Steve Seeche, Chair
Auburndale, MA, USA
stevenseeche1@hotmail.com
After a 35 year career in tax planning with several international accounting firms, Steve Seeche retired and began to pursue a career as a volunteer in Conflict Resolution. He mediates and arbitrates for organizations including the Harvard Law School Mediation Program, the Boston Bar Association, American Arbitration Association, and the Financial Regulatory Authority.
In addition he serves on several non-profit boards, volunteers in the clinical program at his alma mater, Boston College Law School helping coach the Negotiation Team and serves as a hearing officer on ethics cases for his state lawyers’ licensing commission. Steve, lives in the Boston area and is the proud father of two daughters and grandfather of twins.
- AB Psychology, Boston University
- MS Accounting, Northeastern University
- JD, Boston College Law School
- LLM Taxation, Boston University Law School
Judith Gilmore, Vice Chair
Chevy Chase, MD, USA
judithwgilmore@gmail.com
Judith Gilmore is currently a consultant in the area of human trafficking, a child protection and small claims mediator for the Washington, D.C. Superior Court, a small and large claims mediator for the Maryland District Court, a mediator for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, and a community mediator for the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County. She also mediates parenting plans, juvenile justice cases, and federal government work place issues. She is also 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. Her last position was the Director of the Private Voluntary Cooperation, the office that registers, supports, and represents U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in their development work overseas. In that capacity, she managed a yearly portfolio of $50 million in the areas of health, microfinance, education and cooperatives as well as the $20 million annual American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program. She also developed and implemented a new strategy of grants and research that supported overseas NGOs and networks, especially in conflict-affected countries.
Ms. Gilmore led the USAID regional offices of East Asia and West Africa and managed the technical offices in both the 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.
Jean Kling, Secretary
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Kling.Jean@gmail.com
Jean Kling has overseas work and study experience in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Spain. As Program Officer for International Medical Corps in Sierra Leone, she wrote new project proposals for primary and secondary health care programs, prepared all program reports, and co-coordinated a national vitamin A survey that assessed the scope and effectiveness of a previous campaign undertaken by the Ministry of Health.
As an international recruiter for International Medical Corps, Jean sourced and identified personnel for placement in 16 countries and participated in an on-site assessment of the Nairobi, Kenya office. She has also worked at the International Institute for Law and the Environment in Madrid, Spain and as Deputy Probation Officer in the Larimer County Probation Office in Colorado. As an AmeriCorps Fellow at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles, Jean founded and coordinated an after-school soccer program for at-risk youth.
Her past volunteer experience includes tutoring at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in New York and weekly supervision of court-ordered family visitation sessions at the Harmony House in Colorado. In her current position as Director of Institutional Support for Center Theatre Group, Jean has increased annual income from institutional funders and helped facilitate the program development process for major new initiatives. She has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s grant programs, and a moderator/panelist for “Funding Opportunities and Innovation” at the National Theatre Development Professionals Conference.Jean is also a volunteer with Century of Compassion and a member of the Board of Directors and President of the Board of Advisors for Karma Rescue. For the past three years she has served on the event committee for Karma’s annual fundraiser.Jean is a graduate of Colgate University, where she studied Spanish and Geography with an emphasis on Latin America. She is a member of the Southern California Mediation Association and Phi Beta Kappa.
Charlie Pillsbury, Treasurer
New Haven, CT, USA
chapillsburymbb@gmail.com
Charlie Pillsbury served as MBB’s first Executive Director from November 1, 2009, through January 31, 2014. Charlie is also an MBB Founding Member and a member of MBB’s Colombia project team.
From 1989 – 2009, Charlie was the Executive Director of Community Mediation, Inc., a nonprofit community mediation center in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a founding Board member of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) in 1993, and was Co-Chair of NAFCM’s Board of Directors from 1999 – 2001. He currently is also the Co-Director, Center on Dispute Resolution, and a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, Dispute Resolution, at Quinnipiac University School of Law.
