Presenter Biographies

 

KEYNOTE

 

Farai Chideya

Farai Chideya brings the human experience alive in media. A fiction and non-fiction author, reporter, and broadcaster, she has covered every Presidential election since 1996; and interviewed subjects including self-made billionaires, violent criminals, and Katrina survivors. A former on-air reporter and host for ABC News, CNN, and NPR, she hosts and produces the podcast with Public Radio International, "One with Farai," intimate conversations with cultural and intellectual visionaries. Her forthcoming books include The Episodic Career: The Future of Work in America (Atria, January 2016), and a completely revised edition of her 1995 book on race and the media, Don't Believe the Hype (The New Press, August 2016). Farai was a spring 2012 fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics, and is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.



HONOREES


Gary Friedman
 

Gary J. Friedman has been practicing law as a mediator with Mediation Law Offices in Mill Valley, California since 1976, integrating mediative principles into the practice of law and the resolution of legal disputes. Co-founder of the Center for Understanding in Conflict (formerly the Center for Mediation in Law), he has been teaching mediation since 1980.

Prior to his work as a mediator, he practiced law as a trial lawyer with Friedman and Friedman in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After several years as an advocate, he sought a new approach to resolving disputes through increasing the participation of the parties in the resolution of their differences. At that time, he and his colleague, Jack Himmelstein, began to develop the Understanding-based model that is now practiced extensively in the United States and Europe. As one of the first lawyer mediators and a primary force in the current mediation movement, he has used this model to complete over one thousand mediations in the last two decades, including numerous two-party and multi-party disputes in the commercial and non-profit realms, in the area of intellectual property, real estate, corporate, personnel, partnership formations and dissolutions, and family law.


Jack Himmelstein
 

Jack Himmelstein is co-founder and co-director of the Center for Understanding in Conflict, a national non-profit educational institute which trains lawyers and other professionals in the Understanding-based model of conflict resolution, based in New York and California.

For the past 30 years, Jack has conducted introductory and advanced trainings in this approach to resolving conflict throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and Israel for lawyers, psychologists, teachers and other professionals who work with conflict and teach in the field. For the last several years, the trainings have implemented this approach into the teaching of collaborative practice, focusing on the work of lawyers, psychologists (coaches), child specialists, and financial professionals. He also practices mediation in business, family, non-profit and other contexts.


Hon. Danny Weinstein (Ret.)


Judge Weinstein is nationally recognized as one of the premier mediators of complex, multi-party, high-stake cases, both in the United States and abroad.  He is a sought after mediator in international disputes including cross boarder and cross-cultural disputes, multinational financial disputes, international securities cases, international intellectual property matters, worldwide entertainment and sports cases, international anti-trust actions, and international environmental disputes.  Judge Weinstein also served as U.S. Special Representative in Bosnia from 1999-2000, and is the co-founder of Making Peace our Business, a nonprofit international dispute resolution forum.

Judge Weinstein conceived of and initially endowed the Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship Program.  This innovative program provides opportunities for qualified individuals from around the world to study dispute resolution processes and practices in the United States with the goal of advancing the resolution of disputes in their home countries.

Judge Weinstein has recently partnered with the JAMS Foundation to fully endow the Fellowship Program for the next 20 years thereby ensuring the continuation and vitality of the Fellowship Program over decades to come.

The Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship Program recruits promising dispute resolution professionals from all over the globe and provides them with an opportunity to gain a firsthand glimpse into the world of complex, multi-party mediations in the United States.  The Program has developed a platform for these international professionals to engage with one another and to exchange peacemaking ideas and practices from all over the world.

The Program began in 2008, and to date there have been sixty one fellows from fifty countries including Bhutan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ecuador, Armenia, Pakistan, Thailand, Nigeria, Bosnia, Malaysia, Nepal, Turkey, Jordan, Iran, and China.


    

PRESENTERS

Erin Gleason Alvarez

Erin Gleason Alvarez is Assistant Vice President and Global Head of ADR Programs at AIG, a leading international insurance organization serving customers in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions. Erin joined AIG in 2007 after receiving an L.L.M. in International Arbitration from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law. 

At AIG, Erin leads the ADR Group and oversees the development of innovative systems across business lines and corporate functions to facilitate litigation management.  She provides the organization with consultation on best practices in mediation and arbitration and implements strategies for monitoring performance in ADR. 

Erin is an active member of the CPR Institute. She serves on the Executive Advisory Committee and co-chairs the Mediation Committee.  She was honored by CPR with an award for her article, “International Arbitral Appeals: What Are We So Afraid Of?” in 2007 and received mediator accreditation through CPR that year.  She has also served as an adjunct professor at the Straus Institute and frequently speaks and publishes on corporate dispute resolution system design.

Prior to her L.L.M. studies, Erin practiced commercial and employment litigation in New York.

Ken Andrichik

Kenneth L. Andrichik is Senior Vice President, Chief Counsel and Director of Mediation and Strategy for FINRA Dispute Resolution.  Mr. Andrichik developed the first full-scale mediation program in the securities industry, and is responsible for expanding FINRA's dispute resolution services internationally.  He began his career in 1980 in the Surveillance and Anti-Fraud Divisions of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD).  Between 1985 and 1990, he opened and managed the Midwest Regional Arbitration Office for the NASD.  In 1990 he became the Deputy Director of the Arbitration Department, responsible for the operation of the largest dispute resolution forum in the securities industry.  He has spoken extensively on securities arbitration and mediation, conducted arbitrator and mediator training seminars around the country, and published several articles on securities dispute resolution. 

