The Conflict Information Consortium has a primary focus on complex, society-wide intractable conflict. It has pioneered efforts to use information technologies to provide people from all walks of life with the information that they need in order to deal with these incredibly difficult conflicts more constructively. The Consortium sees such efforts to enhance and mobilize the skills of the general population as critical to efforts to deal with these complex, society-wide conflicts.

Guy and Heidi Burgess both earned their Ph.D.s in sociology from the University of Colorado in 1979. They then did postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for several years as public policy conflict consultants. In 1988, with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, they established (along with others) the University of Colorado Conflict Research Consortium (now called the Conflict Information Consortium), which they have co-directed ever since. For more information: Beyond Intractability Zena Zumeta, internationally known as both a mediator and trainer of mediators. She is president of the Mediation Training & Consultation Institute, Zena Zumeta Mediation Services, and The Collaborative Workplace in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Zena is a lawyer and a former president of the Academy of Family Mediators. She is the recipient of the the Michigan Lifetime Achievement in Mediation Award; the National Education Association/Saturn Corporation Award for Union-Management Collaboration; the John Haynes Distinguished Mediator Award; and the Kumba Award from the National Conference on Minorities in ADR.