Matt Strassberg
Matt Strassberg is the executive director of the Environmental Mediation Center and the Agricultural Mediation Programs. He is an attorney and mediator with over twenty five years of experience in environmental law and mediation. He is the founding director of Green Mountain Environmental Resolutions, a dispute resolution firm focused on developing collaborative solutions to environmental and land use disputes. He is also a senior consultant with the Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, MA. He has served on the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Agricultural Mediation Programs, currently serves on it’s legislative committee, co-chairs the Vermont Environmental Court’s Advisory Committee on Mediation, and is listed on the roster of the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.
Julie Hoyt
Julie Hoyt is the Associate Director of the Environmental Mediation Center. Julie has worked with EMC since 2007 and currently assists in the administration of both the New Hampshire and the Vermont Agricultural Mediation Programs. Julie is an attorney admitted to practice in both Vermont and Massachusetts. Julie’s mediation experience includes a variety of producer-creditor disputes, adverse decision letters arising from FSA loans, NRCS programs, Rural Development loans and many others. Julie has experience working in the agricultural community working on issues affecting diary and goat farms and fruit and vegetable growers. Julie is approved to provide foreclosure and family court mediations for the State of Vermont and has a background in collaborative law.
Peter Adler
Peter S. Adler, Ph.D. is the Director of the Hawaii Agricultural Mediation Program. Formerly he was President of The Keystone Center, which applies consensus-building and scientific information to energy, environmental, and health related policy problems. Peter’s specialty is multi-party negotiation and problem solving. He has worked extensively on water management, resource planning, agricultural issues, land planning issues, and marine and coastal affairs. Prior to Keystone, Peter held executive positions with the Hawaii Justice Foundation, the Hawaii Supreme Court’s Center for Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), and the Neighborhood Justice Center. He has served as President of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. Peter has written extensively in the field of mediation and conflict resolution. He is the author of Eye of the Storm Leadership (2008); co-author of Managing Scientific & Technical Information in Environmental Cases (1999); Building Trust: 20 Things You Can Do to Help Environmental Stakeholder Groups Talk More Effectively About Science, Culture, Professional Knowledge, and Community Wisdom (National Policy Consensus Center, 2002); the author of Beyond Paradise and Oxtail Soup (Ox Bow Press, 1993 and 2000) and numerous other articles and monographs.
Grace Garvey
Grace is a consultant with the Environmental Mediation Center and is on the roster for NHAMP. Grace is a certified mediator and neutral facilitator focusing her work on problem solving, conflict resolution, consensus building, strategic planning initiatives, project & process development, fair dialogue, & guiding difficult conversations. She specializes in environmental, agricultural, energy, land use, natural resources, planning, and policy issues. She also leads conversations with groups interested in developing communication & conflict resolution skills. Her strong ability to facilitate conversations and foster collaborative decision making comes from 9 years of mediation and facilitation work and training. Grace also has a deep understanding of environmental & technical issues from 17 years working as an environmental professional.
Keala Carter
Keala is from Hawaii and looks forward to returning home as an intern with HIAMP. After four years of work at a corporate law firm in Manhattan she was convinced that “there must be a better way” to resolve a dispute. Her subsequent exposure to Alternative Dispute Resolution at Vermont Law School provided a refreshing alternative to the conventional approach of litigation and fostered Keala’s belief that mediation is a more sophisticated, even profound, method of resolving conflict. She values collaborative decision-making because it promotes understanding across borders while, at the same time, programs like the EMC maintain a deep connection to place and community. With a blended background of science and policy and a bachelor’s in sociology she has nurtured an open mind, a thoughtful ear and a keen sense of observation. She has long practiced facilitating communication and understanding between two seemingly extreme positions (rich and poor, blue collar and ivory tower, democrat and republican, mom and dad) and as an intern with HIAMP, Keala hopes to become a conduit between people, positions and politics by practicing humility, listening carefully and making good use of common ground.