Experience

Resolution Systems Institute

• United States
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Executive Director

  • Jan 1997 - Present

  Resolution Systems Institute (RSI) improves access to justice by assisting courts in making more effective use of ADR. We conduct mediation programs for parties involved in eviction, foreclosure and child protection cases: engage in dispute system design with courts; design and conduct monitoring & evaluation systems; and provide a national on-line resource center with thousands of valuable resources at AboutRSI.org.As executive director, I am responsible for planning and implementing programs, promoting RSI and networking on a statewide and national basis, leading and developing the staff so they can implement RSI's mission, budgeting and fund development, organizational development, and working with and developing volunteer leadership.



Center for Conflict Resolution

• Mediator

  • 1983 - Mar 2019

  Over many decades, I mediated a wide range of disputes - starting with consumer and neighborhood matters and moving into employment, contract and real estate. The cases have come from a variety of sources, most significantly the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (that are referred to the Center for Conflict Resolution).

• Executive Director

  • 1985 - 1989

  CCR, at the time called Neighborhood Justice of Chicago, is a community mediation service. While I was executive director, we started our first in-court mediation programs -- to compplement the referrals from the court to off-site mediations -- and the Illinois Not-for-Profit Dispute Resolution Center Act was enacted, providing funding and confidentiality for our mediations. Because we were a small organization, I was responsible for program development, policy development and implementation, mediator training, staffing, fund-raising and overall management of the organziation.



Susan Yates Consulting

• Independent Consultant

  • 1990 - Dec 1996

  I worked with a variety of clients in the two areas of conflict resolution and fund-raising. I worked on a capital campaign for a longstanding institution serving people with disabilities, while continuing to teach ADR at a law school. I also consulted with other clients such as a school district in providing facilitation in a deeply divided dialogue about race, and an arts agency working with multiple community arts organizations to increase their diversity of services. I worked with a variety of clients in the two areas of conflict resolution and fund-raising. I worked on a capital campaign for a longstanding institution serving people with disabilities, while continuing to teach ADR at a law school. I also consulted with other clients such as a school district in providing facilitation in a deeply divided dialogue about race, and an arts agency working with multiple community arts organizations to increase their diversity of services.



Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago

• Development Director

  • 1993 - 1996

  I was responsible for the typical array of development activities, but my main activities and success centered around expanding the private support of general operating needs. While Development Director, I turned around an annual event from losing money to profitable. I established systems of donor solicitation and event coordination that made the event readily replicable year after year and worked with a volunteer committee to create an event that produced an unusually high net income, especially by keeping expenses low, while still producing a very classy evening year after year.