About Us
Meet the Staff
Howard Gadlin, Ph.D.
NIH Ombudsman, Director
Dr. Howard Gadlin is the NIH Ombudsman and Director of the Center for Cooperative Resolution at the National Institutes of Health. He has held this position since the beginning of 1999, when the program was opened up to all NIH personnel. Before joining NIH, he served for 6 years as university ombudsman for the University of California, Los Angeles (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. Prior to moving to the West Coast, he spent 23 years at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he was professor of psychology and served as University Ombudsman for the last 10 of those years.
An experienced mediator, trainer, and consultant, Howard has years of experience working with conflicts related to race, ethnicity, and gender, including sexual harassment. 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. Howard is past President of the University and College Ombuds Association and of The Ombudsman Association (TOA). For 3 years he served as chair of the Ethics Committee of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. He currently is the Chairperson of the Coalition of Federal Ombudsmen. He has authored, among other writings, “Conflict, Cultural Differences, and the Culture of Racism,” and “Mediating Sexual Harassment.” He co-authored the recently published “On Neutrality: What an Organizational Ombudsman Might Want to Know” and was guest editor for a Negotiation Journal symposium entitled "The Many, Different, and Complex Roles Played by Ombudsmen in Dispute Resolution.
David E. Michael, J.D.
Deputy Ombudsman
David E. Michael is the Deputy Ombudsman of the Center for Cooperative Resolution/Office of the Ombudsman. His areas of expertise include conflict practice (mediation, group facilitation, coaching, and consensus-building), training, strategic planning, performance management, program design, communication, and evaluation.
Prior to 2011, David was a commissioner with the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution/International Services of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, where he specialized in organizational conflict practice and training in the federal and international sectors. David provided organizational consulting services to federal agencies and nonprofits through Consensusworks, LLC from 2008–2010. In this capacity he also provided technical assistance in judicial reform and governance initiatives to judges, lawyers, journalists, and other leaders in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. David was the Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Mediation Service from 2005–2008, a nonprofit community dispute resolution center that provides mediation and workshops to facilitate community-based conflict engagement and resolution.
He also served as the Director of the Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (“Multi-Door”) from 1997–2004, an internationally recognized model for court-based alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Multi-Door delivers alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in more than 7,000 cases annually in civil, landlord-tenant, small claims, tax, probate, workplace, family, community, and child protection cases. David formerly managed the Virginia Mediation Network, later served on its board of directors and was a partner with the consulting group Conflict ReSolutions. He was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and in a mid-sized Washington, D.C., law firm. David has served as a guest lecturer at area law schools and graduate programs. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, and the Virginia Mediation Network. He has spoken on panels at local and national conferences about ADR design, management, marketing, and assuring program integrity.
J. Kathleen Moore, Ph.D.
Associate Ombudsman
Kathleen Moore has been an associate ombudsman at NIH for 10 years. Prior to this position, she spent more than 10 years as an EAP provider and 2 years as an Employee Relations Specialist in OD Human Resources at NIH. Kathleen earned a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development from George Mason University in 2000. Kathleen’s varied academic and work background provides a basis for analyzing conflict from several vantage points, including a psychological grounding of personal dynamics; an institutional knowledge of administrative practices; and experience in resolving conflict in a neutral setting with a focus on personal and organizational interests.
Linda M. Brothers, J.D.
Associate Ombudsman
Linda M. Brothers is an associate ombudsman at the Center for Cooperative Resolution, Office of the Ombudsman. Prior to coming to NIH, she was Director of Equal Opportunity and Ombudsperson at Wellesley College, where she established the college’s first ombuds office and served as the co-director of MERI (the Multicultural Education Research Initiative). A conflict analyst and ADR practitioner, her areas of special focus include perceived difference and racial /intercultural conflict, systems change, and role boundary conflation. She has designed numerous systemic interventions for corporations, universities, and federal offices and is the author of many training and educational programs addressing interpersonal and institutional dispute resolution.
Linda has written and presented on the role of conflict in shaping organizational identity, most recently at the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution Annual Conference (Peacemaker in a Sick Society: the Role of Conflict in Defining Group and Organizational Identity). She consults frequently and is a former board member of the New England Association for Conflict Resolution. Linda holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from NYU.
Samantha Levine-Finley, M.S.
Associate Ombudsman
Samantha Levine-Finley has been an associate ombudsman at NIH since 2008. She earned a Masters Degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and has interests in interpersonal dynamics, psychology, and coaching. She is a trained facilitator and mediator and has served as a General District Court small claims mediator in Alexandria, VA. Samantha is an active member of the International Ombudsman Association (IOA), currently serving as co-chair of the IOA Communications Committee and co-editor of association’s Independent Voice newsletter. She co-authored "Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide" and an article on the history of the organizational ombudsman profession for Conflict Resolution Quarterly. Before becoming an ombudsman, Samantha was a print journalist for more than 10 years in the Washington, D.C., area covering national issues, politics, and breaking news for several leading publications. Samantha earned a B.S. in environmental science from the College of William & Mary.
Linda Myers, J.D.
Associate Ombudsman
Linda Myers is an associate ombudsman at the NIH Office of the Ombudsman. She has worked as an ADR program manager, mediator, and facilitator for the federal government since 1994. Her ADR and mediation background includes work in equal employment opportunity cases, prohibited personnel practices complaints, including whistleblower reprisal, labor-management disputes, and organizational conflict resolution. Linda has extensive experience in conducting training and education programs in interest-based negotiation; communication and conflict resolution; and providing advice and guidance to organizations on the development of workplace ADR programs. Immediately prior to joining the NIH Office of the Ombudsman, Linda served as Deputy Director of the U.S. Army ADR Program in the Office of the Army General Counsel. While at the Army ADR Program, Linda designed and delivered ADR and negotiation training and education programs at Army installations worldwide. Linda is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago and received her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Lisa Witzler, M.A.
Associate Ombudsman
Lisa Witzler is an associate ombudsman in the Office of the Ombudsman at NIH. She earned a Masters Degree in Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts and is currently working toward her Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Nova Southeastern University. Lisa completed an internship in the Office of the Ombudsman in December 2010 and was asked to remain on staff as an associate ombudsman beginning in 2011. She is interested in group dynamics, communication, dispute system design, conflict coaching, and training. Lisa is a trained mediator and facilitator and mediated for the Middlesex County Small Claims court in Cambridge, MA. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., Lisa lived in Cambridge, MA, where she worked for the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School as a Web and Program Coordinator. She is active in the International Ombudsman Association (IOA) and is a member of their communications committee and co-chair of the IOA Annual Conference planning committee.
