Dr. Evan Hoffman
ehoffman@ciian.org

Executive Director 
Ottawa

Dr. Evan Hoffman is the Executive Director of the Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation (CIIAN) and an Associate Faculty member with the School of Peace and Conflict Management at Royal Roads University.

Dr. Hoffman holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). His doctoral research focused on the question of why mediation sometimes produces a durable peace and this research culminated in the creation of a new model for durable peace. Dr. Hoffman also completed a Master's degree in Post-war Recovery Studies at the University of York, UK in 2001 and an undergraduate degree in psychology at Carleton University, Ottawa in 1999. In 2001 he earned a Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) from CIIAN.

Dr. Hoffman was one of the first people at the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) at the University of York to study trauma created by violent conflict and the methods of individual and community trauma healing in a post-war context. His initial examination of the subject began on a field study in Sri Lanka. His research then took him to Bosnia for field study and data collection. The results of this research are documented in his Master's thesis entitled "Creating the Space to Heal: Principles of War-Induced Trauma-Recovery, with Case Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina".

Dr. Hoffman was then an intern with the Delegation of the European Commission (EC) in the Republic of Sudan. The focus of the internship was on the EC-funded Sudan Landmine Information and Response Initiative (SLIRI) - a landmine marking and removal project. During this time he had the unique opportunity to work with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rae McGrath. Additionally, during this same period he assisted the Carter Center in the design and delivery of a week-long peacebuilding training workshop which was held in Nairobi for members of the Governments of Sudan (GOS) and Uganda (GOU) and the Sudanese People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) as part of the efforts to implement the Nairobi Agreement.

From 2004-2009 Dr. Hoffman was an 'Analyst and Policy Advisor' for CIIAN's International Peace and Prosperity Project (IPPP) in Guinea-Bissau. The IPPP was a political violence prevention project testing the application of lessons learned and best practices to develop a model for fragile, failing, and failed states.

Dr. Hoffman has published numerous articles on the themes of conflict prevention and resolution, peacebuilding, and mediation and he has provided consulting services to the Carter Center, the UN, the EU, the Ottawa Police Service, St. Lawrence College (Cornwall), the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice, and others on these topics.

Mr. Blaine Donais
ciian@ciian.org

Domestic Training Program Toronto

Blaine Donais B.A., LL.B., LL.M. (ADR), RPDR, C. Med., author of Workplaces That Work and Engaging Unionized Employees, both published by Canada Law Book, is President and Founder of the Workplace Fairness Institute. 

He has represented professionals as a labour lawyer since 1995. He is an expert in both the practice and theory of assisted labour/management negotiation, mediation/arbitration and facilitation. He is Adjunct Professor of Workplace Dispute Resolution at York University and University of Toronto (Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources) and is Visiting Lecturer for La Trobe University, Melbourne Australia and Queensland University, Brisbane Australia. He teaches Human Resources professionals, Labour leaders and others in Human Rights, Labour and Employment law, Human Resources, Collective Bargaining and Conflict Resolution. He acts as Conference Chair, Speaker and Seminar Leader for various conferences including Insight Info, The Canadian Institute and Lancaster House.

Mr. Colm Brannigan
ciian@ciian.org

Domestic Training Program Toronto

Colm Brannigan is a full time mediator and arbitrator. He is a Director of the ADR institute of Ontario and co-chair of its Technology Section.  

Colm is a Chartered Mediator and has an LLM in ADR from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. He was one of the first Canadian mediators to be certified by the International Mediation Institute in the Netherlands and is also a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Roster of Mediators.

In addition to extensive writing on ADR topics, Colm has participated in numerous professional development programs and is a part-time instructor in law at Humber College in Toronto. He is also the moderator/founder of “Mediate-Canada” an ADR listserv on Google Groups.

Mr. Jeffrey Mapendere
jmapendere@ciian.org

Mr. Jeffrey Mapendere is a conflict analyst with extensive expertise in security and rebel groups analysis. As a conflict resolution practitioner, Mr. Mapendere has conducted high-level political analysis and worked on a variety of projects in Mozambique, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Jamaica, and Guyana. Mr. Mapendere also designs electoral dispute resolution systems for a variety of electoral environments and is a mediator.

Most recently, Jeff has held posts as a Senior Adviser – Security Arrangements for the United Nations Mediation Standby Team and as a Field Office Director for the Carter Center's Election Observation Mission in Sudan.

Mr. Mapendere has an MA in conflict analysis and management from Royal Roads University in Canada. He also earned a graduate certificate in conflict resolution, a BA in Psychology, and a BA in Psychology and Criminal Justice, all from Carleton University in Ontario, Canada.

Ms. Sylvia McMechan
ciian@ciian.org

Sylvia McMechan began as a pioneer in the Canadian conflict resolution field in 1990, when she became the first program officer for the Fund for Dispute Resolution in Ontario. Two years later she assumed the role of director of Canada’s Network for Conflict Resolution, which she continued until accepting a position as core professor in the peace and conflict studies at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. For the past decade, Sylvia has been in private practice as a mediator and facilitator of collaborative processes, with a focus on multi-party engagements that frequently involve natural resource disputes and include government agencies, aboriginal communities, and corporate interests.

Sylvia holds a bachelor degree in environment and resource studies, a master’s degree in conflict resolution and is now studying in a doctoral program, focusing on public policy and social change. She also teaches graduate courses on mediation, consensus-building, and negotiation.

Ms. Renée Gendron
rgendron@ciian.org

Associate
Ottawa

Renée Gendron holds a Masters degree in sociology with a specialisation in governance. She earned a certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) from the Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation (CIIAN) in August 2009. Presently, she is conducting doctoral research under the supervision of Dr. Hille. Her research involves the creation of a new conflict and grievance analysis model that is being applied to the conflicts in Chechnya and the North Caucasus.

Renée facilitates leadership courses for CIIAN and she was the Dialogues Project Coordinator, an innovative joint peacebuilding project between CIIAN and other organizations which combined theatre and conflict resolution in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Renée was also an expert coder for the International Peace Institute's program on Compliance with Security Council Resolutions. She coded compliance to United Nations Security Council resolutions for the civil wars in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Renée has also conducted independent research on the globalisation processes and their effects on conflicts in the Caucasus. Moreover, she has researched and written articles on the impacts of clans on state building and peacebuilding processes, the role of resource scarcity on the task of preventing violent conflict, and on Fourth Generation (4G) Early Warning systems.

Ms. Senzeni Mapendere
smapendere@ciian.org

Associate
Ottawa

Senzeni Mapendere holds a Masters of Arts in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University in Victoria, Canada. 

She has facilitated Leadership training workshops in the USA and in Canada.  Senzeni ‘s training expertise is also drawn from twenty years of Foreign Service experience  in Africa, Asia,  Australia, Eastern Europe and North America.

Ms. Sara Skinner
ciian@ciian.org

Associate
Ottawa

Sara Skinner holds a Masters degree in Conflict Analysis and Management, specializing in Ethnic and Political Conflicts, from Royal Roads University.

Previously Sara completed a BA in Political Science with International Relations and Development as the core of her studies; she has also participated in various trainings including Multi-Party/ Advanced Negotiations and Mediation through CIIAN.

Sara has partnered with small international organizations in both Croatia and Guatemala to provide skills workshops on Conflict Resolution and Effective Communication; and has been consulting with NGO’s in both Africa and Europe on conflict resolution related content within their programs.

Sara has most recently been working with the United Nations Mission in Sudan as an Advisor for the Southern Sudan Referendum Process and supporting elections in the transitional areas of Sudan.