30 Top Conflict Management Experts to Follow on LinkedIn

A large part of our focus is giving companies the tools to solve problems on their own. With the right approach and strategy, it’s possible to reduce conflict in the workplace and improve mediation skills.

However, even the best internal mediators sometimes need to look for outside help.

Third-party conflict resolution and negotiation specialists can provide fresh perspectives on difficult situations and help teams reach fair solutions that everyone can agree with.

Here are the 30 best mediators and conflict management negotiators on LinkedIn you can follow, learn from and consider working with.  

Deborah Thorne

Known as The Information Diva, Deborah Thorne strives to empower female entrepreneurs and create safer workplaces through conflict management. She has more than 18 years of conflict management experience, ranging from mediating workplace disputes to training staff on active shooter response. Leadership and negotiation are two key elements of her expertise.

Dr. Kate Stewart

Kate Stewart, Ph.D., has spent the past two decades working with companies to improve their collaboration and negotiation techniques. She specializes in narrative mediation, customizing her approach to each situation. She is also an instructor at Fort Leavenworth’s University, where she passes on her knowledge of organizational communication, strategic planning, and critical thinking skills to the next generation.

Michael Whetstone

Michael Whetstone is the founder and president of Unlimited Understanding, which uses the Communication-Relationship-Behavior Mastery System™ to maximize productivity and lower turnover rates. He wants to create a healthy work environment for his clients so they can focus on boosting revenue instead of constantly putting out fires.

Dr. Erika L. Freeman  

Erika L. Freeman, Ph.D. is a life coach and adjunct professor teaching conflict management in times of crisis. Within her life coach practice, she works with clients to identify parts of their past that are affecting their present and future. By understanding the perspectives of the people she works with, Freeman is able to expertly negotiate solutions everyone is happy with.

Lauren Schieffer

As a certified facilitator at Leading Out of Drama, Lauren Schieffer offers both speaking engagements with a focus on conflict resolution and private sessions where she spends more time listening and understanding the issues than discussing them. She is a  Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) through the National Speakers Association and The Global Speakers Federation. This makes her presentations engaging while allowing her to focus on the people she’s talking to and tailor her message appropriately.

Mark D. Grossman    

Specializing in social media and technology, lawyer Mark D. Grossman is also a professional speaker and negotiator. The Best Lawyers in America awarded him “Lawyer of the Year” for Technology Law in New York City in 2016 and 2018. Follow him for negotiating and management tips along with advice for managing tech-based legal issues within your organization.

Patricia Bentley

Not only is Patricia Bentley a project management specialist able to implement new strategies for her clients, she is also a certified 3rd party mediator who provides objective viewpoints in workplace conflicts. She has more than 20 years of experience working with a variety of organization types and sizes, with a focus on helping people in non-managerial roles find influence. She is also a professional speaker.  

Margaret Huff

Margaret Huff is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School and adjunct professor at Middle Tennessee State University teaching alternative dispute resolution. For the past 15 years, she has worked as a mediator and workplace conflict management trainer in Nashville and provides custom services to resolve conflicts within local businesses. She also works with non-profits and individuals in Tennessee.   

Joseph Horn

With more than 27 years of experience as a panel mediator, Joseph Horn specializes in finding practical solutions to complex challenges. He has been named a "Distinguished Mediator," the highest possible rank by the Texas Mediator Credentialing Association. He regularly speaks at conferences about dispute resolution and offers corporate training and consulting to identify the roots of conflict.

Lynne Curry

Since 1978, Lynne Curry has helped more than 3,500 clients across the nation. Her company specializes in human resource issues ranging from mediation to team building and executive coaching. Curry is the author of Beating the Workplace Bully and Managing Equally and Legally. She currently lives in Anchorage, Alaska.     

Tracie Zimmerman

Tracie Zimmerman has more than 16 years of mediation experience in Houston, Texas, making her one of the most trusted conflict resolution experts in the area. Her specialties include dispute resolution, mediation certification, training, and executive coaching. Zimmerman brings her positive energy to clients, creating a comfortable space for employees and managers to address their concerns.   

Debra Leo

Debra Leo has over 40 years of experience in employment law and has worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 18 years. During that time, she has studied various human resource solutions and management styles, making her an expert in mediation and negotiation. The firm she founded in 2014, DLeo & Associates, specializes in conflict resolution and harassment.

Dr. Shuneet Thomson

With more than 26 years of experience and 1,000 happy clients, Shuneet Thomson is comfortable mediating both professional and personal disputes. She works within hospitals and the healthcare industry helping HR departments navigate. As the founder of Interpeople Inc. Mediation, Thomson works as a resolution specialist and workplace trainer. Thomson graduated with a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Boston College, specializing in conflict resolution.  

Teresa Butler Stivarius

Teresa Butler Stivarius works in Atlanta, Georgia as a workplace consultant and investigator. In addition to promoting employee engagement through conflict resolution, Stivarious helps with employment law and workplace harassment and discrimination. She graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law and has more than 33 years of experience.   

