Meet Louise & Our Team

Louise Phipps Senft, Founder and CEO of Baltimore Mediation  is an attorney and nationally recognized Transformative Mediator for Family, Divorce, Commercial and Complicated Business and Healthcare Issues. She is the author of the best-selling book, Being Relational: the Seven Ways to Quality Interaction & Lasting Change. She is also the creator of a Top 15 Podcast, Blink of an Eye, on trauma and trauma healing, and she is the founder of the non profit I C THAT, the Integrative Center for Trauma Healing, Advocacy and Transformation, changing the way we respond to Spinal Cord Injury.

She has been named a top CEO in the state of Maryland and she has been awarded on multiple occasions the distinguished “Top 100 Women” in Maryland honor. She was elected into the Women’s President’s Organization for top female entrepreneurs, and she has also been voted by the Board of Governors of the International Academy of Mediators as a Distinguished Fellow.

She most recently was awarded Maryland’s “Leadership in Law Award” in 2020 and the ““Humanitarianism Award” in 2019 for her work with the Safe Streets Violence Interrupters. She has dedicated her expertise to work with ex-felons—committed to making a positive difference on the streets of Baltimore City—teaching them methods of self-awareness, relational awareness, and intuitive skills to de-escalate conflict to keep themselves and others on the streets alive and safe.

Professor Senft has pioneered the importance of self-awareness methods for families and leaders, for business and legal negotiators,
and for mediators internationally, which more recently also includes a recognition of generational and collective trauma we carry intergenerationally. She has brought her work to her teaching at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, Insight Initiative, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, the Loyola Sellinger Business School, and for over 25 years of teaching at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Professionals and leaders from across the state, the U.S. and the globe register for her well-known 40-hour certificate courses
on Conflict Transformation and Mediation Skills from a Relational Approach. She has trained thousands in an approach to conflict resolution that is grounded in relational conflict theory and in Knowing Thyself with a focus on the Enneagram of Personality. She creates opportunities for understanding oneself at a deeper level as a secret to remaining neutral as well as intuitive for assisting others with quality dialogue and empowerment. She is a masterful teacher encouraging all to befriend the internal and external barriers as she weaves in trauma healing understandings and the role of family systems in workplace and politics as well as personality motivations to bring conflict theory to life in her experiential relational teaching.

A Midwesterner who hails from Springfield, Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, Senft “went East” and was educated at the University of Virginia, where she was appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees for the class of 1983 and served as President of Kappa Alpha Theta national sorority. Thereafter, she was hired at Baker and Hostetler law firm in Washington DC in the defamation department where she was footnote editor of the treatise, Synopsis of the Law of Libel & the Right of Privacy by Bruce W. Sanford, one of the nation’s leading First Amendment lawyers. She then attended Washington & Lee University School of Law, where she was Chair of the International Moot Court Program and Founder and President of the Women Law Students Organization. She was elected as the first woman law representative to the over 100-year-old Honor System in the then traditionally all-male undergraduate campus. She graduated with honors and upon graduation, she was voted by her peers and by the law faculty as the Most Outstanding Law Student.

Senft and her husband moved to Baltimore where she practiced commercial law at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and began a family practice. In her seventh year of litigation practice, she decided to leave her corporate law firm and forge a new alternative way to resolve legal disputes: through face-to-face dialogue. In 1993, she launched Baltimore Mediation, the first mediation firm in Maryland, and the first mediation firm in the US, with a practice focused exclusively on mediation and facilitation for quality interaction, face-to-face dialogue. Today, almost 30 years later, Baltimore Mediation remains a beacon of transformative practices, one of the most successful mediation firms in the U.S. and one of the largest mediation training programs in the U.S. Ms. Senft has personally mediated over 4,000 complicated divorce and family business and trust and estate matters, numerous large scale commercial disputes, and she and her team have facilitated thousands of professionals in departments, hospitals, and corporations facing complicated situations who are interested in navigating with quality dialogue to create inclusion and informed decision making.

