Resume  

I am established at Fresno Pacific University (FPU), Mediation Services, as a mediator and Program Director for Dispute Resolution Program Act court services. I maintain an office in Fresno, California. I  serve on the Fresno County Superior Court’s Mediator Panel and hold membership with the Association for Conflict Resolution. My back ground for this work is through the master’s program in Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking at Fresno Pacific University. I earned a BA in Rhetoric with a minor in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley (’77). I have in excess of 200 hours of certified mediation training. My training includes an additional 110 hours from the California Bar Association and 25 hours from the American Bar Association. I have been trained in construction dispute arbitration certified by the New Mexico Bar and as an employment mediator by the EEOC. I have twenty-eight years of experience in retail business ownership and real estate management. I am a Research Consultant, Program Coordinator and advanced mediator trainer for the Fresno County Superior Court.  I consider myself to be a conflict specialist.

My work with FPU Mediation Associates is to direct and develop its contractual relationship with Fresno County Superior Court.  This program functions provide litigants access to justice.  The program educates complainants and respondents about the opportunity to voluntarily mediate their conflict. I help the parties set a mutually agreeable venue to mediate. Each party is assisted in developing their voice to efficiently participate in mediation. A graduate mediator intern, under my supervision, or I mediate the conflict. This work has provided me with over 400 case experiences.

I assessed the use of Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE) in Federal and State Courts prior to contracting with the Fresno Superior Court to implement the process into its ADR program.  ENE is now one of the processes available to satisfy the court order for litigants to participate in alternative dispute resolution.

I am a graduate of Leadership Fresno Class XVIII and Fresno County Farm Bureau’s Future Advocates for Agriculture Concerned about Tomorrow (FACT) program. These two programs exposed me to current issues facing the Central Valley. The public policy issues visited included population growth, land use, water use, environment, public health, transportation, labor, import / export, poverty, nutrition, air quality, new cross-cultural refugee populations and other interests related to the development of Rural America. The educational forum these programs offered was through panel presentation by proponents with opposing views followed by site visits that demonstrated the subject matter. The task of the class was to become a substantial leader with the ability to facilitate systemic change affecting the greatest public benefit.

I have had entrepreneurial management experience throughout my entire life as a third generation businessman in the lumber and hardware industry. My family’s retail lumber and hardware business in  California, provided me with total quality management systems experience in labor, inventory, facilities, insurance, vendors, customers and contracts. My work in project management has brought all facilitating parties to a common vision that completes the goals valued by each partner. This is one of my strong attributes.

I became involved with the National and California Lumber Associations. This gave me experience in the legislative process of networking and lobbying for industry interests at state and federal levels. I developed a working structure to identify, approach and integrate appropriate stakeholders in a constructive problem solving environment.

My contact with the agricultural industry has been life long as I was born during the era initiating the Great Westside water projects to the current era of the Westland’s land retirement program. I have participated in water delivery system construction, water monitoring and desalination projects, construction of field packing machinery and conversion of cantaloupe packing sheds into alternative use facilities. I stay in close contact with water issues as a shareholder in Columbia Canal Company which has Exchange Water Contractor’s rights. I further this contact through volunteer support of the San Joaquin River Parkway Trust. I have participated in forums during the past fifteen years exploring the potential models that will evolve the Great Westside of the San Joaquin Valley. Additionally, my involvement as a member of the Fresno County Tourism Committee, the Firebaugh – Las Deltas School District Vocational Advisory Committee and Committee for an Entrepreneurship Development System for Rural America has put me in the forefront of facilitating local change in a cooperative manner.

I am well rounded to administer and facilitate processes of conflict management and conflict resolution. My training and experience enable me to provide a safe environment that allows clients, employers, counsel and support services to know they have been heard during their effort to constructively seek options that peacefully manage change and resolution.

Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself. My focus and heart are clearly set to excel as a mediator for your needs.