President

Dr. Jack Goetz, Esq.

As the founder and President of MC3, Jack Goetz has been the principal architect and advocate for an industry effort to set a standard for mediation training, practical experience, continuing education, accountability and public protection that will elevate and professionalize the field. His 2014 article on serving the public by professionalizing mediation, co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Kalfsbeek, proposed the professional model that serves as the basis for MC3 certification standards.

A longtime lecturer and educator, Dr. Goetz currently serves on the faculty at both the USC Gould School of Law and the business department at Moorpark College. He taught mediation for 7 years at the California State University campuses in Northridge and Dominguez Hills and he received international acclaim for creating the first nationally accredited online law school, Concord Law School, now a part of the Purdue University Global system. Dr. Goetz also serves as a Commissioner for the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, overseeing the accreditation compliance of nationally accredited online educational institutions.

The 2018 President of the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA), Dr. Goetz has been a member of the SCMA board since 2016. As a neutral, he serves the public privately and, additionally, serves on numerous public panels, including his work as vice-chair for the LA County Bar Association Attorney-Client Mediation and Arbitration Services. Dr. Goetz also served as a temporary judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court (2012-2017) and as a member of the California State Bar Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution (2014-2017).

Vice President

Henry Alfano

Henry Alfano has been working as an entrepreneur and senior executive for more than 25 years. Mr. Alfano currently serves as CEO of Yellow Cannon Ventures where he provides services as an executive advisor to companies in the Technology, Healthcare, Hospitality, Investment Banking, and Entertainment industries. He serves as Chairman and President at ClickPoint Software. Mr. Alfano actively leads strategic operations and Internet marketing for this sales acceleration and lead management SaaS company.

Mr. Alfano has a long history of entrepreneurial success in the technology and Internet marketing sectors. His experience includes the planning, development and implementation of award-winning web sites, web related applications and Internet marketing strategies for many well-known brands. Prior to Yellow Cannon and ClickPoint Software, Mr. Alfano served as Chief Technology Officer for Steinway Musical Instruments (formerly NYSE:LVB) where his duties included identifying strategic technology and Internet marketing opportunities for the storied brands of this iconic company. He quickly proved himself to be a valuable asset, bringing web-based marketing initiatives, sales prospect generation and brand reach through tech marketing channels to an entirely new level.

Treasurer

Leonard Gross

Len Gross has a lengthy and exceptional history as an accomplished senior business executive in a variety of industries. He has extensive experience in leading major distribution, manufacturing and technology companies, large and small, both domestically and internationally.  Mr. Gross’ mediation experience includes extensive work at the LA Superior Court with a particular expertise in real estate and landlord-tenant disputes.  He also mediates and arbitrates on behalf of the LA County Bar Association and the Santa Monica Bar Association and he serves as an arbitrator for FINRA, the Financial Industry National Regulatory Authority.

Executive Director

Lynn Johnson

Lynn Johnson’s mediation experience includes several years of volunteer mediation for mediation organizations in California and Oregon. He has mediated hundreds of cases and taken over 150 hours of mediation training. Lynn left  a career in statistics, research, computer technology and consulting looking for an application of softer science skills. His mediation study and practice has ranged from basic mediation, through court-connected and community, to parent/teen and restorative justice environments.

Counsel

Adam Ravitch, Esq.

Adam Ravitch brings his legal background and experience to the MC3 Board. This experience has had a great impact on the development of MC3’s legal policies and procedures. Mr. Ravitch received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University and his law degree from the University of Southern California. He received his initial mediation training while an undergraduate at BYU. At USC, he participated in the inaugural class of the USC Mediation Clinic. Mr. Ravitch clerked for two years at a federal district court before entering private law practice. He is a member of the California and Utah Bars and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He has volunteered as a day-of-court mediator with Utah Dispute Resolution, the California Academy of Mediation Professionals, and the Center for Conflict Resolution.

