Tom Dunne is a long-time conflict resolver, as a result of his experience in the Navy. In the 1960’s, Tom served with a U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Team in Vietnam, and later with a reserve Navy SEAL Team. Those experiences led him to seek better ways than using force and violence to resolve conflicts. After the war, Tom entered the fledgling field of conflict resolution, and has worked in that field for fifty years. He has helped individuals, organizations, and communities resolve disputes and manage conflicts productively, working with government agencies and NGOs. His work has included executive teambuilding, strategic planning, labor-management partnerships, conflict resolution, and designing work systems to foster cooperation, productivity, and work satisfaction. At Search for Common Ground (one of the largest Peacebuilding NGOs in the world), Tom co-founded the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project to improve relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world.
He also co-founded The Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County, Maryland, which helps community members resolve local issues through cooperative problem solving. Tom is a charter member of the Leadership Council of Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, which convenes people and groups with divergent views to build trust, identify solutions, and form alliances for action on critical national issues. He is also writing a book entitled Waging Peace: How Adversaries are Learning to Resolve Their Conflicts Through Cooperative Problem Solving.