Mr. Andrichik has been an active member of FINRA’s Diversity Leadership Council.  In 2012, the Association for Conflict Resolution recognized him for his commitment to the practice and support of alternative dispute resolution and he received the Mediation Settlement Day Frontline Champion Award in 2014 to recognize his pioneering efforts and overall impact on the field of mediation.  He earned his degree in Finance from the University of Illinois and his law degree from Loyola University in Chicago.

Rochelle Arms A. 

Rochelle Arms is currently a PhD student at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Before returning to grad school, she served as the Restorative Justice Coordinator of the New York Peace Institute. While there, she managed mediation and restorative justice initiatives with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Juvenile Justice Courts, schools, and community agencies in Brooklyn and Manhattan. In the last 15 years, she has worked both in the U.S. and abroad in collaborative processes and restorative justice projects, with a variety of groups, including civil society organizations in India, indigenous peoples in Argentina, immigrants and refugees, and homicide offenders and victim survivors in Kentucky. Rochelle is Panamanian-American, and completed her Masters Degree in International Relations as a Rotary Peace Fellow in Buenos Aires, Argentina.


Victoria Ashworth
Victoria Ashworth is a dispute resolution attorney in the Litigation group at J.P. Morgan, handling all 
manner of contentious and potentially contentious matters for the firm. As part of her role, she manages 
J.P. Morgan’s arbitration portfolio in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Ms. Ashworth 
worked in the litigation department of a leading international law firm in both New York and Hong Kong. 

Ms. Ashworth has acted as counsel in ad hoc arbitrations, as well as matters conducted under the 
auspices of the HKIAC, the ICC, the AAA and the ICDR. 
Ms. Ashworth received her juris doctor from The George Washington University Law School and her 
LL.M in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution from the University of Hong Kong. She has also been 
awarded a Diploma in International Arbitration by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is a Fellow of 
that organization (FCIArb).

Hasshan Batts

Hasshan Batts, is an experienced Life Coach, Consultant and Trainer and is recognized nationally for his dedication and contribution to the fields of trauma-informed care, restorative justice, and team care and compassion.  Hasshan is the former Director of the Conflict Resolution Center in North Carolina, former board member of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM), the Mediation Network of North Carolina (MNNC), and the Victim Offenders Mediation Association (VOMA).  In addition, Hasshan brings a broad range of experience working in the public sector with thousands of individuals, families, schools, organizations and diverse communities to address effective conflict management, cultural humility, program development and evaluation and strategic planning.  Hasshan holds a Joint Masters degree in Social Work from North Carolina A &T University and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is scheduled to complete his Doctoral Degree in Health Sciences from Nova Southeastern University in Florida late 2015.    


Joanne Bauer

Joanne Bauer teaches Corporate Social Responsibility: A Human Rights Approach.  She is Senior Researcher for the Business and Human Rights Program, at Columbia’s Center for the Study of Human Rights. Bauer also teaches within the Human Rights Program at the School of Continuing Education Summer Session, and, with Anthony Ewing (Columbia Law School) co-leads an international initiative on Teaching Business and Human Rights based at Columbia.


Bauer was founder and editor of Human Rights Dialogue, a magazine published by the Carnegie Council from 1993-2005, featuring contributions from activists, scholars, and policy makers from around the globe working to put human rights theory into practice.  She is editor of Forging Environmentalism: Justice, Livelihood and Contested Environments (ME Sharpe, 2006), which provides original case material on values and environmental politics in China, Japan, India, and the United States, based on a five-year, multi-team research project.  She co-edited The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 1999), also based on a collaborative project.  Bauer served as a contributing editor to the journal Ethics & International Affairs, editor of Dialogue OnLine, the on-line companion to Human Rights Dialogue, and has authored a number of articles, book chapters, and reports.


Bauer also serves as an adviser to a number of non-profits and projects, including Inclusive Development International, Accountability Counsel, Oxfam, the Business and Rule of Law Program at Singapore Management University, and the Center for Applied Legal Studies at the University Witswatersrand in Johannesburg.  Her research includes the following projects: National Action Plans on Business & Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples and the Extractives Sector; Investment Chain Mapping; the Effectiveness of Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms; Business and Human Rights Advocacy; and Benefit Corporations.


As an independent consultant, Bauer conducts research and program evaluation for foundations and non-profits, specializing in international and domestic human rights programs. She speaks frequently on topics in business and human rights and blogs for CSRWire and Open Democracy. In 2012 was appointed a Research Affiliate of the Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut.



Hon. Ariel Belen

Hon. Ariel E. Belen (Ret.) was an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department since 2008 and has served as a Justice of the New York Supreme Court trial and appellate terms since 1995. Justice Belen helped create the Commercial Division in Kings County and then presided as a Justice handling complex commercial cases from 2002 to 2005. Over the course of nearly 18 years of distinguished judicial service, he developed a reputation as a calm, intelligent, fair, and hardworking jurist. He presided over countless matters covering the gamut of civil litigation from administrative to zoning law. A prolific writer, Justice Belen co-authored New York Trial Notebook, a comprehensive trial practice treatise. He was an instructor for many years at the New York State Judicial Institute where he taught all newly appointed or elected New York judges in the art of judging. 

