Bryan J. Branon is the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Regional Relationship Manager for the Americas. In this role, Bryan is responsible for promoting Ciarb and its membership through trainings, partnerships, publications and educational programming opportunities within the Ciarb Americas seven-branch region (Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Caribbean, New York and North America).

Prior to assuming this post, Bryan owned his own international ADR practice and consultancy, Branon’s ADR, and has worked for leading international ADR providers where he helped found the Afghanistan Center for Dispute Resolution, the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution and the International Mediation Institute. A former law clerk on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and intern in the Irish Parliament and U.S. Court of International Trade, Bryan’s career has focused on the intersection of ADR and public policy. He is a co-author of the 2014 E.U. Parliament-commissioned study, “Rebooting the Mediation Directive: Assessing The Limited Impact Of Its Implementation and Proposing Measures To Increase The Number of Mediation In The E.U.,” which recommends Member States adopt mitigated mandatory mediation to achieve a balanced relationship target number of cases referred to mediation from their national judiciary available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/493042/IPOL-JURI_ET(2014)493042_EN.pdf.

Throughout his career, Bryan has held numerous leadership positions in voluntary bar associations including the Ciarb North America Branch, the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, the Federal Bar Association “FBA” and the Insurance Defense Research Institute “DRI.” He is currently the Vice-Chair of the FBA D&I Committee and serves on DRI’s Center for Law and Public Policy D,E&I in ADR Working Group. He frequently speaks and publishes on arbitrator and mediator appointments, diversity, equity and inclusion, ADR contract clause considerations and ADR systems design. Bryan is based in Miami, Florida and can be reached at BBranon@Ciarb.org

Susan is one of the most experienced and well-known professionals in the litigation funding sector. A pioneer of litigation funding in the UK, Susan has been sourcing and investing in cases for over 21 years and during this time has provided significant input to the international development of funding  policy. She was a founding member of the industry’s self-regulating body, the Association of Litigation Funders, and was appointed Chair in September 2019. She also sits on the board of the International Legal Finance Association, which launched in September 2020. Susan qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and has worked as a commercial litigator in both the UK and the US where she was also a diplomat (Vice-Consul Investment), for the British Government. Harbour is the largest private funder in the world and manages $1.6bn of litigation investments.

Dr. Mohamed F. Sweify is a bilingual dual-qualified attorney at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, with experience counseling, arbitrating, and litigating complex commercial and investment disputes. Dr. Sweify has handled cross-border disputes under the major arbitration rules, including commercial, investment, telecommunication, partnership and shareholder disputes, oil and gas, construction, Islamic finance, and white collar crimes investigations. Through his practice that versed in the civil and common law jurisdictions, Dr. Sweify has experienced the best of both styles of advocacy with the active case management techniques that lead to early identification of the issues, efficient testing of the evidence, and effective legal writing of the pleading and briefs. That level of training gives Dr. Sweify the ability to handle the international disputes before arbitral tribunals seated in different jurisdictions and before arbitrators with diverse backgrounds. Dr. Sweify also has had prosecutorial experience in Egypt, where he handled governmental corruption and financial crimes investigations. Dr. Sweify is also an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School. As a result of his diverse background, the International Chamber of Commerce (the “ICC”) recently appointed me as a Delegate for the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR that contributes to the global development of the arbitration and ADR practice. In 2022, Dr. Sweify was awarded the Africa's 30 Most Promising Arbitration Practitioners Award. In addition, Dr. Sweify is a Fellow at the Chartered Institute of International Arbitrators and is currently the youngest accredited arbitrator at the American Arbitration Association. Dr. Sweify serves as the Chair of the International Dispute Resolution Committee at the New York State Bar Association. In 2021, Dr. Sweify was awarded the Middle East Policy Center (MEPC) 40 Under 40 Award due to the impact he brings to boost the relationship between the U.S. and the Middle East.

Ricardo is a partner at Aprigliano Advogados and has been a lawyer and expert for over 25 years, with extensive experience in civil litigation, corporate operations, and arbitration, both domestic and international. Ricardo holds a Master’s degree, a doctorate and is an Associate Professor of the Law School of the University of Sao Paulo.