Professor Emeritus of Conflict Studies, Creighton University and Founding partner of CDR Associates

Keynote Session: Seven questions to challenge exclusivity

Bernie Mayer, Ph.D., has provided conflict intervention for families, communities, NGO’s, unions, corporations, and governmental agencies throughout North America and internationally for over 40 years. He is Professor Emeritus of Conflict Studies, Program on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Creighton University, and a founding partner of CDR Associates, a conflict intervention firm headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

Bernie’s newest book (with Jackie Font-Guzman), The Neutrality Trap: from Constructive Engagement to Strategic Disruption in Social Conflict, will be available in early 2022. 

Earlier books include: The Dynamics of Conflict, Beyond Neutrality, and Staying With Conflict, and The Conflict Paradox. Bernie lives in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada.

International Mediator, Author and Speaker, CIArb 2022 President

Keynote Session

Jane Gunn is a highly sought after consultant, facilitator and speaker. She specializes in collaboration, cross-cultural communication and transforming business relationships and has helped open the eyes, hearts and minds of numerous companies to transform and secure the future of their organisation and the commitment and collaboration of their people.

As a trained mediator and facilitator she brings a diverse mix of skills, experience and insight that enable her to get people and groups with different priorities, incentives and ways of doing things, to work together successfully. She has a powerful message supported by practical tools and techniques that applies to organizations of all sizes across all sectors.

Jane is Chair of the Board of Management of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and is a former director and board member of the Civil Mediation Council of England and Wales (CMC). She is a past president of the Professional Speaking Association of the UK and Ireland (PSA UKI). She is also a member of the Advisory Committee to QUADRA in Italy.

She has been invited to speak at the United Nations, the White House, the European Commission and the International Energy Agency and has fulfilled a number of other international speaking engagements. She has worked with organisations large and small including Cable & Wireless, The NHS, BAA, Bacardi-Martini, McLaren Racing, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and many more.

She is also the author of two popular books on conflict management “How to Beat Bedlam in the Boardroom and Boredom in the Bedroom” and “The Authority Guide to Conflict Resolution”.

Practising Advocate and a Masters Student, Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai

Session: Access to justice and public sector/private sector disputes: Global issue-local solutions

Practising Advocate, avid reader and a blogger. NLP Practitioner and Life Coach. Conducting research into understanding the roots of mediation from ancient wisdom as part of my masters program.

Deputy Business Ombudsman of Ukraine, Business Ombudsman Council

Session: Access to justice and public sector/private sector disputes: Global issue - local solutions

Iaroslav is the Deputy Business Ombudsman of Ukraine. Currently he is in 7th year of servicing in this senior semi-governmental role (appointed by the Government of Ukraine in May 2015). Gregirchak possesses holistic background in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) with passion for international arbitration and mediation. 20+ years of legal and international development experience earned with international law firms (Chadbourne & Parke and Gide Loyrette Nouel), the World Bank and USAID.
He has extensive experience in designing, developing and managing specialized multi-stakeholder ombudsman mechanism. Iaroslav also boasts strong track record of (i) resolving malpractices of public authorities, including those requiring effective management of fast paced conflict situations; and (ii) developing and implementing legislative strategies to secure desirable policy outcomes in wide array of fields, such as administering taxes, customs, law enforcement, competition/antitrust, secured transactions, compliance and anti-corruption.
At the Business Ombudsman Council Iaroslav leads the team of 6 inspectors tasked to investigate instances of business malpractice on the part of public authorities, as specified in the individual complaints lodged by businesses. Besides, Iaroslav authored 8 systemic reports focused on main challenges with the quality of business environment in Ukraine.

• In 1996 Iaroslav graduated from the Faculty of Law of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University.

• In 2002, he received Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

• 2015 – was certified as arbitrator by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – upon completion of advanced level professional training organized on a two-year basis.

• 2016 – became a Fellow at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) (London, England), License Membership No. 353339.

