About

Mission

To provide a framework for dialogue about world peace between PWPP members from all around the world.
To contribute to that dialogue with updates on the activities of hundreds of world peace organizations combined with unbiased, solutions-oriented world peace news coverage.
To discover, develop, and promote ideas, methods, and actions that will advance the long-term prospects of peace in the world.

Statement

We believe world peace has been in the hands of too few for too long, and that, for millennia, the world has paid for its wars and other forms of violence in needless loss of life, misallocation and depletion of resources, and failed opportunities to achieve peaceful coexistence.

We believe the most direct path to world peace is from the bottom up, and that peace begins with each one of us. We believe peace efforts without a moral foundation are short-lived, and that a more informed world citizenry will possess the moral compass needed to point the way to sustainable world peace.

Today, for the first time in history, powerful Internet technology makes dialogue possible between ordinary people on a worldwide basis. We believe such dialogue will eventually become a new pathway to world peace, and that ordinary people over time will, together, strongly influence how world peace is to be accomplished and maintained.

The editors at PWPP, and their media partners, post articles and other content on www.PWPP.org to acknowledge people who are working toward the betterment of the world around them. These are the builders of the bridges to world peace; the ones who are discovering and implementing solutions to the greatest challenges facing humankind. PWPP members are invited to extend the dialogue by posting comments about articles and other content, sharing additional information and insights.

The Team

Randy Labbe – co-founder, director
Labbe’s professional background is in the music industry. He is the founder of several music festivals, produced nearly 100 international releases (including ten Grammy nominated records) as a consultant to Telarc, Rykodisc, and other record labels, and is a co-founding partner and former vp of industry relations at Emergent Discovery, LLC. He graduated from Clark University in 1982 and his interests include social movements, camping in his beloved state of Maine, and most of the arts.

Bob Kelleher – co-founder
Kelleher is adjunct professor in the MBA programs of Ann Maria and Nichols Colleges. He received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University following an interruption for military service at the end of WWII. He earned his PhD at the University of Santa Clara and built distinguished careers in both academia and in the business world. His most recent work, prior to PWPP, was the writing of a book about the challenges of building community in the contemporary world.

John Massaua – business adviser
Massaua is a principal of JRM & Company, a business development consulting firm. He was with the Maine Small Business Development Centers, an SBA partnership program based at the University of Southern Maine, for ten years, seven of them as the Maine SBDC state director. A graduate of Fordham University with an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson, he has held high-level executive positions within a myriad of small and medium size companies; among which, he was a founding officer at Staples, Inc.

Pete Haase - webmaster
Haase received a BS in Business Management from the University of Maine in 2000 as well as an AS in Computer Information Systems in 2005. He holds several IT industry standard certifications and is a Microsoft Certified Professional. His previous work experience includes IT support for national organizations and internet firms, including Emergent Music, LLC, where he worked with Labbe and managed a robust digital music library. As a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, music is his major leisure-time pursuit.

PWPP Interns

Aaron Fenster – media team leader
Fenster is from Rochester, New York. He received his BA in Sociology with a concentration in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and he is currently working towards a master’s degree in public administration. He has worked for the American Jewish Society for Service in Tucson, Arizona, Habitat for Humanity, and has been a part of Youth Outreach Worcester, visiting local schools and leading awareness and anti-bullying sessions.

Robbie Matlock – media associate
Matlock was born in Sewanee, Tennessee. He is majoring in Political Science with a minor in History. He previously worked as a camp counselor and in construction before finding his way to PWPP. In fact, if not for PWPP, he would have spent the summer of 2010 working as a raft guide for the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina.

Michelle Fabiaschi – media associate
Fabiaschi is from Torrington, Connecticut. She is currently an undergraduate majoring in Communication and Culture with a minor in International Development and Social Change. Enrolled in a five-year program, she has already committed to studying Professional Communication as a grad student. Her previous work experience includes interning at Adam Kenwright Associates of London and at Boston Casting and she is passionate about social media.

Hanlin Li– media associate
Hanlin was born in Sichuan, China. She is a junior majoring in Economics, with a minor in Management, and volunteered with Dream Corps International in rural China during the summer of 2010, setting up a school library and designing reading-promoting programs. She currently serves as a member of the sites team of Dream Corps and is planning to work in Asia after graduating from college.

