Meet our expert mediators:
Ben Adkins has been a workplace mediator for over 20 years. He has dealt with EEO matters as a trainer for government agencies and a private mediator. Ben is a conflict coach who works with organizations, teams, and individuals to strategically manage conflict and improve bottom-line performance. Since 1990, he has presented more than 3,500 training programs, board retreats, workshops, and webinars. Ben helps government agencies and private sector companies improve teamwork, leadership, productivity, and communication. He has personally mediated hundreds of disputes and has taught hundreds of people how to be successful mediators themselves.
Mr. Adkins is a master trainer with Mediation Training Institute International, a senior trainer with Mediation Dynamics, a board member of Tarrant County Association of Mediators, an adjunct faculty member of the National College of District Attorneys, and an author or co-author of numerous training and development courses. He is a former board member of the American Society of Training and Development.
Mr. Adkins has mediated cases involving discrimination on the bases of age, race, religion, disability, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, and hostile work environment. He is a trainer in cultural sensitivity and diversity issues. Ben mediated hundreds of cases in a community-based mediation center where he dealt with many issues related to diversity and inclusion.
Debra D'Allesandro has been a certified mediator since 2015. She received certification from the Office of Resolution Management, Diversity & Inclusion (ORMDI) within the Department of Veteran's Affairs, providing services as a neutral to support the resolution of EEO and non-EEO personnel issues. Debra has served as a VA certified facilitator since 2010, working with leaders in strategic planning retreats, professional development forums, and multi-disciplinary department meetings. As a certified coach and mentor, Debra received training from VHA's National Transformational Coaching Program which focuses on pillars of coaching, facilitation, change management, and process improvement.
She has provided formal coaching and mentorship to clinical managers, peers, and subordinates. She also served as an instructor for the VA's Leadership Education and Development Program (LEAD) creating content and teaching topics including Conflict Resolution, Communication, Change Management, and Difficult Conversations. Debra provided expertise in conflict resolution, leading fact findings and Administrative Investigative Board Reviews for VA leadership. In 2017, she received a graduate certificate in Conflict Resolution & Mediation from Colorado State University.
Debra received a certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Cornell University in 2022. The program contains courses on Improving Engagement, Counteracting Unconscious Bias, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Work, and Fostering an Inclusive Climate led by experts in the field on inclusion in organizations. This level of education in DE&I brings added proficiencies to her facilitation, coaching, and mediation work.
Randy Hoerschgen has been a mediator since 2002. Randy currently serves as the Director of Mediation & Settlement Services for Kansas Legal Services – Midland Mediation. He describes mediation as a unique opportunity for parties to resolve their dispute with the assistance of an experienced mediator, while designing a resolution that meets the individual interest of each party. The Association of Missouri Mediators (AMM) then appointed Randy to serve on the state board of directors. He was later nominated to serve as the first executive director of the AMM and was also appointed to serve on the Missouri Bar's Fee Dispute Resolution Committee.
In 2009, he relocated to New Orleans, LA, where he served as a federal employment mediator. He then served as a federal mediation subcontractor and maintains a federal security clearance as required for entering federal offices nationwide. Randy then directed mediation programs in Oklahoma and served as an adjunct professor at Cameron University. Randy has mediated cases in 27 states, including insurance litigation, labor disputes, employment law, personal injury, family law, wrongful death, and various other civil disputes. Randy earned his B.S. degree from Indiana University, majoring in behavioral science and business, an M.A. degree from California State University in negotiations, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding, and attended the Master of Laws program (LL.M.) at the University of Missouri School of Law.
Randy completed various mediation certifications and Diversity and Inclusion programs at Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, Stanford University, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Missouri. Randy primarily uses the facilitative model of mediation but also uses directive, evaluative, transformative, and Med-Arb. Most recently, Randy was appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee, and as a board member for MARCH mediation in Missouri.
Michael Leary is an experienced attorney and mediator, licensed to practice in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania for over 25 years. Graduating from the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School, Leary has also received extensive training in mediation and negotiation at the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. Skilled at all mediation forms, he has mediated cases at the state and federal level as well as privately, with particular focus on workplace disputes, EEO complaints, and employee grievances but also in contract, estate, and fee disputes. He has been a certified mediator for the State of Virginia and a Federal Shared Neutral and currently works in California as a restorative justice facilitator and mediator.
Leary also has extensive experience as a federal government executive, managing numerous programs for agencies responsible for national security for more than 17 years, before retiring as an Inspector General. In these roles, he became skilled at investigations, program review, and gained a broad understanding of federal regulations relating to the workplace.
Leary is a retired Marine Colonel with active and reserve duty to include combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan and is a recipient of the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit.
Jim Reeves provides conflict management and dispute resolution services to companies, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals. His services include mediation, facilitation, training in negotiation and conflict management, and the design of organizational conflict management programs.
He has worked with organizations and individuals in a broad range of industries including the arts, healthcare, education, law, manufacturing, and government. Mr. Reeves has over 30 years of mediation experience and has mediated hundreds of cases in legal and non-legal disputes, including tort liability, product liability, professional malpractice, commercial, employment, community disputes, and various disputes involving not-for-profit organizations.
He is a Lecturer in Law at Washington University in St. Louis teaching courses in alternative dispute resolution theory and practice. He has also been on the adjunct faculty at St. Louis University School of Law where he taught civil practice. Jim received his B.S. degree magna cum laude from the University of Central Missouri in 1980, his law degree from St. Louis University in 1984, and his LL.M (Master of Laws) from the University of Missouri – Columbia in 2004, where he focused on conflict theory and resolution, organizational assessment and change, and organizational conflict management.