• 2019-2020 – included in the list of 10 lawyers being the most active in the social and political life of Ukraine (according to “Yurydychna Gazeta” Publishing House);

• 2020 – became a Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (Washington, DC) (2020-21 cohort);

Head of Dispute Resolution and Quality, NHS Resolution

Session: Access to justice and public sector/private sector disputes: Global issue-local solutions

Julienne Vernon is Head of Dispute Resolution and Quality at NHS Resolution, formerly the NHS Litigation Authority.
She studied Law at Cardiff University and is a qualified Solicitor and an Accredited Mediator.

Julienne joined NHS Resolution in 2000 and has handled a number of high profile complex cases. Julienne managed a claims team for 10 years and in her current role has oversight of NHS Resolution’s Claims Mediation Service.

Student, Middlesex University

Session: Hybrid processes and customary dispute resolution in emerging economies

Mayombe Odubah is pursuing the LLB (Honors) Law Degree at Middlesex University and possesses professional qualifications in Financial & Management Accounting from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). She is currently a Student Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and was previously a member of Amnesty International Kenya. Miss Odubah has been actively involved in the Alternative Dispute Resolution field in Kenya. As a Legal Intern and Researcher at Wambilianga Majani & Associates Advocates, Miss Odubah assisted in representing clients involved in dispute settlement claims before the Court of Arbitration for Sports, FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, The Sports Dispute Tribunal of Kenya and in Mediation concerning employment, intellectual property and business-related human rights disputes. Mayombe's research interests in current constitutional developments in Africa primarily centre on issues pertaining to fair and equitable representation. Her work can be found in several notable publications such as The City Law Review.

Managing Director, McComb Partnership UK and MPL Rwanda

Session: Hybrid processes and customary dispute resolution in emerging economies

Marcus Cato MICE, CEng, FCIArb is Honorary Secretary of the South East Branch, Co-Chair of CIArb Board of Management and Non-Executive Member of the Rwandan Branch Committee. He has over 25 years’ experience in international construction and engineering disputes resolution, practicing certified commercial mediator and qualified arbitrator - operating internationally throughout East Africa, South Africa and the UK. Marcus has over 20 years’ experience in working as both party representative and managing adjudication disputes for large and small clients in all aspects of construction and process engineering.

Rector of ILPD, the Chairman for the Kigali City Council, a Commissioner with EACA, founding partner of Fountain Advocates

Session: Hybrid processes and customary dispute resolution in emerging economies

Didas M. Kayihura is currently serving as the Rector of the Institute for Legal Practice and Development (ILPD), the Chairman for the Kigali City Council and a Commissioner (Rwanda) with the East Africa Competitions Authority (EACA). Didas is a former Acting Principal of University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) and the Dean of the Faculty of Law at The National University of Rwanda (UNR). He was a partner and Head of Business and Commercial Chamber and a practitioner at the Fountain Law Chambers (2008-2013) before it was dissolved to form Fountain Advocates. He is one of the founding partners of Fountain Advocates and he is currently a partner and is still heading the Business and Commercial Law Department at Fountain Advocates.

He holds:

• PhD from Utrecht University – The Netherlands, 2016. His PhD research was on “Corporate Governance and the liability of Corporate Directors: The case of Rwanda”

• Master’s Degree (LL. M) – International Business Law from Utrecht University (2006)

• Bachelor’s Degree (LL. B/Hons) from the National University of Rwanda.

He is a listed member of the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC) as an arbitrator, a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) based in London, and he is also a CEDR accredited Commercial mediator.

Executive Director, Oromia Pastoralist Association (OPA)

Session: Hybrid processes and customary dispute resolution in emerging economies

Gemechu Berhanu, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is an Executive director of Oromia Pastoralist Association (OPA), a local community-based organization working with pastoralist communities inhabiting the vast low land areas in Southern Ethiopia.

With Master’s Degree in Geography and Environmental Studies, he has worked for Research Center for Civics and Human Rights Education, a national NGO in Ethiopia, Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA), The House of Federation of The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (HOF), African Network for Prevention and Protection against Child Malnutrition and Neglect (ANPPCAN-Ethiopia), and Organization for Social Service for AIDS (OSSA).

While working with OPA, Gemechu has been engaged in supporting local community-based peace building initiatives through creating spaces for communities affected by conflicts to engage in constructive dialogues and resolve disputes non-violently and through reciprocally reached agreements including customary accords.

