Alumni & Careers

Students in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) program come from a variety of backgrounds, geographies, and fields to hone and direct their skills as conflict resolution practitioners. Some bring this training back to their workplace to advance their careers, while others use their degree to pivot across sectors. Following graduation, NECR alumni work across diverse fields and sectors & join a robust and engaged network.

NECR in Finance

Leverage skills in negotiation and communication to navigate complex financial landscapes and contribute to a more interconnected world. 

NECR in Human Resources

Improve employee relations, reduce conflict costs, and boost organizational development & effectiveness.

NECR in Law

Diversify the portfolio of legal expertise, to include alternative dispute resolution, mediation, and arbitration.

NECR in Ombuds

Succeed in the critical role of investigating and resolving conflicts within a diverse array of institutions such as colleges and universities, government agencies, and NGOs.

NECR in Government & Politics

Effectively manage relationships with elected officials, steer inter-departmental initiatives, and lead community outreach in local, state, federal and global government entities.

NECR in Social Entrepreneurship

Create sustainable solutions to social problems, leveraging innovative approaches, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding practices.

NECR Alumni Career Deep Dives

NECR Career Deep Dives is a series where program alumni share insights and experiences from their careers in conflict resolution with prospective and current students. Alumni discuss their career trajectories, professional trends they have observed, and offer career insights they have gained. Select recordings of previous events can be found below.

Technology, Public Policy, and Education | Jonathan Chang video

Alumni Speaker: Currently, Jonathan Chang is the Head of Country - Google for Education Next Billion Users (NBU), with a major focus on Indo...
Technology, Public Policy, and Education | Jonathan Chang

Alumni Speaker: Currently, Jonathan Chang is the Head of Country - Google for Education Next Billion Users (NBU), with a major focus on Indonesia. Prior to Google, he served as the Senior Advisor for Higher Education at the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia. In addition, he was the Executive Director of National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre and the Overseas Colleges, and Singapore Management University Lien Centre for Social Innovation (where Jonathan pioneered the university’s accreditation as Asia’s first Ashoka Changemaker Campus).
Deep-rooted in entrepreneurship, Jonathan has co-founded several start-ups across sectors in Silicon Valley, Manhattan, Singapore, and Jakarta - two of his ventures raised funding from Y-Combinator and 500Startups. As a global speaker and media commentator, Jonathan has given lectures and talks across six continents and written articles for Channel NewsAsia. Jonathan received the coveted European Foundation for Management Development Case Writing Award for documenting an innovative social enterprise in Bali. His TEDx talk at Harvard about the importance of a mission-driven life was featured by Voice of America.
Jonathan finds solace and inspiration from mountaineering, having trekked to Mt. Everest Base Camp and summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Kala Patthar, Mt. Nagarjuna, and Mt. Kinabalu.
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Understanding Who You Are In The Conflict | La-Verna Fountain video

Alumni Speaker: La-Verna Fountain is the founder and president of Meaningful Communications Matter LLC, a consulting and training firm focusing o...
Understanding Who You Are In The Conflict | La-Verna Fountain

Alumni Speaker: La-Verna Fountain is the founder and president of Meaningful Communications Matter LLC, a consulting and training firm focusing on bridging the divide of misunderstandings in the home, community and workplace and developing intentional and healthy dialogue. In 2018, she retired from Columbia University where she served as Vice President for Strategic Communications and Construction Business Initiatives. Having developed and led a variety of award-winning programs to train, mentor and employ Minority, Women and Locally-owned businesses and a highly diverse workforce, as well as manage a range of community benefits as part of the University’s historic new campus development, she continues to serve as an Instructor with Columbia’s School of Professional Studies.
A U.S. Army veteran, La-Verna has an associate’s degree in Police Administration from Harrisburg Area Community College, a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Penn State University and master of science degree in Negotiations and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University. She and her husband of 39 years currently live in Pennsylvania and would be empty nesters except they have a large, spoiled German shepherd who is quite demanding.
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Negotiation in Business & Politics | Cody Smith video

Alumni Speaker: Cody Smith, '14SPS, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, is an Associate in the Master of Science in Negotiation and Conflict Resoluti...
Negotiation in Business & Politics | Cody Smith

Alumni Speaker: Cody Smith, '14SPS, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, is an Associate in the Master of Science in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) program at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies.
After graduating from the University of Heidelberg (M.A., April 2014) and the NECR program (M.S., May 2014), Cody worked for five years as a Research Associate in the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets unit at Harvard Business School (HBS). Working closely with Professor Deepak Malhotra, he co-authored numerous HBS cases used to teach negotiation, strategy, and leadership to MBAs, law students, and executives in leading universities.
Cody specializes in negotiation strategy in both business and political contexts. In 2018, he co-founded a small negotiation advisory firm, through which he advises business leaders, runs executive workshops, and supports Track I efforts to resolve urgent, intractable conflicts around the world as a strategist on William Ury’s team.
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Client Management and Building Relationships | Debora Delgado video

Alumni Speaker: Debora Delgado is the founder of Binomia, a recently launched business consultancy specializing in the development of client...
Client Management and Building Relationships | Debora Delgado

Alumni Speaker: Debora Delgado is the founder of Binomia, a recently launched business consultancy specializing in the development of client relation strategies for small and medium-sized companies in Peru. While most consultant work is male-dominated and catered to larger companies, Binomia tends to a niche currently unattended, which boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Binomia’s approach is feminine-focused and centers on emotions and self-awareness in building client-employee relationships. Binomia’s biggest challenge is breaking the local myth that customer service doesn’t have to mean “being nice” by showing how a customer focused approach can both increase employee satisfaction as well revenue.
Debora holds a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management and worked for Peru’s biggest hotel chain, Casa Andina, with hotels throughout the country. As the lead of the Customer Satisfaction Department, she was exposed to cultural differences throughout the regions, which afforded her to develop strategic initiatives that honored those differences and reveal the cultural uniqueness of the region to its international guests. This experience led her to study Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University, graduating in 2015.
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Education Administration Insights and Perspectives for Growth | Clarence Coaxum video

Alumni Speaker: Clarence Coaxum is the Associate Director of Finance and Administration at the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Human...
Education Administration Insights and Perspectives for Growth | Clarence Coaxum

Alumni Speaker: Clarence Coaxum is the Associate Director of Finance and Administration at the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University. In his current role, Clarence manages all financial, administrative and human resource operations for the SoF/Heyman, Society of Senior Scholars, and Friends of the Heyman Center.
Before joining the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for Humanities in 2012, Clarence was the Assistant Director of Administration for the Center of the Core Curriculum at Columbia College, where he primarily worked with undergraduate students. Clarence is currently working on his doctorate from the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies at Nova Southeastern University; holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, both from Columbia University, where he has taught a Negotiation course.
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Global & Sociocultural Affairs | Deborah Sachare video

Alumni Speaker: Deborah Sachare is a published researcher of identity-based conflict and practitioner of international social change. She earned her b...
Global & Sociocultural Affairs | Deborah Sachare

Alumni Speaker: Deborah Sachare is a published researcher of identity-based conflict and practitioner of international social change. She earned her bachelor's degree from Barnard College in Environmental Policy and a master's degree in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University. Deborah's research interests include resilience in the Anthropocene, environmental peacebuilding, intrapersonal dissonance, and corporate social responsibility. She has presented her global fieldwork on these topics at domestic and international conferences.
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