Monica S. Desai
Monica Desai is the Director, Public Policy at Facebook. Previously, she was a partner at Squire Patton Boggs, where she advised clients on complex media, technology, and regulatory communications matters. She spent over a decade in senior positions at the Federal Communications Commission: Senior Executive Service member, chief of the Media Bureau, chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, deputy chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, special counsel to the General Counsel, and legal advisor to the commissioner. Her FCC experience includes analyzing complex issues and developing orders and policies involving multiple stakeholders. Ms. Desai regularly serves as an expert witness in litigation related to issues involving interpretation of matters involving the FCC. She has authored numerous publications and frequently speaks on topics involving communications and technology issues. She clerked for the Honorable Deborah K. Chasanow, US District Court, District of Maryland, and served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University Law School. Ms. Desai received her BBA in Finance, magna cum laude, from the George Washington University, where she was a National Merit Scholar. She graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center where she served on the American Criminal Law Review and as President of the South Asian Law Students Association.
Lance J. Descourouez
Mr. Descourouez is an internationally recognized business consultant and executive coach. He has worked in 34 countries across 3 continents. Prior to beginning his own business and becoming a Master Chair with Vistage International, he served as a company president, director of international business development and senior consultant in the areas of global organizational development and executive leadership. In addition, Mr. Descourouez is a published author, adjunct professor, and celebrated speaker. Early in his career, he served as a program manager for the Business Council of International Understanding and Up With People organizations. His education includes an MS in Organization Development and an MA in Cross-Cultural Psychology from American University, and a B.A. in Psychology from Loyola University New Orleans.
Robert D. Doerr, Ph.D.
Robert Doerr is a practicing psychologist with 30 years of experience, including the past 15 years as a conflict resolution specialist and arbiter. While the latter work has emphasized domestic relations and other family law disputes, he also has expertise in handling small business disputes and real estate, neighbor, and inter-departmental disputes. Dr. Doerr has had some law school training and training from the Northern California Mediation Center. He is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Las Positas College and Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay area, where he teaches a variety of courses such as Abnormal, Developmental, Brain-Mind and Behavior, Research Methods, and Introductory Psychology. Earlier in his career, he taught creative writing in the Peralta Colleges system (Berkeley). He has received numerous teaching awards and has authored articles in various professional journals. He once served in the Peace Corps in Nepal. Dr. Doerr is listed in Who’s Who in America. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology at Saybrook University in San Francisco, earned his B.A. in International Law at Rollins College in Florida, and attended selected courses at Harvard.
James P. Dowd, CFA
James Dowd is a Certified Public Accountant and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He has founded and managed several investment advisors, trading, and broker-dealer related enterprises. He has extensive experience in strategic asset allocation, evaluating hedge fund investments, portfolio construction with alternative investments, manager selection, risk management, portable alpha and overlay strategies using derivatives and non-traditional beta strategies. Mr. Dowd founded North Capital Private Securities, North Capital Investment Technology, North Capital Inc., and North Capital, LLC. Prior to that, he was at Bear Stearns Asset Management, where he led the portfolio management team in advising clients and allocating capital to non-affiliate hedge funds. Additional experience includes Tokai Asia Limited (Hong Kong), Bankers Trust Company, and Samuel Montagu Capital Markets Inc. Mr. Dowd earned a bachelor’s of science in Foreign Service (BSFS), majoring in international economics, finance, and commerce at Georgetown University. He is a frequent presenter at investment industry conferences. He serves on the boards of directors of several privately held companies and is a founding trustee of the Young Women’s Choral Projects of San Francisco.
