CNI brought together four expert facilitators of difficult and divisive conversations to discuss how they approach their work, structure their conversations, and hold space for groups, especially in these times of heightened polarization and intensified political and identity-based conflict. Toby Berkman, Suzanne Ghais, Matt Thompson and Susan Podziba shared insights from their experiences facilitating from a wide variety of contexts including diversity and inclusion, pro-life and pro-choice advocates, international peace negotiations, and multiparty public & private disputes.

Toby Berkman is a CNI Consultant, a Senior Associate at the Consensus Building Institute (CBI) and affiliated faculty at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. He has worked with stakeholders and organizations at the local level as well as the national and international stage, with institutions like the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense, the United Nations and the World Bank.

Suzanne Ghais, Ph.D is a mediator, facilitator, trainer, and author with 30 years in the field of conflict resolution including in international peacemaking and peacebuilding. Suzanne also teaches courses on conflict assessment, conflict prevention, and international negotiation at the International Relations Online program at American University's School of International Service and the University of Denver's Korbel School of International Studies. She is the author of Extreme Facilitation: Guiding Groups through Controversy and Complexity (Jossey-Bass/Wiley 2005) and many articles.

Madison “Matt” Thompson has worked for over 30 years in the areas of conflict resolution, diversity, and cultural competency. Matt is on The Mediation Group’s panel of neutrals, and he has worked with large regional banking institutions, higher education institutions, major teaching hospitals, and community non- profit agencies. Matt has also been the Director of Staff Diversity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Director of Affirmative Action and Multi-Cultural Relations at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Susan L. Podziba has been a public policy mediator for more than twenty-five years. Her clients have included the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, and Transportation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Institute of Peace, and the United Nations. Ms. Podziba has taught graduate seminars on public policy mediation and negotiations at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and currently lectures and consults internationally. She is author of Civic Fusion: Mediating Polarized Public Disputes.