Howard Gadlin is the former Ombudsman and Director of the Center for Cooperative Resolution, at the National Institutes of Health since the beginning of 1999. Before that, from 1992 through 1998, he was University Ombudsperson and Adjunct Professor of Education at UCLA. He was also director of the UCLA Conflict Mediation Program and co-director of the Center for the Study and Resolution of Interethnic/Interracial Conflict. While in Los Angeles, he served as well as Consulting Ombudsman to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Prior to moving to Los Angeles Dr. Gadlin was Ombudsperson and Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has also served as Chair of the Coalition of Federal Ombudsmen. and Chair of the Federal Inter-agency Alternative Dispute Resolution Working Group Steering Committee. Dr. Gadlin is past President of the University and College Ombuds Association and of The Ombudsman Association (TOA).

An experienced mediator, trainer and consultant, he has years of experience working with conflicts related to race, ethnicity and gender, including sexual harassment. At present he is developing new approaches to addressing conflicts among scientists. He is often called in as a consultant/mediator in “intractable” disputes. He has designed and conducted training programs internationally in dispute resolution, sexual harassment and multicultural conflict. In recent years he has concentrated on developing approaches to addressing conflicts among scientists. With his colleague, Dr. Michelle Bennett, he is conducting trainings and workshops on Team Science and Collaboration at Medical Research Centers and Universities throughout North America. He is the author, among other writings, of “Conflict, Cultural Differences, and the Culture of Racism,” and “Mediating Sexual Harassment.” He is the co-author of the “On Neutrality: What An Organizational Ombudsman Might Want to Know” and was Guest Editor of a Negotiation Journal section entitled “The Many, Different and Complex Roles Played by Ombudsmen in Dispute Resolution.” His most recent writings include “Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide.”

Colin Rule is CEO of Resourceful Internet Solutions, Inc. ("RIS"), home of Mediate.com, MediateUniversity.com, Arbitrate.com, CaseloadManager.com and a number of additional leading online dispute resolution initiatives.  From 2017 to 2020, Colin was Vice President for Online Dispute Resolution at Tyler Technologies. Tyler acquired Modria.com, an ODR provider that Colin co-founded, in 2017.  Previously, from 2003 to 2011, Colin was Director of Online Dispute Resolution for eBay and PayPal.  Further, Colin co-founded Online Resolution in 1999, one of the first online dispute resolution (ODR) providers, and served as its CEO and President.  Colin also worked for several years with the National Institute for Dispute Resolution in Washington, D.C. and the Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, MA.

Colin is the author of Online Dispute Resolution for Business, published by Jossey-Bass in September 2002, and co-author of The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection, published by the ABA in 2017. Colin received the first Frank Sander Award for Innovation in ADR from the American Bar Association in 2020, and the Mary Parker Follett Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) in 2013. Colin holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in conflict resolution and technology, a graduate certificate in dispute resolution from UMass-Boston, a B.A. from Haverford College, and Colin served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eritrea from 1995-1997.  You can read many of Colin's articles and see some of his talks at colinrule.com/writing.