Sara Arthur

Director of Professional Development, McCammon Group - She is a Virginia-certified Circuit Civil mediator with nearly three decades of experience in alternative dispute resolution. For the past 28 years, she has worked with The McCammon Group, a leading mid-Atlantic ADR firm, where she has played a key role in orienting, training, and supporting retired judges and attorneys as they build successful private mediation practices.

Sarah Atif

Sarah Ahmed Atif (Sarah) brings a wealth of diverse experiences and expertise to her role as an Ombudsperson at George Mason University. Sarah is, dedicated to fostering an inclusive, collaborative environment at work. She is a general district court certified mediator, Restorative Justice trained circle keeper, and Verbal Aikido practitioner. Her academic journey includes an MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the Jimmy and Roselyn Carter School, a degree she earned in 2021. Sarah worked as a manager at the Carter School’s Transitioning Justice Lab working on Restorative Justice and other projects, further enhancing her practical experience in restorative justice and program management. Sarah’s professional background is interdisciplinary. She holds an undergraduate degree in Applied Psychology and Fine Arts, and an MBA with a concentration in Management and Marketing. These academic pursuits laid the foundation for a career that spans conflict resolution, research, consulting, human resources, recruitment, and international collaboration in higher education. These academic pursuits laid the foundation for a career that spans conflict resolution, research, consulting, human resources, recruitment, and international collaboration in higher education. Sarah has worked with a variety of organizations, including NGOs, government agencies, and international doners such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the United Nations. She is a GDC certified mediator, a conflict coach and a Verbal Aikido official Black belt and official facilitator.

Brandon Bastian

Brandon Bastian is Executive Director of the Piedmont Peace Center and a certified mediator, mentor, and trainer with more than a decade of experience in dispute resolution. He previously served as Mediation Services Director for Prince William County’s Office of Dispute Resolution and has extensive experience in court mediation, restorative justice, and conflict resolution education.  He builds conflict resolution and resiliency skills where he can through mediation of court and court-like cases, restorative justice work with juvenile offenders, and professional learning for mediators, educators, businesses, community organizations, and more.

Brandon serves on the boards of the Virginia Mediation Network and Resolution Virginia. He holds a BS in Psychology from Brigham Young University and a JD from the J. Reuben Clark Law School.

Dan Berstein

Dan Berstein, MHS is a mediator living with bipolar disorder. Since 2012, Dan's company MH Mediate has helped professionals, organizations, and government agencies address challenging behaviors without discriminating against people who have mental health conditions. His book, Mental Health and Conflicts, was originally published by the American Bar Association in 2022. After interpersonal struggles and bipolar symptoms led to Dan's 2025 termination from the ABA, he launched civility resources to help people navigate distress, tough topics, and obstacles without becoming dysregulated and unprofessional. Dan holds degrees from the Wharton School and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Chuck Boles

As a business consultant, educator, conflict prevention specialist, military hospice counselor, and ordained deacon, Chuck Boles pursues his purpose of "helping make the lives of others BETTER than they can do for themselves." He lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia with his wife, Chris.

Arleen Ramirez Borysiewicz

Arleen Ramirez Borysiewicz is Executive Director of NVMS Conflict Resolution Center, a nonprofit organization that provides mediation, restorative justice, conflict coaching, and conflict resolution education throughout Northern Virginia, and serves as an ex officio member of its Board of Directors. With more than 30 years of nonprofit leadership experience, she has held senior roles in development, communications, fundraising, and strategic planning with organizations including United Community, which supports individuals and families in need in the Alexandria area, and Ayuda, a nonprofit providing legal, social, and language services to immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C., region. Arleen also serves on Ayuda’s Advisory Council and the Board of Directors of Resolution Virginia.

Chelsea Cleary

Chelsea Cleary, M.S. is a violence prevention and mitigation researcher, educator & mediator originally from the Upstate New York area. She has over thirteen years of both practice and scholarship working on anti-poverty initiatives, violence prevention and mitigation education, community building programming, and strategic planning. Chelsea has served as the inaugural Sexual Violence Prevention Specialist at Virginia Tech, contributed to research projects for the NYS Department of New Americans during her graduate studies, and is an active community member within the New River Valley. She holds a M.S. in Sustainable Communities from Binghamton University and B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Philosophy from SUNY Oneonta. Outside of work, Chelsea enjoys her new hometown in the New River Valley with her spouse, cats and garden.

