Senior Management

John Marks - President and Founder
John Marks is President and founder of Search for Common Ground, an international conflict prevention NGO headquartered in Washington and Brussels, with offices in 22 countries. He also founded and heads Common Ground Productions, which produces radio and television programming around the world to help prevent and transform conflict. He wrote and produced The Shape of the Future series of TV documentaries, which was aired simultaneously on Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite television - something that had never been done before. He is a best-selling, award-winning author and in 2006 was awarded a Skoll Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship.

Susan Collin Marks - Senior Vice President
Susan Collin Marks is senior vice president of Search for Common Ground. She is a South African who served as a peacemaker and peacebuilder during South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. Her book, Watching the Wind: Conflict Resolution during South Africa's Transition to Democracy (USIP, Washington DC, 2000) was also published in Arabic (Dar Al Ahliah, Amman, 2004.)

She serves on numerous boards, including the Advisory Council of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Project on Leadership, and as Vice Chair of the Board of the Abraham Path Initiative. She is the founding editor of Track Two, a quarterly publication on community and political conflict resolution. She was portrayed in the PBS documentary Women on the Frontlines. Honors include a 1994/5 Jennings Randolph Peace Fellowship at the United States Institute for Peace, the Institute for Noetic Science's Creative Altruism award in 2005, and a prestigious Skoll Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006. In 2006, she launched the Leadership Wisdom Initiative at SFCG offering leadership development and one-on-one support and coaching to political, institutional and civil society leaders. She is a regular workshop leader at the Esalen Institute.  She mentors and coaches, speaks, teaches, writes, facilitates dialogue, and supports peace processes and conflict resolution programs internationally. She holds a vision of a world of peace and dignity for all and she believes that our common humanity binds us together more than our differences divide us.

Sandra D. Melone - Executive Vice President
Sandra Melone has been at Search for Common Ground since April 1995, and has served as our Executive Vice President since February 2008. Previously, she served as our Executive Director (from August 2004); established our Brussels headquarters and founded our Women's Peace Centre in Burundi. Before coming to SFCG, she worked in human rights advocacy with Amnesty International and in international education. Sandra has given numerous presentations and led workshops on conflict prevention, resolution and transformation, mediation, negotiation, consensus-building, facilitation and cross-cultural communication. She has appeared on CNN, BBC, and the Voice of America and has written articles on the media and conflict resolution; the role NGOs can play in the field of Track II diplomacy and reconciliation; and the complementarities of governmental, non-governmental, intergovernmental and private sector initiatives. She is a founding member of the European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation (EPCPT) and of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO). She has served on the Board of the Fédération des Associations Internationales en Belgique (FAIB); and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), where she currently serves as Board Vice Chair and head of the Membership Committee. She studied at the University of Chicago and Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. She speaks English, French, German and Romanian.

Steve Utterwulghe - Vice President, International Development
Steve Utterwulghe, a Belgian and Canadian citizen, has years of experience in the Brussels, Washington and Luanda offices of Search for Common Ground (SFCG). He was SFCG Angola-based Country Director for over 3 years during and after the 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 and in Sudan for the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator as well as for UNDP. He has worked at the European Commission in Brussels, in the Development Directorate-General's East and Southern Africa Division where he managed post-genocide rehabilitation funds for Rwanda. Steve is also an Advisor to the Australian Government ’s Agency for International Development (AusAid’s Expert Panel on Peace, Conflict and Development).

Steve has published articles and opinions on international affairs, conflict management, forced displacement and human rights in European, American and African academic journals and newspapers. His work is referred to in several books, the Index of Authors and Personalities 2005 of the International African Bibliography (University of London) as well as working documents and bibliographies from UNESCO, OECD, ICRC, the Brookings Institution, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Oxford, Sussex and George Mason Universities, etc.

He received his Masters degrees from the London School of Economics (UK), Tilburg University (The Netherlands) and Louvain University (Belgium). He earned a Post-graduate diploma from Cooremans Business School (Belgium) and benefited from an executive program at Harvard Business School.

He speaks French, English and Portuguese fluently and is proficient in Spanish, Dutch and Italian. He has lived in 8 countries and worked in or traveled to more than 60.