James Berger

James Berger is a partner in the International Arbitration group at King & Spalding LLP.  He represents clients in commercial disputes before courts and arbitral tribunals, with a focus on cross-border and multi-jurisdictional proceedings and matters involving state-owned enterprises and sovereigns. He has significant experience litigating matters arising under the Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and other statutes having particular application in international disputes.

Mr. Berger is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia. He is a member of the Litigation and International Law Sections, and the International Litigation and China Law Committees, of the American Bar Association, and currently represents the International Litigation and International Arbitration Committees on the Section of International Law’s Steering Committee. He is also a member of the International Commercial Disputes Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and serves as a Director of the Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York. Mr. Berger writes and speaks regularly on international dispute resolution topics. He has given numerous presentations on international arbitration, disputes involving states, and other U.S. litigation issues to corporate and foreign governmental in-house counsel. He has served as a guest lecturer on international commercial arbitration at Renmin University of China School of Law, Fordham University School of Law, and New York Law School. In addition, he is the editor (and a contributing author) of the forthcoming American Bar Association treatise entitled International Aspects of U.S. Litigation, and a contributing author on international litigation and arbitration issues in Law360 and to the “Point of Law” column in the South China Morning Post.

Theodore Cheng

Theodore K. Cheng is a partner at Fox Horan & Camerini LLP where he practices in commercial litigation, intellectual property, and alternative dispute resolution.  He is an arbitrator and mediator with the American Arbitration Association (AAA), Resolute Systems, and various federal and state courts.  Mr. Cheng is the recipient of a AAA Higginbotham Fellowship and a 2007 NAPABA Best Lawyer Under 40 award and serves on the AAA’s Board of Directors.  He received his A.B. cum laude in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University and his J.D. from NYU School of Law.  Mr. Cheng was also a litigator at several other prominent firms, both an appellate and trial federal law clerk, and an insurance marketing consultant.  More information is available atwww.linkedin.com/in/theocheng, and he can be reached at tcheng@foxlex.com.


Elizabeth Clemants

Elizabeth has been working the field of alternative dispute resolution since 1997 and is the founder of the Small Business Arbitration Center.  As Senior Director of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Mediation Center (1998-2004), Elizabeth helped start the Manhattan Civil Court mediation program, as well as managed the Lemon Law Arbitration Program.  She was certified as a New York State Unified Court System mediation trainer in 2000, and continues to train mediators across the state in basic mediation training, commercial division and small business mediation and general conflict resolution skills trainings for both experienced mediators as well as other professionals.  Elizabeth has served as an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Cardozo Law School, Fordham Law School and the New School for Social Research.  She currently runs her own boutique mediation and conflict resolution training program; Planning Change.  Elizabeth also works as a private mediator in cases ranging from commercial cases to family.  She is currently the President of the Association of Conflict Resolution for Greater New York and has served on the board since 2007. 


Lisa Grace Cohen

Lisa Grace Cohen is the Director of Mediation at the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, which is responsible for investigating civilian complaints against New York City’s Police Department. The CCRB’s mediation program, which coordinates approximately 450 mediation cases a year, is the largest such mediation program in the nation.


Before joining the CCRB, Ms. Cohen was the Director of the Safe Horizon Brooklyn Mediation Program and the former Training Coordinator. The Safe Horizon Mediation Program is the nation’s largest not-for-profit community mediation program and, as the Director of the Brooklyn Mediation Program, Ms. Cohen oversaw and developed mediation services in Brooklyn’s Civil Court, Supreme Court, and Housing Court, numerous shelters and other residential facilities as well as a wide variety of community mediation cases at the Brooklyn Mediation Center. She is a certified mediator and arbitrator and an experienced trainer having conducted numerous mediation, conflict resolution and communication skills trainings.


Ms. Cohen holds a J.D. from Columbia University Law School and a B.A. from Columbia University. Prior to her career in mediation, she practiced law as an associate at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and served as Assistant General Counsel at CBS Corporation. Ms. Cohen is currently a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the New York City Bar Association and a member of the Dispute Resolution sections of the Brooklyn, New York State and American Bar Associations.



William H. Crosby Jr 

William (Bill) Crosby, Jr. is Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Managing Attorney at Interpublic Group, a New York based advertising and marketing company with over 40,000 employees worldwide. At Interpublic, where he has been since 2002, Bill oversees global litigation and manages the Latin American practice.   He was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1993 until 1995 and at Kay, Collyer & Boose (now defunct) from 1995 until 2002.  Since 2009, Bill has served as a member of the commercial panel of arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association.   He has served as arbitrator (either alone or as part of a three member panel) in more than sixty actions, involving such areas as franchising, intellectual property, and general commercial disputes.  Bill has spoken on arbitration related issues at conferences sponsored by the Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Hispanic National Bar Association, among others.    Bill is a 1990 graduate of Yale College and a 1993 graduate of Stanford Law School.