Akinola Olawore
Lagos, Nigeria
olawore@akinolawore.net
Bsc (Hons), RICS Dip. Project Management, FRICS, FNIVS, FCAI, MNIM, MAPM, RSV. Akinola Olawore is a Chartered Surveyor and Valuer of repute with over 30 years experience in all aspects of Estate Surveying and valuation. He is a RICS ACCREDITED Commercial mediator and mediator and member of Neutrals Panel of the Lagos Multidoor Court house. He had at various times in his career led several teams on valuation of Heavy Industries such as Oil and Gas Installations, Breweries, Pharmaceutical Industries and Heritage Properties. He had been Director on the Global Valuation Standard Setting Organization- International Valuation Standards Committee as well President of the International Real Estate Society. A widely traveled professional who has been engaged in multinational research and collaborative professional work for foreign investors. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers;, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (UK) and Certified Auctioneers Institute of Nigeria respectively, member of the Nigerian Institute of Management Chartered, Association of Project managers etc. He is an adjunct Professor of Real Estate at the Homburg Academy, Charlotte Town, Canada and an affiliate Partner of International Realty Valuation Inc San Diego, USA
Dave Joseph
Smithfield, RI, USA
djoseph@publicconversations.org
Dave Joseph, MSW, is Vice-President, Program of the Public Conversations Project and has worked there since 2005. An experienced trainer, consultant, mediator and dialogue practitioner, he has worked with a broad cross-section of non-profits. As a young adult, Dave served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, an event that he describes as a life changing experience that taught him invaluable lessons about communication and culture. “While living with the Hausa people, I learned that every experience that we have is an intercultural experience whether we realize it or not. I came to see that if people could slow down and ask questions, rather than making assumptions, that this could lead to more effective communication and greater understanding.”
After returning from Africa, Dave attended social work school and went on to become a family therapist. For 25 years, he directed mental-health and addictions treatment services at several community mental health centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. As a result of years of observing the damage that divorce, particularly when litigated, had on the children of his adult clients, he became trained as a mediator in 1995. He sought divorce mediation as a way of helping parents “keep their eyes on the prize,” namely the needs and best interests of their children, rather than their own.
In 1996 he began his involvement with the Public Conversations Project, co-facilitating conversations between pro-life and pro-choice individuals. PCP’s focus is on building and deepening trust between people with conflicting identities, world views and/or core values. Since coming on staff in 2005, his work has addressed such issues as Hutu-Tutsi reconciliation; Israel-Palestine; religious and ethnic differences in Nigeria, as well as differences related to politics, class and race. Currently he is attempting to deepen his work promoting interfaith reconciliation, as well as women’s empowerment, in Nigeria. He has been delighted to work with Mediators Beyond Borders since 2007, as part of the Liberian Initiative. He is deeply committed to MBB’s values of respect, integrity and awareness of how we must be and embody what we profess.
- Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts, USA, MSW
- Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA B.A.
Douglas E. Noll, J.D., M.A.
Clovis, CA, USA
doug@nollassociates.com
Mr. Noll is a full time peacemaker and mediator, specializing in difficult, complex, and intractable conflicts. He is an adjunct professor of law and has a Masters Degree in Peacemaking and Conflict Studies. He is AV-rated and was a business and commercial trial lawyer for 22 years before turning to peacemaking. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and on the American Arbitration Association panel of mediators and arbitrators. Mr. Noll was one of the first U.S. mediators certified under the international mediator standards established by the International Mediation Institute. He is listed in the Who’s Who of International Commercial Mediators.
Along with his colleague Laurel Kaufer, Doug was honored by California Lawyer Magazine as California Attorneys of the Year in 2012 for their pro bono Prison of Peace project.
He is the author book Elusive Peace: How Modern Diplomatic Strategies Could Better Resolve World Conflicts (Prometheus Books, April 2011), winner of the Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) International Peace and Justice Book Award for 2011.
