Sean Conner '13, at right, with colleagues from the International Peace Bureau (IPB). (Photo provided)
Sean Conner ’13 knows his strengths are seeing the bigger picture and bringing people together to achieve a goal. As executive director of one of the oldest peace networks in the world, he is using those skills for a greater good.
Conner is continuing the work the International Peace Bureau (IPB) started 154 years ago.
"Our membership consists of four hundred organizations and a thousand individuals from one hundred different countries," says Conner. "We are stronger together. As executive director, I can help lift the voices of those who need to be heard."
From the bureau's office in Berlin, Conner sets strategic goals and oversees the daily operations of the IPB in its mission to serve as both a facilitator for members and a coordinator of actions for peace-related goals. One of those goals is the group's longtime advocacy to reduce military spending by governments and increase spending on programs for citizens, especially those affected by conflict and war. Conner is now organizing the bureau's third World Peace Conference in Manila in 2026.
"We are a small team of three at the IPB," says Conner. “But we have a global community. Some of the member organizations we’ve worked with for a century. We have difficult conversations and find ways to support each other's work in different parts of the world. It's one of the things that makes the IPB so special."
Conner joined the IPB as an intern in 2020 while earning a master's degree in intercultural conflict resolution at the Alice–Salomon–Fachhöchschule in Berlin. He focused on attracting new, younger, and more diverse members and overhauling IPB's communications. In less than three years, he took on roles as international coordinator for the 2021 World Peace Conference and deputy executive director before becoming executive director in 2022.
Conner, a communication major and international relations minor, says faculty mentors and staff at Geneseo encouraged him to pursue his interests and created opportunities for him to develop them and grow.
"Some I didn’t even have classes with," says Conner, "yet they were invested in me."
Those opportunities included presenting research at a national conference, studying in Spain, and completing an internship in the Study Abroad office. Conner examined the relationship Geneseo had at the time with a nonprofit organization in El Sauce, Nicaragua, that partnered with the College to offer student service-learning programs and humanities courses. Each experience gave him perspective and insight into what he really wanted to do.
"That internship inspired me to go to Nicaragua and work as a program assistant in the El Sauce organization," says Conner. "It was my first international job. Each of those experiences at Geneseo built on the others. Without this whole chain of events, I would not be where I am now. My time at Geneseo and the excellent guidance I received from professors, advisors, and staff all contributed, step-by-step, to my development and the path I am now on."
Learn more about Geneseo's communication and political science and international relations departments.