Jim is active in his community, serving on the boards of Community Conflict Services, St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers & Accountants for the Arts, the St. Louis Organizational Development Network, and University City's Commission for Access and Local Original Programming (CALOP). He has served as both a volunteer and board member in organizations that provide community-based mediation as well as restorative justice practices. He has mediated many community disputes, including multi-party neighborhood issues. He has also facilitated victim-offender dialogues in local juvenile courts and has led "circle" discussions in local schools and organizations.
Richard "Rock" Rockenbach has 32 years experience as a mediator, 30 years as an attorney 14 years of which as a trial attorney. As an Air Force JAG, he worked at the Labor Field Support Center (LFSC) in Arlington, VA. At the LFSC, Major Rockenbach defended complaints filed against the Air Force with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in Federal Court. Prior to coming to the LFSC, Major Rockenbach was a student at the George Washington University Law School in the Labor Law LLM program. For the three years preceding the LLM program, Rock served as a circuit trial counsel in what was the Eastern Circuit. While on the circuit, he prosecuted numerous high-profile cases and second chaired US v. Witt, the first Air Force capital case to result in a death sentence in 15 years. He also served as an Area Defense Counsel, Chief of International and Operations Law, Military Justice, Claims, Civil Law, and Labor Law.
Rock has worked extensively with the Air Force ADR program teaching courses at the Air Force civilian personnel school and Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute and has authored course and field materials on alternative dispute resolution of civilian workplace disputes. Prior to entering the Air Force, Rock practiced employment and labor law in the private sector for three years. Major Rockenbach is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Alabama Supreme Court and the State Bar of Alabama. He is also admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals and the United States District Court for the Middle and Northern Districts of Alabama.
Rock has mediated over 4,500 cases. He has experience in community-based ADR dating back to 1992 and has done community-based mediations and has provided training materials and expert consultation to 72 Africa, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to creating sustainable peace in Ghana, Africa by mediating tribal disputes.
Brent J. Rosenbaum brings extensive professional experience as a seasoned neutral, evaluator, arbitrator, and hearing officer. His expertise spans multiple industries including labor and employment, academia, finance, corporate communication, entertainment, retail, and marketing. Known for thoughtful listening and keen attention to detail, he has demonstrated particular sensitivity to the nuances of human behavior throughout his career. His approach consistently yields informed decisions and acceptable outcomes while maintaining a passionate commitment to equity.
Since 2006, Rosenbaum has handled over 1,700 cases, with a primary focus on Employment and Labor issues, Business, Civil Harassment, Inter-Generational Family, and California Worker's Compensation matters. He has personally mediated more than 800 employment and labor cases. As an instructor and trainer of mediators, he has overseen and conducted more than 200 landlord/tenant cases in the Los Angeles and Ventura County Superior Courts.
His service extends across numerous governmental agencies, serving as a panel mediator, arbitrator, or hearing officer for organizations including the Los Angeles County Department of Human Resources, multiple U.S. Federal Departments, and Superior Courts throughout California. Since 2015, he has served as a Civil Service Commission Hearing Officer for Los Angeles County and holds positions on various housing-related boards and programs.
Rosenbaum's mediation philosophy centers on respect - both for the parties attending hearings and for the administrative process itself. He employs active listening techniques to ensure all participants have equal opportunity to voice their concerns. His approach combines compassion, patience, and understanding to make the process accessible and welcoming for all participants, whether dealing with one witness or fifty.
As a former professor at California State University, Northridge's Tseng College, he taught Workers' Compensation Law and Mediation and Conflict Resolution courses. His curriculum emphasized both legal principles and individual case consideration. He demonstrates particular sensitivity to cultural and linguistic diversity, regularly working with interpreters in multiple languages including Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Farsi, Armenian, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, and Sign Language.
Rosenbaum's commitment to integrity, ethics, and professionalism has earned him recognition from participants across all sides of disputes. He is consistently praised for ensuring all parties feel heard and respected throughout the hearing process. His unbiased approach, combined with his broad knowledge base and expertise from both public and private sectors, makes him a valuable asset in dispute resolution.
Marc Schwartz has been licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia for over 25 years. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School, where he was an Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He has completed dispute resolution training with The Center for Mediation in the Law and the International Ombudsman Association.
Following law school, Marc was a Law Clerk to Judge Lawrence M. McKenna in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. After the completion of his clerkship, he practiced corporate and real estate law and later served as Vice President and General Counsel of a large building materials distribution company. Since 2003, Marc has taught in the Department of Political Science and Law at Montclair State University. Additionally, starting in 2014, Marc has been a Special Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he serves as a Hearing Officer for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Marc has mediated over 500 workplace and EEO disputes and has resolved matters for a variety of private employers and for numerous federal, state, and local government agencies. He regularly serves as a mediator at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S District Court in Manhattan, and maintains a growing private practice. In addition to EEO matters, Marc's mediation experience includes FLSA, civil rights, false arrest, and police brutality accusations, and general commercial matters.
Marc has successfully mediated hundreds of cases where claimants have alleged discrimination on the basis of race, religion, disability, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, and retaliation. He has trained and mentored dozens of mediators at the EEOC and the U.S. District Court, serves on EEOC-sponsored mediation panels, and regularly teaches ADR basics to his undergraduate students.