Mika Dashman

Mika Dashman is an attorney, mediator, and a restorative justice practitioner. She has spent more than six years providing direct legal services to indigent individuals at several New York City non-profits, including Housing Works, Inc., where she also worked on all aspects of the agency’s civil rights impact docket. Ms. Dashman is a New York State-certified mediator and she currently mediates criminal court cases and facilitates community conferences through the New York Peace Institute. Ms. Dashman is also the Founder and Lead Organizer for the Restorative Justice Initiative (www.restorativejustice.nyc). Ms. Dashman is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the City University of New York School of Law.

Rachel Davidson

Rachel Davidson is an experienced trainer, facilitator and community organizer. She works at the intersections of participatory research, popular education and restorative justice and seeks to integrate these practices into unlikely spheres of life. Rachel holds a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from McGill University in Montreal and an M.A. in International Relations from the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, where she was a Rotary International World Peace Fellow.  Rachel is currently a BCL/LLB candidate at McGIll University’s Faculty of Law where she developed the school’s first Restorative Justice seminar and is coordinating a legal clinic at Dans la Rue, an organization that works with street youth in Montreal.  Rachel began her career as a Restorative Justice facilitator in Chicago public schools with Alternatives, Inc. where she provided training to students and staff in Chicago Public high schools in the theory and practice of Restorative Justice and the Peer Jury Program. Later, Rachel worked with the Harlem Community Justice Center to run a juvenile re-entry program, train youth in participatory research and lead a community organizing initiative that brought together justice agencies, community organizations, and schools.  Rachel has also spent significant time as a faith-based trainer in the Jewish community integrating restorative practices and anti-oppression training. On an international level- Rachel has worked as a researcher and trainer in Palestine, East Timor, Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua and El Salvador on projects as diverse as community radio for peace-building and the memory-mapping of state violence.


Shamor Deleon 

Shamor Deleon is a Mediator and Facilitator in the field of conflict resolution, mediation and youth leadership development.  He has provided workshops for his peers from South Bronx High Schools and for dignitaries from all over the world for the US Department of State.  Shamor became a Peer Mediator in his high school in the Bronx and then became a leader at the youth empowerment organization, EARS.  He has been in the field for five years and is presently pursuing his degree at John Jay College for Criminal Justice where he is a Computer Science major and President of “High Profile”, an 

entrepreneurial organization off campus.  At 20, he is a young professional in the violence prevention field.


N. Janine Dickey

N. Janine Dickey, with over 30 years of litigation and business advising, is a full-time Accredited Professional Mediator, with a focus on commercial, insurance, business, estate and employment conflict resolution. With an extensive background in psychology and conflict resolution, she effectively serves counsel, corporations, small businesses, non-profits and individuals, and has successfully mediated hundreds of diverse matters 

throughout NJ and the greater New York City and Philadelphia areas. She was recently named 2015 James B. Boskey ADR Practitioner of the Year.

 

Alexandra Dosman


Alexandra Dosman is the first Executive Director of the New York International Arbitration Center  (“NYIAC”). NYIAC is a nonprofit organization formed to advance, strengthen and promote the conduct of international arbitration in New York. Ms. Dosman oversees all aspects of the Center’s operations, which includes educational initiatives as well as organizing arbitral hearings. Canadian born and educated at McGill University and University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Ms. Dosman previously practiced law in New York as a senior associate in the international arbitration group of Shearman & Sterling LLP.  


Brian Farkas


Brian Farkas is an associate at Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP focusing his practice on commercial litigation, arbitration, mediation, and intellectual property. Prior to joining the Goetz Fitzpatrick as an associate, he was a law clerk with the firm. Brian earned his B.A. from Vassar College and J.D. from Cardozo School of Law. In law school, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution and won the Andrew S. Zucker Award for Academic Excellence. He served as a Judicial Intern to Hon. Judy N. McMahon of the New York State Supreme Court, and a legal intern at Condé Nast. He graduated with a Concentration in Intellectual Property & Information Law as well as a Certificate in Dispute Resolution. His writings on arbitration and dispute resolution have appeared in numerous publications, including the Dispute Resolution JournalResolutions RoundtableAlternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, and theNortheastern Law Journal. Outside of the firm, he serves as a volunteer mediator in both the Manhattan Civil Court and Small Claims Court through the New York Peace Institute. He serves on the faculty of Brooklyn Law School's Mediation Clinic, mentoring student-trainees in Brooklyn Small Claims Court. Brian is an active volunteer for his undergraduate alma mater, Vassar College, serving on the Board of Directors of the Vassar Club of New York and on the college’s Annual Fund Advisory Council. He also sits on Cardozo’s Young Alumni Board of Directors.

Dr. Lisa Freudenberger

Dr. Lisa Freudenberger is a clinical psychologist with offices in New York City, Westchester and Long Island. Her professional focus is to incorporate theoretical concepts into teaching patients to problem solve by identifying pragmatic solutions in order to make otherwise complicated psychodynamic techniques simple to understand and even easier to apply to daily living.

Taylor Fulton

Taylor Fulton is a recent graduate of the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs where she focused her studies on Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Affairs. Before Columbia, she received a B.A. in Peace, War, and Defense from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While completing her studies, Taylor has worked for a number of non-profit and international organizations including the US Mission to the United Nations, where she worked under former ambassador Susan Rice managing and disseminating US foreign policy decisions in the UN Security Council, and the UN Development Program where she designed and conducted original fieldwork on the evolution of economic and social dynamics of resource extraction in ethic Colombian communities. In the last four years, Taylor has worked and studied in more than 10 countries across 4 continents.  