Joseph P. Giacalone
Mr. Giacalone is an expert in electrical contracting and inspection where he has worked for over 30 years. He is a retired California licensed electrical contractor and a past member of the National Electrical Contractors Association (Santa Clara Valley). He represented clients to the Code & Compliance Appeals Board, City of San Jose. He performed work and services for numerous companies, including Colliers International, PG&E, and various construction and law firms. Mr. Giacalone serves as an expert witness for construction litigation, allowing attorneys and insurance companies to understand how various code and construction processes apply in such areas as utility installations, street lighting, CATV, and communications installations. His formal education includes focused study in business management, lighting design, and electrical services cost estimating. In his own words, he became an arbiter and mediator because he believes the traditional court system produces a negative impact on the reputations of the parties compared to the Just Resolve method that allows for the private resolution of a dispute. He also believes its process is much less expensive than traditional arbitration.
Adam Gordon
Mr. Gordon is an expert in technology company marketing and sales, product management, effective messaging, and creative strategy development. With an emphasis on B2B relationships, his career experience runs the gamut from extensive content writing for all media to creation, implementation and management of focused brand-building, marketing, and sales programs. Since 2005, Mr. Gordon has served as Senior VP of Strategic Services of The Oya Group, where his consulting credits include successful projects for Cisco, Pinnacle Systems, Brocade, Annuvia, Adeza Biomedical, and Kodak. Before 2005, his career included roles as Director of Global Business Development for Centric Software, Major Account and Technical Sales Representative for Zenith Data Systems, and Senior Products Manager for Plantronics. Mr. Gordon holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Communications from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Joe H. Henderson
Mr. Henderson has been a practicing attorney since 1971, and he arbitrated his first matter in 1972. His extensive arbitration experience includes Labor-Management Collective Bargaining disputes, employment law, issues germane to family owned businesses, contracts, sexual harassment, real estate, and probate. He has conducted arbitrations in 29 states including AK, AR, AZ, CA, FL, HI, ID, IL, MO, MT, NE, ND, NY, NM, NV, OH, OR, TX, WA, Okinawa, Japan and South Korea. He is a former assistant city manager for Santa Rosa where he negotiated Labor contracts between the city and 7 labor unions. He served as the Dean of the Empire College School of Law in Santa Rosa where he also taught classes on alternative dispute resolution. He has served on various panels, including the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and National Mediation Board. He is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators since 1978, the Conflict Resolution Association, and the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation. Mr. Henderson holds a Master's in Conflict Resolution from Antioch University, a BA in Public Administration from Cal State University, Sacramento, and a JD from Lincoln University, San Francisco.
Shawn Jackson
Mr. Jackson is a practicing attorney and instructor with over thirty years of broad-based legal, sales, business development, and marketing experience. His unique experience ranges from owning and operating businesses in wholesale, retail, and manufacturing to legal practice and consulting encompassing business formation, compliance, development and marketing plans, and extensive alternative dispute resolution work in arbitrating and mediating disputes. His dispute resolution practice emphasizes the areas of contract and real estate with special expertise in such areas as multiple license contracts, intellectual property agreements, and international contracts. Mr. Jackson is an active business development instructor teaching multiple-week courses and numerous workshops. He is also a former family therapist. He received his BA degree in psychology from Sonoma State University and his JD from Empire Law School (cum laude). His post-graduate studies also include two years in psychology at California Graduate School, San Rafael CA.
Anne Jordan
Ms. Jordan is a practicing attorney representing multi-national corporations and start-ups across a variety of industries. Throughout her 30+ year legal career, she has focused on commercial, technology, IP and employment law, working as general counsel for corporations with significant IP portfolios, including PeopleSoft, Inc. and Sega of America. She has substantial experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial transactions, technology licenses and distribution deals and has also been involved in litigating numerous commercial and IP disputes. She is an experienced mediator and arbitrator who has helped resolve numerous high-value disputes, including infringement matters, failed software development deals and license agreement breaches. She is a frequent speaker and author and is a contributor to “Winning Legal Strategies for Software Companies: Leading Lawyers on Protecting IP, Negotiating Contracts, and Creating Legal Game Plans.” She co-chairs the ABA Dispute Resolution Section’s Task Force on Early Dispute Resolution, has served multiple terms on the International Trademark Association’s Board of Directors and was on the American Law Institute’s Advisory Committee for the Restatement of Unfair Competition. Ms. Jordan holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law.
