Featured Speakers | Back to Top

A diverse group of speakers presented at this conference. This group includes the following individuals:

• Tony de Brum, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marshall Islands
• Rochelle Becker, Executive Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
• Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation
• Geoff Green, Executive Director of The Fund for Santa Barbara
• Mark Kielburger, Free the Children Executive Director and Leaders Today Co-Founder
• David Krieger, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
• Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
• Michael Mariotte, Executive Director, Nuclear Information Resource Service
• Jennifer Ortiz, Field Outreach Associate, Women 's Actions for New Directions
• Will Parrish, Research and Advocacy Associate, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
• Chris Pizzinat, Deputy Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
• Tanya Wallace, National Field Director, Women 's Actions for New Directions

As one of the first six college graduates from the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum has spent virtually all his adult working life in public service in the islands. He has held various positions, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Health and Environment, and Minister of Finance. Mr. de Brum participated in the Development of the Constitution of the Marshall Islands and played a key role in the negotiations leading to the Compact of Free Association with the United States and the termination of United Nations trusteeship. He practiced in the courts of the Marshall Islands and translated environmental impact studies for atomic test areas in the Marshall Islands. Currently, Mr. de Brum serves as Advisor to the Paramount Traditional Leaders of the Marshall Islands (Ralik Sovereignties) and as Spokesman and Counsel for the People of Kwajalein.

Rochelle Becker has been active on nuclear safety issues in California for 28 years. She is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility which works to end nuclear waste build up on California's coast. Rochelle was instrumental in gaining the support of California’s Attorney General and the County of San Luis Obispo for a federal appeal filed in December 2003 addressing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s refusal to allow hearings on post 9/11/01 security before licensing an expanded high-level radioactive waste facility on California’s vulnerable earthquake active coast. Rochelle Becker graduated from the University of San Francisco. She lives with her husband of 37 years in Grover Beach and San Diego where her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters live full time.

Jacqueline Cabasso is the Executive Director of Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF) in Oakland, California. She is a leading voice for nuclear weapons abolition, speaking at events across North America, Europe, and Asia. Ms. Cabasso chairs the Coordinating Committee of the Peoples Non-Violent Response Coalition and convenes the Nuclear Disarmament/Redefining Security working group of United for Peace and Justice. In 1995, she co-founded the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, which has grown to include more than 2000 organizations in over 90 countries. Ms. Cabasso is the co-author, with Susan Moon, of Risking Peace: Why We Sat in the Road (Open Books, 1985), an account of the huge 1983 nonviolent protest at the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory and the subsequent mass trial. She has written and co-authored numerous articles for publications including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the journal Social Justice.

Geoff Green is the Executive Director of The Fund for Santa Barbara. The Fund was established in 1980 as a community foundation by a group of individuals who shared a vision of a just and humane society, and wanted to offer our community an alternative concept in philanthropy. The Fund is dedicated to finding solutions to current and emerging social problems and issues that challenge our society as a whole. Since its inception, The Fund has awarded over $2.1 million to more than 500 projects.

Mark Kielburger, is the co-founder and executive director of Leaders Today, a program providing leadership training to over 100,000 young people every year throughout Canada and the United States. He also serves as executive director of Free the Children, the largest network of children helping children in the world. He is the co-author of Take Action! A Guide to Active Citizenship and Take More Action! Both are national best sellers in Canada. Mark has been a board member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation since 2000.

David Krieger is a founder of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and has served as President of the Foundation since 1982. Under his leadership the Foundation has initiated many innovative and important projects for building peace, strengthening international law and abolishing nuclear weapons. Dr. Krieger has lectured throughout the United States, Europe and Asia on issues of peace, security, international law, and the abolition of nuclear weapons. He is the author of many studies of peace in the Nuclear Age, serves on numerous boards, and has received many awards for his work for a more peaceful and nuclear weapons-free world. He has been interviewed on CNN Hotline, MSNBC, NPR and many other television and radio shows nationally and internationally.

