About Me

I was born and raised in New England, where I received a traditional liberal arts education at the Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University. Extensive travel in Europe, Africa and Asia in my young adult years helped me connect academic knowledge with personal experience.

I lived and worked in Hawai’i, Seattle and New York before settling in California in 1991. While in Hawai’i I was introduced to traditional practices for resolving disputes through community dialogue and came to appreciate the transformational value of effective communication. As a paralegal in Seattle I volunteered with the King County Superior Court’s Juvenile Diversion Program, and since that time have continued to learn and practice the skills needed to maintain a neutral and impartial stance in mediating conflict. I have trained with the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, the Conflict Resolution Center of Santa Cruz County, San Francisco’s Community Boards, JAMS and Monterey College of Law’s Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management.

As a member of the development team for an innovative divorce mediation program in Santa Cruz I have helped dozens of couples effect respectful separation and peaceably transform one household into two. I teach divorce and community mediation, volunteer with local nonprofit and am an active member of the national Association for Conflict Resolution. As a board member and committee chair at the National Association for Community Mediation I dedicate my time to improving awareness and understanding of the mediation premise and helping define appropriate skills and training for this important work.

I have served on the boards of arts organizations in Honolulu, Seattle, New York and California. I am a master craftsman working in figured hardwood, a regular participant in local Open Studios tours and teach woodworking through Cabrillo College’s Extension Arts program. I try to offer my insight and perspective wherever it may be of use.

Mediation Training Ho’oponopono with Morrnah Simeona, Honolulu, 1979-80 Juvenile Diversion Program, King County Superior Court, Seattle, WA 1983-1985 Creating and Sustaining Intentional Community, The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, 2009 Conflict Resolution Skills Workshop and Community Mediation Training, Conflict Resolution Center of Santa Cruz County, 2009 Divorce Mediation Training, CRC Santa Cruz (Family-law Affordable Mediation Project), 2010 Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program – 2011 Mediation Workshops, Ron Kelly/SF Community Boards 2013-15 Teaching Conflict Resolution Center 30 hour Mediation Trainings – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 FAM 30 hour Divorce Mediation Training, Monterey College of Law – 2012, 2013, 2014 Mandel-Gisnet Center 30 hour Community Mediation Trainings 2012-14 Presentation on “A Community Model for Divorce”, ACR Annual Convention, Reno NV October 2015

Affiliations: Association for Conflict Resolution (www.acrnet.org) Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Resolution, Conflict Resolution Center of Santa Cruz County, NAFCM Board member 2019-present.

Background: Phillips Exeter Academy 1966-70, Yale University 1970-74, Custom woodworking 1975-present, Time, Inc. 1984-87, Full-time Dad 1985-2000, Left Coast Digital 2000-2008, Neutral Ground Mediation 2009-present.