Conference Speakers

Ann Dinan

Ann Dinan, Ph.D., is active in the emerging field of Peace Leadership, which she defines as the nexus of peace and leadership such that Peace Leadership focuses on the intersection of both Positive Peace and Positive Leadership.  She is the co-convener of the Peace Leadership Affinity Group for the ILA (International Leadership Association), is the President of the Deeper Peace Leadership Institute and previously the Head of North American Operations for the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI) as well as Faculty for the Whole Foods Market Academy for Conscious Leadership. She is currently writing several books and book chapters on Peace Leadership and Human Unity for Peace. She has also presented this work with the Oslo Peace Week, sanctioned by the Nobel Institute.  She earned her doctorate in Social Science Research from Washington University, USA, her master’s degree from Case Western Reserve, USA, and she is an ICF (International Coach Federation) certified coach. 

Brian Levin

Criminologist and civil rights attorney Brian Levin is a professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino where he specializes in analysis of hate crime, terrorism and legal issues. Prof. Levin began his academic career as a professor at Stockton College in New Jersey in 1996.

Previously, Professor Levin served as Associate Director-Legal Affairs of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Klanwatch/Militia Task Force in Montgomery, Al.; Legal Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnic and Racial Violence in Newport Beach, Ca. and as a corporate litigator. He was also a New York City Police Officer in the Harlem and Washington Heights sections of Manhattan in the 1980s. He is the author or co-author of books, scholarly articles, training manuals and studies on extremism and hate crime. He was also the author of influential Supreme Court briefs in the Supreme Court case of Wisconsin v. Mitchell in 1992-3, where he analyzed criminological data establishing hate crime's severity. His book, the Limits of Dissent is about the Constitution and domestic terrorism. He is presently writing another book about the hate crime and extremism.

Kathleen E. Mahoney

Professor Kathleen E. Mahoney has a JD from the University of British Columbia, an LLM degree from Cambridge University and a Diploma in Inernational Comparative Human Rights from the Strasbourg International Human Rights Institute in France. She is Professor of Law at the University of Calgary and Queen’s Counsel. She was the Chief Negotiator for Canada’s Aboriginal peoples claim for cultural genocide against Canada, achieving the the largest financial settlement in Canadian history for the mass human rights violations against the indigenous peoples of Canada. She was the primary architect of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and led the negotiations for the historic apology from the Canadian Parliament and from Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. She was co-counsel for Bosnia Herzegovina in their genocide action against Serbia in the International Court of Justice with the result that the definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention was altered to include mass rapes and forced pregnancy as genocide offences. Among her many awards and distinctions, Professor Mahoney is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Queen’s Counsel, a Trudeau Fellow, and a Fulbright and Human Rights Fellow (Harvard). She received the Governor General’s medal for her contribution to equality in Canada. She has held Visiting Professorships or Fellowships at Havard University, The University of Chicago, Adelaide University, University of Western Australia, Griffiths University, the National University of Australia and Ulster University.

Bethany Montgomery

Bethany Montgomery from Tacoma, Washington is an Eastern Washington University (EWU) alumna. She attended EWU on a full athletic scholarship for basketball. She underwent heart surgery in June 2016, cutting her playing career short and forcing her to retire from the game she loved earlier than anticipated. She triumphed during this challenging time and earned a bachelor’s degree (Marketing) in 3 years and a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) in 1 year.

Now that Bethany has completed her formal education, she is pursuing her passion of poetry. She envisioned the concept of Power 2 the Poetry while driving back to EWU from her home town of Tacoma after Thanksgiving 2017. She has always been a writer and used poetry as a way to express herself. She believes everyone should live out their dreams and do what they love. Power 2 The Poetry is an extension of Bethany’s heart and soul. Her life’s purpose is to eliminate all the darkness in the world by spreading light and love through the power of the tongue

Barbara Perry

Barbara Perry is a Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism. She has written extensively on hate crime. She is currently working in the areas of anti-Muslim violence, hate crime against LGBTQ communities, the community impacts of hate crime, and right-wing extremism in Canada.

Ken Stern

Kenneth S. Stern, an attorney and author, is director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate.

He has testified before Congress, been an invited presenter at the White House conference on Hate Crimes, and an official member of the United States delegation to the Stockholm International Forum on Combating Intolerance. He has argued before the United States Supreme Court.

Stern is the author of four books, including Loud Hawk: The United States vs. the American Indian Movement (University of Oklahoma, 1994) which won the Gustave Myers Center Award as outstanding book on Human Rights. His book on the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing – A Force Upon The Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate (Simon & Schuster, 1996) – was nominated for the National Book Award.

For a quarter century Stern was the American Jewish Committee’s expert on antisemitism and wrote about it in books (Holocaust Denial [1993] and Antisemitism Today [2006]), legal briefs, encyclopedias, anthologies, scholarly journals and monographs. His has written pieces for the Anglo Jewish Press (The Forward, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and elsewhere), online outlets (including CNN.com), academic-focused publications (including Inside Higher Education), and mainstream newspapers including The New York Times, USA Today and The Washington Post. He has appeared on Face the Nation, Dateline, Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, the History Channel, and National Public Radio. He is slated to appear in a 2019 PBS documentary on antisemitism by filmmaker Andrew Goldberg.