From the Ministry of Corrections, Ben moved into private practice, combining his interest in clinical and organizational counseling. He co-founded the first rural program in Canada for men who abuse women, and pursued his commitment to reconciliation and healing as Secretary, National Associations Active in Criminal Justice (NAACJ). During the 1980s, at NAACJ he represented Canadian NGOs in UN efforts, focusing on large-scale victimization and justice in post-colonial societies. In 1989, Ben founded Concorde Inc., which was a leader in introducing Alternative Dispute Resolution services to the corporate and public sectors in Canada. Convinced of the value of theory-informed practice in negotiation and mediation, Ben co-founded with Senator Douglas Roche and others, the Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation (CIIAN) in 1990. CIIAN became recognized nationally
in the early '90s, and then internationally, as an institution that developed
as well as offered training programs integrating the personal, the theoretical,
and the practical skill dimensions of negotiation and mediation. From
1990 to 1995 Ben played a key role in the mediated settlement of complaints
of physical and sexual abuse made by men against Orders of the Roman
Catholic Church and the Government of Ontario. In addition to launching NewMathforHumanity, Ben conducted research on organized violence as a Senior Fellow at The Fletcher School, and was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria where he presented a multidisciplinary graduate seminar on "waging peace". As an Associate Fellow of the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit at the University of York, he has been a regular presenter in the Chevening Senior Fellows Programme. For the last four years Ben has been Director of a “preventing political violence” demonstration project in Guinea Bissau, West Africa. He is a member of the advisory council at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, Ontario Canada focusing on community reconciliation and he is also developing a violence prevention and reconciliation programme in Sri Lanka. Ben has led sessions focused on peacebuilding activities at many forums world wide. He has mediated and designed peace building initiatives throughout Canada and the world. Ben, President and CEO of Concorde Inc., is currently President and CEO of The Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation. Email: Dr. Ben Hoffman |
Dr.
Hoffman's professional career began thirty years ago when he joined
the Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services and quickly rose to the
position of Deputy Regional Director. He was directly involved in managing
a hostage taking incident and was trained as a hostage negotiator, then
as a mediator. From those early beginnings Ben 's focus has been on
justice issues, always striving to integrate theory and practice. Consequently,
Ben has lived the philosophy of continuous learning, having completed
a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Wilfred Laurier University, then
returning to university on several occasions over the span of his career
to complete an MA in Psychology from Wilfred Laurier University, a second
MA in International Relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,
a Specialization from Harvard in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution
with a concentration in International Peacemaking, and a Ph.D. from
the University of York, UK, where his thesis was on Peacebuilding. 
