Different expertise.
Shared purpose.

Peter is an entrepreneur, tech and media executive, and advisor to innovators and change agents whose work has spanned disruptive and disrupted industries. Most recently, he served as President of Nanotronics, an AI company building the next generation of process and quality control solutions for advanced manufacturers in the semiconductor and life science industries.

Peter joined Nanotronics from a16z-backed crypto payments company Eco, where he served as an executive and advisor to the CEO and co-founders.

For most of his career, Peter was President and co-founder of Big Think, a top independent B2C digital publisher and B2B e-learning provider (acquired in 2020).

For over 13 years, Peter and his co-founder built Big Think into one of the top destinations for online idea-driven multimedia content. The site has exceeded 2 billion video views, a global monthly reach of 50 million, and 15 million social followers. In his role at Big Think, Peter interviewed the top thought leaders worldwide, which gave him a keen awareness of the value of diverse worldviews.

As president, Peter set the vision for Big Think’s content strategy, which attracted over 5,000 of the world’s top visionaries—from Elon Musk to author Margaret Atwood and Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna—to share big ideas shaping the 21st century at BigThink.com and contribute their teachings to its e-learning platform.

Big Think’s social media channels -- including its hugely popular YouTube channel -- have been routinely recognized as among the best educational resources online globally.

During his tenure, Time Magazine honored Big Think as a top news and information site and received numerous Webby nominations for its work in e-learning.

Peter also led the development of Big Think’s individual and corporate e-learning solutions, including Big Think+, a B2B video-based soft skills training platform that counts 50 of the Fortune 100 as clients.

Peter’s first job out of Harvard was as a Producer for the “Charlie Rose” show on PBS, where he oversaw the American politics segments, producing interviews with U.S. Presidents, Congressional leaders, and Supreme Court Justices, among others. He later served as the program’s “Head of Digital,” collaborating with Google to make the show’s entire back catalog of episodes available online as part of the launch of Google Video.

Peter has appeared on NPR, CNN, and “The Colbert Report” and has been featured in The New York Times and The Times of London, among numerous other publications. He is a cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University, where he received a BA in Government and was an editor and member of the Executive Board at The Crimson.

Dr. Leslie Ahmadi (PhD, Foreign Language and Culture Education, The Ohio State University) transitioned from being a Spanish and English as a Second Language professor to a cross-cultural and diversity trainer and coach after experiencing a life-changing four-year journey with her Iranian husband in post-revolutionary Iran (1992-1996). Where it comes to communicating effectively across differences and bridging cultural divides, Leslie’s background as a linguist and cultural educator draws heavily on the principle, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Fluent in English, Spanish, and Persian, Leslie has worked on multicultural teams both domestically and abroad (including in Mexico, Spain, China, Russia, and Iran). Her work as a trainer, educator, and coach on language, culture, and communication issues spans academic, corporate, and nonprofit sectors.

Ryan Nakade is a nationally recognized leader bridging conflict among the most diverse communities. Ryan has joined Rich Tafel in providing the Cultural Translation training modules. A trained mediator and facilitator, he has worked with governments, non-profits, and civic leaders to bridge divides and make communities more resilient to conflict, primarily in the Oregon and Washington regions. He is also a facilitator for the Department of Human Services family decision in Oregon. He is the Board Vice President of the Oregon Mediation Association and on the Beaverton Center for Mediation and Dialogue advisory committee.

Ryan works on the DHS grant with the CURE-PDX project, which seeks to counter violent extremism in the Pacific Northwest. He is a regular facilitator for Civic Synergy, which brings college students of diverging political views together to formulate bipartisan policy solutions to propose to Congress. He lives in Toledo, Washington, with his wife and nine goats.

Cheryl Robertson has served in the Human Resources and Administrative fields for the past 30 years. After 14 years with the DC Department of Human Resources, she started her own Executive Coaching business, InnerGrow Integrated Coaching, LLC.

Cheryl is certified in Integral Coaching by New Ventures West and the International Coach Federation. She is certified to administer The Leadership Circle Profile 360 Assessment, analyze results, provide feedback to clients, and coach for higher levels of performance. She is also certified as an MBTI and DiSC Practitioner. Through her coaching and training, she provides leadership, job performance, and career coaching to executives, teams, and specialized leadership programs.

Annabel is a progressive activist, a social media consultant, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker (9500 Liberty, Story of America). Following the 2016 election, she launched a podcast called Democracy in America with Rich Tafel as the co-host. Her goal is to teach Americans how to reengage across the political divide.

She has founded and led several nonprofit organizations and media companies including Indigo Light, Coffee Party USA, The Talk on Main St, Count Me In To Win, and DIY Green. She studied philosophy and politics at Boston University and then at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar. Her writings have been published on CNN, The Washington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, and others.

Emily Holthaus is the Founder and Principal Consultant for Inclusivity, a firm that collaborates with organizations and individuals to design and implement outcomes-based solutions toward the achievement of greater equity and inclusion.

She also serves as the Chief People & Culture Officer at Committee for Children, a large Seattle-based ed-tech nonprofit. Recently, she worked with Nonprofit HR where she launched and built the firm’s DEI practice and led over 100 engagements aimed at helping clients define, implement, and manage their DEI strategies, priorities and organizational initiatives.

She has over 20 years of experience working for social change including serving in Vice President of Operations and Executive Director roles within a variety of organizations.

She holds a Bachelor's Degree from Iowa State University and a Master’s Degree in Leadership and Management from Concordia University. In her spare time, she enjoys creating art and music, exploring the outdoors, traveling, and spending quality time with her husband Chad and sons Jack and Cameron.

April Lawson is an expert in how people can use debates and dialogue to engage tough issues with authenticity and grace. She consults for Public Squared, the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, individual universities, and other entities devoted to this mission. Previously, she founded Braver Angels’ Debate and Public Discourse program. Recognizing the impact of her own experiences as an undergraduate in the Yale Political Union, April designed Braver Angels Debates to help combat the polarization sweeping America, particularly on college campuses. She grew the program from its first debate to one comprised of 50 volunteers and staff that regularly engages over 1,000 participants per month nationwide. Before that, she provided research and editing for David Brooks’ weekly column at The New York Times, where she studied and reported on division in America. She co-founded and served as Associate Director for Brooks’ Aspen Institute initiative, Weave: The Social Fabric Project. She has also worked at the New Haven Mayor’s Office, the U.S. Treasury Department, and as a senior consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. She grew up in Kansas, studied anthropology at Yale, and now lives in San Francisco with her dog June.