Dr. Derek Sweetman is the Dispute Resolution Director and Foundation Director at the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC and Eastern Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD and MS from George Mason University's School of Conflict Analysis and Resoution. He is also an adjunct faculty member for S-CAR and George Mason's School of Integrative Studies (formerly New Century College), teaching courses in conflict transformation, community conflict resolution, peace studies, critical conflict resolution, American foreign policy, and social movements. He was a member of the Unrest Magazine editorial cell from 2010-2014 and published and edited OJPCR: The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution from 1998-2007. He served on the Board of Directors for the DC Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution from 2005-2010.
Derek's current research examines the long-term failures of efforts to limit U.S. state violence by citizens and movement groups. His book, Business, Conflict Resolution, and Peacebuilding: Contributions from the Private Sector to Address Violent Conflict (Routledge, 2009), examines efforts by the business community to intervene in violent conflict and the roles these organizations can play to help build peace.