Her experience extends to matters related to family, divorce, tax, family business, employment, EEOC, land use and zoning, commercial leases, discrimination, diversity and equity, trust and estates, nonprofit boards, healthcare, hospital integration, healthcare aquisitions, wrongful death, medical malpractice, church and religious crises, and Hopi tribal customs. She had the honor of being appointed by the highest court in Kentucky to mediate the nationally celebrated and intensely disputed Kloiber v Kloiber trusts and estates tax case, which included one of the reputed largest Dynasty Trusts in the U.S. The mediated outcome preserved the status of family trusts as non-marital property.

Ms. Senft’s life was changed when one of her five children was tragically injured in a 2015 freak diving accident in the ocean surf rendering him a quadriplegic. She spent months living by his side in ICU’s and hospitals battling for his life and quality of his care, paralyzed from the neck down. She and her family responded with love and fierce advocacy. Her son Archer’s choice to live and be hopeful has been a beacon to many. She brings this life experience combined with her years of intuition, relational practices, and conflict transformation skills to leaders committed to making a difference in the lives of those they serve. She created Blink of an Eye Podcast in 2020 during the Pandemic, her own storytelling of her experience with Archer and the medical profession, which includes trauma healing insights and learnings. Blink of an Eye has thousands of listeners across the U.S. In 2021, she founded the non-profit, the Integrative Center for Trauma Healing, Advocacy, and Transformation, I C THAT, to be a national resource to families and medical teams to change the way we respond to Spinal Cord Injury

She has served on both Democrat and Republican Governors’ task forces advising in Government transition, crime control, juvenile crime, After-School Programming, and Family Initiatives. She has been a close advisor to Maryland’s highest court’s Chief Judge on Alternative Dispute Resolution issues. She has been a close advisor for Fortune 100 Executives for navigating complex commercial transitions and creating cohesive boards of directors and Executive Leadership teams. And she is a founding Trustee for the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution in Washington, D.C., to help members of Congress from both parties talk with each other.

As a result of her son’s accident and her advocacy, she was recently appointed by Governor Hogan and approved by the Maryland Senate to serve on the Maryland Board of Physicians, regulating licensure and discipline in healthcare.

Whether through her Podcast, Blink of an Eye, her writings and teachings, or her keynote speeches, Louise brings a message of Being Relational in everyday living, eliciting the stories of others and the inner wisdom of a wide range of experts, with a focus on conflict, trauma and healing, epiphanies and miracles, and the art of living a full authentic life, despite setbacks and the transactional decisions of others.

She is also a Dame in the Order of Malta, and has served as the President of her Parish Council, the first woman to be elected to the role, and on the Archdiocese of Baltimore Community Foundation and the Archdiocese of Arlington Review Board.

She is called upon frequently as an inspirational keynote speaker and wise teacher.

Ms. Senft can be reached at Louise@BaltimoreMediation.com.

You may also schedule a consult with her team at https://calendly.com/baltimoremediation/30minfreeinitialcall?back=1&month=2022-03

Beverly Hovmand has fourteen years of experience as a mediator with a focus on workplace, family, and eldercare mediation, the last twelve as an associate member of Baltimore Mediation. She also acts as a co-trainer with Louise Phipps Senft for Baltimore Mediation’s annual trainings including: Basic Mediation Skills, Mediation for Custody and Parenting Plans and Mediation for Workplace Issues.For the past twelve years Ms. Hovmand has been a mediator for the Baltimore City Circuit Court. Beverly helped design and is a trainer for SHAPE (Shared Parenting Experience), an educational parenting program provided by the Baltimore City Circuit Court for unmarried parents. Beverly is a volunteer mediator for the Commission on Civil Rights, Baltimore, Maryland.Prior to her training as a mediator, Beverly worked for fifteen years as a facilitator, trainer, and consultant within the Employee Assistance field conducting trainings for managers and supervisors on managing conflict in organizational settings. She had a private psychotherapy practice for ten years working with individuals and families to resolve conflict in their relationships and effectively manage life transitions and family change.Beverly completed her undergraduate work at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, graduate work at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Baltimore, Maryland and is a licensed clinical social worker. She is also trained in online dispute resolution (ODR).

