Roster of Expert Trainers

Our trainers come from a variety of backgrounds including confilct management, mediation, psychology, and sociology. These practitioners provide the expertise needed to create quality workshops for those looking to add skills to their professional resume.

  • Alvin S. Albert

    Alvin S. Albert, Esq. has acquired over twenty years of management, training, and consulting accomplishments working with major organizations including Cox Communications, Comcast Corp., Accion USA, and The University of Georgia.

    He is an Attorney, certified Myers-Briggs (MBTI) Trainer, and registered Mediator. He has been on the faculty of the American Management Association, Clayton State University, University of Phoenix, and Kennesaw State University.

    Most importantly, he is an involved community member, having served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in Cobb County Juvenile Court and Food Coordinator at the Turner Hill Community Food and Clothing Pantry.

     

    Past Clients and Audiences include:

    · Home Depot USA

    · Owens Corning Inc.

    · Center for Disease Control and Prevention

    · Fujifilm USA

    · American Management Association

    · Pac-12 Networks

    · Port Authority of N.Y & N.J.

    · U.S. Dept. of Commerce

  • Dr. Patricia Agatson

    Dr. Agatston is co-author of the book, Cyberbullying: Bullying in the Digital Age with Robin Kowalski, Ph.D., and Susan Limber, Ph.D. and has co-authored a chapter for the book, Expert Perspectives in Cyberbullying as well as a chapter for the book Media Violence and Children. She is also co-author of the Cyberbullying Curriculum for Grades 6 – 12 and the Cyberbullying Prevention Curriculum for Grades 3 - 5. She has been quoted in articles on cyberbullying in The Washington Post, CNET news, Time Magazine, and the Christian Science Monitor. She has appeared on CNN as well as other local and national radio and television programs to discuss cyberbullying and other youth online risky behavior. She was a participant in the CDC’s Expert Panel on Electronic Media and Youth Violence, and the CDC’s Expert Panel on Youth Involvement in Bullying and Suicide-Related Behaviors. She has presented nationally and internationally on bullying, cyberbullying, and digital citizenship.

    Dr. Agatston is a Licensed Professional Counselor with the Cobb County School District’s Prevention/Intervention Center. She is the current President of the Board of Directors for the International Bullying Prevention Association and serves on the Board of Directors for the Net Safety Collaborative.

  • C. Richard Barnes

    C. Richard Barnes, former Director of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service and expert in workforce training and organizational change initiatives. In 1998, President Clinton appointed Richard to serve as the 14th Director of FMCS. Once confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he became the first career mediator in FMCS history to receive both the Presidential Appointment and Senate Confirmation, a testament to his vast experience in leadership development, strategic negotiations and dispute resolution processes. His second Presidential Appointment to the National Partnership Council again recognized his commitment and expertise in developing and implementing positive workplace change initiatives.

  • Dr. Jesse Benjamin

    Dr. Benjamin is an interdisciplinary world systems sociologist and anthropologist with interests in theory, critical race theory, epistemology, coloniality/decolonial and development theories, and Pan-African theory and culture. Since 1987, I have conducted fieldwork and research on forced Bedouin resettlement in Israel and Egypt, identity and historiography on the Swahili coast of Kenya, and anti-racist theory and practice in North America. I am honored to serve on the Walter Rodney Foundation Board, as editor of several peer reviewed journals, and to administer the Walter Rodney Speakers Series in Atlanta. I am an experienced higher education administrator and leader, a publisher, a long-practiced diversity consultant and scholar, an activist, and a leader in community engagement.

  • Kalley Dixon

    Kalley has a BS in Psychology and MS in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University. She has been mediating since 2008 with a main area of focus in court-referred mediation dealing with domestic issues, landlord-tenant issues, and other general civil disputes. She also has specialized training to deal with cases involving domestic violence and regularly participates as a coach for various mediation trainings offered by local schools and other agencies.

  • Dr. Allison Garefino

    Dr. Garefino is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and earned her Ph.D. in clinical Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a Part-Time Assistant Professor in the psychology department of Kennesaw State University, and the recipient of their Part-Time Distinguished Teaching Award two years in a row.

    Her mentor Dr. William Pelham, Jr. developed a state of the art Summer Treatment Program (STP) for children and adolescents with ADHD. Dr. Garefino served as the Clinical Director of the STP at the Center for Children and Families in Buffalo. She has also led many parenting strategies workshops, and helped develop and implement school-wide behavioral interventions. Her clinical and research interests include increasing the dissemination and effectiveness of behavioral interventions for the treatment of ADHD across multiple settings.

