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Dan Barnes Chay is a lifelong Alaskan, experienced fisherman and pilot, a professional mediator and the father of two school-aged daughters. Dan and his wife, Heidi, operate Horizon Mediation Services, which has provided mediation, facilitation, and conflict resolution education services on the Kenai Peninsula and beyond since 1996.
Dan was born in Anchorage in 1958. The oldest child of Tina and Erik Barnes, he grew up on the Kenai, working summers on the family set net site beginning as a toddler in 1961, and moving there in 1967 when his parents established the Peninsula's first licensed veterinary practice. He earned his private pilot's license at 16, and after graduating from high school in 1976 began flying commercially. During the next 8 years, Dan tried his hand as a flight instructor, scuba instructor, herring spotter, prawn fisherman, legal researcher, gemologist, truck driver, and entrepreneur. He gradually developed a successful salmon fishing business, fishing in Bristol Bay from 1979 until 1989, then in False Pass (Alaska Peninsula, Bering Sea) until 1998. He traveled widely in the US and Central America during the off-season. Later travels took took him through Asia and Southeast Asia, South America, and a bit through Europe, EastCentral Europe, and West Russia. Dan is known among his friends and family as an avid reader and continuous learner. His travels and independent study inspired him, (and his Bristol Bay fishing business allowed him) at the age of 26, to continue his formal education at Brown University in Rhode Island, where he earned a B.A. in History. Later studies took him to Beijing University, Tufts University and the University of Hawaii. His current areas of interest include fossil fuels and alternative energy resources, systems dynamics, and interactive web design. In 1987 Dan moved with his fiancée and former Brown classmate, Heidi Proegler, to China where they studied Chinese at Beijing University. They married in 1988 and returned to Beijing, where Dan continued his studies and did freelance photography, while Heidi worked as a journalist for the Associated Press and Voice of America. In 1989-90, they witnessed and reported on the historic Tiananmen pro-democracy movement and its grim aftermath. A well-timed encounter with international mediator, Craig Barnes, in 1991 inspired Dan and Heidi to enter the field of conflict resolution. They studied interest-based negotiation and mediation in Boston, then moved to Honolulu where they both studied at the University of Hawaii and served as community mediators for the Neighborhood Justice Center. In 1995, Heidi completed her M.A. in public policy dispute resolution. Later that year, Dan and Heidi moved back to Alaska full-time with their two young daughters, Maya (born in 1991) and Freya (born in 1995). The Chays officially launched their mediation and facilitation practice in Alaska on January 1, 1996. Since then, they have worked with businesses, families, schools, government agencies, tribes, and non-profits across the state. They are the primary contract mediators for the Alaska Superior Court in Kenai. Dan has been a leader in his chosen fields. He served as a Director on the boards of Concerned Area M Fisherman 1995-1998 and United Fisherman of Alaska 1996-1998. He served 4 years on the board of the Alaska Dispute Settlement Association (ADSA ) and was elected president of ADSA in 1999-2000. He has helped to develop three successful mediation programs in the Alaska courts: one for custody and visitation issues, another for child protection cases, and recently another for adult guardianship cases. With his wife, Heidi, he currently serves on the board of the Roundtable Center for Mediation and Community Dialogue (CMCD) and is among that organization's founders. Dan climbed Mt. Redoubt in 1977 (3rd ascent) and Mt. Douglas in 1981 (possibly the mountain's first ascent). Given time and opportunity, he enjoys kayaking, hiking, sport fishing, scuba diving, sailing, reading, writing, dialogue, photography, bicycling, skiing, flying, gardening, and web site development. Update
Dan Chay was elected to the nine-member Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on October 7, 2003. His term will expire in 2006.
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About Dan Barnes Chay 