Michael B. Davis

Dr. E. Franklin Dukes

E. Franklin Dukes, Ph.D. is a mediator and facilitator with the Institute for Engagement & Negotiation at the University of Virginia. He has mediated numerous consensus building processes, including negotiations involving communities impacted by the 2014 Duke Energy coal ash release and work with Appalachian communities undergoing economic transition. He founded University & Community Action for Racial Equity (UCARE) to address UVA’s legacy of slavery and white supremacy and led community engagement as a member of the design team for UVA’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. He has written a number of books including “Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia” (with Susan Hirsch). He was awarded the 2016 John C. Casteen III Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Award for the University of Virginia, and the 2012 Sharon M. Pickett Award for Environmental Conflict Resolution.

Carolyn Fitzpatrick

Carolyn Fitzpatrick is the Founder and Executive Director of Peaceful Alternatives Community Mediation Services, a nonprofit community mediation center serving Central Virginia since 2003. A Virginia Certified Family, Civil, and Circuit Court mediator, she personally mediates more than 500 cases each year involving family, workplace, neighborhood, contract, and real estate disputes. She also provides communication and conflict management training for businesses and community organizations.

Carolyn holds bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Education and a master's degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University. With more than 25 years of mediation experience, she is committed to a transformative approach that helps individuals build lasting communication and conflict resolution skills.

Dr. Clare Fowler

Executive Vice-President of ODR.com
International Woman of Peace Award, 2024
Author of Rising Above Office Conflict: the light-hearted guide for the heavy-hearted employee

Dr. Clare Fowler received her Doctorate on designing dispute resolution systems for small businesses from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education/Organizational Leadership and her Master’s of Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law. Dr. Fowler also works as Managing Editor and with Caseload Manager at Mediate.com. She teaches at Pepperdine Straus Dispute Resolution Department and University of Oregon. Clare mediates and trains, focusing on workplace disputes. Dr. Fowler’s dissertation was a phenomenological study of Workplace disputes. Her 2023 book, Rising Above Office Conflict, is a guidebook for HR directors dealing with high conflict behaviors. Her motto for the dispute resolution field? Rising Tides Raise All Boats.

Jennifer Gartlan

Jennifer M. Gartlan is Chief of the ADR Unit at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, where she leads mediation efforts to resolve whistleblower retaliation complaints and other prohibited personnel practice matters. She previously served as Mediation Program Coordinator for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and as Deputy Director of the Federal Maritime Commission’s Office of Consumer Affairs & Dispute Resolution Services, where she provided mediation, facilitation, and arbitration services.

Jennifer has held leadership roles with the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section and the Interagency ADR Working Group. She earned her BA from The Catholic University of America, her JD from The Catholic University Columbus School of Law, and her LLM from Georgetown University Law Center. She is also an adjunct professor teaching mediation at The Catholic University Columbus School of Law and George Washington University Law School.

Susan E. Guthrie

Susan E. Guthrie is a nationally recognized attorney, mediator, and legal thought leader helping professionals future-proof their practices in the age of AI. With over 30 years of experience and as Immediate Past Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, she brings both credibility and practical insight to the intersection of law, technology, and business strategy. Susan is the author of the best-selling Practice Playbook Series and host of top-ranked podcasts reaching millions worldwide. Through her work, she equips lawyers, mediators, and entrepreneurs with the tools to integrate AI ethically, efficiently, and profitably into modern practice.

Donita King, Esq.

Donita King has been a civil and family certified mediator since 2005, a certified Mediator Mentor, and an Adjunct Professor of Mediation at the University of Richmond (T.C. Williams) law school. She serves as a court-referred mediator for Spanish-speaking individuals in the Henrico and Chesterfield JDR Courts and as a Financial Industry (FINRA) mediator. Donita has conducted well over 10,000 mediations (civil and family) at this time.