Ms. Hovmand is a responder with the Workplace Trauma Center, a national provider of crisis management for business industry and government, having conducted over one hundred fifty interventions including support services at Dulles Airport following the events of September 11, 2001.Beverly is a member of the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence and the Association for Conflict Resolution.

Sharon focuses on providing mediation services relevant to the challenges of human resource management and was employed by the State of Maryland in the area of human resources for over 36 years — in both the Executive and Judicial branches.She says, “As a senior executive human resources professional, I (along with my team) was frequently the first responder to workplace conflicts. It has been my professional philosophy that because interrelationships between individuals and work units within the workplace often remain after a conflict has been addressed, it is critical to the good health of the larger organization that damages to these relationships be minimized and, ideally, enhanced. Given this perspective, I would attempt to facilitate discussions between individuals and/or work units as well as coach the respective administrator, director, manager, supervisor, etc. in order to resolve a conflict at the lowest possible level.In the human resources sub-discipline of employer-employee relations, matters involving disputes are generally handled through a formal grievance or disciplinary appeal process that results in a decision imposed on the parties by an arbiter. By contrast and in hindsight, I now realize that my approach to conflict resolution mirrored the transformative mediation model. It is a highly valuable and effective alternative to the formal fact-finding method because of its reliance on getting to the underlying nature of a conflict and it provides several sustainable benefits, including the empowerment of the respective parties, enhanced understanding of the other side, clarity by all parties about the underlying causes of the disagreement and the opportunity for disputants to solve their conflict.”

Dusty joined Baltimore Mediation in 2009, after many years in which Baltimore Mediation provided training for 32 community centers which he helped found, namely the Community Mediation Centers of Calvert and St. Mary’s County, Maryland. He is past president of the Board of Directors of the Community Mediation Center of St. Mary’s County. He has mediation experience with hundreds of cases involving family, community, District and Circuit Court, discrimination and foster care cases. He is a member of the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence and the Association for Conflict Resolution. Dusty has trained with leaders in the field of transformative mediation, including Baruch Bush, Joe Folger, Louise Phipps Senft, Nancy Good, Tom Wahlrab and Irv Foster. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and the Defense Systems Management College, Program Manager’s Course. He is an Associate Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

I am an associate on the Baltimore Mediation team, trained and certified in general mediation and family and domestic mediation. By background, I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker practicing in the field of mental health for over 30 years, having graduated from SUNY Stony Brook, School of Social Work, in 1990. I have advanced training in family therapy and, as a certified mediator using a transformative framework, my approach, like all of us on the Baltimore Mediation team, is to focus on quality dialogue and communication breakthroughs. I have been an adjunct Professor at McDaniel College’s Masters in Counseling program, and worked for 10 years in Child Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where I was a 4-year long member of the hospital-wide ethics committee.

My psychotherapy practice focus includes adolescent, couples and family therapy. I have advanced training in Family Therapy, CBT for anxiety/depression/suicidality, Trauma-Focused CBT, and treat mood/anxiety and substance abuse disorders and couples in high conflict.

My mediation practice focus is family and domestic mediation. I see all my work as collaborative, working together towards goals identified by clients. In a neutral and non-judgmental atmosphere, people build upon their strengths while focusing on practical solutions to problems.

I fundamentally believe in preserving relationships and people inherently having capacity for change. This drives how I help people connect with their strengths, understand how they impact others, how others impact them, and how they navigate their larger worlds. As this process unfolds, people see ways to support themselves and live easier, happier lives.

Barry Evans has 25 years of experience as a mediator, beginning his affiliation with Baltimore Mediation when Louise partnered with The Sheppard Pratt Health System and the Baltimore City Circuit Court to create the first family mediation program of its kind in the state. Barry created, with another Baltimore Mediation Team Mediator, Beverly Hovmand, the first pre-mediation orientation for never married parents in the country, called SHAPE. SHAPE was emulated by many court systems across the US.