Andy Reimer

Andy Reimer has had a 30+ year career as an executive in the entertainment industry and has held senior management positions at companies including HBO, Viacom, Lionsgate, BET and Warner Bros. Mr. Reimer’s work has involved general management, strategic planning, project/team supervision and numerous other arenas. In particular, he has had extensive experience in deal structuring and negotiation as well as financial analyses in a creative environment. Mr. Reimer received the Humanitas Prize for his work as an Executive Producer on the Academy Award® winning film, “Crash”. Mr. Reimer’s mediation practice has a particular focus on the Film and Television industry. He has, in addition, been a mediator in numerous courtrooms at the LA Superior Court and is an approved arbitrator with FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Pamela Struss

Pamela K. Struss, PhD is a scholar practitioner and teaches conflict resolution practiced based including mediation theory and practice courses for undergraduate and graduate students at the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. She teaches the Basics of Conflict Resolution to community groups including churches, governmental boards and K-12 schools in the U.S. Dr. Struss conducts mediation for the court system, public school district staff and faculty and real estate.  Pamela founded the Resilient Women of the Northern Neck Dialogue bringing women together in a historically segregated region on the Chesapeake Bay of Virginia. Her latest interest is enslaved people’s conciliation and conflict on the Chesapeake Bay between stakeholders and nonviolent resistance as a conflict resolution tool.

Chris Welch

Chris Welch received his Master of Dispute Resolution degree from Pepperdine University School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in 2005. He worked at the Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR) since 2004, Director of since 2008 and Executive Director since summer 2013. His work at CCR involved oversight of over 500 volunteers/students and over 18,000 mediations. Working with volunteers, universities, courts and the community motivates him daily. In 2017 he was the recipient of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations John Anson Ford Award for his work on the Hindenburg Park Sign Project. Mr. Welch previously served as Treasurer of MC3, and is dedicated to working to raise the standards for all mediators throughout California.

Marvin Whistler

Marvin Whistler provides mediation, arbitration, facilitation, and conciliation services. His private mediation practice focuses on family law, divorce, parenting plans and other family issues. Additionally, he mediates parenting, real estate, community, landlord-tenant, and civil litigation. His facilitation work is in the areas mediator skills; of community situations/dispute and corporate communication. He helps parties resolve conflicts related to their financial planning goals; planning for retirement savings and income; selling and managing real property. Mediation Panel memberships include: Southern California Family Mediation mediating Parenting Plans and Post-Adoption Visitation Plans; Ventura County Superior - Civil Litigation, Arbitrator of Attorney-Client Fee Disputes; California Academy of Mediation Professionals; Mediation for Los Angeles County Superior Court; Los Angeles City Attorney Dispute Resolution Program Mediator/Conciliator Community Mediation. He has a Master of Arts: Negotiation and Conflict Management from California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, California; Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, California State University Los Angeles. Other affiliations: California. Southern California Mediation Association, Board Member/Treasurer; Academy of Professional Family Mediators L.A. Chapter, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists; Los Angeles County Bar Association, and FINRA Arbitration Panel.

Victoria Gray

Victoria Gray is a mediator, conflict coach, facilitator and a trainer with an extensive background in labor advocacy, collective bargaining negotiations and mediation. Her mediation experience includes cases while serving as a federal mediator, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Panel member, a mediator for Southern California Family Mediation (SCFM)  for the Los Angeles County Dependency Court, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settlement conference panel mediator.  She served as a Board Member for the Southern California Mediation Association and is a Co-Chairman of the Board for Mediators Beyond Borders (MBBI) and was a team member for the MBBI-Kenya Initiative. She has a BA in Anthropology from California State University at Northridge, a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University, Masters in Conflict Resolution from Dominican University where she served several years as an Adjunct Professor.

Professor A. Marco Turk

The mediation practice and the conflict resolution consulting activities of A. Marco Turk demonstrate an extraordinary body of work that incorporates activity and accomplishment in virtually every aspect of the world of peacebuilding and alternative dispute resolution.

