Staff
Susan Jeghelian
Executive Director
susan.jeghelian@umb.edu
Susan Jeghelian directs MOPC institutional planning, policy and budget development, fundraising, outreach, and qualification of practitioners for service on public contracts. She oversees the design, administration and evaluation of programs and initiatives serving public agencies, legislators, courts and communities. Ms. Jeghelian has been with MOPC since 1993. She formerly served as MOPC Director of Court Programs as well as a mediator, facilitator and trainer for the office. Prior to orchestrating the office’s move to the University, Ms. Jeghelian led implementation of Executive Order #416, integrating dispute resolution into state government and served on the Trial Court Standing Committee for Dispute Resolution. Before MOPC, Ms. Jeghelian practiced law with a concentration in civil litigation and mediation, and worked as a staff attorney for the Supreme Judicial Court and a law clerk for the Superior Court. She has a BA from Mount Holyoke College and a JD from Boston College Law School. She recently served on the founding Steering Committee of the University Network for Collaborative Governance and formerly served as a board member of Cape Cod Dispute Resolution Center, Inc., a community mediation center on Cape Cod.
Madhawa Palihapitiya
Associate Director
madhawa.palihapitiya@umb.edu
Madhawa Palihapitiya heads MOPC’s research and evaluation unit and conducts fundraising and organizational development for the office. Mr. Palihapitiya has over ten years of experience in the conflict resolution field, with significant work in the areas of violence prevention, program design and program evaluation. He has been with MOPC since 2007. Mr. Palihapitiya oversees research on all major MOPC mediation, collaborative governance and deliberative democracy programs, projects and initiatives. Prior to working at MOPC, Mr. Palihapitiya was the Director of Programs at the Foundation for Co-Existence in Sri Lanka where he engaged in high-risk mediation and violent conflict prevention efforts, including co-creating a state-of-the-art Conflict Early Warning and Early Response System for Sri Lanka. Mr. Palihapitiya holds a BA from the University of Colombo and a MA in Conflict Resolution from Brandeis University, and has completed courses in law at Sri Lanka Law College.
Mette Kreutzmann
Director of Programs & Operations
mette.kreutzmann@umb.edu
Mette Kreutzmann holds a dual role at MOPC as the director of programs and operations. She is responsible for MOPC’s business management including budgets, procurement, contracting, and liaising with university entities and state agencies. As program director, she oversees the Parent Mediation Program, the Housing Appeals Mediation Program, and the MA Agricultural Mediation Program. She has experience in dialogue and public deliberation processes and co-leads the office’s Public Deliberation Program. Mette has extensive experience in project management for training, facilitation and dispute resolution initiatives; conducting conflict assessments; co-leading public engagement initiatives and serves on MOPC facilitation teams for consensus-building and public engagement processes. Mette has been with MOPC since 2004. She has a BA in Computational Linguistics from University of Copenhagen, Denmark and a MA in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Rosalind Cresswell
Director of Community Mediation Programs
rosalind.cresswell@umb.edu
Rosalind Cresswell directs the Statewide Community Mediation Center Grant Program, supporting the Centers in the grant making process, outreach and education, program development, training and mediator excellence and supervises the centers on municipal projects. She also leads the Pre-release Prisoner Re-entry program. Gathering and sharing best practice and liaising with national networks, Ros serves on MOPC facilitation teams for consensus building and public engagement processes. Ros has extensive experience in the conflict resolution field in MA as an active mediator, trainer, facilitator and contributor to the MA Trial Court Committees on mediation standards and development. She a member of the International Ombudsman Association with lengthy experience working as an Ombudsman in healthcare and municipal government. Originally from the UK she has a Bachelor's equivalent from Sheffield Hallam University and has done further study in a wide variety of conflict resolution disciplines including the Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution at UMass Boston.
Jarling Ho
Program Manager
jarling.ho@umb.edu
Jarling Ho manages the Housing Mediation Program in partnership with Community Mediation Centers across the state. She has over 15 years of experience in conflict management and has trained and coached hundreds of individuals in conflict management, restorative justice, legal research, and facilitation. Jarling’s career has spanned the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, working for charitable organizations, local government, and a multinational company. She has consulted for nonprofits and serves on the Advisory Board for Southern California Family Mediation and the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center. Prior to joining the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration, she was the executive director of the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center where she stabilized and re-established a solid foundation for the organization to grow. She is a certified transformative mediator, earned her law degree at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon and her bachelor’s degree in Zoology at The Ohio State University.