In addition, Mr. Noll is the author of Sex, Politics & Religion at the Office: The New Competitive Advantage(Auberry Press 2006), with John Boogaert, and Peacemaking: Practicing at the Intersection of Law and Human Conflict (Cascadia 2002) and, numerous articles on peacemaking, restorative justice, conflict resolution and mediation, and is a mediator trainer, lecturer, and continuing education panelist. Mr. Noll has been voted as one of the Best Lawyers in America in 2005, by US News; World Report and has been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer. Mr. Noll is host of the radio show The Doug Noll Show that streams live onwsRadio.com Thursday evenings at 7 pm Pacific.
Mr. Noll is also a second degree black belt in Chinese kung fu and has taught tai chi for over 10 years. He has a variety of other interests and accomplishments including certification as a Level III ski instructor, instrument-rated private pilot with multi-engine and helicopter ratings, a jazz violinist, and a whitewater kayaker and rafter.
Lynn H. Cole, Former Chair
Tampa, FL, USA
lynncole.com
lhc@lynncole.com
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.
Currently she serves as a Founding Member of the Board of Directors for Mediators Beyond Borders. She has served as a Mediation Specialist with USAID, successfully developing Court-based Pilot Mediation Programs in Bulgaria, Jordan and Kosovo. She is presently serving in Jordan as a Mediation Specialist to expand the pilot court related mediation program which she helped to develop in 2006. 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. She has developed an on-line mediation service which permits up to six participants from anywhere in the world to mediate virtually, on the computer screen.
Kenneth Cloke, Emeritus
Santa Monica, CA, USA
kennthcloke.com
kenclokembb@gmail.com
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.
- B.A. University of California, Berkeley 1963
- J.D. U.C. Berkeley, Boalt Law School 1966
- Ph.D. U.C.L.A. 1980
- LLM U.C.L.A. Law School 1980
- Post-doctoral work at Yale University School of Law 1980
- Graduate, National Judicial College, Reno. Nevada 1981
Courtney Bourns
West Hartford, CT, USA
beachfive@comcast.net
Courtney, a graduate of Tufts University and Duke University Law School, is a founding partner of the Hartford, CT law firm of Berman, Bourns, Aaron & Dembo, LLC. After 50 years in a general litigation and family practice, including 30 years as a divorce mediator, he retired at the end of 2015.
Following in the path of his father who was deeply engaged in civic activities and served a term as District Governor of Rotary in Ohio, Courtney has served on the boards of non-profit organizations in the Hartford area since 1970, chairing several of the boards during this 40+ year period. His experience has extended from starting a non-profit organization in downtown Hartford to being a board member of a $50 million/800 staff regional health organization. Fund development has, not surprisingly, been area where he has had considerable experience over the years.
Courtney has a large extended family and travels whenever he can. He loves tennis and is an amateur photographer. A member of MBBI for five years he currently serves on the Fund Development Committee. He is energized when he can work with people in conflict, “listening” to them in a way that can bring them together and help them find common ground and a way forward.
Victoria Gray
Stevenson Ranch, CA, USA
victoria@vlgray.com
Victoria is a mediator for the National Mediation Board, a federal government agency for which she mediates labor disputes and grievances and teaches facilitated bargaining and grievance mediation. She brings to this position 40 years experience in the airline industry as a labor advocate, having served as President of the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants, member of the Board of Directors of Trans World Airlines, Vice Chair of the Creditor’s Committee for the bankruptcy of Trans World Airlines, and International Representative of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
She was a member of the County of Los Angeles Community and Senior Citizens Services Voluntary Mediation Services program and was a member of the Pro Bono Panel of Mediators for the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Ms. Gray earned her undergraduate degree in Anthropology from California State University at Northridge. She also has a certificate in Industrial Relations from the University of California at Los Angeles and a certificate in Alternate Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute at the Pepperdine University School of Law.
Professional Associations include serving as Chair of the Communication Committee and Board member for the Southern California Mediation Association.
Dana Moldovan
Los Angeles, CA, USA
danamol@gmail.com
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. Dana is Major donor and Bequest society member. 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 rights. She participated on 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 as 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.
