Gregory Firestone, Ph.D.
Gregory Firestone, Ph.D. is a mediator, mediation trainer, dispute resolution system consultant, and retired clinical psychologist who founded and directed the University of South Florida (USF) Conflict Resolution Collaborative (from 1994 until retiring in 2016), and currently serves as President of My Florida Mediator and a collaborative faculty member in the USF College of Public Health. Greg served on the Florida Supreme Court (FSC) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Rules and Policy Committee (including Vice Chair for seven years) and on various standing FSC ADR committees for twenty-two years. In addition, he represented two national mediation organizations in the Uniform Law Commission Uniform Mediation Act Drafting Committee (for three years), chaired the FSC Taskforce on Parenting Coordination and chaired the ADR subcommittee of the FSC Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Taskforce. Greg practiced mediation for four decades, trained thousands of mediators from around the world, directed a residential mortgage mediation program for the 12th Judicial Circuit of Florida (for eight years), helped develop ADR programs for the Florida Medicare Beneficiary Program, Florida Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and private industry.
Through Dr. Firestone’s extensive participation and leadership in state and national ADR policy and rulemaking committees, leadership in the establishment of both pre-suit and court mandated alternative dispute resolution programs throughout the U.S and internationally, service on the editorial board of Family Court Review, publication of book chapters and journal articles, leadership roles in state, national and international ADR organizations, Greg has played a pivotal role in shaping ADR public policy and establishing ADR as an ethical and invaluable means to divert and resolve cases pending in the judicial system as well as pre-suit cases. In acknowledgement of his pivotal role in building the field for more than forty years, Greg has received numerous state and national awards including the prestigious Florida Supreme Court Excellence in ADR Award, as well as Presidential Awards from both the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and the Association for Conflict Resolution.
Rhiannon Paul
Rhiannon Paul is a Professional Family Mediator and Child Protection Mediator accredited through the Ontario Association for Family Mediation (OAFM). Rhiannon is a former member of Mediators Beyond Borders International and is certified as an Online Dispute Resolution Specialist through the OAFM.
Rhiannon maintains extensive training and experience as a Circle Facilitator, conducting formal interviews and mediating child protection and youth justice matters in Indigenous communities and Criminal Court settings.
Additionally, Rhiannon has held support and advocacy roles operating within the Ontario Court system and acted as a guest lecturer leading training workshops and seminars on varying types of facilitation.
Colin Rule
Colin Rule is CEO of Mediate.com and ODR.com, which became for-profit subsidiaries of the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution in June 2024. In 2011 Colin co-founded Modria.com, an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) provider based in Silicon Valley, which was acquired by Tyler Technologies in 2017. From 2017 to 2020 Colin served as Vice President of ODR at Tyler. From 2003 to 2011 Colin was Director of ODR for eBay and PayPal. Colin co-founded Online Resolution, one of the first ODR providers, in 1999 and served as its CEO and President. Colin is the author of Online Dispute Resolution for Business (2002) and co-author of The New Handshake: ODR and the Future of Consumer Protection (2017). He has lectured and taught at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC Law, Pepperdine, Texas A&M, Southern Methodist University, UMass-Amherst, and Santa Clara University. Colin received two awards from the from the American Bar Association: the D’Alemberte Raven Award in 2023 and the Frank Sander Award in 2019, as well as the Mary Parker Follett Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution in 2013. Colin also worked with the National Institute for Dispute Resolution in Washington, DC and the Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, MA.