Partner, ECIJA

Session: Small states, regional institutions and local talent in a global market

Partner at ECIJA GPA where she leads dispute resolution area. Doctor in Jurisprudence and Lawyer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, specialist in Procedural Law from the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar and LLM in International Commercial Law from the International University of La Rioja in Spain. Collaborates with PACTUM Dispute Resolution Consulting an enterprise committed to the development of mediation as a key mechanism to solve disputes. Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2018.

Advises on commercial and investment arbitrations under ICSID, UNCITRAL and ICC rules. Member of the list of arbitrators of the Chambers of Commerce of Quito, Lima and LYDECO. Vice President of the Ecuadorian Institute of Arbitration. Professor of ADR and Arbitration at the University of San Francisco de Quito. Founder member of WIP Ecuador “Women in Profession”.

Founding Partner, Maverick Enterprise

Session: Small states, regional institutions and local talent in a global market

Erik van Wellen is an experienced Chartered Engineer and a registered International Professional Engineer who holds engineering degrees from the Universities of Antwerp, Liverpool and Plymouth. He has amassed over 20 years of international civil engineering and construction experience. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is an accredited Expert Witness in the UK and a federally registered Expert Witness in Belgium. He is a CEDR accredited mediator as well as a fully accredited mediator in civil & commercial matters by the Federal Mediation Commission of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, where he is also an appointed Member of the Special Commission on Construction. He works as a Commercial Director at the Boskalis Group and as a freelance independent expert, arbitrator & mediator at Maverick Enterprise in Antwerp.

Judge of the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago, founder of Dialogue Solutions

Small states, regional institutions and local talent in a global market

Ms Solomon began her career as an award-winning journalist in her native Trinidad and Tobago in 1984. She later obtained her LLB through the University of London in 1999.

Ms Solomon has served in several international organisations such as the United Nations’ Missions in Kosovo, Bosnia, Cyprus and Sierra Leone, and OXFAM managing projects in the Horn of Africa and Somalia.

She has experience designing mediation processes and developing strategic mediation interventions in complex conflict situations and was Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Centre in Trinidad and Tobago from 2017-2019 and in 2019 founded Dialogue Solutions, providing training and dispute resolution services throughout the Caribbean.

She serves as a Steering Committee Member of the Network of Women Mediators Across the Commonwealth and is a Certified Mediator and Mediation Trainer. She is also a Certified Arbitrator.

She currently serves the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago as a Judge of the Industrial Court.

Chief Executive Officer, Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC)

Session: Small states, regional institutions and local talent in a global market

Wee Meng is an experienced lawyer of more than 30 years, working out of Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. He has advised senior leadership of MNCs as lead counsel on legal and regulatory issues arising out of doing business in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Japan, Korea, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand. As an active board member of US-China JVs, he has managed a wide range of emerging market risks with international best practices. He believes the high risk/high potential Asia Pacific markets require a robust management practice that balances creativity with integrity to ensure sustainable business growth. He is an effective and trusted advisor to both corporate and regional management, acting as a strong advocate to implement pragmatic and integrated solutions to legal, regulatory and compliance issues. Leveraging his deep regional experience, he is currently leading SIMC to promote mediation to resolve complex, commercial cross-border disputes in Asia Pacific.

Advocate, Accredited Mediator, Tutor and Assessor, Independent Practitioner

Session: Choosing to challenge: How and when can I be an ally to those being excluded?

Mercy Okiro is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, trained Arbitrator, Accredited Mediator and Construction Adjudicator. She is an Accredited Tutor and Assessor of the CIArb and the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA) As well as an Adjunct Faculty Member at the Mount Kenya University School of Law. Mercy holds a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the University of Nairobi and is currently writing her dissertation for the award of a Master of Laws degree with Queen Mary University of London.

