Dr. Nina Balmaceda is a scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on civic leadership development and education for peace and reconciliation. Nina is president of Peace and Hope International, a nonprofit that works through local organizations in Latin America to prevent and confront violence and other forms of injustice against the most vulnerable.

Dr. Jonathan C. Augustine (aka “Jay Augustine”) is a missional strategist with the Duke Center for Reconciliation. A well-recognized leader in the Durham Community, he also serves as senior pastor of the historic St. Joseph AME Church. In addition to pastoral service, Dr. Augustine's background is as a civil rights litigator and law professor. Read full bio.

Valerie Helbert is a program coordinator for the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. She earned an M.A. in conflict transformation in 2008 from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. Before moving to Durham, Valerie worked on the staff of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at CJP for eight years. An active lay leader in her local congregation, Peace Covenant Church of the Brethren, she currently also serves as a board member for DurhamCares and believes in living into the scriptural call to “love our neighbors.”

Les Gilbert was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio. He holds a bachelor's degree in organizational management. For almost 30 years, while based in New York City and Fairfield County, Conn., he has provided creative and technical leadership in a wide range of communications and marketing services for leading institutions around the world.