Spring 2018: Staff Updates | Consensus Building Institute

Gina Bartlett is now CBI West Director, leading strategy and staffing across our work in the U.S. West. Congratulations to Gina!

CBI New Faces

	Michael J. Brown joins the CBI team as a Senior Mediator and Director of CBI’s new Canada Practice. As a mediator and attorney, Michael brings more than 25 years of experience regarding land and natural resource disputes, mediation, and community grievances. Michael is a regular consulting advisor to the United Nations (UN) on natural resource and land conflicts, mediation, indigenous peoples, and peacebuilding. He was the UN's Senior Mediation Expert on Land and Natural Resource Conflicts for the Department of Political Affairs' (DPA) Standby Mediation Team, and a Senior Expert on Natural Resources, Environmental Diplomacy, and Mediation for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). He has held leadership and senior advisory positions with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN DPA, the World Bank, and UN peace missions. He is also Professor of Practice in Conflict Mediation at McGill University's Institute for the Study of International Development. Michael speaks English, French, and Spanish fluently.
	Tania L. Carlone joins the CBI team as a Senior Associate, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tania brings more than 20 years’ experience in facilitation, community organizing, organizational leadership, and education. For the past decade, Tania’s core practice in facilitation and mediation has focused on collaborative planning and consensus building in multi-party water and natural resources policy environments in California. She also works with agencies and organizations on strategic internal design issues and solutions. Prior to joining CBI, Tania was a Senior Mediator at the Center for Collaborative Policy. She has held leadership positions in nonprofit organizations in the United States and in Latin America, was an educator and program director of an integrated high school Humanities program, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and trainer in the Russian Federation. She holds a master’s degree in education and organizational leadership and a B.A. in political science with emphases in public administration and peace and conflict studies from the University of San Francisco.
	Maggie Osthues joins the CBI team as a Project Support Coordinator. Prior to joining CBI, Maggie worked at the Barbara Lee Family Foundation providing administrative and logistical support to the Executive Director and program team. Before becoming a staff member at the foundation, Maggie served as a Northeastern co-op student at the foundation and conducted research, drafted communications materials, and provided logistical support. Maggie has also worked as a legal intern in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, where she assisted the Economic Crimes Unit and the Healthcare Fraud Unit in trial preparations. Maggie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Affairs from Northeastern University.
	Sofia Soto Reyes joins the CBI team as a Junior Associate in the Washington, D.C. office. In her role, she conducts research and contributes to project design and development in several of CBI’s practice areas, with her work mostly focused on natural resources and the environment. Most recently, Sofia was researching the role of natural resources in post-conflict peacebuilding at the Environmental Law Institute, and prior to this spearheaded the inception of an environmental education initiative at World Resources Institute. Sofia holds a B.A. in Environmental Policy from Barnard College of Columbia University, with recognition as an Athena Scholar in Leadership. Sofia is a native Spanish speaker.