Stephen Kotev

Stephen Kotev is a conflict resolution consultant, mediator, ombuds, facilitator, and trainer with nearly 30 years of experience helping individuals and organizations navigate complex disputes. Based in Washington, D.C., he provides coaching, mediation, facilitation, and conflict resolution training to private and government clients, with extensive experience in workplace conflict and high-conflict situations.

Stephen holds a master’s degree from George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, along with certificates in leadership coaching and conflict coaching. He is Chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution Taskforce on Safety in ADR and has taught conflict resolution and practitioner skills for more than a decade as an adjunct professor at George Mason University.

Kim Kristensen

Kim Kristensen is a certified family and workplace mediator, conflict coach, facilitator, trainer, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and certified mental health coach. Passionate about conflict prevention, engagement, and transformation, he helps individuals and organizations build healthier relationships through mediation, coaching, and education.

Kim holds a master’s degree in Social Sciences & Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in Management and Human Resources. With more than 30 years of experience in business, government, nonprofit organizations, and higher education, he brings a practical, people-centered perspective to conflict resolution. Fun fact: Kim was raised in a traveling circus, performing across 49 states and Canada for 24 years.

Noel Levan

Noel Levan is a USAF Veteran.  He is a graduate of Temple University and Texas Women's University and holds a Masters of Arts in Occupational Therapy.  He did clinical practice for 44 years and was an academic program director (training occupational therapists) for 16 years. Noel has been a Virginia Supreme Court-certified family mediator for 20 years Family Mediator and has mediated over 1,000 cases.  He is also an organic gardener, craftsman, musician, artist, community activist, and world traveler.  He is married with one son and resides in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Dr. Breyette Lorntz

Breyette Lorntz, PhD, is a Virginia Supreme Court–certified mediator and founder of Lanterns Mediation, where she provides family and high-conflict mediation services in both private practice and community mediation settings. She is certified to mediate in General District, Juvenile and Domestic Relations, and Circuit Court Family cases in Virginia

Dr. Lorntz is also Director of Mediation in the Digital Age (MIDA) at James Madison University, where she designs and teaches graduate-level coursework integrating mediation practice, ethics, and emerging technologies. She has over two decades of experience teaching research methodology, ethics, and professional practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

In addition to her mediation and teaching work, she brings a resilience-informed perspective shaped by training in mindfulness and yoga instruction, supporting structured and boundaried approaches to emotionally complex mediation contexts.

AJ Maddeny

AJ Maddeny is a mediator, arbitrator, Strategic Conflict Advisor, and author whose work focuses on high-conflict disputes, structural power, decision-making, and institutional conflict. He is a Virginia Supreme Court certified mediator and FINRA arbitrator, with academic training in Decision Science, Conflict Analysis & Resolution, and Business Administration. His mediation practice includes divorce, family, community, business and police complaint matters, including work with civilian oversight-based police complaint mediation. AJ’s broader work examines how conflict functions inside systems, roles, and institutions, with a particular focus on restoring clarity, agency, and constructive engagement where conventional dispute-resolution models are insufficient.

Jessica Markham

Jessica Markham is a highly regarded family law attorney and mediator serving clients in Maryland and Washington, D.C. She is the Managing Attorney of Markham Law Firm and has extensive experience handling complex divorce, custody, guardianship, and mediation matters. Ms. Markham also maintains a mediation practice.

Ms. Markham is the author of the American Bar Association publication Representing Federal Employees and Their Spouses in Divorce: A Practical Guide, a leading resource on federal retirement and divorce issues. She also co-authored Representing Employees of Intergovernmental Organizations and Their Spouses in Divorce.

Sara McAllister

Sara McAllister is the co-owner of Limitless Possibilities Mediation Services and a certified general and family mediator with over 25 years of experience. She works extensively with JDR courts throughout the Virginia peninsula, mediating family matters on-line and providing mediation coordination services to the court. In addition, she provides training and mentorship to mediators, focusing on practical skills and ethical practice.

Allison McFadden

Allison McFadden is an experienced family law attorney, court-approved mediator, and divorce coach dedicated to resolving family disputes outside of court. After a decade of litigation experience, she founded Divorce by Allison, LLC in 2022 to focus exclusively on alternative dispute resolution. As a DCA Certified Pre-Mediation Divorce Coach®, Allison helps clients develop the emotional and strategic capacity needed for productive negotiation. She now shares her ADR expertise to help fellow mediators integrate coaching into their practices, increasing client readiness, reducing impasse, and achieving better outcomes.