Steven J. Lee
Mr. Lee is a certified estate and financial planner. He is currently the Executive Vice President of George James & Associates based in Southern California. In addition to managing his own book of business, he fosters inter-company referral relationships and facilitates strategic partnerships with financial service providers. As Executive VP, Mr. Lee is responsible for training and overseeing the firm’s managing partners where he remains informed of cutting-edge product-service interfaces and regulations. Within financial services, Mr. Lee’s areas of competence include financial planning, wealth management, insurance and risk mitigation, estate planning and probate, alternative investments, tax planning, and employee benefits and retirement. Formerly, Mr. Lee professed Philosophy and Theology at various colleges throughout the country and presented papers on related topics. Mr. Lee is a founder of HEAL Global Legacy Corporation, and he supports the Pappas Patristic Institute in Brookline, MA as well as the Osgood Institute in Washington, D.C. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from Austin College. Additionally, he holds a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from Claremont Graduate University and a Master of Theology degree from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.
Ronald Alex Long
Mr. Long is a practicing senior attorney and university professor with broad expertise in real estate transactions, credit repair, employment contracts, wrongful discharge, business acquisitions, taxation, and breach of contract. He has training and experience as an arbitrator through the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. He also is an account executive for a mortgage brokerage company, evaluating credit and overseeing underwriting and funding operations. Mr. Long’s extensive teaching experience ranges from K-12 education to college undergraduate and graduate courses in business and business law, business ethics, and real estate and finance. He currently teaches at Thomas Edison State College, Montgomery County Community College, and Bucks County Community College. His government training and service encompasses the U.S. Coast Guard, IRS, Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. He helped establish and is the lead instructor for the Metropolitan Real Estate School in Doylestown, PA. Mr. Long holds a JD degree from Widener University School of Law (Delaware), an MBA from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, and bachelor level degrees in business and management (dual degree) and economics from Spring Garden College (PA) and Bethany College (KS), respectively.
Edward Lozowicki
Mr. Lozowicki is a highly reputed arbitrator and attorney with more than 35 years of experience in construction law and litigation, renewable energy cases, real estate law, and complex commercial litigation. A member of the trial bars of numerous federal and all California state courts, his subject matter expertise includes construction delay and disruption, changed conditions, construction defects, mechanic’s lien and bonds, bid protests, real estate contracts and leases, power purchase and fuel supply contracts, and regulatory proceedings before the PUC. His project experience includes highways, bridges, undersea tunnels, power plants, prisons, hospitals, schools, refineries, military bases, missile projects, and many others. Before practicing law as a partner with prominent law firms Sheppard Mullin, Coudert Brothers, and Pettit & Martin, Mr. Lozowicki was corporate counsel to an international construction and building products company where he gained hands-on experience in the construction and energy industries. He earned his J.D. from Santa Clara University Law School and his B.A. from St. Joseph’s University.
Adriana C. Moore
Ms. Moore is a practicing attorney and certified mediator with over 20 years of experience in identifying, evaluating, and resolving the conflict for individuals, private companies, and small businesses. Her broad range of litigation experience in contract, business, tort, corporate, real estate, construction, and labor and employment matters has resulted in her skilled assessment and evaluation of a variety of disputes, both small and large. These skills have been further honed in her work as a Judge Pro Tem and her counseling and training with Peacemakers. She is particularly skilled at communicating and facilitating communications with parties of varied temperaments and goals, while creatively helping them navigate difficult issues to resolve conflict and restore and reconcile relationships. In the Bay Area, she is active in various organizations, has worked with prominent firms, and founded two general practice firms. Ms. Moore received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. and her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. Ms. Moore is fluent in Spanish.
A.J. “Nick” Nichols, Ph.D.