Mercy is on the panel of Arbitrators for the Kigali International Arbitration Centre, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Kenya, the Just and Fair Mediation Centre (Turkey) and the COVID-19 ADR Initiative (CADRI) Panel of Neutrals. She is also listed on the panel of pro bono lawyers of the Sports Disputes Tribunal in Kenya and the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mercy is the Chairperson of the KEPSA Gender Sector Board. She sits on the Council of the Association of Young Arbitrators and is an ICC Young Arbitrators Forum Representative for Africa, Middle East and Turkey. She also serves as an Ambassador for the Alliance for Equality in Dispute Resolution, Arbitrator Intelligence and Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers(REAL). She is part of the Steering Committee of the Equality for Representation in Arbitration, Africa. Mercy is also the Joint Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Africa Asia Mediation Association and a Fellow of the World Mediation Organization. She sits on the Sports, Arts, Culture and Heritage Board of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the National Technical Committees of the Kenya Bureau of Standards and Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture Working Groups amongst other local and international boards.

She was feted in 2019 as the “The Young African Arbitration Practitioner of the year 2019” and was listed as one of Africa’s Most Promising Young Arbitrators 2020 by the Association of Young Arbitrators. She publishes articles on sports law, procurement law, legal audits and compliance, gender and youth empowerment, mediation and arbitration regularly and has spoken in numerous conferences regionally and internationally on these areas.

Leading Business & Property Mediator, Roger Levitt Mediation

Session: Choosing to challenge: How and when can I be an ally to those being excluded?

Roger is ranked as a Leading Mediator by Legal 500 2020, having conducted over 130 commercial and property mediations, both online and face to face. He is a Fellow of the Civil Mediation Council, a member of their Board and a member of their Standards and Registration Committee. He is on the CIArb Panel of Senior Commercial and Civil Mediators. He is a member of The IMI (International Mediation Institute) RICS/PLA Panel of Boundary Dispute Mediators, Co-author of the RICS Mediation Guide (1st Edition, January 2015). The Academy of Experts (former Council Member and Accredited Mediator) ADRg Panel member, The Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates (Advisory Board), Clerksroom, The Property Litigation Association, The Association of Partnership Practitioners, The Law Society. Member of Consensum Mediation, ADR- ODR Panel Member, BIMA Founding member / Trustee (Belief in Mediation and Arbitration) a multi faith mediation group. Mediation in Scotland. Assessments for training courses. Roger provides mentoring services to newly qualified mediators Property Solicitor - Roger qualified in 1984 and is a solicitor (since 2018, Non-Practising). He has extensive experience in all types of commercial and residential work.

Co-Founder and Certified Mediator, Venn Mediation LLC

Session: Choosing to challenge: How and when can I be an ally to those being excluded?

Ehsan A. Ali is a practicing New York lawyer, arbitrator, dispute resolution specialist, and certified mediator. He resides in New York City and mediates with Venn Mediation and the New York Peace Institute. He spent his early years in rural Pennsylvania, where he began to learn the art of reasoned disagreement. He attained his B.A. from American University in Communications, Law, Economics, Government and Philosophy, and went on to earn his J.D. from Columbia University as a Stone Scholar.

While working with a major New York law firm, he practiced in large and complex national and international arbitral cases, as well as complex litigation, and some internal investigations. Thereafter, he has served as outside general counsel to several start-ups handling a full range of matters including formation, dispute resolution, and contractual negotiations. His particular focus has been entrepreneurs, artists, and those looking to create their own paths. This richly varied experience has given him a unique perspective on conflicts, especially those that are particularly heated and where it seems everything is at stake.

In mediation, his goal is to provide people and companies a better, faster, less expensive, and more creative outlet to resolve their disputes. He believes that far too often people give up on ideal solutions because they don’t see how - or lack the security - to ask for what they want. He sees mediation as a heavily underused mechanism on the ADR spectrum that allows for more optimal, creative, satisfying, and durable resolutions to be reached by parties. He strives for addressing his clients’ true interests and encouraging a true meeting of the minds.

Associate Professor at the University of Deusto, Spain, Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, USA

Session: Choosing to challenge: How and when can I be an ally to those being excluded?

