Lakshitha Saji Prelis
Executive Director

Lakshitha Saji Prelis is one of the founding members and the Executive Director of the Center for Peace Building International. He is also the Associate Director of the Peacebuilding & Development Institute at American University. He is currently involved in several peacebuilding, conflict resolution and coexistence initiatives both in the United States and abroad. In addition, Saji was the technical editor of Reconciliation, Justice and Coexistence: Theory and Practice and co-author of Long Road to Reconciliation in the above publication. Saji was appointed by the governor and served a two year term between 1996 to 1998 as a Commissioner for the State of Oregon on higher education and financial aid issues. He has also been involved in issues of higher education in California, Oregon and Washington, DC. His areas of interest include providing opportunities for children to act as agents of peace, the use of technology for humanitarian purposes, dialogue and coexistence initiatives and education and community development initiatives. Saji Prelis completed his Master's degree in International Peace & Conflict Resolution with a concentration in International Law from American University in Washington, DC.

Maneshka Eliatamby-de Silva
Director of Research and Knowledge Management

Maneshka Eliatamby-de Silva is currently a Doctoral student at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University. She was the first ICAR Hunt Inclusive Security Fellow, and also received the 2008 Mahbub Al-Haq Fellowship from the Regional Center for Strategic Studies in South Asia for which she is conducting research on women's agency in combat in Nepal and Sri Lanka. In 2006 she was awarded the Brenda Rubenstein Scholarship. Maneshka's current research includes women's agency in conflict settings such as Eritrea, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, looking at the role of women as peacebuilders, and women's agency through active participation in conflict. Together with Professor Sandra Cheldelin, Maneshka is co-editing a book on the varying roles of women during times of protracted and non-protracted conflict. She has also carried out research with the United States Agency for International Development on the development and evolution of peacebuilding and development networks, including GPPAC, Transcend International, and EPLO. She has worked on humanitarian landmine action issues, and youth and conflict resolution. Maneshka received her Bachelors of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of South Carolina at Columbia, in May 2003, and her Masters of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from ICAR in May 2007.

Trace Main
Education Coordinator

Trace Main is the Education Coordinator for the Peace Narratives Project at CPBI.  He is originally from Denver and holds a B.A. in Global Studies from Arizona State University.  He is currently a M.A. Candidate at American University in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program where he is focusing on negotiating connections between youth oriented educational organizations.  Trace has taught English in Seoul and worked as a partnership program liaison for the largest community college in the U.S.  He is also a strong proponent of dialogue for deeper understanding and has worked with Soliya and the Dialogue Development Group to help bring students together to talk in-depth about pressing issues.

Sarel Kromer

Ms. Kromer is an attorney with significant experience in civil rights and public interest law. She is currently working with organizations that promote conciliation efforts worldwide. She has traveled to Rwanda to observe the Gacaca process and reconciliation efforts and has taught and published articles on these issues.

L. Randolph Carter

For nearly two decades, L. Randolph Carter has worked with children and youth in several parts of the world in peace education, conflict resolution, trauma counseling, self esteem building, and reintegration programs. Randolph’s work have included serving as Child Protection Coordinator of the International Rescue Committee - Uganda, Head of the Children and Youth Division of Search For Common Ground, Co-Chair for the Washington Network on Children and Armed Conflict and co-Founder of the National Association of Palava Managers, a Liberian youth initiative that conducts conflict resolution and peacebuilding work in schools and communities in Liberia. As a consultant, he has provided technical assistance to organizations such as the The United States Institute of Peace, USAID (Displaced Children and Orphans Fund), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the US Department of Labor (International Labor Affairs Bureau). Randolph has co-authored and edited a number of publications around children/youth protection and development including the “Search For Common Ground’s Toolkit for Engaging Children in Conflict Resolution”, “Youth Protagonist for Peace”, and “Reintegration in Liberia”. Randolph’s work and experience have been resourced in initiatives such as the Graca Machel Study (The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children), Day of the African Child, YMCA/YWCA projects, The Hague Peace Appeal, Harvard University programs (Harvard Children Initiatives and Harvard School of Humanitarian Policy), American University (Committee on Child Soldiers), Leadership Metro Richmond (Metro-teens) and Children in the Crossfire (US Department of Labor/John F. Kennedy High School).

Mary Bullock

Mary Bullock was a secondary school teacher for twenty years in Arlington, Virginia, after which she served as head of special projects for the National Science Foundation in its Office of Public Affairs. She has been an adjunct instructor at University of Virginia, Falls Church, VA, in the field of Social Foundations of Education, specializing in Aesthetics and Education. Consulting projects include topics in arts, education and social inquiry. Ms. Bullock is a board member of both Food for Others, a food bank in Fairfax, Virginia, and also of the Maxine Greene Foundation for Social Imagination, the Arts and Education in New York City.

Marice Fernando