Dr. Nichols has broad industry expertise in computer hardware and software, including, for example, modems, peer-to-peer communications, laser eye surgery software, disk drives, web page design, BIOS operation, data communications, electronic games, networks, image rendering, logic design, and clean room setup. He is a trained mediator and arbitrator who also has served extensively as a Special Master and neutral technology expert to numerous federal and state courts. Before applying his broad technology and business expertise to aid in dispute resolution, he served as an engineering executive, developer, and researcher for Probitas Corporation, Millennium Systems, Intel Corporation, American Microsystems, Novar Corporation, and Lockheed Missiles & Space Company. Dr. Nichols holds Ph.D. and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and Bachelor of Science degrees in both Business Management and Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Dave Owens
Dave is a member of Winstead’s Environmental Law Practice Group. He has more than 25 years of experience representing clients in compliance, litigation and enforcement matters, as well as participating in legislative and rulemaking strategies. Before joining Winstead, Dave was a Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation where he was responsible for both Domestic and International E&P, E&P Services (Environmental, Health and Safety; Intellectual Property; and Supply Chain Management Contracts), Litigation, Hard Rock Minerals, and LNG. He was environmental counsel at several large law firms and served as in-house counsel for the world’s largest integrated oil and gas company. He was also an environmental consultant and a manager of environmental control systems and power & fuel departments for a large steel manufacturer. Dave has resolved matters involving: (1) surface and subsurface property damage disputes; (2) the development of distressed industrial and residential properties; (3) the allocation of liabilities in mergers and acquisitions; (4) the allocation of liabilities in multiparty contamination disputes; and (5) creativity and cooperation between NGOs, developers and mining and mineral interests. He received a BA in biology and an MS in Quantitative Ecology from West Virginia University and a JD from Duquesne University.
Tim Padgett
Mr. Padgett is an expert in marketing, advertising, and print production. His wide-ranging experience also includes Advisory Board service for numerous non-profit organizations such as the prestigious Illinois Institute of Art. He is the founder and CEO of the Pepper Group, an award-winning Chicago area marketing communications firm consistently honored as a top agency by B-to-B Magazine. A member of the Entrepreneurs Organization, the American Marketing Association, and the Society for Marketing Professional Services, he brings a balanced perspective to issues arising in B2B contracts among service professionals and client businesses. Mr. Padgett holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Marketing Communications with an emphasis in design from Southern Illinois University.
Tamara B. Pow
Ms. Pow is a founding partner of Strategy Law, LLP. She advises businesses, business owners, and real estate investors on all aspects of business transactions, including contract negotiation, liability protection, entity formation, and taxation. Her real estate expertise encompasses 1031 exchange tax planning, purchase and sale agreements, due diligence reviews, and leases. Prior to founding Strategy Law, LLP, Ms. Pow was a founding partner of a boutique San Jose firm for 9 years, and earlier was an attorney in Hopkins & Carley’s Corporate Advice & Transactions Department and the leader of the firm’s Tax Practice Group. Prior to practicing law, Ms. Pow was a tax consultant at San Jose-based Price Waterhouse LLP, where she dealt with tax controversies, IRS and FTB audits, business planning issues, and corporate and individual tax returns. Ms. Pow’s professional profile includes that she is an AV-rated attorney and a licensed California Real Estate Broker. She has also received several other honors including selection as a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2017, and one of Silicon Valley’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2008. She holds a BA in Sociology from UCLA, and a JD and MBA from UC Davis.
Bruce Rossiter
Mr. Rossiter is an expert in the healthcare area, with functional skills that include sales, marketing, and profit growth activities, with additional expertise in mergers and acquisitions. Formerly a corporate financial advisor with Morgan Stanley and Oppenheimer & Company, a senior officer with two national venture capital groups, and an associate with McKinsey and Company, he currently is the CEO of HEAL Diabetes Clinics. Mr. Rossiter has served on 34 company Boards of Directors, and early in his career, he served briefly as an Assistant Attorney General in Oklahoma. Mr. Rossiter holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Tuck at Dartmouth, and both his Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Oklahoma. He completed the Venture Capital Executive Course at Harvard Business School and earned certification from SMM University as a Certified Social Media Strategist.