Carol Bowser

Carol Bowser helps businesses increase productivity through successful conflict management. She promotes workplace communication skills, facilitation, constructive feedback and relationship management. She shares her expertise on LinkedIn with video content and blogs about HR issues. Bowser has 16 years of experience in her field.  

Debra Healy

As a workplace conflict consultant at Agree2Agree, Debra Healy uses her decade of experience to help organizations in the Portland, Oregon area. She wants to help people establish and maintain healthy relationships by getting workers to come together toward a common goal. This helps them tap into their creative thinking and focus on solutions, not problems. Healy works with businesses of all sizes, from small nonprofits to large private-sector corporations.

Afsaneh Noori

Since 1994, Afsaneh Noori has worked to improve corporate conflict resolution strategies and help companies grow their mediation skills. She has worked with government organizations, technology companies, energy development organizations, and nonprofits. Noori is also a public speaker and author of Change Thrivers - Your Resource Guide for Making Change Work. She moved with her family to the United States from Iran in 1974 and currently lives in Tampa, Florida.    

Harriet Hollingsworth Sugg

Harriet Hollingsworth Sugg is an entrepreneur in the Tampa, Florida area who specializes in reducing workplace conflict and retaining quality employees. She has led her own business since 1992, and uses her 25 years of experience to help clients across the country. Hollingsworth Sugg makes her training interactive and fun, engaging employees while teaching the necessary skills to help them succeed even when faced with conflict.   

Anjali Soi

Anjali Soi is the founder of Sun Conflict Solutions, which strives to bring clarity to conflict. Soi is a certified mediator in elder care, business, and employment, and is a CORO Women in Leadership Fellow in Pittsburgh. Her training ranges from understanding how partner violence affects the workplace to understand the energy and emotions that come with conflict.      

Jim Shaul

For the past 12 years, Jim Shaul has offered his mediation services to families and businesses. A college professor for 25 years, Shaul is a professional speaker on the topic of business ethics and critical reasoning. Personal and professional mediation aren’t as different as they might seem, and Shaul’s understanding of both helps him present clear solutions to everyone involved.

Everton A. Ennis

Everton A. Ennis specializes in congregational leadership development and training for church officers. His consulting service, CLASS Act Seminars, helps churches navigate conflict management within their organizations, keeping the needs of attendees as the focus. Ennis is a pastor and licensed mediator based in Atlanta, Georgia.    

Carol Hess

Carol Hess is the principal of Hess Gehris solutions and has more than 20 years of experience consulting for better communication, mediation and conflict resolution within organizations. Today, she works with corporations to facilitate retreats, develop healthy board practices, and dissolve high-conflict sessions.

Mark Goldstein

Based in Orlando, Florida, Mark Goldstein has helped more than 500 businesses in 180 industries over the past 15 years. He is the founder of On The Mark Consulting and practices his Communativity™ method for better communication and productivity. His goals are to lower business turnover rates and increase revenue through higher productivity levels.

Kathleen Bartle

Kathleen Bartle has been a strategic consultant for the past 18 years and is an entrepreneur living in Los Angeles. She regularly speaks on various workplace conflict issues, including a presentation the International Conference on Workplace Bullying & Harassment. Her clients say she understands their problems clearly and is able to provide actionable solutions for their situations.  

Lorraine Segal

Lorraine Segal is passionate about helping organizations communicate better. She has been the owner of Conflict Remedy in San Francisco for almost nine years and before that taught students and companies best practices for conflict management. Her mediation focuses include communicating with seemingly “impossible” people and teaching forgiveness in a professional setting.

Sara Cobb

Sara Cobb has 25 years of experience in negotiation and conflict resolution in both the public and private sectors. Author of Speaking of Violence, in which she discusses the role of narratives and communication in conflict, Cobb also a director and professor for the Center for Narrative and Conflict at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

Clymer Bardsley

Based in Philadelphia, Clymer Bardsley is president of the Bardsley Group which specializes in reducing workplace conflict. Bardsley explains that his group walks the line between the HR and legal departments. They work to solve delicate situations and create strategies to solve other problems moving forward. This helps companies improve productivity from middle management problems to the C-suite.   

Noam Ebner

Noam Ebner has a decade of experience teaching negotiation and conflict resolution at Creighton University in Omaha. He also has 16 years of experience directing Tachlit Mediation, a Jerusalem-based mediation center. Ebner confidently handles internal and external problems within organizations (as well as issues with remote teams) and has worked with companies across the globe.   

Dr. Gail J. Shapiro

Dr. Gail J. Shapiro has a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Sociology with a focus on conflict analysis and resolution. She was the founding member of the Gender and Conflict Working Group at NOVA Southeastern University. Shapiro founded CT Mediation Conflict Coaching & Training, an online service that has helped companies for the past 20 years, and is currently a professor at LIM College in New York City.

Colina Elizabeth Cole

Colina Elizabeth Cole is the founder of Communication Eliminating Conflicts (CEC), an organization dedicated to fostering bonds within teams and departments of client companies and helping them work toward unifying goals. CEC also works with governments and civil society organizations to address conflict and help them achieve their goals. Cole has a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts in Conflict Resolution, with a focus on International Conflict.

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