Meet our Board of Directors

Elected Officers

President, Roz Zinner

Email: president@mcdr.org

 

Roslyn Zinner LCSW-C of Divorce and Family Mediation Services, has offices in Howard and Anne Arundel Counties. She is an Advanced Practitioner Mediator with the Association for Conflict Resolution, a Certified Mediator with the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution, and works with custody and child dependency cases for the Circuit Courts of Maryland. She has worked with families for 30 years as a psychotherapist and clinical social worker, with specialties in marital therapy and geriatrics. When not mediating, Roz enjoys creating mosaic art, playing racquetball, and spending time with her family.
Read more about Roz

Vice President, Barbara Blake Williams
vp@mcdr.org

 

Barbara brings a broad professional and educational background to her work in mediation. Former Program Director of the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center in Howard County, Maryland, Barbara is now in private practice focusing on family issues including separation, divorce, and parenting. In addition, Barbara currently designs and conducts credit and noncredit courses in mediation and conflict resolution for Howard Community College.

Read more about Barbara

Secretary, Maria Krapf
Email: secretary1@mcdr.org

 

Maria has been involved in mediation and facilitation for the past three years. She has mediated almost 100 cases in a variety of civil matters, including business and contract matters, employment and tort issues, real estate and landlord-tenant disputes, family matters, divorce and custody issues, specialized education issues, community conflicts, and various neighborhood disputes. Maria is a mediator for the Circuit Court of Maryland, serving both on the Family Law panel and the CINA mediator panel (dealing with children referred to DSS), and serves as a volunteer panel mediator for the Maryland District Court Day of Trial mediation program. Maria is also a volunteer mediator for the Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center, where she mediates a variety of family, business, and community matters and works as a facilitator of Individualized Education Plan meetings in a pilot program with the Anne Arundel County School System.

Read more about Maria

Asst. Secretary, Eileen Coen

Email: Secretary2@mcdr.org

Immediate Past President, Doug Brookman

Email: ipp@mcdr.org

 

Doug Brookman, is a nationally recognized facilitator, mediator and trainer, that has conducted collaborative planning and problem-solving processes full-time for over 15 years. His company, Public Solutions facilitates effective decision making among divergent interests to serve human, technical, and political needs in complex, public contexts.

Mr. Brookman’s specialty is facilitating large, complex public processes to graceful solutions.  In this period he has conducted over one thousand public, stakeholder-driven meetings and collaborative processes. His work is focused at the intersection of energy, environment and natural resources.

Read more about Doug

Treasurer, George Spangler

Email: treasurer@mcdr.org

 

Standing Committees

Marketing & Outreach

Robert McFarland

Email: marketoutreach@mcdr.org

Programs

Ruth McLay Zanoni

Email: program1@mcdr.org

Certification and Qualifications Chair

Vacant

 

Nominating/Organizational Co-Chairs

Doug Brookman

Email: nomination1@mcdr.org

 

Doug Brookman, is a nationally recognized facilitator, mediator and trainer, that has conducted collaborative planning and problem-solving processes full-time for over 15 years. His company, Public Solutions facilitates effective decision making among divergent interests to serve human, technical, and political needs in complex, public contexts.

 

Mr. Brookman’s specialty is facilitating large, complex public processes to graceful solutions.  In this period he has conducted over one thousand public, stakeholder-driven meetings and collaborative processes. His work is focused at the intersection of energy, environment and natural resources.

Read more about Doug

John Spiegel                             
Email: nomination2@mcdr.org

 

John Spiegel is an attorney and teacher specially trained in divorce mediation. He has been a full-time mediator since 1996. A graduate of Yale Law School, he served as the 2003 and 2004 President of the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution (MCDR), a statewide ADR practitioners’ organization. He is the President of the Divorce Roundtable of Montgomery County, an interdisciplinary professional organizationJohn was the 2003 and 2004 President of the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution (MCDR), a statewide professional organization of mediators and other alternative dispute resolution practitioners. In 2001, he received recognition as a Certified Mediator from MCDR. John also serves as President of the Divorce Roundtable of Montgomery County, an interdisciplinary organization composed of judges, attorneys, mediators, and psychotherapists. He is the founder and mediator for the specialized family mediation program at Jewish Family Services in Baltimore.
Read more about John

Member-At-Large

                        NancyHirshman

                        Email:mal1@mcdr.org

 

DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE
February 2005 to present:  Private mediation practice with a focus on family matters and intra-personal disputes
November 1981 to February 2005:  Founder and Director, Mediation Center, Office of the State’s Attorney for Anne Arundel County.  Developed protocol, procedures, and philosophy for the in-house mediation program.

Read more about Nancy

Jean Whyte

Email: mal2@mcdr.org

Steve Henick
mal3@mcdr.org

 

Steve Henick, is a retired international business executive. Since his retirement, Steve has become a mediator and teaches business courses at Anne Arundel Community College. He is also the President of the Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center, President of the First Village Condominium Board and co-facilitator of the Institute for the Future @ AACC. Steve mediates privately as a partner in Rodis & Henick LLC.

Read more about Steve

Ellen Kandell

Email: mal4@mcdr.org

Membership Chair

Sallie Jenkins
membership@mcdr.org

 

Sallie Jenkins, has been a member of the Prince George's Community Mediation Board since the late 1990s. She attended Marvin Johnson's Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution and was certified by MCDR.
Read more about Sallie

Kate Cullen Palmisano, MSW

Email: membership2@mcdr.org

 

Special Committees

 Liaison to Bar, Bench, Legislature Co-chairs

Claudia Conroy

Email: barliaison@mcdr.org

Jonathan S. Rosenthal, Esquire                           
Email: barliaison2@mcdr.org

 Web Marketing Chair

Mae Whitehead
Email: marketing@mcdr.org

 

Mae has been involved in mediation and facilitation for the past ten years, gaining exposure to the field in 1993.  She has been a lead mediator for the federal governments Shared Neutral (SN) program and local government agencies of Prince Georges County; the Human Relations Commission and Office of Community Relations since 1998 and 1997, respectively.  She has completed over 400 hours of training in alternative dispute resolution (mediation/facilitation/negotiation), the EEO complaints process, train-the-trainer and other collaborative processes through the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Prince George’s County Community Mediation Board, (PGCMB), Blacks In Government (BIG), Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO).
Read more about Mae

Newsletter Editors

Lisa Dinhofer
Email: newseditor@mcdr.org

Ramona Buck

Email: newseditor2@mcdr.org

 

Ramona came to MACRO as Public Policy Director in 2001. She was the Director of ADR Services for the Circuit Court for Prince George=s County, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland for six years, and prior to that, was the Executive Director of Northern Virginia Mediation Service, in Fairfax, Virginia.

 

She is a past president of the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution (MCDR) and serves on its Mediator Certification Committee. She has a Master of Science in Conflict Resolution from George Mason University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Iowa. Ramona has been certified as a mediator by MCDR and by the Supreme Court of Virginia. She has been a mediator/trainer/facilitator since 1980.
Read more about Ramona

Diversity Chair

Seeking Chair