Celebrate Ombuds Day

October 8, 2020 11am to 1pm

A Panel Discussion

Increasingly, organizations are establishing Ombuds roles to facilitate the informal resolution of concerns of employees, managers, students and, sometimes, external clients of the organization. They also bring systemic concerns to the attention of the organization for resolution. They are the long-lost siblings of mediators and other ADR providers.

Panelists: Bryan Hanson – Graduate School Ombuds at Virginia Tech, past president Association for Conflict Resolution*** Dawn Miller Sander - Conflict Transformation Associates, LLC, co-founder Mid-Atlantic Ombudsman Network *** John Settle – Settlements, VMN Mediator of the Year (2018)*** Reese Ramos – University Ombuds at Virginia Tech, past president International Ombudsman Association.

The panelists will answer these and other questions.

How does the role of an Ombuds relate to me as a mediator, negotiator, HR professional or another related role?
What opportunities are there for ADR providers to collaborate?
What are the commonalities Ombuds and mediators generally share?
How do ADR roles affect the roles of traditional formal roles such as HR and Legal Counsel within an organization?
What are some of the ways an Ombuds can create community with key areas such as HR, Legal, and C Suite?

Registration is free and open to the first 90 who register online.

Featured Panelists:

John Settle is a mediator, group facilitator, and trainer, whose main practice area is workplace conflict and, in particular, EEO disputes. He is a retired member of the Virginia Bar. John currently is a member of the cadre of mediators for the WISE Program of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He mediates for Virginia State agencies, and for a large non-profit community mediation center. He was named “mediator of the year” in 2018 by the Virginia Mediation Network. He is a retired member of the Virginia Bar. For three years, John performed under contract as the Ombuds for the U.S. Architect of the Capitol.

Bryan Hanson is an Ombuds, educator, mediator, facilitator, and leader in the field of conflict engagement. He is the Ombuds for the Graduate School at Virginia Tech. Previously, he served as the Assistant Director and Assistant Professor for the Werner Institute at Creighton University. Bryan served on the Board of Directors for the Association for Conflict Resolution from 2013 to 2018 and was President of the Board from 2016 to 2017. He relocated to Virginia in 2017.

Dawn Miller Sander is one of the senior partners at Conflict Transformation Associates, LLC, (CTA). Dawn and Nicole Perrotta opened CTA in late 2012 and began providing facilitation, mediation, ombudsman, training and coaching services to bring transformation to organizations’ teams. She is a member of the International Ombudsman Association, Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence, Coalition of Federal Ombudsman, IOA’s K-12 Group and Dawn co-launched the Mid-Atlantic Ombudsman Network (MAON)

Reese Ramos is the University Ombuds at Virginia Tech. He is an active member of the International Ombudsman Association (IOA) and has been a past IOA Board President.

Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Reese worked as an Ombuds with the National Park Service, Earthjustice, Sandia National Laboratories and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has also been a mediator with Marin County Mediation Services and was in private practice, where he mediated disputes for Mosten Mediation Centers, the Los Angeles Superior Court, Voluntary Mediation Services, the Centinela Valley Victim-Offender Restitution Services and SquareTrade, an on-line mediation internet company.