Katerina Yiannibas is an associate professor of international law and business at the University of Deusto in San Sebastian, Spain and a Lecturer in law at Columbia Law School in New York, USA. International conflict resolution is her main area of professional and academic interest. Her scholarship has predominantly focused on the responsibility of both States and non-State actors in a global business context and the effectiveness of non-judicial remedies to provide access to justice for business-related human rights abuses, particularly international arbitration. Yiannibas is a member of the Business and Human Rights Arbitration Working Group and a drafter of The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration. Since 2013, Katerina has directed a number of European Union projects on access to justice and public participation: Human Rights in Business, a European Commission Directorate-General Justice project on access to justice for business-related human rights abuses, and European Dialogues, a series of inter-disciplinary public debates designed to democratize knowledge transfer on social and political issues. Her career experience encompasses work in government, NGOs, and education around the world: Central America, Southeast Asia, Western, Northern and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Yiannibas received her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She received her A.B., summa cum laude, from Duke University in Cultural Anthropology and French. She is a certified mediator by the New York Peace Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. 

Chair, American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution; Professor of Law, Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Session: Technology and mediation: Tools for inclusion

David Allen Larson is a Professor of Law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and Senior Fellow at the Dispute Resolution Institute. He is Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Co-Chair of the Section’s ODR Standards Task Force, and was a member of the ABA E-Commerce and ADR Task Force. He has been involved with online dispute resolution (ODR) since 1999 and is the System Designer helping create an ODR platform for the New York State Unified Court System. David is the John H. Faricy Jr. Chair for Empirical Studies, and a Fellow for the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution and the American Bar Foundation. He has 60 legal publications and has made more than 180 professional presentations in ten different countries. David worked at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Office of General Counsel, Appellate Division in Washington, D.C. and, on behalf of that Office, participated in drafting the Regulations and Interpretive Guidance for the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was founder and Editor-in-Chief of the "Journal of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment" (CCH Inc.), an arbitrator for the Omaha Tribe and other disputes, and a Hearing Examiner for the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission. He worked with the International Legal Resource Center (a partnership between the ABA Section of International Law and the United Nations Development Programme) and the ABA Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI). David has been a tenured professor at four different universities and colleges and practiced with a litigation law firm. He teaches Arbitration Law, Arbitration Skills, Disability Law Seminar, Employment Law, Employment Discrimination Law, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Seminar, Labor Law, and Torts. His articles are at http://ssrn.com/author=709717. 

Mediator, Executive coach, Facilitator, Tracey Fox Consultancy

Session: Technology and mediation: Tools for inclusion

Tracey Fox is a mediator (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution; CEDR), executive coach (Henley Business School) and facilitator with close to 20 years' experience helping people develop and collaborate.  With a BSc in Psychology ( Hons) and an MSC in Organisational Psychology, she has led programmes for investment banks, global social media giants, NHS Trusts, Regulatory bodies and UN agencies. Tracey brings a calm and compassionate approach, creating a safe space for people to reflect and grow. She is passionate about developing confidence in aspiring female leaders and is also a pro bono mentor and leadership coach.   

Positions held; 

• Non- executive Director of The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. 
• Lead Faculty, Coach and Assessor at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. 
• Panel Mediator for National Health Service Resolution disputes. 
• Module Leader and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster. 
• Business Faculty for The School of Life.  
• Panel Mediator for National Health Service Resolution disputes.  
• Panel Mediator for the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS) 
• Head of the Customer Champions for the Business Banking Resolution Service. 

Memberships and Associations; 

• The British Psychological Society 
• The European Mentoring and Coaching Council   

Publications 

• Fox, Tracey and Mackie CBE, Karl (‘13) Managing emotional turbulence – the psychology of organizational conflict, in Effective conflict management (ICSA). 
• Fox, Tracey and Balassa, Balint (November ’15) Why should I be flexible when you are so difficult?​ in Mastering negotiation (Bloomsbury).

International Mediator, Arbitrator and Referee/Special Master, JAMS

Session: Technology and mediation: Tools for inclusion

Ryan Abbott, MD, Solicitor Advocate, Esq., helps resolve disputes in the UK, the US, and internationally as a JAMS neutral. He has particular experience in the fields of intellectual property and health care, and offers unique expertise in such matters as biologics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical and life sciences, computer technology and distributed ledger technology. Ryan has served as partner at a litigation firm and general counsel of biotechnology companies. He has substantial ADR experience not only as a neutral but also as outside and inside counsel for both claimants and respondents.