Jill Gross

Jill I. Gross is the James. D. Hopkins Professor of Law at Pace University School of Law.  Since 1999, she has been Director of the Pace Investor Rights Clinic, the nation’s first law school clinic to offer representation to modest means investors in securities arbitrations.  Professor Gross teaches Mediation and Arbitration, Securities Litigation and Enforcement, and Professional Responsibility. Professor Gross also has taught at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, Cornell Law School and Cardozo Law School.  She is an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, FINRA Dispute Resolution and the National Futures Association, a member of the Securities Experts Roundtable, former Chair of the Securities ADR Committee of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, and former Chair of the Practising Law Institute’s annual Securities Arbitration continuing legal education program.  She was a public member of the FINRA National Arbitration and Mediation Committee from 2006-09. She has published prolifically in law reviews and journals in the area of dispute resolution and investor justice, has presented at seminars and conferences all over the country on issues related to securities arbitration, has been quoted in the national media on issues relating to investor rights, and has been retained as a consulting and testifying expert in securities arbitrations, litigations and enforcement proceedings.  In 2012, Professor Gross was elected to Cornell University’s President’s Council of Cornell Women.

Before entering academia, Professor Gross was an attorney in the New York City firms of Kaye Scholer LLP, Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Silberberg, and Parcher, Hayes & Snyder, representing clients in white collar criminal and securities enforcement proceedings, securities arbitrations, and other commercial litigation.  She graduated from Cornell University (A.B. magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Law School (J.D. cum laude).

Marquita James

As a conflict resolution professional, mediator Marquita James has been facilitating difficult conversations for many years, including recent policy-oriented dialogues between elected officials and constituents about police-community relations. Marquita James’s passion for empowering people to be agents of their own change animates her interest in conflict resolution practice. She has been mediating and training mediators since her time with the Harvard Mediation Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Marquita has also traveled the country collecting oral history as a Mobile Facilitator for StoryCorps, taught self-advocacy skills to youth aging out of the foster care system or involved in the criminal justice system, and run mentoring programs for court-adjudicated youth.


Dr. Ani Kalayjian

Dr. Ani Kalayjian is a psychology professor, American Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress, logotherapeutic psychotherapist, traumatologist, Genocide Scholar, conflict resolution expert, researcher, community organizer, and international consultant. She is the recipient of the Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from her Alma Mater, Long Island University in NYC (2001). She has over twenty years of experience in disaster management, mass-trauma interventions & conflict resolution; twenty years of university teaching experience (both grad. & undergrad levels) and she has been psychotherapist in practice in both NY/NJ for 25 yrs. She was awarded: 2014 Humanitarian Award, University of Missouri-Columbia, the Outstanding Alumni of the year Award from Teachers College, Columbia University (2007); the Honorary Human Rights Award by ANA (2010), as well as elected a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine (2010). Currently she is teaching a special graduate course on Forgiveness: Clinical, self, familial, social and peace perspectives at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Dr. Kalayjian holds Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University and has completed several post-graduate courses at the William Alanson White Institute. She holds a certification from the American Red Cross in Disaster Management, an advanced Certification in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Electro-magnetic Field Balancing (EMF), Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress & Board Certified Expert in Emergency Crisis Response. Furthermore, she is a Dutch Diplomate in Logotherapy, & Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health RN in NY & NJ.

Mark Kleiman

Mark Kleiman is the founder and Executive Director of Community Mediation Services, Inc. (CMS) in Jamaica, Queens.  A self described "recovering lawyer,"  Mark's vision was spawned out of his work with the Juvenile Rights Division of Legal Aid Society where he represented at risk adolescents.  The creation of the mentoring program fueled Mark's passion for the alternative dispute resolution field and its applications to family services.  Mark is a founding member of the New York State divorce mediation councils, a board member of the National Association for Community Mediation and former board member of the New York State Dispute Resolution Association.  Mark is a certified mediation trainer through the Office of Court Administration.


Jeffrey Kofsky

A seasoned litigator with extensive experience at the trial and appellate levels, with numerous reported decisions, Jeff has represented thousands of individuals and entities in Civil, Commercial and Family Law matters.

 

For more than twenty years, Jeff has developed a strong and highly reputable track record for negotiating and litigating numerous and complex business and personal matters, including high income and asset matrimonial cases.  He has earned the respect of both judges and adversaries for his creativity in reaching out of the box solutions, often utilizing alternative dispute resolutions to assist his clients in achieving fair and equitable result.

 

Jeff lectures before professional groups on Family Law related matters and regularly serves as a judge for Fordham University School of Law's interschool and intraschool competitions.



Dan Kos


Daniel Kos works for NYS Unified Court System, where he works with a team to oversee a network of community mediation centers serving all 62 counties of New York. Each year this network, the largest in the country, provides services in nearly 30,000 cases. He regularly delivers mediation, facilitation, and negotiation training in New York and presents at local and national conferences. As part of a team that certifies mediation trainers, Dan mentors trainers in their development. He has advanced community mediation nationally by serving on the board of the National Association for Community Mediation.