Barry is also an award-winning Toastmaster, professional speaker, and trainer with 25 years plus of working in higher education. Of the many positions he held at Towson University, he loved his role as the Director of the Office of Diversity Resources. He was an often-requested presenter for the Towson University Office of Leadership & Organizational Development. He has been part of Baltimore Mediation’s DEI work and it’s work on race relations for many years.

He is an alternative dispute resolution practitioner specializing in the mediation of divorce cases and parent education for parents in the court system attempting to establish custody of their children. No matter the audience he presents to, his goal is to have people acquire a greater understanding of the importance of how they now affect their future.

His most challenging audience of late is presenting to court-ordered divorcing parents. His goal is to help these men and women who are often at the mercy of incredible emotional conflict, to develop a greater understanding of the options and choices they have in the ways they choose to engage or not which can minimize the negative ramifications of certain choices on their children and themselves.

Ultimately, Barry wants to empower people to stand in the heat of the furnace without getting burned. It’s why he is devoted to the relational model of mediation which informs all of the Baltimore Mediation team.

Bill Senft, CPA and attorney, specializes in the mediation of business contract, partnership and workplace disputes including those giving rise to EEO complaints. He has served private, governmental and non-profit employers providing a neutral and confidential process for working through the difficult conflicts that arise in workplace relationships. Bill also provides mediation for corporations, partnerships, foundations and family businesses including financial planning, management and corporate control issues, business succession planning and other disputes in the family and business context – always practicing within the relational approach to mediation.For more than 20 years Bill has served as a finance consultant and legal advisor to entrepreneurs – with clients in many industries and the non-profit sector. Bill has vast experience in corporate transactions, fundraising, tax and finance planning for families and family business, debt workouts and numerous other legal and financial matters.Bill has served as Adjunct Faculty at the Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business and at Loyola University of Maryland Sellinger School of Business teaching courses in Negotiation and Negotiation Ethics. He is a graduate of the McIntire School of Business at the University of Virginia and began his career as an accountant with Price Waterhouse before attending law school at Washington and Lee University. He practiced bankruptcy and financial workout law at law firms in Baltimore and Washington DC.

Bill serves the community through involvement in community, educational and religious organizations. You can reach him at bill@baltimoremediation.com.

Judge Ronald A. Karasic (Ret.) joined Baltimore Mediation in 2013 following his retirement from the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore City. Throughout his law career, Judge Karasic used mediation as a practical forum for resolving conflict. He has extensive experience in workplace conflict including EEO, discrimination and employment claims, personnel matters related to discipline, hiring and promotions, and labor negotiations.Judge Karasic handled civil and criminal matters for nearly twelve years on the bench, where he presided over thousands of contract and tort cases. Such matters included auto repair and towing disputes, insurance claims involving tort and contract matters, debt collection cases, civil and criminal domestic violence cases, neighborhood land disputes, and property disputes between neighbors. During his tenure, he was specially assigned to Drug Treatment Court, Housing Court and Rent Court. While presiding in Rent Court, throughout his 12 year tenure, Judge Karasic developed expertise in landlord-tenant law and matters related to residential and commercial leases including rent escrow, housing code enforcement, lead paint regulations,, subleases and renewals, and condominium law. As a recalled judge, he has presided over the Pre-Trial Settlement docket in Baltimore County.Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Karasic was the Deputy Public Defender for the State of Maryland for eleven years. Included in his duties were the mediation of agency employment matters, EEO compliance, defense of discrimination and employment claims, personnel matters related to progressive discipline, hiring and promotions.

Judge Karasic also served as a Chief City Solicitor in the Baltimore City Law Department. There, he supervised attorneys responsible for a wide variety of cases for the Baltimore City Department of Public Works dealing with land-use issues, employment matters, tort litigation and environmental matters.

Judge Karasic also represented City agencies in various employment matters involving labor negotiations, employee terminations, and discrimination claims based upon age, gender, religion and race. He was Chief Counsel to the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners and the Superintendent of Schools.

From 1981-1990, Judge Karasic was in private practice where he concentrated on small business matters, personal injury litigation, employment disputes, and contract disputes. From 1998-2010, Judge Karasic taught courses in Legal Analysis, Research and Writing and Introduction to Advocacy at University of Baltimore School of Law.

