ABOUT THE PEOPLE

FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Barbara J. Nelson is Professor of Public Policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs where she was Dean from 1996-2008. She also holds adjunct appointments in Social Welfare, Urban Planning, and Political Science. She is the Founder and Principal Investigator of The Concord Project (1993), and has worked and done research in over 25 countries. Barbara Nelson is a specialist in international and domestic conflict mediation, leadership, organizational behavior, and social movements; including women's, labor, ethnic, and religious social movements.

Barbara Nelson is the author of six books and over seventy articles. Her most recent books are Leadership and Diversity: A Case Book and The Concord Handbook: Building Social Capital Across Communities. She is a Member of the Board of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the was the Co-Chair of the [U.S.] National Commission to Reduce Infant Mortality. She is also a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Dr. Linda Kaboolian is a sociologist specializing in organizational behavior, negotiations and conflict resolution and serves as a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where she is the faculty chair of the Kennedy School Executive Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government and the National Hispana Leadership Institute executive program.

Her research and teaching focus on multi-stakeholder problem solving processes around workplace, community and public policy issues. She works with labor, management and community groups to improve organizational performance and service to diverse communities.

She is the author of Win-Win Labor- Management Collaboration in Education, and the co-author of Working Better Together: A Practical Guide for Union Leaders, Elected Officials and Managers and The Concord Handbook. She serves on the board of Sojourner House, a family shelter in Boston.