Jonathan Dain is a UF faculty member in the School for Natural Resources and Environment and in the Tropical Conservation and Development (TCD) Program at the Center for Latin American Studies.  Both positions focus on conflict management, consensus-building, facilitation and collaboration skills for those working with natural resource management (and managers) in the US and abroad.  An applied anthropologist by training, Jon works with Fellows of the Natural Resources Leadership Institute to develop and strengthen the skills, knowledge and attitudes required for effective interaction with diverse stakeholder groups. When not working with the NRLI program, he teaches UF graduate classes in facilitation and conflict management through the TCD program and works as an independent facilitator and trainer; primarily in Florida.  Jon began his career over 20 years ago as a Peace Corps Volunteer and Extension Agent in Paraguay and is himself a graduate of the Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute. He spends a portion of each summer working with natural resource managers in the Brazilian Amazon. 

Bruce Delaney is the Executive Director of FNRLI. He also manages the Agricultural Mediation Program for the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida. Bruce is a graduate of FNRLI Class II.  He is a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator with over 200 mediations to his credit.  He also has experience in facilitating visioning and goal setting processes for organizations and academic departments.  Bruce is also a former Mayor/Commissioner of the city of Gainesville. 

Marta Hartmann is a faculty member at the University of Florida in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication.  She also serves as Director of the Gender, Environment, Agriculture and Participation (GEAP) Program. Dr. Hartmann holds degrees from Florida International University and Florida State University.  In addition, she did advance work in the management of development programs in Education at Harvard University.  Dr. Hartmann’s expertise is in the areas of intercultural communication, curriculum and instruction, community/leadership development, and international education and development.  Dr. Hartmann has taught at Florida State University, Florida A & M University, Temple University, and the University of Florida.  She has also taught and conducted community development work in several countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Russia.  In 2002, she was a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service Fellow. 

Burl Long retired in 2007 but continues to serve the NRLI program in Emeritus status. His knowledge and experience are  a core asset of the NRLI program. A native of Tennessee, he received his BS degree from University of Tennessee, his MS from Oklahoma State University and his PhD from The Pennsylvania State University. During his career Dr Long has been employed by The US Department of Agriculture, Penn State University, Virginia Tech University, Radford University and the University of Florida. He has served as a consultant to the Tennessee Valley Authority, The Federal Power Commission and various universities. Throughout his career his research and outreach programs have focused on natural resource economics and policy, including environmental economics, land use issues, and coastal zone management. He has taught in Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, Public Policy Analysis and Public Finance at both the graduate and undergraduate level.  He has been a Professor in the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida since 1985, where he has served as Coordinator of Undergraduate Programs, and Assistant Department Chair. He has been the Faculty Program Advisor to the Wedgworth Leadership Institute (formerly Florida Leadership Program for Agriculture and Natural Resources) since its inception in 1992.

Tom Taylor has been with the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium since 1990.  This program was created by the legislature to address critical problems facing Florida by promoting, providing and supporting mediation, facilitation and other collaborative approaches.  Dr. Taylor has worked with public and private parties to settle to case-specific conflicts and policy disputes, and to reach consensus on strategic plans and visions for organizations, communities and state agencies. His projects range from facilitating a few people for a few hours to multi-meeting processes that take over a year, large groups with as many as 2000 in one meeting and one with a settlement of over five hundred million dollars.  Hundreds of elected officials, administrators, staff, mediators, attorneys and others have participated in his trainings. Dr. Taylor has a Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning and is also an adjunct professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State University.  Prior to coming to the CRC he was a professor at the University of Oklahoma, a practicing planner, consultant and trainer.

Laila Racevskis Laila Racevskis is an assistant professor in the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida with a joint appointment in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Her research interests include nonmarket valuation of ecosystem services, land use economics and policy, and human dimensions of natural resource management. In her extension work, she serves as Director of the Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute and also develops workshops and educational materials on land use and natural resource issues in Florida. Laila holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University and two degrees from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics and a B.A. in French and International Studies.

Candace Kaswinkel serves as the Administrative Assistant for NRLI where she provides administrative and program support. Her duties include assisting with meeting preparation and logistics and preparing and maintaining program materials, correspondence, and databases.  Additionally she handles the fiscal responsibilities for the NRLI program. Ms. Kaswinkel joined the NRLI team in 2008 coming from the University of Florida School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) where she served as Office Manager for the Department of Research and Outreach/Extension. At SNRE she directed all administrative and clerical duties for the unit. Ms. Kaswinkel is a 2008 Superior Accomplishment Award winner, serves on the IFAS Fiscal, Administrative and Support Personnel (FASP) board as Communications Coordinator and is a member of the Society of Government Meeting Planners. She also served on the University of Florida Community Campaign as the SNRE/IFAS representative for 2006 and 2007.

Robert Jones has served as the Director of the FCRC Consensus Center (formerly the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium) since 1990. It is a public service center based at Florida State University and the University of Central Florida.  He works with representatives from state, local and federal government, the private sector and civic and community groups in Florida to design and implement collaborative consensus building approaches to public issues.  He has served as a public policy facilitator in over 175 projects including more than 70 statewide policy forums in Florida related to environmental, land use, transportation, energy, agricultural and community and regional visioning and issues.  Prior to his work with the Consortium, Mr. Jones was a Senior Associate for eight years at the National Institute for Dispute Resolution, in Washington D.C., where he directed a national dispute resolution research grants program and administered grant programs in public policy mediation and professional education. Currently he serves as a member of the national board of the Policy Consensus Initiative/National Policy Consensus Center and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis School of Law and of the University of California, Berkeley and Leadership Florida member.