  • Georgia Geiger, LPC, NCC - Mediation Coach

    Georgia Geiger has been a registered mediator in the State of Georgia since 1993. She has mediated cases in Superior Court, Juvenile Court, Probate Court, and Magistrate Court in Cobb County and in the Seventh and Ninth Judicial Districts as well as private cases. Additionally, she has mediated in the field of special education and charter schools with the Georgia Department of Education. Georgia is an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Family Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution. She is a partner in Above and Beyond Conflict, a firm that does mediation and continuing education. Georgia’s experience includes 40years as an educator, most recently as an Associate Professor at Reinhardt University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a National Certified Counselor.

  • Dr. Maia Hallward

    Maia Carter Hallward, Ph.D. is a Professor of Middle East Politics in the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development at Kennesaw State University and Executive Editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. She has published four books, including Transnational Activism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan 2013) and Struggling for a Just Peace: Israeli and Palestinian Activism in the Second Intifada (University of Florida Press 2011) and over a dozen peer-reviewed articles in journals including Journal of Peace Research, Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change, International Negotiation, and International Political Sociology. Current projects include women’s leadership in Arab monarchies, and a comparison of religious and secular human rights organizations around the world.

  • Dr. Sherrill Hayes

    Dr. Sherrill Hayes is a registered Neutral with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution in Civil and Domestic Mediation, a volunteer arbitrator with Better Business Bureau, on the Advisory Board and a program evaluator for Clarkston Families Decide, a member of the KSU Community Emergency Response (CERT) team, and is on the Fulbright Specialist Roster 2016-2021 for Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies.

    His areas of teaching, research, and practice include: family, community, and organizational dispute resolution; program design and evaluation; refugee resettlement; and children’s development in cultural contexts. His recent scholarship has focused primarily on the impact of resettlement for refugee and migrant children, resilience, and reconciliation. His community work also encompassed working with integration of refugee children into schools and intercultural dialogues with refugee community leaders. In 2014, Dr. Hayes expanded his work into the area of family owned businesses, serving as a conflict management specialist at the Cox Family Enterprise Center’s Family Business Clinic TM collaborating with colleagues to take an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the complex needs of multi-generational family enterprises.

  • Dr. Tim Hedeen

    Dr. Tim Hedeen provides mediation services and training; delivers introductory and advanced trainings in conflict resolution, decision-making, and communication; facilitates group and public policy decision making and planning; and conducts research and evaluation on dispute resolution and justice policy. He serves on the editorial board of Conflict Resolution Quarterly and is an appointed member of the Commission on Dispute Resolution of the Georgia Supreme Court. He is a senior consultant to the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education, a former member of the Section Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Dispute Resolution, a former editorial board member of Family Court Review, and a past chair of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Community Mediation.

  • Nicole Woolfork Hull

    Nicole Woolfork Hull is an attorney-mediator who practices in the areas of domestic law, juvenile delinquency and dependency, and education and special education law. Nicole an approved mediation trainer by the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution and approved by the Association of Conflict Resolution Advanced as a Family Law Practitioner. Additionally, Nicole is an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Meeting Facilitator through the Georgia Department of Education, an Adjunct Professor for Brenau University's Conflict Resolution & Legal Studies Program, former Vice President for the Board of Directors for the Georgia Conflict Center.

  • Ellen Lahtinen, trainer

    Ellen Lahtinen received her Master of Public Administration and Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Communication at Kennesaw State University. She began working in the Center for Conflict Management in January 2014 where she currently operates the Center for Professional Development Training and Workshops in Mediation Training and Conflict Resolution topics for USG and the Atlanta Community. Prior to working with the School, she worked for the Seventh Judicial Administrative District from May 2008 – January 2014 where she began as an intern in 2007-2008 and became a program coordinator managing mediation cases in Superior, Magistrate and Juvenile Courts. She became a juvenile mediator in January 2009 and currently mediates juvenile cases in Cobb County. In addition, Ellen volunteered working with High Risk Children through a program called Teach One to Lead One from 2012-2015.

  • Cynthia LeMay

    Cynthia LeMay is a Registered Neutral in the State of Georgia and has been a Certified Mediator for Cobb County, Georgia since 1993. She regularly mediates at the Cobb County Superior Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Office, also holding the Domestic Violence registration. She has over twenty-five years of experience in the corporate retirement industry, participating in union negotiations and managing EEOC, employee relations and conflict resolution programs. Cynthia earned her B.A. in Economics from Union College (Magna Cum Laude) and her M.B.A. from Syracuse University (First in Class). She is currently enrolled in the PhD Program in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University.