Katy Cleminson – communication team leader
Cleminson is currently a junior majoring in International Development and Social Change, minoring in Entrepreneurship. She is a graduate of Gloucester Catholic High School in New Jersey and started her organizing there, raising over $40,000 to lead a group of students to New Orleans to assist with Katrina Relief efforts. She recently was co-founder of the $2 Campus Challenge and the Brace Yourself for Change Campaign, raising money to fund micro credit loans in the developing world. She represented Clark University at the Regional Micro Credit Conference in Cartegena, Colombia and is a recipient of Clark’s Presidential Scholarship.

Christy Gillmore – communication associate
Gillmore is originally from Roanoke, Virginia and received a BA in Anthropology and Economics in 2006 from UVA. She joined the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, working to empower women in a rural community through natural resource, health, and small business projects. She has also worked in refugee resettlement and is currently a Fellow in the International Development, Community, and Environment Department as she pursues a master’s degree in IDSC. She served as a Peace Fellow for The Advocacy Project during the summer of 2010, gathering and telling the stories of marginalized people from the settlements (slums) of Kenya.

Sijie Yang – communication associate
Yang graduated with a BS in GIS from Hebei Polytechnic in Tagnshan, China and is currently a grad student in GIS for Development and Environment. She has applied GIS to analyze land use change to help sustainable development in local areas and authored a paper on virtual reality technology and the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Fluent in seven GIS platforms, she utilizes open source programming language to create GIS websites that do not require knowledge of complex GIS terms and concepts.

Thanh Nguyen – business development and planning team leader
Nguyen is a graduate of Can Tho University and is currently in his second year of graduate work that will lead to an MSF degree. He is a former credit analyst at Lien Viet Commercial Bank, in Vietnam, and a former marketing and Internet intern at Be Green, LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. His academic record was rewarded with a full scholarship from Aptech Worldwide and he was one of three students selected for full scholarships to study abroad.

Hao Yang – business development associate
Yang received a BS in Science and Economics from Central University of Beijing and is currently a graduate student working towards an MSF. Prior to PWPP, she worked in export operations at the head office of Bank of China. She has served as a volunteer for girls and youth organizations, in China, and worked on the Massachusetts Conference for Women during 2009. Hao has rich project experience and is interested in traveling, psychology, movies and music.

Mengfei Shen – business development and planning associate
Shen comes from the southern part of China. Having graduated Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, he is currently in his second year of graduate studies, working towards an MFS degree. His previous work experience includes stints at Huahong International Investment and Technology and Construction Bank, both of Chengdu. He also served as a volunteer at the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. His personal interests include hiking and traveling.

Usman Tahir – business development and planning team adviser
Tahir is from Karachi, Pakistan. He is a Fulbright Scholar working towards an MSF. He graduated with a BS in Economics from Lahore University with distinction, and has also been an Erasmus Mundus Scholar for studies in Paris, at the Sorbonne. He served as PWPP’s business development and planning team leader during the summer of 2010. As part of his Fulbright commitment, Tahir will return to work in his native country for a minimum of three years following graduation.

PWPP Alumni

Xiaohui Gu – business development and planning associate – summer 2010
Gu calls Dalian, China her hometown. She is an MBA candidate concentrating in expanding accounting. Her previous work experience includes stints in her family’s industrial businesses in China and accounting and tax preparation services at SK Financial Services. She managed whirlwind tours of New York City and San Francisco following her PWPP internship and before returning to Clark for her final year of graduate studies.

Tricia Labbe – communication associate – 2008-2009
Labbe, daughter of Randy Labbe, is a sophomore working towards minors in French and Entrepreneurship, and an undecided major. She served as PWPP’s first intern, as communication associate, from 2008 to 2009, researching and soliciting media partners, building the contact database, and assisting with the preparation of early PWPP white papers. She has worked with many youth organizations, including employment as a youth counselor at a Maine summer camp during the summer of 2010.

Contact

tel: 207.877.4029

e-mail: info[at]pwpp[dot]org