Eva Lerner


Eva Lerner is a recent graduate of Columbia University with a joint Master of Public Administration in Human Rights and Master of Science in Social Work (MPA/MS). Prior to matriculation at Columbia, Eva worked as a social worker at various community nonprofits in Chicago where she solidified her commitment to human rights and social empowerment. While completing her studies, Eva worked for a number of nonprofits and international NGOs, including the Federal Defenders of New York and a Cape Town-based human rights NGO mobilizing and empowering township residents fighting for post-apartheid equality. Her interest in non-judicial dispute mechanisms stems from a general interest in the principles of restorative and transitional justice, which she intends to continue working in after graduation.


Dr. Rebecca Mannis


Dr. Rebecca Mannis has been in practice as a learning specialist for 30 years, focusing on educational intervention and planning, and assisting parents, schools and corporations in bridging an understanding of individual learning styles to the specific school or workplace demands that the person faces. She is the founder and CEO of Ivy Prep Learning Center.


Marcy May


Marcy May has been the executive director of EARS since 1985 when she was hired to start a Neighborhood Mediation Center. Over the past 30 years, Marcy has guided and nurtured the development of EARS into a youth empowerment organization that prides itself in “walking its talk” in providing services that are truly “by youth and for youth”. Young people who “grew up” at EARS attended college; many became key youth development and program development staff members at some of NYC’s most prestigious youth and social service organizations.  Others have become the new youth development staff at EARS, developing a new generation of young leaders.


Marcy’s passion for developing leadership and opportunities for disenfranchised groups can be traced to her early career in community organizing. The organizational commitment to “walking its talk” is a true reflection of Marcy’s values to live what she believes in. Those who know her well experience her as refreshingly direct and candid and ready to roll up her sleeves and work for change. As EARS has grown, Marcy has also grown professionally from a person trying to do the ‘right thing’ to a leader and

advocate for youth in the field of conflict resolution. She was founder and co-chair of the Youth Chapter of the Association of Conflict Resolution (ACR) from 1996 to 2010.  An EARS alumni is currently on the Board of Directors of ACR and a member of the Diversity Committee.


Young people praise her as “real” and “good people”, which Marcy considers to be among her most valuable and important assets. Her ability to form strong relationships with young people keep her attuned to their most pressing issues and concerns, and most importantly, to their strengths. She represents a living model of youth-adult partnerships at their best.



Alison McCrary

Alison McCrary is the Director of the Community-Police Mediation Program and Complaint Intake Supervisor for the Office of the Independent Police Monitor, a mediator, and a social justice attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. In New Orleans, she has advocated for systemic criminal justice reform and challenged and changed policing practices and policies to transform relationships between police officers and the bearers of New Orleans’ indigenous cultural traditions. Prior to that, she provided litigation support on death penalty cases and international human rights cases, monitored the implementation of Security Council Resolutions at the United Nations, provided legal aid services to the homeless, clerked for a judge, coordinated legal teams for national social justice movements, worked on racial, educational, and economic justice issues in the favelas (slums) of Brazil.

        

Akira Ninomia


Founder and President of the Brazilian Institute for Social Pacification – IBRAPAZ; Conflict Mediator and Lawyer; studied Mediation at Harvard Program on Negotiation; Neutral accredited by the 8th Court of Arbitration in Rio de Janeiro; The Author and coordinator of the Social Pacification Program in Brazil - Conflict Mediation as state policy; Academic teacher; Writer and speaker; Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution - Great New York; Member of the Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration of the Brazilian BAR.





Rebecca Price


Rebecca Price has been the Mediation Supervisor at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York since 2012. Prior to this position she directed the Mediation Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, was a Supervising Attorney in the Mediation Clinic at CUNY School of Law, taught lawyering/legal writing as an adjunct professor at CUNY School of Law and Cardozo Law School, and classes on Alternate Dispute Resolution at the New York University School of Continuing Professional Studies. Rebecca is the former Coordinator of the Special 

Education/Early Intervention and ACCES VR Mediation Programs for Safe Horizon Mediation Program (now the New York Peace Institute).  She is an experienced mediator and litigator with an extensive background working with people with disabilities. Before turning her focus to ADR, Rebecca was the Assistant Director of Visual AIDS, created and oversaw the Children’s Mental Health Project at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and was a Senior Attorney in the Special Litigation and Appeals Unit of Mental Hygiene Legal Service. Rebecca is certified as an Initial Mediation Trainer for the Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program of the Unified Court System of the State of New York.


Barry L. Radlin

Barry L. Radlin was born and raised in New York City. He received his degrees from Queens College and Cornell Law School. Mr. Radlin began his legal career with the New York Attorney General’s Office in Albany, New York, representing state agencies and officials in trials and appeals. He then was appointed Director of Legal Affairs for the state’s Department of Transportation, with statewide responsibilities for litigation and policy concerning highways, waterways and mass transportation.


In 1975, Mr. Radlin joined a Buffalo, New York law firm as a trial partner, working primarily in construction and business contract litigation. In 1993, he formed his own office in Amherst, New York, continuing to practice in those fields. During his years of private practice, Mr. Radlin was selected by litigants and the courts to mediate or arbitrate civil cases, becoming a commercial mediation panelist for the 8th Judicial District of New York Supreme Court. He was among the initial group of certified federal court mediators under the Western District of New York’s innovative ADR Plan when it became effective on January 1, 2006. He was a presenter on federal and local practice for the Court’s training of additional mediation panelists in 2009 and 2012.


