Mark A. Friedman
Dr. Mark A. Friedman is inspired to create and live in a world of Beloved Community where authentic and joyful giving and receiving contribute to living the richest of lives. Mark is a Certification Candidate with the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) who has been living, knowing and sharing Nonviolent Communication (NVC) for close to a decade. He deeply values community, contribution, education and authenticity.
Mark's journey with NVC started while considering shifting his profession from a technical emphasis to a spiritual emphasis when he picked up and reread Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication. Mark mentioned his interest to a friend who coincidentally was looking to offer a communication course in the school for the homeless that she was organizing. Mark designed and taught two trainings on Nonviolent Communication at the school, and his NVC voyage was off and running.
Among the CNVC trainers with whom Mark has studied are Robert Gonzales, John Kinyon, Miki Kashtan, Thom Bond and Stephanie Bachmann Mattei. He completed Gonzales's Life Program with a group in Colorado, Kinyon's Mediate Your Life with a group in Boston, Bond's Discovery Weekend in New York City, Kashtan's online Responding to the Call of Our Times, and Bachmann-Matei's online Peer Parenting and Leadership Program.
Mark is an organizer for the Candidates/Community Active Learning Forum (CALF) where he works with Sylvia Haskvitz, Michael Dillo, Rita Herzog, Ellen Eisenberg and Anne Walton supporting CNVC candidates on their certification path. He has served as an organizer of NVC International Intensive Trainings in Virginia, Brazil, Italy, New York and Florida. Mark joins the Board of Directors of Houston NVC, and serves as a contributor to the Rocky Mountain Compassionate Communication Network, and as a supporter of online NVC events through the NVC Academy. He has created and facilitated several NVC practice groups, and participates as a member of the NVC African Diaspora Men's Group.
Mark is a certified life coach having completed the Coaching for Transformation program of Martha Lasley's Leadership That Works. He is pursuing a certification in Kingian Nonviolence with One Earth Peace based in California. Mark regularly serves as a coach and head coach in the Landmark Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP).
When Mark is not coaching or sharing Nonviolence, professionally, he works as a computer scientist --- previously, as a professor at Trinity College in Hartford, CT and Central Connecticut State University, and as an employee at IBM Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation --- and most recently providing non-traditional education to individuals with special needs, providing professional technology trainings, and developing Internet technologies and applications. Dr. Friedman received his doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison researching computer architecture, artificial intelligence and programming languages. He has a Bachelor's of Science and Masters of Science in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Mark was born and raised in New York City. He currently lives outside of Hartford, CT. He enjoys theater, dining on fine foods, outdoor activities and spending quality time with friends and family.