Brian Luther, J.D.
Brian brings a strong legal and leadership background to his role as MwB Legal Officer. He has spent the past 11 years managing a team of attorneys who prepare online case law enhancements for LexisNexis, a leading legal research corporation. Brian’s experience with LexisNexis honed his extensive project management and advanced communications skills. Brian is also a Certified Mediator and, prior to his corporate work, was a municipal court mediator, specializing in domestic and neighbor relations disputes. His mediation work has shaped his enthusiastic dedication to peaceful conflict resolution.
Brian and family reside in Boulder County, CO., where he enjoys hiking, biking, skiing, and gardening. Brian is also a writer, who covers the Boulder Sustainable Food scene in an online column, as well as a musician and singer who performs in local venues with his band. Brian brings the same spirit of collaboration, innovation, and imagination to his role with MwB.
Learn more about Brian LutherAlison Taylor, MA
Alison will be providing online teaching services through Mediators Without Borders as of 2010. She has over 30 years of experience performing divorce mediation in the public and private sectors, and has served for ten years as the Training Coordinator at the Clackamas County Family Court Service, supervising professionals and graduate students in the only on-going internship program in Oregon.
Ms. Taylor was formerly an associate faculty member and instructor for the Master’s in Conflict Resolution program at Antioch University. She has taught classes on ethics and law, and clinical counseling supervision at Lewis & Clark College, as well as general mediation classes at Marylhurst University. She has also taught all the required minimum qualifications courses for Basic/Civil and for Domestic Relations Custody and Parenting mediators, plus negotiation and other classes for business applications through Portland State University.
Alison has been the Executive Director for the Oregon Family Institute, a think-tank for innovative programs for courts and families, since 2003. Alison is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and since January 2006 she has offered couples counseling, mediation, parent coordination and collaborative custody evaluation services in a limited private practice from her Hawthorn Farms offices in Hillsboro, Oregon. She also provides consultation and supervision with other professionals.
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Chris Cosgrove
Chris Cosgrove brings her creativity and a passion for teaching to her role as an instructor and Administrator of Mediators Without Borders. Chris has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Utah. She currently attends the University of Colorado working on her Master’s Degree in Instructional Design for eLearning.
Chris’ vast experience in the field of conflict resolution includes clinical and medical social work, nursing home administration, restorative justice counseling, and substance abuse counseling. Her experience in on-line learning brings our team an engaging spirit with experience and passion for the inAccord Mediation process.
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Christy Carroll
Christy Carroll, Certified Mediator, brings 20 years of Business and Entrepreneurial experience to Mediators Without Borders. She has been a Trainer and Motivational Speaker in the Front Range area and around the US.
Christy has a passion for communication skills and is a certified instructor in many curricula- including Active Relationships, Strength Training for Fathers, and PICK a Partner. She has been using these skills as a Community Educator and Project Manager for a Non Profit project serving the state of Wyoming. She is also a Licensed PAIRS instructor and a Certified Life Coach.
James (Jim) Siefken
Jim Siefken has been working in the construction industry for over 30 years. His duties have ranged from laborer to Project Manager in the Federal Government, State Government and private sector projects. Jim has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Management and a Masters of Education in Organizational Performance and Change.
Jim has been mediating since 2001 and enjoys bringing the parties’ situations to positive solutions. Jim’s experiences are not limited to construction; but also include workplace issues, homeowner associations, community cases and landlord tenant issues. He is currently the Mediation Coordinator for the city of Fort Collins, Colorado. To quote Jim, “Conflict is all around us and I believe that if we can’t effectively deal with conflict then we cannot progress as a society.”
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Shauna Rienks
In addition to her role as Statistician and Researcher for Mediators without Borders, Shauna Rienks works as a Research Associate for the federally funded Fatherhood Relationship and Marriage Education (FRAME) project in the Psychology Department at the University of Denver. She is originally from Trinidad, CO and earned her Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Princeton University.
After earning her secondary education teaching certificate in the state of New Jersey, she was selected to work for the Princeton-in-Asia program and taught English at a university in South Korea for 5 years before returning to Colorado to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Denver. Her research utilizes an ecological systems theory approach to examine how family processes, school contexts, and individuals’ characteristics (such as gender, ethnicity, and culture) interact to produce both positive and negative social, educational, and mental health outcomes. She joined Mediators without Borders in 2011 and is thrilled to have has earned her mediation certification. She looks forward to utilizing her training to help Mediators without Borders achieve the goal of Sustainable Peace. She lives in Brighton with her husband and two young daughters.
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Shauna Ries, LCSW, MFT, MDR – Guest Faculty
Shauna brings an impassioned vision to her role as President of Mediators without Borders. Shauna designed an economically sustainable clinic initiative and co-created the inAccord Conflict Analysis Model for transparency and empowerment, as these two mediation principles interface with the role of emotions, to contribute to the field of conflict resolution with Susan Harter. Shauna brings over thirty years of combined work and experience in management and executive levels of corporations, leading over 600 employees and in the front lines as a Family Clinician, Certified Mediator and Arbitrator. This unique interdisciplinary experience enables Shauna to build bridges among diverse communities and engage in personal interactions with clarity and focus, while leading the Mediators without Borders Organization.
Shauna is a graduate of the University of Denver where she earned a master degree in social work. She completed her studies at DU with an 18 month post graduate study in Marriage and Family Therapy at the Denver Family Institute. Shauna completed Mediation through CDR and through a partnership program between Arcadia University International Peace and Conflict Studies Program. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and worked in private practice and served at Project PAVE (Promoting Alternatives to Violence through Education) and Southern Pacific Railroad as a Mediator and Family Clinician.
In 1994, Mediators without Borders began as RMA, a leadership, communication, stress management and conflict management organization offering individual, family and corporate training. Shauna’s initial clinical interventions involved work with couples in dispute, but subsequently expanded to deal with disputes within organizations both nationally and internationally. These early interventions were formulated into the inAccord Conflict Analysis Model.
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