Mr. Radlin was appointed to the newly created District Court position of ADR Program Administrator in June 2011. His responsibilities include the day-­to-­day management and supervision of all cases referred to mediation under the District’s ADR Plan and the Court’s panel of approximately 90 mediators in the Buffalo and Rochester areas. In 2012, he guided the expansion of the program to include all of the District’s 17 counties and has been the primary mediator for the District’s prisoner civil rights cases.



Reinaldo Rivera, Jr. 


Reinaldo Rivera, Jr. is National Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Service (CRS) For more than fifteen years he served as Regional Director of the Northeast/Caribbean Region, where his tenure included 9-11, Sean Bell and Eric Garner. The Community Relations Service, a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, is the federal government’s “peacemaker” for police-community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. With more than 45 years of public service leadership in dispute resolution, mediation, and peacemaking, Mr. Rivera is dedicated to improving community engagement and police-community relations, and crisis management work in multi-cultural contexts. Prior to joining CRS, Mr. Rivera served for more than ten years as a senior faculty member in the Antioch University Graduate Program in Cambridge, MA. He has also served as the Coalition Resource Advisor to fight the harms of substance abuse in cities for Join Together, a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, at the Boston University School of Public Health.


Diane Rosen


Diane Rosen, Esq. is a graduate of Cornell University, Georgetown University Law Center and NYU Stern School of Business and a mediator specializing in custody and visitation and special education and a conflict coach. She is the author of The Grownup’s Guide: Living with Kids in Manhattan and The Grownup’s Guide: Visiting New York City with Kids. She was the Founding Vice President of Girls Learn International, and serves on the boards of Planned Parenthood NYC; the Cornell University Council, and the advisory boards of the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution and the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center.

Gary Shaffer


Gary has a private mediation practice focuses on Divorce, Commercial, Employment, and Personal Injury matters.  He has been appointed to serve on court mediation panels: the Southern District of NY, the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals, the Commercial Division of Supreme Court NY County, and the NYS Appellate Division, 1st Dept.  A member of the NYC Bar Association’s ADR Committee, he chairs the Subcommittee on Court Annexed Mediation.  He is also a member of the NY State Council of Divorce Mediation (NYSCDM), the NYS Bar Association ADR Committee, and the Association for Conflict Resolution, NY Chapter (ACRGNY).  He served as an Arbitrator in the AAA’s Storm Sandy program, and for the NY County Lawyers Association’s fee dispute program.  He has been a mediator with the NY Peace Institute, and with its earlier incarnations, Safe Horizons, and Brooklyn Victims Services, and served as a Small Claims Court Arbitrator. 


Gary practiced law for over 20 years with NYC’s Corporation Counsel’s office where among other things he served as chief trial counsel on the World Trade Center litigation, and helped develop the City’s first early settlement program for personal injury cases.  He has also served as the Assistant Commissioner for Regulatory Policy and Enforcement at the City’s Department of Buildings.  He settled thousands of cases during his career in the areas of employment, land use, personal injury, and civil rights, including many that were of significant public focus. He is an honors graduate of Harvard College and the Cardozo Law School where he was also a member of the Law Review.


From 2011 – 2014 Mr. Shaffer was President of The Mussar Institute, a non-profit organization whose courses, webinars, conferences and other programs on personal spiritual growth complement good mediation practice and outcomes.  He has presented on Mussar and Mediation on various occasions, including at the ACRGNY Annual Conference in 2014.



Jesan Sorells


Jesan Sorrells is the principal conflict engagement consultant at Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT) based in Endicott, NY. HSCT focuses on delivering ideas and solutions in the areas of conflict communication, social media marketing and entrepreneurship for local and regional clients ranging from higher education institutions to small companies. Jesan has an active blog presence through the HSCT Communication Blog as well as an ever-expanding content footprint on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. His Earbud_U Podcast is currently available online and he is an ongoing contributor in the area of marketing for ADR professionals on ADRTimes.com.


Sheila Sproule


Sheila M. Sproule, J.D. is a Management Analyst at the NYS Office of ADR Programs, Division of Professional and Court Services of the Unified Court System, where she works on ADR policy-related initiatives and programs. She also serves as Deputy Counsel to the Mediator Ethics Advisory Committee. Sheila is the Immediate Past President of the Association for Conflict Resolution for Greater New York, and is a former Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School's Mediation Clinic, where she worked for ten years with students mediating cases in Manhattan small claims court. Sheila is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s Ethics Committee, and recently contributed an article on its work for the Spring 2014 issue of ACResolution Magazine.

Chelley E. Talbert

Litigation CounselNBC Universal


Eli Uncyk

Eli’s current practice consists of alternative dispute resolution (mediation, arbitration and collaborative law) and litigation; family and divorce law; general business disputes and litigation; corporate and securities; and appeals in multiple areas.  He also handled and argued numerous appeals and conducted jury and non-jury trials in numerous cases in various courts in New York State, and pro hac vice in courts in New Jersey, California and Oregon.  His clients are generally individuals and both large and small closely-held businesses.

