Shai Tamari is the Founder and President of
Tamari Conflict Management
Academic Experience
Shai is a Professor of the Practice at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and an Adjunct Lecturer at Duke University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in conflict management. At UNC, Shai is also founder and director of the Conflict Management Initiative (CMI), which brings together faculty and staff who work, research, and teach in the field of conflict management. He is also the director of the minor in Conflict Management.
Practical Experience
Shai has co-facilitated weekly restorative circles in prisons in North Carolina, including on Death Row at Central Prison. He has also mediated disputes at the Durham County Courthouse, and co-mediated divorce settlements at the Dispute Settlement Center in Carrboro, North Carolina. For 12 years, he was the Associate Director of the UNC Center for Middle East & Islamic Studies. Prior to that he was a foreign policy adviser on Capitol Hill, where he focused on issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, human rights in Iran, and parental child abduction to Japan.
Approach
All these personal and professional experiences have taught Shai how to create and hold space for different beliefs and belief systems, and how to understand group dynamics and adapt to them. He has learned to lead by example: If he wishes for others to “open up” and be vulnerable, he knows he must first do so himself. This approach has taught him the value of positive-motivation leadership, encouraging others to take steps to improve themselves and the team from the foundation of his example.
Background
Born and raised in Jerusalem, Shai earned a B.A. in Journalism from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a Master’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London in the UK. In 2006, Shai was awarded a Rotary Peace Fellowship and studied for a second Master’s in Global History, along with Conflict Resolution and Arabic language studies, at UNC. Shai is a native speaker of Hebrew and an avid Elvis Presley fan.