Judge Karasic, a graduate of the University of Delaware and the University of Baltimore School of Law, is a former member of the Attorney Grievance Commission, the State of Maryland Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, the State of Maryland Critical Areas Commission, the Governor’s Commission on Alcohol and Drugs, and the District Court Commissioners Education Committee.

Vicki joined Baltimore Mediation in 2009, after years of working together with her husband, Dusty Rhoades, founding and providing mediation and facilitation services for community mediation centers in Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties. Vicki and Dusty have been partners in life for over 40 years and co-mediators in the transformative framework since 2001. Vicki specializes in mediation cases around family and community issues, She is a member of the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence and the Association for Conflict Resolution. Together with Dusty, she offers professional mediation training and coaching services.

Andrew Fontanella is a mediator and attorney who practices in the Greater Baltimore and Washington DC Metropolitan area. His practice focuses on family law and consumer bankruptcy. Since 2009, Andrew has enhanced his practice by offering a range of alternative dispute resolution options to clients to deal with their conflict. In addition to mediation, Andrew is trained in conflict-coaching, and collaborative practice. In conflict-coaching a party can come to a robust understanding of the nature of a conflict when the other party does not engage or cooperate. Collaborative practice is a team approach to conflict, where parties prefer to avoid litigation and instead, create a durable agreement that focuses on their common goals and interest.In addition to Baltimore Mediation, Andrew is a contract mediator with the Circuit Court for Baltimore City in their Family Law Division, a roster mediator with Baltimore CountyCivil Division, a roster mediator for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, the District Court of Maryland, and the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.

Andrew is dedicated to and has a gift for intercultural communication. He is highly proficient in both Spanish and American Sign Language. He is a continuing student in the interpreter training program for American Sign Language at Baltimore County Community College. Many of his clients speak Spanish and sign American Sign Language (ASL).

Since 2009, Andrew has trained with Baltimore Mediation to become a skilled and intuitive mediator from the transformative framework. He is committed to fostering dialogue over everyday legal issues that arise in his practice and brings that experience to his mediation practice.

Andrew lives with his partner of 15 years near the cultural arts section of Baltimore City. In addition to taking care of his family, which includes 2 beautiful dogs, Andrew is part of a community group that maintains Fitzgerald Park, in the historic Bolton Hill neighborhood. He continues to participate in making Baltimore city a great place to live.

Mediation Consultant for Organizations and Churches

Conflict Transformation Assistant Professor, Conflict Transformation Masters Degree Program, Eastern Mennonite University

Senior Mediator & Trainer, Community Mediation Center, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Partner, Newman Avenue Associates Family Therapists

Former Director, National Coalition Building Institute for prejudice reduction, Virginia Chapter

Monica Koski is a dispute resolution professional with over 20 years experience with public and private litigation as a court reporter. She is a seasoned mediator having mediated hundreds of court referred and private matters over the last seven years. Monica has joined Baltimore Mediation with a commitment to educating people in the workplace on the relational approach to conflict transformation and the mediation process, and to providing third party neutral services, conflict resolution skills training, and consulting.Prior to her mediation career, Monica was entrenched in the litigation arena for 13 years in the State of Maryland, in DC, and Virginia, has seen thousands of people in conflict and has witnessed first-hand the effects of parties involved in a rigid, fact-finding process that alienated the concept and importance of relating and relationship with one human being to another.Ms. Koski was trained as a mediator through Baltimore Mediation, The Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Community Mediation Maryland. She has experience handling complex situations ranging from 2-10 parties.She has mediated cases involving issues on elder care, parent-teen, neighbors, local churches, the State’s Attorneys Office, multiple school districts, HOAs and local private companies.Monica has committed herself to the field of conflict transformation with a dedication to relieve crises in human interaction and an intention to empower people to live authentically while working through their differences.

Ms. Koski is a member of the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence, Association for Conflict Resolution Workplace Division and is also trained through the International Ombuds Association. She is also an elected member of the Board of Community Mediation Maryland, and chairs their Development Committee. Her depth of commitment to her mediation practice is shown in her ability to follow parties through their difficult dialogue and conflict interactions, and to facilitate meaningful conversations that result in overall party satisfaction.