Robert Miller

Dr. Julie Minde

Dr. Julie Minde received her PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution and an MS in geographic and cartographic sciences, also from GMU. She served as a postdoctoral research associate on environmental collaboration and conflict resolution, co-sponsored by the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy (University of Arizona) and the National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution. She is a certified mediator in the Virginia General District Court. As a full-time civil servant, Julie serves as a social science analyst at a federal agency. She is very interested in seeing VMN develop in the area of environmental collaboration and conflict resolution.

Dr. Alpaslan Özerdem

Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution and professor of peace and conflict studies, Dr. Özerdem specializes in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction. With more than 25 years of field research experience in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Turkey.

He has contributed extensively to the field through 16 books and numerous journal articles, book chapters, and op-eds, and, amongst others, is author of Post-war Recovery: Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (2008). His other works include Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development (2020), co-editor of Routledge Handbook of Conflict Response and Leadership in Africa (2021), co-editor of A Companion to Modern Turkey’s Centennial (2023), and co-editor of Identity and Religion in Peace Processes: Mechanisms, Strategies and Tactics (2024).

Dr. Özerdem has led advisory and research projects for organizations like the United Nations and international NGOs, and is a sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He holds academic titles from Stellenbosch University, Jiangsu University, and Coventry University.

Dr. Andrea C. Palmisano

Originally from Brazil, Andrea C. Palmisano, PhD is a certified general and family mediator, trainer, and mentor with 25 years of experience in the field. She served as a Contract Trainer and Director of Youth Programs for the Community Mediator Center of Southeastern Virginia, Norfolk VA from 2003 to 2012, and now mediates private cases in the Hampton Roads area. Additionally, she is a professor of Psychology at Tidewater Community College with a research interest in the field of personality development.

Christine Poulson

Christine Poulson is the Executive Director of Resolution Virginia www.resolutionvirginia.org where she advocates for the expanded use of community-based dispute resolution.   She is also the Coordinator of the VA Trust Network, an effort to prevent and mitigate violence stimulated by underlying social issues.  Christine holds a master’s degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University.  After serving as a VA Supreme Court certified mediator in Blacksburg, VA (General District, Juvenile and Domestic Relatio-s and Circuit Civil and Family Courts) she became the Executive Director of the Conflict Resolution Center in Roanoke. She also provided mediation for the United States Postal Service’s REDRESS program and for the Department of Forestry.  She has trained hundreds of people in conflict resolution skills, including incarcerated women at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women, and she taught courses in leadership and conflict resolution at Virginia Tech.  

Daniel Rainey

Daniel Rainey (https://danielrainey.us) is a Principal in Holistic Solutions, Inc., a Fellow of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution (NCTDR), and a founding Board Member of the International Council for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR). He is the author of Integrating Technology Into Your Dispute Resolution Practice, and a co-author of Governing Artificial Intelligence.

Mac Reed

McGavock (Mac) Reed is an attorney whose practice focuses on legal ethics, attorney discipline, and professional responsibility matters in Virginia and Washington, D.C. He has represented attorneys in disciplinary proceedings across a wide range of practice areas and advises lawyers on ethical obligations and risk management.

Mac earned his JD from Catholic University Columbus School of Law and is a member of the Virginia Bar, DC Bar, and several professional organizations. His experience navigating complex ethics issues provides valuable insight into the challenges attorneys and mediators face in maintaining professional standards.

Karen Richards

Karen Richards is the President of Karen Richards Training & Mediation LLC. She has worked as a mediator and conflict resolution and communications trainer since 1993. Karen is a Virginia Certified general and family mediator, mentor, and trainer, and provides mediation services on-line and in-person.  She is a past president of the Virginia Mediation Network (VMN).

Ken Rosenbaum

Ken Rosenbaum is an attorney, an environmental policy consultant, and a mediator based in Falls Church. He has mediated in Virginia since 2003, where he has mentor status, and he is a charter member of the DC Court of Appeals mediation roster. He became a student of mediator ethics in 2005, when he joined the ethics committee of the Environment and Public Policy section of the Association for Conflict Resolution. He eventually served as the committee’s co-chair and the section’s ethics point person. He has taught mediator ethics classes in Virginia since 2008.