Arjun Makhijani, President of IEER, holds a Ph.D. in engineering (specialization: nuclear fusion) from the University of California at Berkeley. He has produced many studies and articles on nuclear fuel cycle related issues, including weapons production, testing, and nuclear waste, over the past fifteen years. He is the principal author of the first study ever done (completed in 1971) on energy conservation potential in the U.S. economy. He is the principal editor of Nuclear Wastelands and the principal author of Mending the Ozone Hole, both published by MIT Press.

Michael Mariotte, Executive Director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, has testified numerous times before various state, national and international bodies on radioactive waste transportation issues, radioactive metals “recycling;” future of the nuclear power industry; “one-step” reactor licensing and other related issues. Widely quoted in electronic and print media, he served as the Editor of The Nuclear Monitor newsletter (1985-2002), operates the NIRS website and is the Chief Spokesperson for NIRS. A former general manager and managing editor of the Washington City Paper, Marriotte is a graduate of Antioch College.

Jennifer Iliana Ortiz the Field Outreach Associate of of Women’s Action For New Directions (WAND). Originally from Los Angeles, Jennifer earned her MA in Postcolonial Studies in the English Department at Mills College. She is committed to increasing the participation of women and people of color in the political process. She encourages young women to become educated and politically active within their communities and national issues. Ms. Ortiz coordinates (Students Taking Action for New Directions) STAND and leads the youth program in its aspiration to train the next generation of women leaders.

Chris Pizzinat is Deputy Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and has served in varying capacities with the organization since 1996. Chris’ previous private sector experience has brought new thinking and fresh ideas to building the organization’s efficacy. His academic background includes a B.A. in International Relations from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Tanya Wallace serves as National Field Director of Women’s Action For New Directions (WAND). She has an advanced knowledge of community and political structures, a successful record of coordinating grassroots organizations, and coalition development. Her opinions and contributions have been featured in YSB magazine, The Los Angeles Times and on ABC Nightly News. She is an active member of her community and currently serves as the Program Chair for the National Council of Negro Women Greater Atlanta Millennium Section, and Vice President of Membership with the League of Women Voters Atlanta/Fulton County.

Facilitation Team | Back to Top

• Darwin BondGraham, PhD. candidate, University of California Santa Barbara
• Michael Coffey, Director of Youth Programs, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
• Tara Dorabji, Outreach Director, Tri-Valley CAREs
• Will Parrish, Research and Advocacy Associate, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
• Carah Ong, Washington, DC Office Director, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Darwin BondGraham is an activist and graduate student in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  He has worked with many peace and justice organizations over the last several years in both volunteer and staff capacities.  His research and writings focus on the intersections of militarism, corporate power, and higher education.

Michael Coffey is the Director of Youth Programs with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Michael spearheads the design, implementation, and revision of the Foundation's Youth Outreach Initiative, which creates and supports opportunities for youth to contribute toward a world at peace, free from the threat of war and free of weapons of mass destruction. A member of the inaugural cohort of the New Voices Fellowship Program, Michael serves as a consultant to the Compton Foundation and on the Board of Directors of the Fund for Santa Barbara.

Tara Dorabji is the Outreach Coordinator for Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) located in Livermore, California. Livermore is home to one of the United States' two major nuclear weapons design laboratories. Tri-Valley CAREs works locally, nationally and globally to achieve nuclear disarmament, environmental cleanup of the legacy of nuclear development and worker and community health. Tara recently completed Seeds of Change, a project documenting some of the voices, music and poetry of six decades of resistance to nuclear weapons.

Will Parrish is the Research and Advocacy Associate with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. A graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz, Will is active in media democratization, peace and environmental sustainability movements. He played a key organizing role in the 2005 Tent State University protest at UC Santa Cruz. Will coordinates the UC Nuclear Free campaign to get UC out of the nuclear weapons business.

Carah Ong is the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Advocacy and Research Director and is Director of the Foundation’s Washington, DC office. She manages the Foundation’s Turn the Tide Campaign to chart a new course for US nuclear policy. She also oversees the Foundation’s Nuclear Files.org project, which provides educators, students and concerned citizens everywhere access to primary source documents, background information, and analysis on the political, legal and ethical challenges of the Nuclear Age. In 2004, Carah was a member of the first delegation of twelve Americans to visit Libya in order to establish relations with the Libyan government and civil society after the US lifted sanctions that had been placed on the country for more than three decades.