VOLUNTEER MEDIATORS

Our volunteer mediators are from diverse professional and personal backgrounds within our community. They have undergone extensive and rigorous mediation training and apprenticeship programs. Through their expertise in and commitment to the peaceful resolution of conflict, they comprise the fabric of what we do for the community. To learn more about becoming a mediator, please see our Current Training Opportunities.

SEQUOIA STALDER

Sequoia established the Richmond County Supreme Court custody and visitation mediation program, in which judges refer divorcing families to mediation.  In addition, he oversees NYCID’s supervised visitation program, with case referrals from the Richmond County Integrated Domestic Violence Court, Richmond County Supreme Court Matrimonial Part and Richmond County Family Court.  He also oversees New York Center’s Assisting Children through Transition (A.C.T.) Parent Education Program and is a New York State Certified Parent Education trainer.

In addition to his work at NYCID, Sequoia has a private mediation practice and is a principal of Stalder Raich, a mediation and conflict consulting firm in New York City. His areas of specialization are Family and Divorce mediation, Business mediation and Workplace and Organizational conflict consulting. He is also a trainer for the Center for Mediation in Law and sits on the Center’s Education Committee.

Sequoia sits on the board and is the Vice President of the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, the New York State Dispute Resolution Association and the Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association.

ELIZABETH BONICI

Liz is an Associate Mediation Manager. In this role, she oversees mediation in the schools, parent/child mediation, and truancy mediation. She also assists with coordination of New York Center's Parent A.C.T. classes, as well as management of our corps of volunteer mediators. Liz has been trained in various forms of mediation and has mediated numerous cases involving a large spectrum of issues.

Liz was born and raised on Staten Island's north shore. She has worked for NYCID since 2001, and over the years she has done outreach across the island, sharing the many programs NYCID has to offer. Liz believes that when schools, family and community work together, young people are more likely to exceed their own expectations and overcome the many obstacles that might otherwise keep them from continuing their education. In this regard, she believes that every school should offer mediation training and mediation programs where students, staff and family have access to mediation services. Exposing young people to mediation at an early age gives them the upper hand on working through conflicts in a more natural and productive way.

GARY CARSEL

Gary is an Associate Mediation Manager. In this role, he oversees NYCID's mediation programs for small claims/civil court and for general community cases, as well as the Lemon Law arbitration program.

Gary has been a mediator for the past seven years and has found a good fit as an Associate Mediation Manager at NYCID. In addtion to mediating for NYCID, Gary has also mediated for the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, the New York City Family Court Mediation Panel, and the Better Business Bureau. In addtion, Gary is certified by New York State to arbitrate Lemon Law cases.

Gary is a former vice president representing Staten Island in the Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association, and is active in several political organizations on Staten Island.

DAVID B. RAMSEY

David is an Associate Mediation Manager. In this role, he oversees NYCID's mediation programs for housing cases, criminal court desk appearance cases, special education cases, child custody and visitation cases, family cases, and juvenile delinquency cases involving the New York City corporation counsel. David also coordinates our monitoring and coaching program for volunteer mediators and is expanding New York Center's mediation programs in new areas.

In law school, David trained and mediated with the Harvard Mediation Program. Besides mediating various sorts of legal disputes, David also served as a Teaching Assistant for the Negotiation Workshop of Harvard's Program of Instruction for Lawyers, served as an editor of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and assisted with research on two books regarding alternative dispute resolution. He also published several articles about mediation.

In 2005, David worked as a Fellow for the International Center for Conciliation, for whom David led mediation trainings in India and in the United States. In addition, for the Consensus Building Institute, David served as instructor of an online course in advanced negotiations for staff of the U.N. Development Program.

David has taken various trainings in mediation as well as specialized mediation trainings in various areas, including divorce mediation, child custody and visitation mediation, special education mediation, and landlord-tenant mediation, among others.

Prior to joining NYCID, David practiced corporate law for approximately four years. In addition to his work at NYCID, David has a private law practice.

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