Rose-Anne Moore
Stamford, CT, USA
rmoore@polestarpartners.com
She has a lifelong passion for understanding how people’s beliefs, attitudes, and underlying values each inform the others and influence their decisions and actions. That interest has led her to work with consulting firms, advertising agencies, and client-side companies, in a range of industries from automotive to financial-services to health-care and pharmaceuticals, and in areas from advertising to website usability.
She holds an undergraduate degree from Williams College, an MBA in marketing and management policy from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, an MAR in ethics from Yale Divinity School, and is a trained mediator.
Prabha Sankaranarayan, President and CEO
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
prabha@mediatorsbeyondborders.
She is a conflict transformation consultant who has mediated, facilitated and trained in Europe, Asia, Africa and the USA. She has designed and facilitated interfaith dialogues in Asia and Africa. Her public and private sector work includes conflict analysis for public/private partnerships, consultation & assessment for industrial development zones, design and implementation of trainings for multinational corporations, as well as facilitation of multi-stakeholder mediations.
Prabha is actively involved in regional, national and international civic activities focused on civil liberties, sexual violence prevention, conflict mitigation & mediation and the recovery & rehabilitation of trauma survivors. She is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh. She trains and delivers presentations (nationally and internationally) on the impact of family and community violence, the intersection of trauma and peacebuilding, restorative justice, conflict resolution, mediation and transitional justice.
She co-lead Mediators Beyond Borders’ seven year project in Liberia which included programs focused on the training, rehabilitation and re-integration of former child soldiers, gender focused interventions, cross border training and Dialogue and community integration activities. She is a member of the MBB Kenya Team, designing and delivering conflict transformation services among Pastoralists. As a member of the Diamond Peace Leadership Circle community of practitioners, she has designed peace leadership training and facilitated the same for women from eighteen countries.
She speaks English, Tamil and Hindi. She practices yoga and also enjoys hiking, rafting and climbing.
Elodie van Sytzama
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
elodie@newresolution.nl
Elodie van Sytzama is owner/director of New Resolution and works as coach, consultant and trainer with lawyers, top management and business professionals, to become more effective negotiators and conflict resolvers. She has practiced law, negotiated and mediated, for over 20 years. She has overseas work- and study experience in Costa Rica, Turkey, China, Spain and France.
She graduated from the University of Leiden, Netherlands, in Business Law and worked as an attorney. After that she was manager and director in several Dutch multinational companies, until she went to work for the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, France, where she designed and implemented the mediation office. She went on to become the director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, for executive training in mediation, negotiation and leadership.
She received extensive training in mediation and negotiation at the Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam, Institute of Politics and Law Shanghai, China, the Project on Negotiation at Harvard and Pepperdine University School of Law.
Vinod Verma
India
vinodverma2016@gmail.com
Mr. Vinod Verma retired in 2013 from a long and successful banking career of nearly four decades. His rich and varied experience includes important and strategic assignments in Private, Public and MNC sectors in India. Currently he is mentoring young entrepreneurs in diverse fields such as finance, education and industry etc.
Mr. Verma was with Societe Generale for 18 years, as Regional Head and Managing Director Corporate and Investment Banking managing over 300 clients covering MNCs and large Indian corporate clients, first in Bangalore and then in New Delhi. He has also been associated with European Business Group in India (EBG) since its inception 15 years ago and helped the European Business Community in India build an effective policy advocacy platform and publish its annual Position Paper. He was Chairman of the Working Group of European Banks in India and then a Member and Treasurer of the Country Council of European Business Group. He was elected and called upon to take on the mantle of its Chairmanship and became the first point of interaction and consultations with EBG by Government of India and for visiting Commissioners from EU, Brussels.
Prior to joining Socgen, Mr. Verma worked extensively in strategic positions in Indian Public Sector banks for over 2 decades. He held Senior Management Positions in Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank. He started his commercial career as a Management Trainee with DCM, a leading business house in Private Sector in India, during those years.
He is an alumnus of the prestigious St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi and a Chartered Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers. He underwent a Business Administration program in Canada where he was adjudged as the “Best Participant”. His publications have been well accepted and recognized by reputed journals of International Business and Finance.