Ms. Koski’s training includes employee engagement work, teambuilding, dealing with difficult people, and handling high emotions. She is also a grant writer collaborating with Baltimore Mediation clients including various federal agencies such as USDA and FSIS.Ms. Koski can be reached at monica@baltimoremediation.com.

Nan has been working with Baltimore Mediation and Louise Phipps Senft, Esq. for over 15 years, as an international co-trainer, co-presenter, coach, and mediator.Nan is a dynamic facilitator, author, transformative high conflict mediator, psychotherapist, conflict systems design consultant, executive conflict coach, educator and a founding partner in Dispute Resolution Professionals, LLC, established in 1997 in the Denver metropolitan area.An expert in high conflict family systems and multiparty complex workplace disputes; she was trained as a mediator at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation in 1995, as well as USPS Redress training in 1998. She received specialized Divorce and Child Custody training at CDR in Boulder, CO. She has mediated over 2800 cases and was a grievance mediator for United Airlines for 25 years.Nan holds the Advanced Practitioner status in the Workplace, Training and Family Sections of the Association for Conflict Resolution.Nan is considered a national expert in high conflict family systems and mediates protracted familial disputes in 19 states. Over 40 percent of her caseload is in federal mediation, and specializes in the areas of employment, EEOC, ADA, and workplace violence, hostile work environment, public dialoging, crisis management, post-traumatic stress disorder, and critical incident debriefing.

In response to the international geo-political crisis, she became part of the founding team to develop the non-profit organization, Mediators Beyond Borders International and has served on the Board of Directors for 6 years. Over the last three years she helped to develop the Training & Research, and Events Divisions. She was also a member of the Hurricane Katrina Project for MBB in New Orleans and Biloxi.

In 2009, Nan developed the International Ambassadors Program, the worked on the Internship Program and was instrumental in launching the first Professional Country Chapter outside the US, MBB Italy. She is now working on the MBB Greek Dialogues to be held in Athens in 2013.

In 2004, she designed and remains the lead facilitator for the Rocky Mountain Retreat, teaching holistic and reflective practice to Judges, lawyers, mediators, conflict practitioners and peace-builders from over 21 countries and 45 states. The retreat was gifted to ACR for 2010 and beyond. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Global Negotiation Insight Institute; formerly the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative. In 1997, Nan was part of a 14 member professional delegation to Russia and Poland as a Citizens’ Ambassador for Mediation and she presented at the Moscow State University College of Law. In 2009 she was the 6th Kaplan Lecturer at the Pittsburgh Bar Association Spring Legal Forum, presenting on Spiritual Intelligence in Intractable Conflict, and facilitated the MBB Congress.

Nan has presented nationally at the ABA/DR, AFCC, and ACR conferences and has been a guest lecturer at Hamline Law School in St. Paul, MN. She led a Mediators Beyond Borders Ambassador’s Mission to China, Mongolia, and Korea in April of 2009, and presented on behalf of MBB in Germany and Italy in September 2009. In 2010, she led a delegation of 20 Mediators to Europe to present in Florence, Italy to the Mayor’s Council and University of Rome for MBB.

She presented in Slovenia and Germany in 2011 and Italy and Portugal on her Master Practitioner Series. She will present in Athens, Greece and Budapest, Hungary in 2013.

Nan has been adjunct faculty at Regis University since 1999 where she teaches Conflict Theory, Theories of Collaborative Negotiation, Advanced Mediation, and Persuasion in the graduate and undergraduate programs. Nan founded the Regis University Mediation Project, active from 1995-1998.

She serves as one of the faculty advisors to the Regis University/Colorado Professional Chapter of Mediators Beyond Borders. She has done post graduate work at Harvard University Law School Program on Negotiation in Advanced Mediation, and at Duke University and UCLA in Neuroscience and Conflict.

