Bob Bordone is a USA Today Best Selling Author, a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School where he also served as the Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law for many years, and the Founder and Principal at The Cambridge Negotiation Institute. He also founded Harvard Law School’s Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program. As a conflict resolution expert, he equips individuals and organizations with essential skills for managing differences—deep listening, authentic assertion, and leveraging conflict for creativity and growth. His approach empowers constructive dialogue and mutual gain, fostering personal and organizational resilience.
Bridget Mary McCormack is President and CEO of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution. She is also a Strategic Advisor to the Future of the Profession Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Until the end of 2022, McCormack was Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, a position her peers selected her for in January 2019 after she served for six years as a Justice.
Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for more than 30 years. Susan provides legal coaching services to select clients around the world.
Colin Rule is President and CEO of Mediate.com and ODR.com. In 2011 Colin co-founded Modria.com, an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) provider, which was acquired by Tyler Technologies in 2017. From 2017 to 2020 Colin served as Vice President of ODR at Tyler. From 2003 to 2011 Colin was Director of Online Dispute Resolution for eBay and PayPal. He has worked in the dispute resolution field for more than 25 years as a mediator, trainer, and consultant.
Clare Fowler is Executive Vice-President and Managing Editor at Mediate.com, as well as a mediator and trainer. Clare received her Master’s of Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law and her Doctorate in Organizational Leadership, focused on reducing workplace conflicts, from Pepperdine University School of Education.
Beth Myers is an ADR practitioner with 15 years of work in mediation and conflict coaching, specializing in workplace and interpersonal conflict. As the author of Listening Game Cards, she enjoys using the cards to teach Feelings and Needs Exploration as essential mindfulness practice and practical skill-building for community members, negotiators, de-escalation, behavioral health, and conflict resolution professionals. Beth has served in various roles, including FEMA ADR Advisor, mediator for court systems in Massachusetts and Maine, Non-profit volunteer mediator, and small business consultant.
Kristyn Carmichael is the Director of the ASU Lodestar program, and is a licensed Arizona attorney and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA). Beginning in 2021, Kristyn took on the role of Training Director at the Lodestar Center for Dispute Resolution at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Her focus is to create and implement trainings to spread awareness of dispute resolution skills, such as negotiation, mediation, communication skills, and advocacy.
Ana Goncalves is a Lawyer, Teacher, Mediator and organizational developer, founder of Instituto de Certificação e Formação de Mediadores Lusófonos, (ICFML) Portugal and Portuguese Speaking Countries.
Tracey B. Frisch, Executive Director of the AAA-ICDR Foundation. Tracey also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Pace University Law School teaching Commercial Arbitration Law and previously served as an adjunct Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law supervising law student mediators.
Dr. DA Graham is an ordained minister and former pastor who has served his country with distinction as a Navy Chaplain for 5 years and during the War in Iraq. In 2001, Dr. Graham received the Military Chaplains Association Chaplain of the Year Award for the United States Marine Corps. He also served as a Hospital Corpsman, U.S. Navy Reserves for 11 years previously.
Stephen Kotev’s passion and profession is helping people resolve problems and improve their performance under stressful circumstances. With a Masters degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Stephen has substantial experience in mediation, negotiation, facilitation, conflict coaching, conflict management and somatic education. His professional experience spans state and federal government agencies and two premier conflict resolution membership associations.
Marya Kolman is the Manager of Dispute Resolution Section, Supreme Court of Ohio. She serves as an adjunct professor with the Moritz College of Law for the Interprofessional Collaboration and the Family and Divorce Mediation classes.
Alice Shikina is a highly experienced mediator who has successfully resolved hundreds of divorce, workplace and family disputes. A single mother with a background in theatre and Muay Thai, she combines empathy, courage and grit in her practice, and she holds leadership positions such as vice president of the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center and chair of the Alameda County Bar Association’s ADR Committee.
Joseph Panetta is the go-to-marketer for top-tier companies, including Six Flags and Unilever. After a lifetime of successfully launching new firms, he is now sharing his creative tips with the dispute resolution field.
Chuck Doran is an experienced mediator and organizational ombuds specializing in the resolution of employment, franchise, and other commercial disputes. A mediator since 1992, he is a member of the CPR Dispute Resolution Panel of Distinguished Neutrals and the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. Chuck is a Certified Organizational Ombuds Practitioner (CO-OP) and a member of the International Ombuds Association who completed ombuds training with the IOA in 1995.
Marcus Farrey is associated with Bridge Harmony Mediation, a service focused on workplace conflict resolution and building trust through expert mediation and training. He is an accredited workplace mediator and aims to help organizations foster stronger, more connected workplace cultures and improve communication.
