National Institutes of Health Appoints Deputy and Two Associate Ombuds

The Office of the Ombudsman, Center for Cooperative Resolution at NIH has named David Michael as Deputy Ombudsman and Linda Myers and Lisa Witzler as Associate Ombudsmen. The new appointees join Howard Gadlin, Ombudsman and Director of the Center, and Associate Ombudsmen Linda Brothers, Samantha Levine-Finley, and Kathleen Moore.

David Michael and Linda Myers have extensive workplace conflict management backgrounds. As a former commissioner with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Michael designed conflict management systems and provided facilitation, mediation, coaching, and training for several federal agencies. He previously was a consultant in private practice; served as executive director of the Northern Virginia Mediation Service (a non-profit community dispute resolution center); and was director of the Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Michael has designed and implemented ADR programs in the federal and non-profit sectors, and consulted on ADR program design issues in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.

Meyers previously served as deputy director of the U.S. Army ADR program in the Office of the Army General Counsel, where she designed and delivered ADR and interest-based negotiation training programs nationwide. Her workplace expertise includes equal employment opportunity, prohibited personnel practices, whistleblower reprisal, and labor-management disputes. Meyer’s experience is also drawn from previous practice with the U.S. Air Force, Office of Special Counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Lisa Witzler began her work at the NIH Office of the Ombudsman as an intern in June 2010 and formally joined the office as an associate ombudsman in March. She is pursuing her PhD in conflict resolution at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL and serves on the IOA’s annual conference planning committee and the communications committee. Previously, Witzler was the Program & Web Coordinator at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. (Courtesy of David Michael; LinkedIn Profiles: Michael, Witzler.)