The Compassionate Listening Project's Inaugural Board of Directors!

We are honored to introduce you to the Compassionate Listening Project's Board of Directors! This year, we worked hard to formalize our governing board, strengthening our foundation and ensuring that the Compassionate Listening Project continues to grow with integrity, stability, and shared leadership.

Nancy Jo Chabot, Co-President

Contoocook, New Hampshire

Nancy Jo works in the areas of museums and archaeology. She is Museum Curator at Hopkinton Historical Society. When she’s not doing museum work, she is in the woods or waters of the Northeast Woodlands. She is an active participant in the Abenaki Trails Project, which connects members of the Nulhegan Band of Coosuk Abenaki with towns to re-examine together the teachings of Native history. Nancy Jo is an active practitioner of Compassionate Listening. She has attended many CL trainings and practice groups, and participated in CL journeys in Israel-Palestine (2018-19), in Alabama (2020), and at Lake Umbagog (2021-2024).

Scott Dickman, Co-President 

Concord, New Hampshire

Scott is a longtime peace advocate who resided in Israel during the '70s. He later joined the CL Israel & Palestine Journey in 2016. He engaged with the New Hampshire Board of Building a Culture of Peace and now serves on the NH Peace Action Board, along with NH Friends of Combatants for Peace and J Street. These organizations focus on reconciliation and bridging differences. He is currently facilitating Israel-Palestine discussions at a local synagogue. Scott is semi-retired, and relishes family time with his new grandson, while pursuing his outdoor passion through conservation easements with conservancies.

Leah Green, Treasurer

Kitsap County, Washington

Leah is founder and co-director of the Compassionate Listening Project. She holds a masters degree in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Washington, where she also completed her coursework for an MA in Middle Eastern Studies. Leah is recognized as a leader in Jewish-Palestinian reconciliation, having led 26 delegations to Israel & Palestine, and one to Syria & Lebanon. She produced three documentaries about the conflict, including Children of Abraham, and co-founded the Jewish-German Compassionate Listening Project. Leah began teaching CL in Israel and Palestine in 1999, and has taught worldwide since. She is a facilitator of Systems and Family Constellations and integrates Constellations into her trainings. Leah is a recipient of the Yoga Journal’s “Karma Yoga Award” and her work has been profiled in many articles and books. She enjoys mentoring new facilitators through the certification program and loves coaching.

Lina Lie, Co-Secretary

Austin, Texas

Lina is the founder of The Heartful Mama, a business dedicated to supporting parents and caregivers in raising emotionally healthy and resilient children through the lens of compassionate discipline. Having experienced firsthand how healing and transformative Compassionate Listening can be, she is passionate about sharing this practice with the clients and communities she serves. She is a certified parent coach, a certified parent educator in Positive Discipline, and has received professional training in Somatic Trauma Therapy. Her work centers around helping parents grow into peaceful, benevolent leaders within their family systems. Lina believes that the family unit is the most important human organization—and that when we can bring peace and understanding first to our families, we plant the seeds for a more compassionate world. Her facilitation style has been described as warm, personable, and spacious, creating a sense of safety and openness that invites meaningful dialogue and connection.

Liz Spitzer, Co-Secretary

Portland, Oregon

Liz is the co-founder of Expressive Connections, a small business designed to support people in their efforts to build a friendlier world. Currently, she is a Compassionate Listening® Certified Facilitator, Community Trainer, and personal development Life Coach. As a Community Trainer she works with organizations and their goal to certify community and staff in Adult & Youth Mental Health First Aid® and suicide prevention with QPR®; volunteers with NAMI as a Family-to-Family Teacher and teaches a reflective listening model as taught within the Compassionate Listening framework. She is practiced in Public Speaking, Leadership, and Presentation through her active engagement in Toastmasters. Liz’s facilitation style is personable, optimistic, and sincere. With her cultural mindfulness facilitation training, she invites people to share their perspectives, ideas, and participate with authenticity.

Bill Jacobsen

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I joined a Compassionate Listening Interfaith delegation to the Middle East in 2007. On that trip, especially after meeting TCLP founder, Leah Green, I recognized the life-changing potential of this work. After my training and mentorship with Andrea Cohen, I’ve facilitated Compassionate Listening workshops in many places, including in Rwanda. Rwandans helped me adapt the work with post-genocide Hutus and Tutsis and helped me lead many CL workshops throughout their country. I also have offered workshops in prison where one man, after a listening exercise, said, “I’ve never felt more respected in my life.” I recently retired from the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Masters’ Program at Arcadia University, where I led CL workshops for students. For me, CL is more than a skill, it’s a calling, one which I've found is both necessary and at the heart of all genuine reconciliation and conflict transformation.

Kirsten Szykitka

Port Townsend, Washington

Kirsten has trained in Nonviolent Communication, Dynamic Facilitation, and The Way of Council, and has been practicing Compassionate Listening for over 15 years with a commitment to sharing these skills with diverse individuals and groups around the world. She bring her decades of varied international nonprofit experience to her facilitation, including service as Director of Operations for Tomorrow's Women (formerly Creativity for Peace) educating young women from Israel and Palestine to become leaders and peacemakers. Kirsten believes in the transformational power of heart-based communications to guide us towards a more sustainable and just humanity.

Lama

Palestine

Lama has spent her life and career working with young people, both with her own five children and as a teacher for more than 20 years. Lama believed her role as a teacher went beyond the curriculum. She encouraged her students to always express themselves safely and freely and broached tough discussion topics like politics, culture, and social issues. She lives in Hebron, Palestine, and brings years of activism experience building bridges between Palestinian, Israeli, and American communities.

Okosun Edoro

New York

Okosun Edoro is a physician, life coach, and new facilitator for The Compassionate Listening Project whose work is shaped by a lifelong interest in conflict resolution and the human capacity for healing and transformation. His path to Compassionate Listening began when he shared his passion for conflict resolution with a facilitator for TCLP who recognized his calling and introduced him to The Compassionate Listening Project.

What began as a personal exploration quickly deepened into a vocation. Through his training, Okosun found a powerful framework that brought together his professional experience in medicine as a primary care physician, his personal mindfulness practice, and his spiritual orientation toward love, truth, and unity.

He brings a steady presence, deep curiosity, and heart-centered awareness to his facilitation, helping others navigate interpersonal challenges with greater understanding and authenticity. Rooted in both science and soul, his approach to listening honors the fullness of our shared humanity.

Outside of his work, Okosun finds joy in early morning meditation, contemplative walks, and dancing salsa and bachata. He continues to explore the transformative power of listening as a path to both personal and collective peace.

Vanessa Delgado

Lima, Peru

Vane is an Experienced Grief Therapist, Coach, and Professor at Universidad Pacífico and Utp. She has a Master's in Educational Management and University Teaching, and is skilled as a meditation and Yin Yoga instructor. She is an accomplished International Senior instructor in Mind Mapping by Tony Buzan®, with expertise in Visual Thinking, NLP, and Past Life Therapy. She has a background in leadership in LEGO® Serious Play®, Agile HR and Clowning. She had been a global trainer in Poland, USA, Brazil, Argentina, and more. She is the founder of Diversa® HR Consultancy, The Book Lab Reading Club, and the Human Mentor Movement®. She is a multifaceted professional dedicated to holistic growth and transformative learning.

We are deeply grateful for the dedication of this group of extraordinary people. Thank you for shepherding the Compassionate Listening Project through this next chapter.