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Professionals in Conflict Resolution

A Warm Welcome from the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution!

We are an organization dedicated to imaginative, empowered conflict resolution.

    Our outreach promotes and educates residents to a diverse set of non litigated solutions that can provide real benefits to the psyches of those in conflict, as well as to their wallets!  Our programs for professionals, including a nationally-recognized certification process, ensure that parties to conflict will have deeply knowledgeable professionals to guide them to creative, value-driven and mutual agreements.  We also serve as a guiding hand to new mediation practitioners as they navigate the field, and search for ways to build skills.

Announcing MCDR's Mentoring Program

    Whether you are a practitioner, or seeking mediation services, we invite you to explore all the services of  MCDR as we build a better world -- one mediation at a time.

                                                Meet our 2022 President

                                                                           Michael Sallustio, J.D.

   First, I want to thank everyone for trusting me to lead MCDR into the next year.  I am honored, humbled and enthusiastic about this challenge!  I also want to congratulate the new slate of Board members and committee chairs.  I am excited to work with each of you in making this a robust and engaging year.  I want to especially thank past Vice President Monette Goodridge for recommending me to the Board in 2021 and outgoing President David Lewis for mentoring me in the ways of Board dynamics over this past year.

   It seems cliché at this point, but I cannot go without acknowledging that 2021 was an extremely challenging year for most of us in both our personal and professional lives.  The fear of getting together and the stress of isolation certainly took its toll.  Like many organizations, our committees were much less active and our membership took a hit.  Despite these challenges, our Board members remained committed and persevered.  Thanks to their efforts, we regained many members and managed to pull off a couple of successful programs during our last quarter. We also added four new awards to be given on a bi-annual basis:  the Sharon Pickett Lifetime Achievement Award; the Stanley Rodbell Legacy Award; the Sara Grebe Service Award; and the Book Award/Aspiring Mediator Award. We also created a new Awards Committee charged with administering all our awards.

   My focus for 2022 is to use the momentum from last quarter to accomplish greater things in programing. We plan to have at least four programs this year and some of the topics being discussed are very intriguing.  LaVerne Day is once again heading up the Programs Committee and could certainly use some additional “boots on the ground” for any members who would be willing to offer up their related experience and time.  Because programs are a passion of mine, I plan to also be integrally involved on the Committee. The venerable Stirling Phillips is leading the Mentorship Committee and he is actively seeking volunteer mentors to provide much-needed guidance to new mediators. This is another area where I think MCDR could set itself apart from other organizations. We have so many experienced and talented mediators among us and this is one opportunity that could help seal their legacies.  And finally, the Certification Committee, led by chairperson Kate Kranitz, has long been MCDR’s flagship service.  My hope is that MCDR’s certification program becomes known throughout the state as the gold standard for training young mediators as well as furthering the growth of established ADR professionals.  

   I approach this year with enthusiasm, intention, humility, curiosity, and hope.  I want to make myself accessible to every one of you. I welcome your ideas and your insights. Let’s go out there together and educate and inspire others about the value and potential of ADR.  After all, isn’t this the core of our mission?

   I leave you with one of my favorite quotes about leadership:

“To inspire people, 

don’t show them

your super powers.

Show them theirs.”

             Alexander den Heijer

Michael Sallustio,  President MCDR

    A Message from 2019 Past President, Stirling Phillips, Esq.

     First, I want to congratulate the new Board members on their election to the MCDR Board of Directors. Thankfully, most Board members are continuing to serve in this new term so there is significant experience at the helm of MCDR. Consequently, I believe these are exciting times ahead for MCDR as the Board will be at full strength as it starts its new term. Second, I want to thank the previous Board and MCDR members for your support and participation over the past year and when I served as President. It was an honor and a privilege to serve as President. We continue the tradition of providing high quality ADR/mediation education and professional training through our Quarterly meetings. 

     We continue to provide our unique independent peer reviewed certification processes which is a time tested and proven tool for the market to identify high quality mediators. Over the past year we have made significant strides in developing a mentoring program for mediators;  I am both proud and humbled to serve as the first Chairman of the new Mentoring Program Committee. I am also proud of our success, receiving a MACRO grant helping launch the Feedback Assessment program, offering individualized constructive feedback to mediators.

Please continue your support of MCDR.

Stirling Phillips, Esq.

MCDR Past President