Meet the Rational Games Board

Dr. Mark YoungNegotiation Expert, RGI President
Dr. Mark Young, the founder of Rational Games, is an independent author, trainer and consultant with many years´ practical and academic experience in the area of negotiation, mediation and conflict management skills. His theoretical work is tempered by practical lessons learned as a negotiator in government (US Department of Commerce) and in the field of corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions in the US and Europe. Mark divides his time between Cambridge, Mass, Washington, DC and Berlin, Germany.

Björn HofmannTrainer, Board Member, Trainer Team Management
Björn is a humanitarian aid worker with professional experience working for international organizations and for government departments. In addition to his regular work, Björn has been contributing to the ideas and work of RGI since 2009 as an independent trainer and consultant in negotiation skills. In 2014, Björn joined the Board of RGI, supporting Rational Games in carrying forward the idea of constructive negotiations and of creative problem solving through seminars, and by strengthening RGI’s strategic partnership with other negotiation professionals. With his experience in the nonprofit and governance sector, Björn is able to bring new ideas to the work of RGI.
Björn is fluent in German, English and Dutch. He also speaks French and some Italian.

Raymond CyrTreasurer
Raymond is a finance professional active in the controllers division of an international bank. Raymond’s experiences in both the nonprofit and for-profit business sectors come together to support the mission of Rational Games, Inc. Eager to support initiatives locally and globally which further work being done in the fields of conflict management, negotiation and mediation, Raymond is delighted to be serving Rational Games, Inc. in his capacity as Treasurer of the organization.
Ray is fluent in English and German.

Wayne LifshitzGrantee Relationships
Wayne Lifshitz is a 20 year professional with executive and senior level management experience in the non-profit, start-up and Big 5 consulting industries, and has worked with several large and globally recognized brands which have included CARE, Booz Allen, Nike, and WorldShop. Wayne is an entrepreneur, inventor, and strategic connector. He began his career in international development focused on social change where he was the Founder and Director for CARE’s Sport for Social Change Network [grant program] and later led a large grant portfolio for Booz Allen. At present, Wayne is the CEO of Kennin Co,. an entrepreneur and small business consulting firm, that is focused on COO as a service, strategy, strategic connections, general business consulting, KPI and project management and new business development. The firm works with tech start-ups, consumer goods manufacturers and non-profits on projects that improve short and long term growth and sustainability. He is also the inventor of the Piggyback Rider and other successful consumer products and works closely with LifecycleVC and Piranha Tank that help start-ups get seed funding.
Wayne obtained his Bachelors of Arts in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and also holds a Master’s degree from Boston University. He has completed an MBA leadership certificate course at Cornell University and is a PMP and Certified Partnership Broker. In his free time, he’s a sailor, father, jujitsu blackbelt and USA National and World Team Judo competitor.

Norm ThomasNegotiation Trainer, Strategic Partnerships
Norm Thomas is a recognized industry leader in technology for professional services firms. He spent 8 years with Microsoft as Director of Industry Market Development for the Legal and Professional Services solutions business, focusing on customer engagement and channel-building in the services sector globally. Before joining Microsoft, Thomas was a Client Partner for Cambridge Technology Partners in enterprise-scale project management and client development, and before that was President of Softec Solutions, Inc., a systems integrator for small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from USC and an MBA in Finance from the University of Washington and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Washington.

Jill Tanamal BlackbyrnBoard Member, Negotiation Consultant
Jill Tanamal has been a Research Fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy Berlin - an institution of the Robert Bosch Stiftung in 2016. Her field of research was Mega Trends in South East Asia with the vision to enhance an informed and holistic understanding of the Southeast Asian region in Europe.
Since 2016, Jill Tanamal is part of the Board of Directors of the South East Asia Leadership Academy (SEALA) which is an initiative launched by the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF). Prior to that, she was Corporate Communications Manager at Bosch Indonesia for three and a half years succeeding in increasing brand awareness in Indonesia by opening up communication channels from traditional media to digital.
Preceding that, she worked for the German Federal Foreign Office as Liaison Coordinator for the second International Conference on Afghanistan. In this capacity, she was responsible for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. She performed similar roles for conferences at the Head-of-State and Ministerial level during Germany’s presidency of the G8 Summit, EU-ASEM and EU-ASEAN. Besides being the point of contact for the UN delegation, she was also key contact for all ASEAN countries during that time.
From 2008 to 2009 Jill Tanamal was Project Manager for the Corporate Division at MCI Berlin office, handling high-level symposiums for the German government as well as other event formats.
Jill Tanamal is a Certified Event Manager from IHK (German Chambers of Industry and Commerce). She followed up with Chinese studies from 2009 - 2011 at Beijing Language and Culture University.
Jill is fluent German, English and Indonesian, and speaks some Chinese.