Douglas B. Spoors

Douglas Spoors is an attorney, mentor mediator, trainer, international author, and the founder of the Institute for Mixed Method Mediation.  He is the author of the book Mixed Method Mediation: A Hybrid Approach to Conflict Resolution, now in its 3^rd  Edition, and the upcoming book If Cicero Was a Mediator: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Mediators.”

He has mediated conflicts involving employment discrimination, wrongful termination, family law, consumer debt, landlord/tenant, and real estate.  He has mediated cases with the Loyola Center for Conflict Resolution, as a pro bono mediator for the EEOC, and currently is a Mentor Mediator for the Department of the Navy, working with the EEO Office of the Navy Exchange Service Command in Virginia Beach, Virginia, managing the ADR program servicing over 14,000 civilian associates world-wide.  He serves as Immediate Past President of the Virginia Mediation Network.

In March, 2019, he received the Ambassador for Peace in Conflict Resolution award for his contribution in the field of mediation.

Madeline J. Starbranch

Dr. Pamela Struss

Dr. Pamela K. Struss is a scholar-practitioner specializing in community development, mediation, and conflict resolution. She holds a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and has worked with governments and communities both domestically and internationally. A Virginia Supreme Court–certified mediator, mentor, and trainer, she is active in court-connected and community mediation. In 2023, she founded the Greater Richmond Community Mediation Center. Dr. Struss is collaborating with the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney to develop and implement restorative justice initiatives serving misdemeanor offenders, both adult and juvenile, and advances community engagement efforts addressing housing, education, and alternative sentencing. She is a past president of the Virginia Mediation Network and a leader in peacebuilding practice.

Aimee Sullivan

Aimee Sullivan is a trained mediator and federally certified Spanish court interpreter with more than 20 years of experience in legal translation and interpretation. A resident of Alexandria, VA, she is admitted to the Maryland bar and holds a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law.

Norman Thomas

Norman Thomas is a Virginia attorney with more than 45 years of legal experience and holds two Virginia mediator certifications. He serves as a neutral with Juridical Solutions, PLC, and has spent much of his career in public service, including serving as a judge of Virginia’s Fourth Judicial Circuit (Norfolk Circuit Court) and Fourth Judicial District (Norfolk General District Court). He also served as Opinions Counsel with the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, where his responsibilities included drafting and reviewing ethics-related opinion requests.

Norman served for six years on the Virginia State Bar’s Second District Committee, hearing ethics-related complaints against attorneys. From 2014 to 2026, he maintained a solo appellate litigation practice in Richmond, bringing extensive experience in legal ethics, professional responsibility, and appellate law to his mediation and legal work.

Dan Wassink

Dan Wassink has served as Manager of Dispute Resolution Services within the Office of the Executive Secretary at the Supreme Court of Virginia since 2022.  He is also a GDC-certified mediator; and was an approved family mediator, trainer, and mentor mediator in Kansas prior to 2022, where he managed the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution’s Community Mediation Center.  Dan holds a Master in Dispute Resolution degree from Marquette University.

Brenda Waugh

Brenda Waugh, J.D., M.A., is a lawyer, mediator, and restorative justice practitioner with over thirty years of experience in litigation, conflict resolution, and legal education. She is the author of Becoming a Restorative Lawyer: How to Transform Your Legal Practice for Self, Client, and Community Growth, which explores how restorative principles can reshape legal practice toward healing, accountability, and connection. Her work integrates restorative justice and transformative mediation to help mediators move beyond adversarial frameworks and engage more fully with identity, narrative, and relational repair. Brenda trains professionals nationally in restorative approaches that center dignity, dialogue, and systemic transformation in conflict resolution. Brenda is licensed to practice law in Virginia, West Virignia and Washington, D.C. and is certified to accept court appointed mediations in Virignia and West Virginia. She has taught courses at Eastern Mennonite University and West Virginia University. Brenda has published several law review articles. While working as an attorney, she served as counsel to the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committe and as a clerk to the West Virginia Surpeme Court.