Board of Directors

Patricia Smith Melton
Founder and Board Chair, Peace X Peace

Ms. Smith Melton is a poet, playwright, and photographer with more than 30 years of experience in the arts. Her book Sixty Years, Sixty Voices, celebrating the diversity and power of the women of Israel/Palestine, was published in November 2008. She produced and co-directed the award-winning 2003 documentary PEACE BY PEACE: Women on the Frontlines, which highlights the often invisible work of women around the world in building the components of sustainable peace. She is co-founder of the Melton International Education Foundation, the recipient of the The Rumi Foundation's 2008 Peace Award, and one of OneWorld's 2008 People of the Year.

Amal Bennett-Judge

Amal Marjani Bennett-Judge is a junior political science major at Howard University. Her leadership positions have included being a chairperson for Howard Students for Barack Obama and president for Howard College Democrats of America. She has been featured on Al Jazeera, BBC, CBS, and NPR. She has also interned for the Sierra Club, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Congressman Hank Johnson. Currently, she is working on environmental and energy policy for the Mayor of Chicago. Upon graduation, she plans on creating a business that transforms America's old outdated carbon print to a new updated green print.

Barclay A. Greene, P.C.

Bart Greene gave this account of himself in a Peace X Peace interview:

Gail Montplaisir
President, Taurus Enterprise Group, Inc.

Ms. Montplaisir is an experienced developer and contractor responsible for developing over 2,000 condominium units in Chicago, Florida, and Washington, DC, where she has revitalized neighborhoods once in decline. She is a published author and speaker on environmental issues related to construction and a member of the Building Code Advisory Committee, a mayoral appointment. Taurus Renovation is a member of the Green Building Council.

Kathleen Johnson Murphy

As a consultant, Kathleen Murphy helps companies and organizations formulate legislative strategies, deal with the appropriations processes of the US Congress, and develop business opportunities. In the Clinton Administration she was a Senior Advisor for International Trade, dealing with aerospace, technology, and automotive industry issues. As a Congressional Liaison for The United States Agency for International Development, she directed Congressional outreach and appropriations issues and wrote speeches and Congressional testimony for the USAID Administrator.

Earlier, Kathleen worked for Congressman Charlie Wilson as Associate Staff on the House Appropriations Committee. During the 2000 presidential campaign, she was Deputy Director for Women's Outreach for the Democratic National Committee. She was a co-founder of the Congressional Wives' Task Force, which focused attention on children and the elderly. Until 1993 she worked in Los Angeles, developing international movie and television co-productions for production companies. She serves on several other major boards and is the mother of four children.

Dr. Fatima Nazar
Cultural Attaché, Cultural Office of the Kuwait Embassy

As Cultural Attaché, Dr. Nazar looks out for the well-being of her nation's undergraduate students in the US. Earlier she was an Associate Professor at Kuwait University College of Education, where she was honored for Outstanding Teaching in the academic year 2001-2002. She has served with numerous committees and organizations in Kuwait and internationally, including The Japan - Kuwait Cultural Dialogue, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the World Organization for Young Children. Her primary interests are the social/cultural aspects of education, early childhood studies, women's studies, and volunteerism. She earned a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Miami, Florida in 1989.

Rajiv Salimath

Rajiv Salimath is an entrepreneur focused on solving significant challenges in energy, life sciences, and the social web through disruptive thinking. He has worked on the core teams of innovative technology companies Musambi Corp., and Proactivenet Inc. Then, as the CEO of Amperion Inc. , Rajiv built a pioneering company that brought broadband solutions to twelve countries, and built energy efficient networks across eight states in the US. Currently, Rajiv is building a web company - Beagles - which connects the moving parts, events and thoughts in people's lives to make the web as dynamic as real life. Along with this Rajiv also heads Knewco Inc., the leading knowledge discovery company in the Life Sciences field, connecting online knowledge discovery with bioinformatics.

In addition to being an entrepreneur, Rajiv is also a Partner in GIV Ventures - a Venture Capital company that invests in Early Stage High-Tech companies. He is on the Board of the Melton Foundation, a non-profit that links smart, young leaders across five countries and empowers them with the tools of intercultural experiences and cross-domain leadership. He is an Indian National Scholar and an AMTI Math Scholar.

Rend Shakir Sumaidaie

Rend is CEO and co-founder of Cambridge Matrix, an exciting wireless mesh business in a really interesting space in telecommunications architecture. Repeatedly making it onto Red Herring's list as one of the top 200 Private Companies in Europe, Cambridge Matrix is also a member of the Prince of Wales' Mayday Network and devoted to tackling the issue of Climate Change.

Before founding Cambridge Matrix Rend served as CEO of Cambridge Technology Exchange, and her skills in turning around this organisation earned her Businesswoman of the Year 2003 (runner-up). Her first company, Oxbridge Advertising, which specialised in media buying for recruitment in the Oxford and Cambridge Markets, was set up in her college room and successfully sold two years later. She has led the Cambridge Matrix team since its inception in 2004. She is a doctoral candidate in psychology at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, and has been nominated for Guardian media awards. Rend has a deep concern for civil liberties and an interest in promoting communication between Muslims and non Muslims to mobilise support for fundamental freedoms and human rights. She is fluent in English, Arabic, German, and French, and has skills in other languages, including French, Italian, Hindi, and Mandarin. She is also an accomplished social networker.

Russell Stevenson, JD

Russ Stevenson, JD, is founder and president of the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal services to improve the quality of the Chesapeake Bay. From 2001 through 2008, he was senior vice president and general counsel at Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), of Linthicum, MD, a global leader in intelligent optical networking systems and software.

Before joining Ciena, Stevenson served as executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of ARBROS Communications, Inc., an integrated communications provider serving medium-sized businesses in the northeastern United States. Earlier, Stevenson was general counsel for CyberCash, Inc., engaged in the private practice of law in Washington, D.C., and served as Deputy General Counsel in the Securities and Exchange Commission. Stevenson, a graduate of Harvard Law, is also a legal scholar. He was a law professor for 10 years and has authored several books and numerous articles during his distinguished legal career.