Tom Valenti is a Chicago based conflict resolution specialist offering mediation, arbitration, and facilitation services and training, globally.

A certified mediator, Tom has conducted numerous mediations involving civil, commercial, interpersonal and workplace matters.  He has mediated and trained extensively, both nationally and internationally, in jurisdictions all over the world.

Tom is a member of several Bar Associations, including the American, Chicago, Illinois and Indian Bar, and is a co-founder and former Board Member of Mediation Beyond Borders.

With a passion for mediation, highlighted by the many qualifications Tom holds in the field, Tom is a dedicated and talented mediator. AAA and ABNA Neutral, he is also a Neutral Arbitrator and Mediator for the National Arbitration Forum and Center For Resolution.

A member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Tom Valenti is also an Arbitrator on the Public Panel at FINRA and is an approved Arbitrator and Mediator for several governmental and regulatory bodies, including the Circuit Court of Cook County, The National Arbitration Forum and is on the Advisory Board for The Association of Mediation Assessors, Trainers and Instructors.

Extensively trained himself in all aspects of dispute resolution, Tom’s accreditations include Conflict Transformation Skills Training, focusing on Systems Dynamics, ABA International Family Mediation Training including Hague Convention Child Abduction cases, Circuit Cook County Annexed Arbitration and Mediation Training Programs. Tom also holds a Mediation Certification at The Institute for Conflict Management, and is a Board Member and Trainer at The International Academy of Dispute Resolution.

Tom’s interests include the Athens Migration Dialogue Project, of which he is Co-Leader. The project helps local communities to design, organize and conduct dialogues that address difficult and dangerous issues, such as migration and violence in schools. He also led the Hurricane Katrina Project in New Orleans, LA and Biloxi, MS, which involved training area NGOs to help them improve their skills and develop community mediation programs.

Having a keen interest in the Middle East and the cultivation of mediation systems across the world, Tom has also worked with the Middle East Peace Initiative. Collaborating with the Pluralistic Spirituality Center Project, he oversaw the development of an Israeli-Arab and Jewish co-mediation approach and service to mediate community dialogue in an Israeli Jewish and Palestinian peace village, Neve Shalom Wahat Al Salam (NSWAS).

Training the world’s future mediators is also important to Tom.

Training others to mediate is central to Tom’s belief that alternative dispute resolution is a powerful force for good. Working with The International Academy of Dispute Resolution (INADR), a charitable organisation created to develop an understanding of the benefits of mediation amongst law students, Tom has travelled to the UK, Dubai, India and Europe to deliver mediation training for students. He is also an International Mediation Institute’s Mentor to Youth.