Shauna Ries, LCSW, MFT, MDR, cofounder of Mediators Without Borders and Arbitrators Without Borders, is the creator of INACCORD Conflict Analysis model with her team which has more than 2,000 Certified Mediator & Arbitrator graduates and has served more than 20 countries. She brings more than 30 years of combined work and experience as an officer in the corporate arena and in the front lines as an executive vice-president, family clinician, mediator, and arbitrator. Her unique combination of skills enables Ries to build bridges among diverse communities and engage in personal interactions with compassion and clarity.

Shauna is a graduate of the University of Denver, where she earned a master’s degree in social work and post graduate work in marriage and family therapy at the Denver Family Institute. She completed post-graduate work in mediation through a partnership program with Arcadia University International Peace and Conflict Studies Program. Shauna is a licensed clinical social worker and worked in private practice, along with providing services for Project PAVE (Promoting Alternatives to Violence through Education) and Southern Pacific Railroad as a mediator and family clinician. 

Shauna designed the economically sustainable InAccord Justice Center initiative in collaboration with co-founder Genna Murphy and developed the empirically-tested InAccord® Conflict Analysis research model for Alternative Dispute Resolution in collaboration with Dr. Susan Harter. This InAccord model provides a framework for resolving disputes within couples, companies and countries and a procedural justice framework for alternatives to litigation and war. She is the author of In Justice inAccord, Touchstone Skills for Authentic Communication, and co-author of Quality of Life. As Ries cogently argues, only when people reveal their personal truths in the search for justice can conflict resolution proceed toward an acceptable solution for all.