Benjamin Cook
Director, Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution
Brigham Young University

Benjamin Cook teaches courses on negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution at BYU. He is a Utah court-qualified mediator and has developed and delivered workshops on dispute resolution in cities across the United States and various countries. Professor Cook trained as a mediator through the Harvard Mediation Program and has taught negotiation at the Harvard Negotiation Institute. He is an Arbinger Institute certified facilitator, and co-author of the book Advanced Negotiation and Mediation: Concepts, Skills, and Exercises.

Sara Cook
Director, Cook Consultancy,
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Sara Cook is a mediator and conciliation specialist who has worked with conflict-affected populations in Northern Ireland and internationally. Sara has served as a community mediator in contested regions of Belfast and facilitated dialogue between survivors of violence, security force members, and paramilitary members. Recently, Sara has trained humanitarian aid workers resettling Syrian refugees in the border region of Turkey. She is a lecturer and field director for the Conflict Transformation Certificate at St. Mary’s University in Texas.

Brandyn Keating
Chief Executive Officer,
YOUnify

Brandyn Keating has spent 20 years community building for social change as a political professional, trainer, and social entrepreneur. She has trained organizations and individuals across the US on having transformative values-based conversations across differences. She has also served as Executive Director of the Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, on the Public Safety Working Group of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s 2006 transition team and on the Drug Policy Task Force of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

Rae Kyritsi
Program Director, Center for Conflict Resolution,
Chicago, IL

Rae Kyritsi is a certified mediator of civil, criminal, elder, and family disputes and a certified trainer. She also works as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, teaching Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation and coaching students for the Vis Moot Commercial Arbitration Competition. She has facilitated community forums and organized non-profits and LLCs through consensus building. Rae earned her J.D. from Loyola and her B.A. from UW-Madison.

Michael Minch
Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Former Director,
Peace and Justice Studies Program, Utah Valley University

Michael Minch is an emeritus professor of philosophy at Utah Valley University. He directed the Peace and Justice Studies program at UVU for 12 years. His research focuses on conflict transformation and peacebuilding, including areas such as negotiation, mediation, theories of violence, and reconciliation. He is the co-author of Revolutionary Nonviolence in Violent Times and The Democratic Theory of Michael Oakeshott: Discourse, Contingency and the Politics of Conversation. 

Luis Miranda
Organizing Representative,
Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club

Luis is an organizer for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Utah and a core team member and trainer for the East Point Peace Academy. He is trained in conflict transformation, trauma-informed approaches, and restorative justice. Luis has organized with the #JusticiaYa movement in Guatemala, youth peace movements in Colombia, and immigrant justice efforts in Utah. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, University of Notre Dame, and Utah Valley University.

Duncan Morrow
Director of Community Engagement,
Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Duncan Morrow is a lecturer in politics at Ulster University. He has published on conflict resolution, Northern Ireland politics, and the relationship between religion and politics. He is currently the Director of Community Engagement at Ulster University, where he develops relationships with groups and organizations across the community. For ten years, Duncan was Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council. In that role, he worked on key issues such as interfaces, parading, and regeneration, as well as with victims and survivors of conflict.

Carl Stauffer
Educator, Trainer, and Practitioner
in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation

Carl Stauffer comes with 30 years of experience in 37 countries as both a practitioner and academic. Stauffer was associate professor at the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University and functioned as the academic director of the Caux Scholars Program in Switzerland and co-director of the Zehr Institute of Restorative Justice. His academic interests include restorative and transitional justice, post-war reconstruction and reconciliation processes.

Astrid S. Tuminez
President, Utah Valley University
Former Senior Consultant, United States Institute of Peace

Astrid S. Tuminez is the seventh president of Utah Valley University.  She is a former Senior Research Consultant for the United States Institute of Peace and is a permanent member and former Adjunct Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of Russian Nationalism Since 1856: Ideology and the Making of Foreign Policy. In 2016, President Tuminez was awarded the Gold Standard Award for Professional Excellence by Public Affairs Asia for her work in corporate affairs and public policy.