Faculty

Your Divorce & Custody (Domestic Relations) Mediation Trainings are taught by an experienced faculty with backgrounds in law and social work.

Zena D. Zumeta, J.D.

Primary Trainer

Zena D. Zumeta received her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School. Ms. Zumeta is an approved trainer for Domestic Relations Mediation, Domestic Violence Screening Protocol, and Civil Court Mediation trainings through the Michigan State Court Administrative Office, and for Domestic Relations Mediation training through AFM/ACR and many states.

She is a former board member and president of the Academy of Family Mediators, past president of the Michigan Council for Family and Divorce Mediation, and past Regional Vice President of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. She is active with the Association for Conflict Resolution. Ms. Zumeta has extensive experience as a trainer, mediator, facilitator, and consultant. She has been providing mediation services since 1981. Read more about Zena.

Gary Marsh, ACSW, CSW

Associate Trainer

Gary Marsh is a social worker with more than 20 years of experience working with individuals and families and has been a mediator at the Ann Arbor Mediation Center since 1984. Mr. Marsh received a master's degree in Social Work from Wayne State University in 1982.

Zenell Brown, J.D.

Associate Trainer

Zenell Brown has extensive experience as a domestic relations attorney and mediator. Her work frequently involves working with never-married parents on difficult parenting arrangements. She has previously served as a volunteer mediator for the Michigan Court of Appeals' Settlement Program. She has coached and trained court staff and community mediation center staff and has lectured at various bar associations and ICLE.. She was a charter member for the Southeast Michigan Association for Conflict Resolution and is a current member of Wayne County Family Bar Association, D. Augustus Straker Bar Association, and State Court Administrator Office's Friend of the Court Advisory Board.

Alyson Carrel, J.D.

Associate Trainer

Alyson Carrel is the Training Director at Chicago’s Center for Conflict Resolution and manages all of CCR’s training programs. She is the Lead Trainer for CCR’s 40-Hour Mediation Skills Training both overseeing the training and providing lecture, facilitation and coaching support during the training. Over the past seventeen years, Alyson has trained thousands of individuals in the skills of mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Prior to her employment at CCR, Alyson managed the Dependency Mediation Program for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida that provided mediation services to parties involved in child protection/dependency matters. She also worked with the Juvenile Mediation Clinic at the University of Florida School of Law where she helped train and manage law school clinic students in small-claims mediation, victim-offender mediation and conflict resolution skills. Alyson attended her first mediation training in 1992 and is now an approved volunteer mediator at CCR, a certified Missouri Supreme Court Rule 17.04 Mediator, as well as a Florida Supreme Court Certified County Mediator. Outside of CCR, Alyson is an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University School of Law teaching Negotiation. She is also Chair of the American Bar Association-Dispute Resolution Section’s National Coordinating Committee for the Representation in Mediation competition. Alyson received her J.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia where she focused on Alternative Dispute Resolution, published a casenote on drafting an effective ADR contract clause, and was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Dispute Resolution. She received her B.A. in Women's Studies from the University of Florida where she wrote a thesis entitled, Does Mediation Subvert the Dominant Paradigm and Empower Women?

Barbara A. Johannessen, J.D.

Associate Trainer

Barbara A. Johannessen is the President of Mediation Specialists, Inc. in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Ms. Johannessen provides a broad range of conflict resolution services (i.e., mediation, arbitration, facilitation, consensus building, and training) to agencies, organizations and consumers of Court services. She is a SCAO approved lead trainer of the 40-hour General Civil Mediation training and co-trainer of the 40-hour Domestic Relations Mediation training. She is listed and in good standing on Court mediator rosters throughout Michigan for general civil, probate, and domestic relations mediation. Ms. Johannessen is a member in good standing of the State Bars of Michigan and California. She serves on the Executive Council of the ADR Section of the State Bar of Michigan and is a past-chair of the Oakland County Bar Association ADR Committee. Ms. Johannessen is an adjunct Instructor for Wayne State University and University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.