Sonya L. Sigler
Ms. Sigler is an intellectual property attorney and operations and legal executive. Her most recent role was Vice President, Product Strategy and Consulting at Discovia, helping law firms and corporations deploy and use technology-assisted document review software. Her broad business experience includes co-founding e-discovery start-up Cataphora, serving in varying senior capacities prior to its sale to Ernst & Young. Ms. Sigler led business development for several start-ups including RealCommunities and IDO Systems, after in-house counsel roles at Sega and Intuit. She’s a popular speaker who’s addressed the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Washington State Bar, the Texas State Bar and others. Her published articles include in-house counsel and e-Discovery topics. Ms. Sigler served on the Cyberspace Law Committee of the California State Bar and the Advisory Board of Women in Technology International. She holds 5 U.S. patents. She received her BA in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, and her JD from Santa Clara University School of Law, where she was Associate Editor of its Law Review. She also holds certifications in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of California Extension and does charitable fundraising in her community.
Udo Steudtner
Mr. Steudtner is a project management consultant and former management-level executive in the construction industry with over 35 years of experience. His expertise spans all aspects of project management from staff supervision, daily administration and document review to budget preparation, financing and scheduling. His projects have included residential mid-rise, retail and commercial buildings, high-end residential homes and subdivisions, and steel and concrete bridge construction. Mr. Steudtner’s distinguished career encompasses lengthy tenures as President of custom home builder Calendar Development Inc. and Director of Construction for Duane Reade Inc., a subsidiary of the Walgreen Company, which owns a chain of pharmacy and convenience stores primarily in New York City. He also has consulting experience and lectures in the area of renewable energy. Currently, he specializes in consulting with individuals who are acting as their own general contractors, usually when building their houses. This involves helping them avoid many of the problems encountered when dealing with sub-contractors. Mr. Steudtner holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Bethany College.
Diane Tucker
Ms. Tucker has resolved consumer/business disputes since 1984. She has addressed disputes via both arbitration and mediation through the State Bar of California, the Superior Court of San Francisco, and the Better Business Bureau. Further, as a Certified Information Privacy Professional, she is a credible arbiter of personal information privacy claims in international, domestic, and cross-border disputes. Ms. Tucker’s Vancouver, BC-based privacy consulting and alternative dispute resolution business serves both Canadian and US businesses. She has previously held positions as in-house counsel, including chief legal officer, in international electronic entertainment and enterprise software companies in the US and Canada. Ms. Tucker has been an adjunct professor in law, paralegal, and business school programs in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Vancouver. She is a member of the State Bar of California and the British Columbia Arbitration and Mediation Institute and the ADR Institute of Canada. In addition, she currently serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors at Place des Arts, an art teaching facility in Coquitlam, BC. Ms. Tucker received her BA in Theology from the University of Dayton and her JD from Western State University College of Law.
Mike Turner
Mike Turner is a practicing intellectual property attorney and trained mechanical engineer who served as an officer in the U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers. His legal expertise in patent prosecution, patent litigation, copyright, and trademark law has involved him in technologies such as mechanical, electrical, computer science, business methods arts, mobile apps, consumer electronics, railway equipment, utilities, and transaction methodologies (e.g., trading). His dispute resolution experience encompasses litigation, arbitrations, and mediations. Mr. Turner has practiced before various U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (including both the Trademark and Patent Trial and Appeal Boards), and the International Trade Commission. Following his service in the Army, Mr. Turner spent five years with Ford Motor Company managing vehicle design and development projects. A former Vice President of the Intellectual Property Legal Society and member of his local school board, Mr. Turner also contributes his time to “Equip for Equality,” an Illinois-based legal advocacy group helping parents obtain public education for special needs children. He graduated in the top 10% of his class at West Point (B.S.M.E.), and earned his MBA and JD at the University of Illinois.