 

In addition to his mediation and litigation practice (which includes family and divorce matters and general commercial matters), Eli has been selected by federal and state courts to mediate complex commercial disputes, as well as family, custody and divorce disputes.  He has lectured and given trainings extensively, including presentations on various subjects in Continuing Education programs for the New York City Bar Association, the Association for Conflict Resolution, the New York State Divorce Mediation Council and the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York; a joint conference co-sponsored by the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, entitled “ADR in Flux – Mediation and the Law – Defining the Boundaries”; as a panel member in the discussion of “Mediation of End-of-Life and Long-Term Care Issues” before a joint conference of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution and the Association for Conflict Resolution, held at Columbia University Teachers College; interactive cooperation and teamwork training with the staff at the YWCA of White Plains and Greater Westchester; interactive cooperation and dispute resolution training with the staff of Goddard Riverside Community Center; lectures and presentation of “What Family and Divorce Mediators Should Know about Estate Planning and Trusts and Estate”, before an annual joint mini-conference of the New York State Divorce Mediation Council and the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York.


Maria Volpe


Maria R. Volpe, Ph.D. is Professor of Sociology, Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice - City University of New York, and Director of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center, a university-wide center focusing on dispute resolution research and innovative program development. 


An internationally known scholar, Dr. Volpe has lectured, researched, and written extensively about dispute resolution processes, particularly mediation, and has been widely recognized for her distinguished career in the field of dispute resolution, including the 2008 Lawrence Cooke Peace Innovator Award, 2008 Network for Peace Recognition, 2010 Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York Achievement Award, 2011 Frontline Champion Award, 2013 FamilyKind Recognition, 2013 United Nations International Day of Peace Meaningful World Award, among others. In addition to teaching and research, she mediates conflicts in educational settings, conducts dispute resolution skills training, administers grant-funded projects, and facilitates for a wide range of groups. At John Jay College, she has created and facilitated town meetings, cops and kids dialogues, Muslim/Non-Muslim student dialogues, Black Jewish Dialogues, intergenerational dialogues, and Asian American student discussions. Since 9/11 she initiated the NYC-DR listserv, the monthly NYC-DR Roundtable Breakfast, and a variety of dispute resolution public awareness initiatives. 


Dr. Volpe is an Editorial Board Member of Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Negotiation Journal, and Practical Dispute Resolution; Past-President of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution [now the Association for Conflict Resolution]; Founder and Ex-President of the New York City Chapter of SPIDR [now ACR GNY]; Former Board Member of the National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution [NCPCR]; Ex-Board Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York; ex-Board Member, New York Peace Institute; Member of Association for Conflict Resolution Diversity and Equity Network; Member, Global Advisory Board, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies;  American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Diversity Committee and the Ombuds Committee, among others. 


Dr. Volpe's current research focuses on police use of mediation, conflict resolution in higher education, dispute resolution responses to disasters since 9/11, informal responses to conflict used by immigrants, role of religion in reconciliation, roots of diversity in the dispute resolution field, and barriers to minority participation in dispute resolution. She received her Ph.D. from New York University where she was an NIMH Fellow.


Melody Wang

Ms. Wang focuses her practice on various kinds of Dispute Resolution matters, through commercial litigation, Arbitration and negotiation. She also has substantial experience with cross-border investigations and compliance, particularly in connection with state secrecy and data privacy protection, anti-corruption and fraud. 

 

Ms. Wang worked with a major international law firm and focuses her practice on various kinds of dispute resolution matters. She has extensive experience in successfully representing foreign corporations and their China entities in resolving their disputes through negotiations, arbitration or litigation. She also has substantial cross-border experience with investigations and compliance, particularly in connection with state secrecy and data privacy protection, anti-corruption and fraud. In particular, she has advised some of the most high-profile cases in China with respect to PRC information compliance. Ms. Wang is a native Mandarin speaker and is fluent in English.


Dan Weitz

Daniel Weitz, Esq. is the Deputy Director of the Division of Professional and Court Services and Statewide Coordinator of the Office of ADR for the New York State Unified Court System. As ADR Coordinator, Dan oversees a statewide program of court-annexed ADR initiatives and directs the Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program. Dan serves as Co-Counsel to the Board of Governors of the New York State Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program, and is a past Chair of the New York City Bar Association ADR Committee.


Giulio Zanolla

Giulio Zanolla is an international lawyer, mediator and arbitrator, with experience both in Europe and the U.S., specializing in the resolution of complex civil and commercial disputes. Mr. Zanolla has worked on hundreds of mediation cases, many of which involving high-stakes disputes, multiple parties and multifaceted legal issues with aggregate value of several billion USD. Mr. Zanolla has gained the largest part of his ADR experience working alongside Judge Daniel Weinstein (ret.), one of the nation’s preeminent commercial mediators, who trained and mentored Mr. Zanolla throughout his professional development as an ADR neutral.

Mr. Zanolla has worked on the resolution of disputes concerning contract interpretation issues, insurance coverage, securities laws, Directors and Officers’ liability, employment matters, intellectual property enforcement, antitrust actions, bankruptcy-related issues, professional malpractice and product liability lawsuits. He has mediated cases involving the financial, insurance, energy and natural resources, technology, healthcare, communications, manufacturing and entertainment industries.

Previously, Mr. Zanolla practiced as an attorney in New York with the D&O Coverage and Litigation Group of the law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP; as well as a legal consultant in the U.S. and Italy, advising Small and Medium-Sized companies and entrepreneurs in connection with cross-border transactions and dispute resolution processes.