Senior Management

Please find background information on our Senior Management below. You can click a photo to download a larger version for printing purposes.

	John Marks Founder and President

John Marks is Founder and President of Search for Common Ground and Common Ground Productions. He wrote and produced The Shape of the Future, a four-part TV documentary series that was simulcast on Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite TV. John also serves as executive producer of The Team, a TV and radio series in 16 countries, as well as numerous other TV and radio programs. John is a Skoll Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Peace in Costa Rica. He served as a US Foreign Service Officer and as Executive Assistant to the late US Senator Clifford Case. A graduate of Cornell University, John was a Fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. He is an award-winning author and a Senior Ashoka Fellow.

	Susan Collin Marks Senior Vice President

Susan Collin Marks is Senior Vice President of Search for Common Ground. A native South African, she worked as a peacebuilder during her country's transition from apartheid to democracy. Her book about that process, Watching the Wind: Conflict Resolution during South Africa's Transition to Democracy (US Institute of Peace, 2000) was also published in Arabic in 2004.

For over 20 years, Susan has facilitated dialogues and offered one-on-one coaching for political, institutional and civil society leaders worldwide. In 2006, she launched the Leadership Wisdom Initiative at SFCG. She serves on numerous boards, including the Advisory Council of the Woodrow Wilson International Center Project on Africa and Leadership, and the Abraham Path Initiative. She was portrayed in the PBS documentary Peace X Peace: Women on the Frontlines. Her honors include a Jennings Randolph Peace Fellowship at the United States Institute for Peace, the Institute for Noetic Science's Creative Altruism Award, a Skoll Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University for Peace in Costa Rica. She speaks, teaches, coaches, writes, facilitates, and supports peace processes and conflict resolution programs internationally. Susan believes that our common humanity binds us together more than our differences divide us. She works to make it so.

	Sandra Djuvara Melone Executive Vice President

Sandra Djuvara Melone has worked at Search for Common Ground since 1995 and has served as our Executive Vice President since 2007. Prior to moving to Washington, Sandra founded the Women's Peace Centre in Burundi; and established and ran SFCG's European headquarters in Brussels. Sandra is a founding member of the European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation (EPCPT); of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO); and of the Child Soldiers Initiative (CSI), on all of whose Steering Committees she served. She also served on the Board of the International Federation of Associations in Belgium (FAIB); and as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP). Before working in conflict transformation, Sandra worked in human rights advocacy with Amnesty International, and in international education. She has given numerous presentations and led workshops and trainings in conflict resolution, mediation, negotiation, consensus-building, team-building, facilitation, cross-cultural communication, fundraising and NGO management. She has appeared on CNN, BBC, and VOA and has written articles published in a variety of international outlets, on the media and conflict resolution; the role NGOs can play in Track II diplomacy and reconciliation; the complementarities of governmental, non-governmental, intergovernmental and private sector initiatives; and civil-military cooperation. Sandra studied at the University of Chicago and Ludwig-Maximilian Universitat in Munich; speaks English, French, German and Romanian; and has worked in Africa, America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

	Steve Utterwulghe Vice President, International Development

Steve Utterwulghe, a Belgian and Canadian citizen, is the Vice President of International Development, in which capacity he manages the European Office, oversees operations in Asia and Europe and manages the Sustainable Business Practice (work with the extractive industry) in Africa and Latin America. He was SFCG Angola Country Director during and after the civil war. He then became the Executive Director of the European Headquarters in Brussels where he also served as President of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, the largest alliance of peacebuilding organizations in Europe. Prior to that, he worked at the United Nations in Geneva; in Sudan for the Office of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General; and at the European Commission in Brussels where he managed post-genocide rehabilitation funds for Rwanda. Steve has led fact-finding missions to Colombia, Nepal, Yemen, Sudan, Timor Leste, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, etc. He is an Advisor to the Australian Government's Agency for International Development. Steve earned Master's degrees from the London School of Economics (UK) as well as jointly from Tilburg University (The Netherlands) and Louvain University (Belgium). Steve holds a Post-graduate Certificate from Cambridge University in Sustainable Business and attended an executive management program at Harvard Business School. He speaks French, English and Portuguese fluently. He has lived in 8 countries and worked in or traveled to more than 70.

	Robert Miller Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer of Search for Common Ground, Robert is responsible for overseeing accounting, finance, grants and contracts activities. He has been a Certified Public Accountant for 20 years working at both national and international non-profit organizations. Robert has held senior financial management positions at many well-known non-profit organizations such as the National Research Council, Children's Defense Fund, Advocates for Youth, American Psychiatric Association, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and World Vision. While at World Vision, he was the Vice President of Finance and Administration for International Programs supervising grant activities in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Prior to joining SFCG, Robert had a consulting business for three years, and served as interim-CFO and financial consultant to Women for Women International, National Children's Museum, and National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. An expert in data mining to create unique financial reports, Robert's accounting expertise is informed by his scientific background. He holds a BA in biology from Hiram College and an MS in medical genetics from Indiana University.