Weldon Wood
Mr. Wood founded Robinson & Wood in 1983, where he specialized in civil cases in Idaho and California for over forty years before retiring in 2006. Mr. Wood began his career as a law clerk for the Idaho Supreme Court and later served as Assistant Attorney General for Idaho where he handled court trials and appellate matters before the Idaho Supreme Court. He was a Municipal Judge in Boise before moving to San Jose, where he tried scores of civil jury trials to verdict, usually on behalf of the defense in a broad range of commercial, professional negligence (medical, legal, and broker), product liability, and bad faith insurance matters. His recognitions include the Martindale-Hubbell “AV” rating, the highest possible rating in legal ability and ethical standards, and membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates and service as its San Francisco Chapter President. He also served on the Board of Directors and as Secretary-Treasurer of the Defense Research Institute. Mr. Wood received a BA in business administration from Northwest Nazarene College and a Juris Doctorate from Willamette University College of Law. From 1993 to 2005 he served as a clinical instructor in civil trial practice at the Stanford Law School.
David W. Henry
David W. Henry is a former trial attorney who now serves as a civil mediator for business, fiduciary, insurance, and commercial litigation. His experience as a mediator and arbitrator includes resolution of patent litigation, shareholder disputes, construction claims, professional malpractice, employment matters and insurance-related claims. He has been a Florida Supreme Court Certified Civil Mediator since 2006. He attended the University of St. Andrews, Scotland on a Bobby Jones Fellowship, and later graduated from Emory University in 1985. He obtained his law degree from the University of Florida College of Law where he served on the Moot Court Board.
Before entering private practice, he was a law clerk for Judge Warren Cobb at the Fifth District Court of Appeal. David practiced business law and handled E&O, D&O and intellectual property claims in Orlando for over 30 years. He represented a diverse collection of clients ranging from retailers, manufacturers, hospitality ventures, theme park operators, automobile dealers, homeowner associations, and insurance agents and brokers. As national settlement counsel for a major insurer, he coordinated mediations and represented the carrier’s interests across the United
States in attempting to resolve civil cases. He was appointed to Florida Supreme Court ADR Rules and Policy Committee in 2022 and has held leadership positions in state and local bar organizations.
He is a frequent convention speaker for bar and insurance organizations, and for over 20 years served on the National Faculty of the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors where he taught general liability coverage and insurance agent’s errors and omissions liability. He publishes a monthly newsletter, Mediation Minute, which is devoted to mediation advocacy and ethics.
Frank York
Mr. York is an expert in commercial construction general contracting, including estimating, design-build, value engineering, small and large project management, safety, quality control, customer service, environmental responsibility in construction practices, and corporate strategic planning. Currently President of W.L. Butler Construction, Inc., one of the top commercial construction companies in the western region of the United States, Mr. York began his career with W.L. Butler in 1981. Consequently, he has over 30 years of industry experience as a laborer, superintendent, estimator, project manager, and executive in projects including automotive dealerships, retail centers, medical offices, industrial warehouses, corporate headquarters and non-profit facilities to name only a few. He is a graduate of the Dale Carnegie Course of Management and was a member for over 10 years of the Vistage Executive Leadership Program advising numerous other businesses on solutions to challenges ranging from everyday to strategic.
Matt Zumstein
Mr. Zumstein is a well-regarded litigation attorney focusing on business and real estate construction disputes, insurance defense, premises and products liability, and employment-related matters. His deep experience in quickly sizing up complex situations and witness credibility, and in fashioning just and effective solutions, derives in part from his six years of public service as Deputy District Attorney for Santa Clara County and, before that, a stint as Deputy City Attorney for San Diego. Now an Equity Partner with Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley in Redwood City, California, Mr. Zumstein also has participated as a volunteer Judge Pro Tem for the San Mateo County Superior Court, neutrally guiding parties to fair settlements of pending lawsuits since 2011. He earned his J.D. from the University of Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA.