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Center for Mediation & Training Staff and Team

Kenneth Neumann

Kenneth Neumann

Kenneth Neumann, Ph.D., is an expert in the field of family and divorce mediation. He is a founding board member of numerous professional associations and a frequent presenter at professional conferences. Ken is trained as a Clinical School Psychologist and a family therapist and has been working with parents and children going through the divorce process for over 40 years.
Ken has a unique specialization in high conflict custody cases. He has developed a detailed model on how to break impasse and he is often selected as the Parenting Coordinator in the most challenging cases. Ken has been at the forefront of developing new mediation techniques and processes including Team Mediation where both a mediator and a financial professional actively participate in the process from the very beginning. Ken’s expertise in divorce mediation, parenting coordination, and child custody issues is often called upon by press and publications. He has been quoted in The New York Times, Forbes, and CNBC, among others. Since 1984, Ken has trained and supervised more than three thousand mediators. In 2020, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Professional Family Mediators, and more recently, he presented at the International Mediation Awareness Week conference in November, 2022.

Steven L. Abel

Steven L. Abel

Steven Abel, Esq. is a divorce mediator and family law attorney with more than 40 years of experience. He is available as a consultant to mediators and also handles the drafting of QDROs. He is a past President of the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation, the Academy of Professional Family Mediators, and the New York State Chapter of AFCC. He was honored by the NYSCDM, which named its annual award for service as the Abel Award. Steve served on the Board of Directors of the Center for Safety & Change (formerly Rockland Family Shelter) for more than 36 years. He was one of the co-authors of “The Friendly Divorce Guidebook for New York”.
abelqdros.com

Howard Yahm | In Memoriam

Howard Yahm | In Memoriam

Howard Yahm was our friend and partner for more than 25 years. He was such a unique individual and it is hard to remember him without using all kinds of superlatives. He was married to Ellie for more than 40 years. But only after she nearly died in a bicycle accident, did Howie’s true devotion show as he nursed her to health for more than a year. Howie’s warm, devoted parenting is best known by spending a little time with his two daughters, Rebecca and Sarah. They share so many of his best qualities.

Probably the singular thing about Howie was his passion for living life to the fullest. As a psychotherapist he never gave up on his patients, his energy would lead people to health. He founded our Center because he was disturbed by how much adversarial divorce hurt people. He took divorce mediation training before any of us, and then stayed with mediation and training throughout the rest of his life. Howie opened our training with the Game of Life and hundreds of our students remember Howie’s ability to turn around their ideas about people going through divorce.

Howie had an extraordinary belief in social justice, peace, and God. We could argue and laugh for hours, but always there was a deep spiritual core. He always moved us in the best direction. We will miss him deeply.

Peace,
Steve Abel & Ken Neumann

Ada L. Hasloecher

Ada L. Hasloecher

Ada is the founder of the Divorce and Family Mediation Center in Melville, NY. Having developed her skills as a negotiator after 20 years in commercial real estate, she set her sights on a new direction in 2000. With her deep and abiding passion to make a real difference, Ada is on the Board of Directors of the NYSCDM. She has presented workshops to both the NYSCDM and FDMCGNY and seminars on divorce mediation at EAPA (Employee Assistance Professionals Association) and the AAMFT (Association of Marriage and Family Therapists).
DFMCLI.com

Donna Petrucelli

Donna Petrucelli

Donna is a Founding Member of the ACADEMY OF PROFESSIONAL FAMILY MEDIATORS and Co-Director of the Center’s Supervised Practicum. She has been a professional negotiator for over twenty years, having honed her skills as a medical malpractice defense litigator, general counsel to a large not-for-profit, and employment lawyer. Donna is a past Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s COMMITTEE ON WOMEN IN THE LAW and was appointed to the New York State Bar Association President’s Task Force to Develop Leadership and Diversity and the President’s Task Force on Gender Equity. She has given numerous trainings on employment law issues, has presented on various topics at conferences, and was recently interviewed along with Ken Neumann for the documentary THE BIG FLIP.

Ana-Lisa Gertner

Ana-Lisa Gertner

Ana-Lisa Gertner is a Director at the Center and a Family Mediator and Divorce Coach. As a mediator she helps families going through conflicts and disagreements to arrive at solutions without having to go to court. She has experience mediating a wide range of family conflicts. In addition to helping couples separate and divorce, Ana-Lisa also works with couples in marital mediation, using mediation techniques to improve the relationship and to help people stay together. Ana-Lisa also has extensive experience working with families on mediating parent-adolescent conflicts.
In addition to her work as a family mediator, Ana-Lisa also trained as a coach at NYU, and she uniquely combines her skills as both a coach and a mediator. Ana-Lisa has been actively involved in Center programs since 2015. She is a member of APFM, NYSCDM, and FDMC.
manhattanmediators.com