James Dykeman is a multi-skilled, high-performing professional passionate about supporting small nonprofit organizations and social-impact businessess. He emphasizes strategic communications, leadership development, community outreach, and partnership identification to scale organizational capacity and increase impact. Previous nonprofit service areas include supporting homeless and at-risk populations, raising awareness of international issues, immigrant and refugee advocacy, and access to the arts. 

“Conflict is an inevitable part of life, impacting not only individuals but the organizations that serve them. Within nonprofits especially, where resources are limited and the mission is paramount, conflicts can profoundly affect the internal team and the communities they serve. What’s essential is not avoiding conflict but understanding it. Through understanding-based conflict resolution, we empower individuals and groups to work through disagreements constructively. This approach not only fosters healthier relationships but also strengthens the capacity of nonprofits to fulfill their mission with integrity and collaboration.”​

Catherine Conner is a mediator, collaborative attorney, a teacher at and a director on the board of the Center for Understanding in Conflict. Her practice focuses on family law alternate dispute resolution, including mediation, collaborative practice and private judging.  She co-authored Collaborative Family Law Practice Materials.  She was on the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals board of directors from 2008 through 2014 and was the President in 2013.

“I was lucky enough to take my first training at CUC forty years ago just a couple of years after I graduated from law school.  The main beneficiaries of my years of learning about, using and teaching the Understanding-Based model are my clients, but it has also changed my relationships with other professionals, my colleagues, my students, my friends and my family.  Helping people to work through conflict in an open-hearted curious manner changes not only the outcome of the conflict at hand, but also can change their future relationships with each other and others.  My hope is to continue to bring this more constructive path through conflict to as many people around the world as possible.”

Pat Lau has been a workplace mediator at Intel Corporation from 2010 to 2024. After his first conflict management class many years ago, Pat became fascinated with alternative ways to address and resolve workplace conflict, especially after discovering the understanding-based model. In 2013, he co-founded and for over ten years led Intel’s Collaborative Mediation Program. This in-house workplace mediation program helped resolve challenging conflicts among co-workers, peer managers, team members, supervisors, and subordinates.

“From the moment I started reading Challenging Conflict: Mediation Through Understanding many years ago, the insights deeply resonated with me. I immediately knew that I needed to learn more about the understanding-based model and this was the approach that I wanted to use in my future work with conflict transformation. I also knew that this model was totally consistent with what was needed to address workplace conflicts. It has been and continues to be an amazing journey of self learning and growth.”

Esther Raposala is a versatile virtual professional from the Philippines with over five years of experience supporting global teams in administrative, customer service, human resources, and e-commerce roles. She supports the administrative operations of the team, and her background includes managing recruitment and training processes, executive assistance, project coordination, customer support, and e-commerce account management across platforms. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, she brings a people-centered approach to her work and excels in creating organized, efficient systems that help teams thrive.

“I am passionate about helping mission-driven organizations grow and succeed and am grateful to be part of an organization whose mission and values closely align with my own – particularly the commitment to fostering authentic conversations that build understanding and connection. I am passionate about supporting efforts that equip individuals and communities with the self-awareness and skills needed to navigate conflict with empathy and clarity.”