Associates

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Catherine McCracken, Mediator

Catherine McCracken is a mediator and trainer based in San Francisco, CA, with 15 years of diverse experience in environmental and public issue dispute resolution, collaborative problem solving, and facilitation. She is a special consultant with the Center for Collaborative Policy and most recently was part of the Center's facilitation team for the Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee for Dog Management at Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service).

From 2001-2004, Catherine was the co-facilitator of the Lower American River Task Force and the lead mediator/facilitator for the Task Force's Fisheries and Instream Habitat (FISH) Working Group. In 2005, she assisted the San Francisco Department of the Environment with design of the Conversation Cafes public dialogues that took place during a week of events for World Environment Day.

Prior to working with the Center, she was a Community Involvement Specialist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Region 9 Superfund Division and a Public Policy Education Specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (North Carolina State University), specializing in water quality issues.

Catherine is on the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution National Roster of Environmental Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals.  In 2006, she received a Certificate in Public Participation from the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2).  Catherine received a Master of Environmental Management degree in 1993 from Duke University's School of the Environment and a Bachelor of Science in Speech degree in 1986 from Emerson College.   

She has designed and conducted sessions on collaboration, conflict resolution, and working with communities for the International Association for Public Participation's annual conference, the EPA's national community involvement conference, the American Planning Association national conference, and EPA Region 9 staff.

Catherine has completed extensive training in environmental dispute resolution, conflict resolution, mediation, team dynamics, interest-based problem solving, facilitation, negotiations, cross cultural awareness and communication, workplace disputes, and business/commercial mediation. She has been a volunteer mediator and trainer with the Community Boards Program (San Francisco, CA) and is a volunteer mediator with the San Francisco Superior Court Self-Represented Litigants Mediation Program.

Catherine is a member of the following professional organizations: Association for Conflict Resolution, International Association for Public Participation, the California Dispute Resolution Council, and the Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California.