Prof. Turk has spent the past three decades as one of the most experienced and prominent educators, authors, lecturers and practitioners in the field of mediation. He has served on the faculties of numerous educational institutions including California State University Dominguez Hills, Straus Institution for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, Loyola Law School, and the University of California Irvine.  He co-designed/developed the first University of California system online distance-learning graduate program to offer a Master of Advanced Study in Criminology, Law and Society.  Prof. Turk was a Fulbright Senior Scholar (Professor) in Conflict Resolution for the Cyprus Fulbright Commission where he spent 23 months on Cyprus to train the island’s divided population in methods to resolve historical conflicts there, which work continues to this day.

Prof. Turk brings a wealth of experience and interest in the area of mediation ethics, a subject he has taught, presented and written about.  He was invited as one of a five-member special California Judicial Council - Mediator Ethics Experts Panel that designed an innovative distance learning course on the Rules of Conduct for Mediators in Court-Connected Mediation Programs, a course that MC3 has incorporated among the qualifications for all MC3-Certified Mediators.

Prof. Turk has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards that have recognized his contributions to the fields of Mediation, Peacebuilding, and Education. He is a member of the Editorial Board for Conflict Resolution Quarterly and has written dozens of articles on issues pertaining to ADR in publications that include the Villanova Journal for Peace & Justice Studies, Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, Los Angeles Lawyer, and others.

Licensed in California as an attorney since 1961, Prof. Turk has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts.  He has been a court-qualified mediator with LA County Bar Assn. and the Ventura Superior Court, and he serves on the panel of mediators for the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, among other panels.

Space does not permit a full recitation of Prof. Turk’s many contributions to the field of ethics, peacebuilding and alternative dispute resolution. We are honored to have someone with his varied and extensive experience shape and inform MC3’s Mediation Certification standards.

Professor A. Marco Turk

The mediation practice and the conflict resolution consulting activities of A. Marco Turk demonstrate an extraordinary body of work that incorporates activity and accomplishment in virtually every aspect of the world of peacebuilding and alternative dispute resolution.

Prof. Turk has spent the past three decades as one of the most experienced and prominent educators, authors, lecturers and practitioners in the field of mediation. He has served on the faculties of numerous educational institutions including California State University Dominguez Hills, Straus Institution for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, Loyola Law School, and the University of California Irvine.  He co-designed/developed the first University of California system online distance-learning graduate program to offer a Master of Advanced Study in Criminology, Law and Society.  Prof. Turk was a Fulbright Senior Scholar (Professor) in Conflict Resolution for the Cyprus Fulbright Commission where he spent 23 months on Cyprus to train the island’s divided population in methods to resolve historical conflicts there, which work continues to this day.

Prof. Turk brings a wealth of experience and interest in the area of mediation ethics, a subject he has taught, presented and written about.  He was invited as one of a five-member special California Judicial Council - Mediator Ethics Experts Panel that designed an innovative distance learning course on the Rules of Conduct for Mediators in Court-Connected Mediation Programs, a course that MC3 has incorporated among the qualifications for all MC3-Certified Mediators.

Prof. Turk has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards that have recognized his contributions to the fields of Mediation, Peacebuilding, and Education. He is a member of the Editorial Board for Conflict Resolution Quarterly and has written dozens of articles on issues pertaining to ADR in publications that include the Villanova Journal for Peace & Justice Studies, Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, Los Angeles Lawyer, and others.

Licensed in California as an attorney since 1961, Prof. Turk has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts.  He has been a court-qualified mediator with LA County Bar Assn. and the Ventura Superior Court, and he serves on the panel of mediators for the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, among other panels.

Space does not permit a full recitation of Prof. Turk’s many contributions to the field of ethics, peacebuilding and alternative dispute resolution. We are honored to have someone with his varied and extensive experience shape and inform MC3’s Mediation Certification standards.