1989 - CONFLICT MANAGEMENT GROUP, Cambridge MA
Present Director of Research and Evaluation - Vice President. Provide strategic advice, third party facilitation and training to diplomats, economic and trade officials and government leaders in negotiation and conflict resolution, with a focus on Europe/Former Soviet Union and international organizations.

2000 - FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY, Medford, MA
present Adjunct Professor. Teach 40-hour course on Processes of International Negotiation, an introductory course to the theory and practice of international negotiation, to masters-level students.

Summer 1988 OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION, Washington, D.C.
Intern. Drafted commitment letter, guaranty agreement and supporting documentation for various foreign investment projects. Extensive research in international law of expropriation and foreign arbitration laws.

STEPTOE & JOHNSON, Washington, D.C.
Summer Associate. Researched and wrote sections of briefs. Prepared comprehensive memorandum on E.E.C. law for submission to client.

Summer 1987 SIDLEY & AUSTIN, New York, NY
Summer Associate. Prepared memoranda on interest rate and currency exchange agreements, international discovery, civil rights and debt-to-equity swaps.

BRYAN, CAVE, McPHEETERS & McROBERTS, Washington, D.C.
Summer Associate. Prepared memoranda on administrative law, import relief, immigration, international sales law. Drafted contracts.

Summer 1986 WERNER & SIEBER, Geneva, Switzerland
Summer Associate. Prepared memoranda on U.S. trademark infringement and antitrust issues, E.E.C. antitrust issues, international commercial arbitration.

Education

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, J.D. magna cum laude, 1989. Developments Editor,
Harvard International Law Journal, 1987-88.
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, MA. M.A.L.D. degree received 1999.
Course work in international and European law, international trade and negotiation.
Yale University, New Haven, CT, B.A. in French, summa cum laude, with distinction, 1983. Montaigne Prize for proficiency in oral and written French.

Languages

French, Greek, Spanish; proficiency in German. Provide training in French and Spanish.

Selected Projects

Training for Diplomats and Trade Officials (1990-96). Designed curricula and conducted workshops for diplomats and other government officials for the foreign and trade ministries of Germany (European diplomats joint training program), Finland, Greece, Indonesia, Korea, Colombia, and South Africa. Ms. Chigas is currently working on designing and implementing a Leadership Development program for Armenia, Georgia and Russia.

International organizations (1992-2000). Designed and conducted training for United Nations officials, as part of the UNITAR-IPA Fellowship Programme in Peacemaking and Preventive Diplomacy, Stadtschlaining, Austria; for the World Bank; for the Inter-American Development Bank; for members and staff of the World Health Organization; and for OSCE diplomats on multilateral negotiation and preventive diplomacy.

As Director of CMG's program on Preventive Diplomacy in the OSCE, Ms. Chigas has developed conceptual models and methodologies for conflict prevention. This project produced a new model for informal, low-key, self-starting third party mechanism, which had some influence on the agreement to establish a High Commissioner on National Minorities in 1992, and several working papers and brainstorming seminars both with and about the High Commissioner on the critical questions of when and how the High Commissioner should act to effectively carry out his mandate. It also produced a design and materials for the first-ever training for OSCE mission members, as well as for training in conflict prevention for OSCE diplomats, and an article outlining the new approach to conflict prevention and third party intervention developed by OSCE since 1990 as a potential model for others. Ms. Chigas has also worked with European officials involved in OSCE to develop and institutionalize new conflict management methods in preventive diplomacy.

Ms. Chigas is currently working with the World Health Organization to study the effects of globalization on health and develop frameworks and tools to assist people working in the health sector in developing countries to negotiate across boundaries to put health on the global agenda. This project will produce several case studies, a book and training materials and a course for officials and non-governmental actors in health in less developed countries.

Facilitation and Negotiation Consulting (1990-2000). Ms. Chigas provided training and advice to the negotiating teams of the Government of El Salvador and FMLN guerrillas on the negotiation process that led to the 1992 peace accords, and to the negotiators and top leaders of many of the parties in the South African constitutional negotiation process, including the Cabinet of the National Party government, the African National Congress, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Pan-Africanist Congress. Ms. Chigas has been involved in facilitating unofficial among key actors in the Georgia-South Ossetia and Georgia-Abkhazia conflicts in the Caucasus.

Development of Capacities for Peace. Ms. Chigas is co-director of the Cyprus Consortium, which has been working unofficially for seven years with leaders from the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities to support and catalyze a peacebuilding process. The Consortium has provided training in conflict resolution and dialogue to bi-communal groups of leading politicians, business figures, journalists, professionals, educators and others: over 500 people were trained, including a core group of trainers who are continuing to provide training to a wide range of bi-communal groups. Graduates of these programs have initiated a myriad of bi-communal projects promoting bi-communal understanding, friendship and cooperation. From 1999-2000 the Consortium worked with the World Peace Foundation to bring together 16 key Greek- and Turkish Cypriot opinion makers and policy leaders to engage in an intensive joint analysis of the conflict and explore new options for overcoming the stalemate. Ms. Chigas has worked with the Workers' Educational Association (Northern Ireland) to train trainers involved in community relations and conflict resolution, and is working with UNDP and local NGOs in Romania to develop similar capacity for conflict analysis, conflict management and consensus-building. She is also currently working with Mercy Corps International, a non-profit humanitarian organization, to promote co-existence among ethnic Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo by integrating conflict resolution skills and sensibilities into local development projects, and is working on a broader study with Harvard's Program on Negotiation on ways to integrate co-existence considerations into development assistance.

Leadership Development. Since 1999, Ms. Chigas has been working in a program to assist young promising decision-makers in Armenia, Georgia and Russia to acquire the leadership skills necessary to turn their respective countries into more democratic and prosperous entities that can hold their place in the world politically and economically. She has also been part of the team facilitating coalition-building in the Women Waging Peace program at Harvard University.

Publications

"Unofficial Interventions with Official Actors: Parallel Negotiation Training in Violent Intra-state Conflicts," International Negotiation 2: 409-436 (1997).

"La Diplomacia Preventiva y la OSCE," in Ertel, ed., Negociación 2000 (Santafé de Bogotá, McGraw Hill 1996).

"Preventive Diplomacy and the OSCE: Creating Incentives for Dialogue and Cooperation," in Chayes and Chayes, eds., Preventing Conflict in the Post-Communist World: Mobilizing International and Regional Organizations (Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. 1996).

"Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice: The CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities," Helsinki Monitor, vol. 5, no. 3 (1994).

"Building Capacity for Conflict Prevention," Bulletin of the CSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, vol. 2, no. 2 (Spring/summer 1994).

Early Warning and Preventive Action in the CSCE: Defining the Role of the High Commissioner on National Minorities, CMG Working Paper Series (1992).

Methods and Strategies in Conflict Prevention: Report of an Expert Consultation in connection with the activities of the CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, CMG Working Paper Series, Preventive Diplomacy and Conflict Prevention in Europe (1993).