  • Caitlin Lowther, MSCM

    Caitlin has a BS in Political Science, MS in Conflict Management, and ADR Certificate from Kennesaw State University. Her main focus is on court-referred mediation and best practices for court-annexed ADR programs. She is currently a Mediation Coordinator for the 7th Judicial Administrative District ADR Program, which provides mediation services for the Superior, Magistrate, and Probate Courts in seven counties around Northwest Georgia. She regularly mediates in the Paulding and Douglas Magistrate Courts dealing primarily with landlord-tenant and collection issues. Areas of training and registration include General Civil Mediation, Domestic Relations, and Juvenile (Dependency and Delinquency).

  • Monique Lung

    Coaching for Individual and Team Development. As a professional coach rooted in strengths, I am inspired by the random and varied potential of each client. My thoughtful coaching methods give my clients clarity and control with personalized and realistic options to leverage their strengths to reach their goals. I apply creative insights, experiences from 20+ years of HR and marketing, a vast network and a rich array of resources. Leading the coaching process, I obtain critical information, adapt the necessary support, and instill concrete accountability. I help my clients get measurable results, build momentum, and succeed sooner with passion, resiliency and confidence.

  • Jacqueline Oduselu

    Jacqueline is an expert Conflict Management Specialist with over 16 years of experience mediating cases in the Juvenile, Magistrate, and Superior Courts of the Metro Atlanta Area. As a mediator/registered neutral with the Supreme Court of Georgia's Commission on Dispute Resolution, she has amassed a world of experience working with juveniles and adults in the heat of conflict in court (involving delinquency, status, and civil offenses, even divorce).

    Jacqueline is also an experienced professional educator and trainer having conducted workshops for professionals and the general public covering topics relative to conflict management and resolution, assertiveness, and other psychoeducational topics. Her workshops have been approved by various professional organizations to include:

    Licensed Professional Counselor Association (LPCA) of Georgia
    Georgia Society for Clinical Social Workers (GSCSW)
    National Association of Social Workers (NASW-GA)
    Georgia Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (GAMFT)
    Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution (GAODR)
    Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training (GA-POST) Council
    The State Bar of Georgia

  • Dr. Heather Pincock

    Dr. Pincock earned her Ph.D. in Political Science at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University and was an associate of Maxwell’s Program for Advancement on Research in Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC). Heather has served as the coordinator of PARCC’s Conflict Management Center and as a volunteer mediator at New Justice Conflict Resolution Services in Syracuse NY. In 2008-2009, Heather was a doctoral fellow at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Dr. Pincock is registered with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution and serves as a mediator, facilitator, and trainer. As a facilitator with Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Heather co-facilitates conflict resolution workshops prison and community settings in the greater Atlanta area.

  • Joe Risby, trainer

    Joe received his undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from Valdosta State University and his Master of Science in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University with a concentration in court-mediations. Joe’s mediation practice, Harmony and Success Firm, LLC, has mediated several high value cases throughout the Metro-Atlanta area. He has mediated trial cases, child support, divorces, domestic violence, insurance, malpractice, intellectual property, complex-construction, and more. As one of the youngest active mediators in the Atlanta, Georgia court systems (started at age 23), he has judged multiple mediation tournaments, including the International Mediation Tournament for Undergraduate students and is a mediation coach for the Kennesaw State University mediation team. In addition, he's an Arbitrator for State Bar of Georgia and mediator for the Atlanta Police Department for citizens and police disputes.

  • Wally Tanksley, MSCM

    Wally Tanksley has been mediating as a GODR-registered neutral since 1999. He does many kinds of mediation and he taught Alternative Dispute Resolution to undergraduates at Kennesaw State University for several semesters. The course included the 28 hours of mediation skills training required to register with the GODR to mediate Court Appointed civil cases in Georgia. He is very pleased to frequently be called on to provide required coaching as part of the 28 hour course provided by several approved training organizations.

  • Reginald WilliamsReginald F. Williams has over fourteen (14) years of mediation experience, which also includes facilitation. He actively serves on mediation rosters for various federal, state, and local agencies in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Mr. Williams also assist local universities with mediation coaching to prepare future mediators for their career.

    Areas of training and experience include Domestic Relations, Specialized Domestic Violence, Juvenile (Dependency, Deprivation, Truancy), Special Education, and 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions. Mr. Williams also holds a BBA (Georgia Southern University), MSCM (Kennesaw State University), M.Ed. (University of West Georgia), and credit hours from the European University Center for Peace Studies (Stadtschlaining, Austria).

 

 

 

©