Kotter Change Management, Kathy Gersch, Senior Executive and Board Member with extensive expertise in transformation and growth.
Jessica Hawkins is founder of Better Conflict, a consultancy that helps leaders and teams handle high-stakes conversations, build conflict competence, and stay steady in complex moments. She blends solution-focused practice with neurobiology, grounded in elicitive conflict transformation, to turn escalation into productive dialogue. Jessica is an ICF accredited coach, certified workplace mediator, EQ-i 2.0 practitioner, and Associate Faculty with the University of Toronto’s Solution-Focused Coach Training Program.
For thirty years, Tony Guise practiced as a solicitor specializing in commercial litigation. For 22 of those years he was involved in the major civil justice reforms in the civil justice system of England and Wales as President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, the founder of the Commercial Litigation Association and a member of various committees of the Law Society of England and Wales. Tony worked with the Ministry of Justice, Lord Justice Jackson and others to introduce effective IT to the civil justice system. During the past 6 years he developed a Platform that delivers ADR in a secure environment.
A highly experienced commercial litigator, Jeff Lewis is known for his tenacity and dedication in fighting on behalf of his clients. He advises on contract disputes, warranty claims, landlord and tenant disputes, professional negligence, shareholder disputes, partnership disputes, restrictive covenants and judicial reviews. He acts for a wide range of clients and for many household names.
Dan Berstein is a mediator and mental health expert living with bipolar disorder. He is the co-founder of the Dispute Resolution in Mental Health Initiative at the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center. Dan holds degrees from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the Wharton School. He is the author of the book, Mental Health and Conflicts: A Handbook for Empowerment, published by the American Bar Association in 2022.
Jessica Williams is a founding Partner and CEO of Collaborent. Jessica began practicing conflict resolution in 2002, and she offers an array of consulting services targeted to navigate decision-making processes and enable clients to reach sustainable agreements. She specializes in the facilitation of multi-stakeholder consensus building, problem-solving, interest-based dispute resolution, analytical decision-making processes, and leadership coaching. Prior to her work with Collaborent, Jessica was a management consultant for nine years with a large, leading consultancy providing facilitation, business analysis, and project management for government and private-sector clients, as well as working for two years in a top commercial mediation firm where she helped resolve complex multi-stakeholder legal disputes. She also served as a mediator for the cities of San Francisco, California and Boulder, Colorado.
Jeff Thompson, Ph.D., is a professor at Lipscomb University, researcher, mediator, and trainer. He is also involved in crisis and hostage negotiation as well as a law enforcement detective. His research includes law enforcement crisis and hostage negotiation in terrorist incidents. He received his doctorate from Griffith University Law School having researched the impact nonverbal communication has in conflict situations with respect to developing rapport, building trust, and displaying professionalism.
Michael Lang has practiced for over 40 years, as a practitioner, educator, author, and advocate for mediation, he has been a leading voice in the profession of mediation. In October 2020 he was awarded the Outstanding Professional Family Mediator award by the Academy of Professional Family Mediators; and in 2012 he received the John Haynes award from the Association for Conflict Resolution
Jacqueline Font-Guzmán, JD, PhD is the Senior Vice President for Student Affairs, Equity, and Belonging at St. Catherine University. In this role, Font-Guzmán sustains and enhances an inclusive and equitable environment for work and learning at St. Catherine University. She leads strategies that advance education, training, and professional development for faculty, staff, and students around issues of diversity, inclusion, belonging, identity, anti-racism, social justice, and equity.
Dr. Jamie Hall is a dually licensed school psychologist and clinical psychologist practicing in Ohio. She earned her doctorate degree from The Ohio State University School Psychology Program in 2019 and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at an established private practice in Dublin, Ohio. Since graduation, she has provided contracted school psychological services to several schools in Ohio, provided psychological services to children, adolescents, and young adults within the private practice setting, and has taught several graduate-level courses at The Ohio State University.
Lisa Parkinson M.A., mediator, trainer and consultant, a Vice-President of the Family Mediators Association in England and Wales, has been involved in developing family mediation since the mid 70s. Still in practice as a family mediator after nearly 40 years! Her book on Family Mediation (3rd edition, 2014, Family Law) is also available in six foreign language editions.
Erin Levine, Hello Divorce, was fed up with the inefficient and adversarial “divorce corp” industry and set out to transform how consumers navigate divorce – starting with the legal process. By automating the court bureaucracy and integrating expert support along the way, Hello Divorce levels the playing field between spouses so that they can sort things out fairly and avoid missteps. Her access to justice work has been recognized by the legal industry and beyond, with awards and recognition from the likes of Women Founders Network, TechCrunch, Vice, Forbes, American Bar Association and the Pro Bono Leadership award from Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
