Peace & Conflict Speakers Series "FROM THE DESPAIR OF VIOLENCE TO THE JOY OF PEACE: You Are The Key"
Ben Hoffman was born and raised in Pembroke, Ontario. From 1976-1981 he was the Deputy Regional Director of Operations at the Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services in Northern Ontario. Ben Hoffman was then a small business person in Renfrew County, co-founding The Living without Violence Project and serving on the Boards of the Cancer Society and the Valley Savings Credit Union.
During the 1990s Ben Hoffman had a thriving conflict resolution business in Ottawa where he co-founded, with Senator Douglas Roche and others, the Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation. Ben Hoffman’s professional career grew to an international level. He is now an international peace mediator, a specialist in negotiation, violence prevention and dispute resolution.
From 2000 to 2003, Ben Hoffman was the Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Acting as President Jimmy Carter’s representative he mediated peace agreements and worked on international peacebuilding in numerous countries, including Romania, Ukraine, Venezuela, Equator, Sudan, Indonesia, Thailand and Uganda. His work often involved meeting rebel groups and high-profile people, including Presidents Hugo Chavez, Al Bashir, Museveni, General Colin Powell and Billy Graham’s son, Reverend Franklin Graham.
Ben Hofmann is currently the President of Concorde Inc. and the Canadian International Institute for Applied Negotiation. He focuses on mediating complex, multi-stakeholder disputes and on peace-building initiatives. He is called upon to lecture at universities and as a guest speaker throughout the world.
Ben Hoffman obtained his B.A. and M.A. (Community Psychology) from Wilfred Laurier University, a second M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and also a Ph.D. in Architecture, specializing in Post War Reconstruction and Development, York University, UK. He also specialized in International Peacemaking at the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation.
Dr. Ben Hoffman’s most recent book titled “Peaceweaving: Shamanistic Insights Into Mediating the Transformation of Power”