About Our Presenters

Keynote Speaker Daniel Rainey is the Director of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution Services at the National Mediation Board.  As Director, ADRS, he is responsible for development of the Board's Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program, including Interest Based Bargaining training and facilitation, Grievance Mediation training and facilitation, and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR). In addition, Mr. Rainey has administrative responsibility for the NMB's research program, the public information/public affairs program, and the documents and records management program

Elisabeth Bissell is a mediator certified by the Supreme Court of Virginia in both family and civil mediation.  She provides mediation services through Northern Virginia Mediation Service (NVMS), Inc., as well as in her own private practice.  She also provides online mediation services for SquareTrade, the mediation provider for eBay, and has successfully mediated hundreds of those cases.  She holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois.

Patricia L. Esslinger is an independent groupware facilitator whose client list features Federal managers and executives.  She specializes in facilitating technology-enabled meetings, where each participant in the room has a computer.  Pat combines expertise in meeting facilitation and use of GroupSystems_® collaborative technology with a background in executive level Federal management, including twenty-five years with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.  Pat graduated cum laude in political science and English from Vassar College and attended the Federal Executive Institute (FEI) program in Executive Leadership and Management.  Technology for many of Pat’s engagements, including this one, is provided by JRH Associates, Inc. JRH specializes in collaborative technology facilitation, training and system leasing services for Fortune 50 companies, federal government agencies, private corporations, and non-profit organizations.

Doug Hensch is a Sr. Manager of Organization Development (OD) with Nextel Communications in Reston, VA.  In his current position, he contracts with various internal managers to improve team performance and he coaches executives in the company’s Leadership Development Program (LDP). Recently, he developed a competency model for the Care organization that has helped the organization focus its training efforts, improve its hiring practices, and clarify roles and responsibilities. The Marketing team benefited from a ‘leadership audit’ aimed at identifying the group’s ability to manage through the impending merger with Sprint. A change management workshop was developed and facilitated by Doug to assist employees with the stress of the merger.   Doug is a qualified Myers-Briggs facilitator.

Lisa Kimball is Executive Producer of Group Jazz, a company that supports the work of purposeful groups - teams, communities, task forces, organizations - whether they meet face-to-face or online or both. Group Jazz brings together the best processes, tools, technologies, media, consultants, cast members and practitioners to create great group experiences that support action.  Lisa is a specialist in applications of electronic networking and the design of virtual spaces for organizations, teams, and online communities.  For over 25 years, Lisa’s clients have included government agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions.  She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology: Cognition and Learning from The Catholic University of America.

Sandra A. Sellers is President of Technology Mediation Services, LLC. She mediates and arbitrates intellectual property, domain name, software, contract and other business disputes.  She also is an adjunct professor of mediation at Georgetown University Law

Center, Washington, DC.

Derek Sweetman is the ADR Director of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, DC and Eastern Pennsylvania.  He is currently completing a master's degree at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and is the editor and publisher of OJPCR: The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Jeannette P. Twomey, a mediator in private practice since 1993, has conducted on-line and telephone mediations in workplace and family disputes.  Since 1995, Ms. Twomey has been an instructor of Mediator Ethics, a required course for Virginia Certified mediators.  She is a Mentor Mediator, designated by the Virginia Supreme Court’s mediator certification program.  She has served as President of the Board of Northern Virginia Mediation Service and is affiliated with the Virginia Mediation Network and the Association for Conflict Resolution.   She is a graduate of Hollins College and the American University’s Washington College of Law.

Michael J. Wolf is Counsel for Dispute Resolution Technology to the National Mediation Board in Washington, DC.  Mr. Wolf has been adjunct faculty at Pepperdine’s School of Law since 2003 and has been a guest lecturer at other schools including Harvard’s Kennedy School, George Washington University, University of Texas Business School and Rutgers Department of Public Policy. He earned a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.