Courtney Breese
Program Manager
courtney.breese@umb.edu
Courtney Breese manages the MA Agricultural Mediation Program, Housing Appeals Mediation Program, Youth Conflict Resolution & Restorative Practices Program, and MOPC’s Public Deliberation Program. As program manager she coordinates mediation sessions, mediates cases, trains and oversees other mediators, conducts outreach and education workshops, and prepares program reports. Ms. Breese also manages conflict resolution and collaborative governance projects for MOPC and serves on the office’s facilitation and training teams. She has extensive experience in dialogue and deliberation processes and has taught dialogue courses and trainings at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Ms. Breese has been with MOPC since 2007. She has a BA in Social Work and Counseling from Franklin Pierce University, where she began working with deliberation and collaborative governance practices.
Deepika Madan
Program Manager
Deepika.Madan@umb.edu
Deepika Madan manages the Prisoner Re-entry and the Parent Mediation Programs, and contributes significantly to the centralized data management systems for community mediation centers. As a conflict resolution professional, she has extensive experience in mediation, restorative justice, training, facilitation, and conflict coaching. Prior to MOPC, Deepika was the Manager of Mediation Services at North Shore Community Mediation Center where she worked closely with the Essex County courts, volunteers, coordinated community referrals, and lead the center’s annual basic mediation training. Before transitioning to the field of conflict resolution, she worked in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries managing cross-functional scientific teams, and led several major internal and external collaborations. Deepika holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Physics, a Master’s degree in Biophysics, and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution.
Essie Martsinkovsky
Program Manager
Esther.Martsinkovsky@umb.edu
Essie Martsinkovsky manages the Community Mediation Center Grant Program at MOPC, supporting 12 Community Mediation Centers around the state. Over nearly a decade of experience in conflict resolution spanning Boston and Los Angeles, Essie has served hundreds of clients as a mediator, a restorative justice facilitator, a mediation trainer, an instructional coach for other mediation trainers, and a community mediation program manager. In addition to her work in conflict resolution, Essie has taught English as a second language in the US and South Korea, and is a produced playwright. Helping people communicate effectively has always been the goal, and Essie is dedicated to promoting and strengthening community mediation as a resource for all. She holds a Master’s Degree in Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University, and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Dramatic Writing from New York University.
Karina Zeferino
Research Associate
Karina.Zeferino@umb.edu
Karina Zeferino recently joined MOPC as a research associate where she performs program monitoring, evaluation, and research related to MOPC public dispute resolution programs and collaborative governance initiatives. Prior to joining MOPC, Karina interned at the Crime and Justice Institute for two years where she primarily maintained and managed aspects of their Coming Home Directory, a greater Boston area reentry resource. Karina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UMass Amherst and a Master's in Public Policy from Simmons University. She also holds a certificate in the Criminal Justice System and Criminology.
Alvin Merlos
Department Program Assistant
Alvin.Merlos@umb.edu
Alvin Merlos is responsible for assisting with the implementation of administrative, financial, personnel and programmatic policies, procedures, record keeping and various other office operations for MOPC. He also works closely with the Director of Programs & Operations and the Director of Community Mediation Programs, as well as program managers of MOPC programs deploying community mediation centers and assists the Executive Director on special assignments. Alvin holds a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Affiliate Practitioners
MOPC maintains a pool of affiliated practitioners who are qualified to provide conflict resolution and collaboration services on public projects through a Request for Qualifications process (RFQ). These practitioners work with MOPC on a contract basis. MOPC affiliate practitioners have knowledge, skills and competencies working within legal and regulatory frameworks at all levels of government and in addressing issues at the community level. Many of them have nationally-recognized practices. MOPC has established standards that guide the selection, assignment and conduct of mediators, facilitators, trainers and systems design consultants. MOPC pioneered the development of a comprehensive, performance-based evaluation process using rigorous qualification standards for mediators.
Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration
100 Morrissey Boulevard McCormack Hall, 1st Floor, Room 627
Boston, MA 02125-3393
617.287.4040