Nan co-authored and has taught the co-parenting education seminar “In the Best Interest of the Children” for 14 years. She authored and developed the level two high conflict classes “Growing through Conflict” in 2001, and has served thousands of bi-nuclear families statewide and in the Denver metro area. Nan is recognized as an expert in divorced family systems and specializes in high conflict marital mediation, and divorce mediation.

Nan is also an award winning author of a daily spiritual practice book entitled Calm in the Face of the Storm: Spiritual Daily Practice for the Peacemaker, the winner of the 2008 Gold Medal for Spirituality/Inspiration at the National Independent Book Publishers Awards, [IPPY], presented in Los Angeles. www.calminthefaceofthestorm.com; or www.amazon.com You can contact Nan at Nan@disputepro.com.

Chris Rubacky is an entrepreneur, mediator, and trainer.  He has led trainings in mediation, conflict resolution, interest-based negotiations, special education mediation, stress reduction, and emotional literacy/anger management for schools, parent groups, non-profit organizations and men’s jails.  He is proud to have partnered with and led workshops for a number of established training organizations on both coasts including Peer Mediation Programs (New Jersey), Bucks County Peace Center (Pennsylvania), Baltimore Mediation, Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC, San Mateo County, California), and Community Boards of San Francisco, where he was fortunate to have traveled throughout California, Nevada and as far as Alaska in leading peer and community mediation trainings.

Chris first became interested in the study of Conflict Resolution while earning his Master’s Degree from American University in Washington, DC in Special Education, with a focus on working with emotionally disturbed children.    His Bachelor’s degree is from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

He is proud to have been a Community Mediator/Panel Member for Community Boards of San Francisco (CBSF), where he lived for close to a decade.  The enormously diverse population and fantastic training tradition of CBSF provided excellent experience in working with a wide range of civil disputes, as well as in cross-cultural communication and transformative mediation.

Originally trained in Mediation by the New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution, in the mid-1990’s Chris earned his certification as a trainer in mediation and collaborative negotiation by now retired mediator Bill Lincoln. He benefited from Mr. Lincoln’s reputation as both a pioneer in interest-based bargaining (ala the Harvard Negotiation Project) and as a seasoned international mediator.

In 2002, Chris formed his own legal staffing agency, CVR Search.  In 2014, Chris was moved to go back to his roots in dispute resolution, when he received his certificate in Workplace Mediation from Louise Phipps-Senft and Baltimore Mediation.   Baltimore Mediation’s transformative model and emphasis on improving relationships through quality dialogue has felt like home ever since.  In late 2015, Chris began helping with select consulting and coaching for Baltimore Mediation.

In addition to his consulting work for Louise and Baltimore Mediation, Chris recently opened his own mediation practice, Relate and Mediate.net.  He helps resolve disputes primarily relating to workplace matters and in support of the families of U.S. Veterans, with particular emphasis on communities surrounding veterans with PTSD/Moral Injury.

As an avid fan of the mystic poet Rumi, fiction, and the great outdoors, Chris lives in the Boulder, Colorado area with his fabulous wife Jennifer and wonder-filled daughter, Gabriella.  A daily meditation practice strongly informs his relational mediation practice.  Along with Jennifer, he also runs monthly groups on meditation and relationships for area couples.

Nicole Davis, Ph.D., is a certified mediator, facilitator, conflict coach, harassment prevention expert, and conflict skills trainer with over 20 years of experience in the field of alternative dispute resolution. As an associate with the Baltimore Mediation team, she emphasizes utilizing a transformative approach as people seek to resolve their conflicts, eradicate communication barriers, or enrich their interactions and relationships with others. Her focus areas are family, church, workplace, and organizational leadership.

Nicole’s doctorate from Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, is in the field of Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She holds a master’s degree in International Management from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Morgan State University. Nicole’s background includes work with state and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, church congregations, circuit courts of Baltimore City, Baltimore and Howard Counties, Prince George’s County Executive’s Office and law enforcement, and educational systems at the secondary and collegiate levels.

Nicole, a native of Akron, OH, is an author of various books on marriage, parenting, and personal leadership, and co-founder of Empower to Engage, a mediation and coaching firm. She is also an ordained pastor, a United States Navy veteran, a wife, and mother of two adult sons.