Frances Fortune - Director, Africa Programmes
Ms. Fortune is Director of SFCG's Africa programmes. Directing operations in the seven country programmes in the regions of West Africa and the Great Lakes, she is responsible for fundraising and growth, strategic and transitional planning, and operations and compliance. Working with a team spanning the continent, Ms Fortune is responsible for an overall strategy that ensures that opportunities for societal transformation and positive social change are maximized. Ms Fortune is a Canadian and has lived for over 23 years in Africa. She has hands-on and management experience in peacebuilding, media and communications, community outreach, education, field research, programme evaluation, fundraising and donor relations. Prior to SFCG she worked for a variety of development agencies including GTZ, Conciliation Resources, Government of Sierra Leone’s Structural Adjustment Support Programme, and CUSO (Canadian volunteer organization). She has a BSc from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada and is working on her Master's in Conflict and Peace Studies from Royal Roads University in British Columbia.

Jack Deeds - Chief Financial Officer
A CPA with 30 years of experience with more than 10 years in financial management, senior management and supervisory responsibilities, Mr. Deeds oversees staff of 40 finance professionals in 28 offices and 18 countries. He has traveled internationally to support field offices and programs, and is responsible for the financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting of the global entity that includes operational and project-related budgeting, monitoring and analytics. He developed the organization’s finance policies and procedures as well as the systems and cost controls to safeguard assets to provide effective accountability. As the Treasurer of SFCG’s Board of Directors, he is responsible for banking relationships, cash management, wire transfers, multi-currency, lines of credit, and investments in 18 countries. Mr. Deeds has a thorough understanding of automated financial software (ERP) systems, including various application modules such as finance, payroll, inventory distribution, multi-currency, multi-language, and web site portal, and proven web-based skills including MSSQL, .NET applications like Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), and web sites for document management and collaboration. He manages the Finance staff, working with human resources to ensure legal guidelines are met. Mr. Deeds acts as the principal staff liaison to the Board’s Finance and Audit Committee and facilitates the relationship with the external auditors and legal counsel. Mr. Deeds is a fellow of the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants, and in 2008, was awarded their CFO Innovator of the Year Award.

Lisa Shochat - Director of Operations
Lisa Shochat has been at Search for Common Ground since December 1998, and has served as our Director of Operations since March, 2008. Lisa has over 13 years of experience in providing Administrative Services to Conflict Resolution organizations. Before working with SFCG, Ms. Shochat worked as mediator/ facilitator for the Center for Resolution of Environmental Disputes and administered mediation training through the Institute for Study of Alternative Dispute Resolution in California. She holds a M.A. in Sociology from Humboldt State University, a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is certified in mediation. Her research has included programs in Burundi, Macedonia, Hungary, Mexico and The United States.

Nick Oatley - Director, Institutional Learning
Nick Oatley, a citizen of the UK, joined Search in July 2008.  He has a diverse range of skills and experience that equips him well to promote learning throughout the organisation, provide leadership on Design, Monitoring and Evaluation, Knowledge Management and broader organisational development issues.  He came from the Government Office of the South West (a regional arm of the central UK government) where he was Head of Organisational Development and Strategy responsible for a major change management programme. He worked in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office leading a team that worked with the UN, World Bank, UK Department for International Development, other national governments and NGOs on coordinating the development of the UK’s international sustainable development policies and implementation of UK commitments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (including some work with the US State Department and UNEP on environmental reconstruction work in Iraq). Nick also had a period working for the Strategy and Innovation Unit in the UK Department for Education and Employment. Nick brings over 13 years experience as a trainer and educator based at the University of the West of England, Bristol where he undertook research and consultancy. Here, he was Director of a government funded consultancy that developed two Distance Learning curricula in Evaluation and Project Cycle Management. Nick Oatley holds a degree in Geography from Exeter University (UK), a degree in Town and Country Planning from Bristol Polytechnic (UK) and a Masters Degree in Geography from McMaster University (Canada).

Michael Shipler - Senior Program Advisor
Michael Shipler is the Senior Program Advisor for Search for Common Ground, providing support to country offices in methodology and strategy development. He co-leads a 15-country communications initiative, The Team, using sport, television drama series, and community-based activities to build peace. Michael has been working in peacebuilding for ten 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 co-started and directed a national, multi-pronged media and community program in support of the peace process. He is the founder and former director of the global Children and Youth Division of Search for Common Ground. In that capacity he co-founded the Washington Network on Children and Armed Conflict and co-created The Child Soldiers Initiative – a global project aimed at eradicating the use of children as soldiers – done in partnership with Lt. General Roméo Dallaire and other institutions. He served as an advisor for the Nigerian television series The Station and supported children and youth-focused peacebuilding programs in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Europe.  He authored Youth Radio for Peacebuilding: A Guide, as part of Radio for Peacebuilding Africa.  Previously, while working for Youth for Peace, a youth-led organization in Cambodia, he developed a youth leadership development division that helps youth find ways of avoiding violence and contributing to reconciliation in their own communities. 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."

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