professor of communication and leadership at Oakland County College. She…
Read More

Mediation in the Workplace. Member Spotlight: Lynn Hunt

Lynn Hunt currently resides in Ridgefield, Washington, which is a few miles outside of Portland, Oregon. She was first introduced to interest based conflict management processes as part of collective…
Read More

A Life Dedicated to Addressing Conflict. Member Spotlight: Nicole Widdersheim

Nicole Widdersheim is a Senior Policy Advisor for the Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Prior to this, she was the Director of…
Read More

Between Restorative and Immigration Justice. Member Spotlight: Laura Roberts

In the last few years, immigration has been representing one of the most challenging and divisive issues throughout the US, partly due to a high politicization of the matter at…
Read More

From Litigation to Mediation. Member Spotlight: Patrick McPhilamy

Patrick McPhilamy is an arbitrator, mediator, and coach based in California. He earned his Master of Laws (LLM) from Cambridge University in 1983. Before this, he spent a summer at…
Read More

Education as a Tool for Peacebuilding in Afghanistan. Member Spotlight: Parisa Sekandari

Parisa Sekandari is a recent graduate from Herat University in Afghanistan, receiving a Bachelors of Law and Political Science degree. She is also a country director for the Afghanistan Vis…
Read More

Safeguarding the Earth for the Future. Member Spotlight: Yasmeen Kennedy

Yasmeen Kennedy lives in Colorado, where she works as a mediator in a variety of capacities. She is passionate about police relations, children, and climate change, and she works on…
Read More