	Pamela (Pam) O'Connor Chief Administrative Officer

Pam O'Connor has been a leader in HR best practices for international organizations for over 20 years. She has built several HR teams, including ones for strategy development for compensation planning, talent acquisition, organizational development, and training, to name a few. A proven strategist and problem solver, she has led and served on multiple IT steering committees, making technology and operational decisions in support of up to 500 locations. Pam has reviewed RFPs for large-scale IT initiatives from the largest vendors in the industry, with systems put in place for applications such as HR, planning optimization, financial systems, inventory management, and many more. Pam has also managed loss prevention, operations, security and safety initiatives, ensuring legal and operational compliance and growth throughout several organizations. She has had full responsibility of insurance plans such as health, life, and travel/emergency coverage, and has been accountable for HR budgets in excess of $15M. A HR thought leader and published author, she has served on several university boards to develop program curriculums. A key member of senior management and a vital part of strategic planning teams for multiple organizations, Pam enjoys management coaching, performance development, training and talent placement.

	Lena Slachmuijlder Chief Programming Officer

Lena Slachmuijlder has lived and worked in Africa for 21 years as a journalist, editor, human rights defender, director, producer, performing artist, cultural facilitator, trainer, and project manager. Born in New York, Lena graduated from Stanford before heading to South Africa in 1990 where she worked and lived in African townships as a journalist and human rights monitor. Since 2001, she has worked with SFCG, heading Studio Ijambo while being the Great Lakes Media Manager based at Search Burundi. In 2005, she became Country Director in DR Congo, growing the project to be Search's largest, with seven offices around the country working on repatriation, sexual violence, governance, elections, security sector reform, and regional cohesion. In the DRC, Lena pioneered tools such as participatory theatre, a reality TV show, and innovative approaches to army and police reform. She has trained journalists and peace builders on all continents, has been an invited speaker to more than a dozen international conferences, wrote and produced a documentary film about Burundi's 'Heroes' and has supported Search's work in Nepal, Indonesia, Cote d'Ivoire, Rwanda and Krygyzstan. Lena is fluent in English, French, and Zulu and has working knowledge of Swahili, Lingala, and Kirundi.

	Frances Fortune Director, Africa Programs

Frances Fortune is the Africa Programs Director for Search for Common Ground, responsible for SFCG's work in 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and for regional strategies in the West Africa and Great Lakes regions. She is responsible for fundraising, development, strategic and transitional planning, and operations and compliance. With over 20 years of experience in managing projects in conflict sensitive environments, Frances has a unique skill set in conflict and post conflict interventions, with a particular focus on integrating outreach and media to inform, educate and foster dialogue. She is the founder of the Independent Radio Network (IRN) in Sierra Leone. Frances has an extensive background in women's rights and is an active campaigner for women's empowerment. Prior to SFCG she worked for a variety of development agencies including GTZ, Conciliation Resources, Government of Sierra Leone's Structural Adjustment Support Program, and CUSO (Canadian volunteer organization). Frances holds a Master's in Conflict and Peace Studies from Royal Roads University in British Columbia.

	Leena El-Ali Director, Muslim-Western Relations and Middle East & North Africa Programs

As the MENA Director for Search for Common Ground, Leena directs regional strategy for country programs in Morocco, Jerusalem, Lebanon and Yemen. Since 2005, Leena has been designing and implementing SFCG projects that promote understanding and collaboration between Muslim and Western individuals and groups, with special attention to the use of print and digital media, through the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). She is the founder of SFCG's programs in Lebanon and Pakistan, and was instrumental in setting up its program in Yemen. Leena grew up in Lebanon, England and Sierra Leone, and studied Economics at the American University of Beirut and Oxford University. In 1989, she began her working life in London where she spent over a decade as a fund manager and debt strategist in the City before turning to an entrepreneurial career, and in 2005 joined the world of "social" entrepreneurship through SFCG in Washington. She is bilingual in English and Arabic and also speaks French, Spanish and the pidgin English of Sierra Leone (Krio).

	Michael Shipler Director, Asia Programs

As the Asia Director for Search for Common Ground Michael leads conflict transformation programs in Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Timor-Leste. He has been working in peacebuilding for 11 years, developing a range of programs focused on youth, media, civil-military affairs, and governance. He previously served as Director of Programs for SFCG Nepal where he co-started and directed a national, multi-pronged media and community program in support of the peace process. Michael is the founder and former director of SFCG'sChildren and Youth Division. In that capacity he co-founded the Washington Network on Children and Armed Conflict and co-created The Child Soldiers Initiative, in partnership with Lt. General Roméo Dallaire. He supported children and youth-focused peacebuilding programs in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Europe. He serves as an advisor on AusAID's Peace and Conflict Advisory Panel. A leading voice in the field of media for peacebuilding, he authored Youth Radio for Peacebuilding: A Guide, as part of Radio for Peacebuilding Africa. Michael is currently pursuing his MA in War in the Modern World at Kings College in London. He is the author of The Dancing Country and Other Stories.

	Nick Oatley Director, Institutional Learning

As Director of Institutional Learning, Nick is responsible for managing the leadership and technical support on design, monitoring and evaluation of SFCG programs, promoting learning and knowledge management across the organization, and managing our work on Children and Youth and Women, Peace and Security. He has worked in the field with SFCG programs in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Burundi, Rwanda, Morocco and Nepal. Prior to joining SFCG, Nick worked in the UK government as Head of Organizational Development and Strategy for a regional arm of government, led a team in governance and environmental security at the UK Foreign Office and developed innovative policy in the Strategy and Innovation Unit in the UK's Department for Education and Employment. He brings over 13 years' experience as a trainer and educator at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Nick holds a degree in Geography from Exeter University, a degree in Town and Country Planning from Bristol Polytechnic, and a Master's Degree in Geography from McMaster University. He is a member of the American Evaluation Association.