Our Board members come from various backgrounds and are responsible for the vision, policies and financial health of our agency. Board members serve three-year terms and act as ambassadors for our services.
Matt Epstein
President
Matt is a lawyer by training and has had more than 30 years’ experience as a mediator. In addition to a career as a lawyer, he has served as Executive Director of multiple university based centers; taught at the high school, college, law school, and medical school levels; started various businesses; and worked with troubled youth, prisoners, and drug addicts. He is currently a principal in both a consulting company and a not for profit service organization. He has a BA in Psychology from Yale and law degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Boston University.
Mavis Gragg
Vice-President–Attorney
Mavis practices estate planning, estate administration, and real estate with the Gragg Law Firm PLLC. Having been a peer mediator, she served as an intern at DSC as an undergraduate. She was graduated from UNC and earned a JD and Masters in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University. Besides practicing law in NC and Washington, DC, Mavis has worked at The Mediation Center in Asheville.
Sue Harvin
Treasurer–Mediator and Community Volunteer
Sue has been a DSC volunteer since the 1980s, serving as mediator, Board Member, and as Board President for two terms. Sue recently retired after 35 years in Public Health Research. She is also involved in Affordable Housing advocacy and volunteers with Orange County Habitat for Humanity. Her husband, Rev. David Harvin, has also served as a DSC volunteer and, together, David and Sue are volunteering for the joint United Methodist Church and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation project, Imagine No Malaria.
Jane McMullen
Secretary–HR People Strategy, BCBS of NC
Jane McMullen has worked at BCBSNC since 1989 in a variety of jobs in the Human Resources department. Currently she is a Sr. Human Resources Business Partner on the people strategy team. Prior to joining BCBSNC, Jane lived in Maryland and worked in HR jobs in the Temporary Help Industry. Jane is active in the community and has previously served as board president of the Lerner School (Durham, NC).
Rick Igou
Mediator-Attorney
Rick Igou is a mediator, arbitrator and collaborative attorney based in Durham, NC, who also serves as an officer in the NC Association of Professional Family Mediators and the Dispute Resolution Section of the NCBA. He has been a volunteer mediator at the Dispute Settlement Center since 1990.
Dexter Richardson
Pastor
Dex has worked as a teacher, preacher, attorney, pharmaceutical sales rep, corporate coach and in the high tech industry. He currently pastors two congregations in Chapel Hill and Haw River. He is a board member on the Central Park School for Children and Mercy for America’s Children. Dex received his undergraduate degree from Loma Linda University, a Master of Divinity from Andrews University and a J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Jen Counts
Public Health
Jen is the Prevention Program Specialist for the NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCCADV) where she provides training and technical assistance on prevention of violence to member organizations and allied professionals. She earned her Master of Public Health from the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Health Behavior.
LisaMarie Smith
Transition Strategist
LisaMarie partners with high-achieving individuals, corporations, and organizations in navigating profound personal and professional transition with her proprietary In Conversation™ and Empowered Change™ models. She has 18 years of experience in wealth management as a fiduciary and private client advisor, assisting clients through significant financial transitions.
Deborah Throm
Family Law Attorney
Deborah practices family law at the Rosen Law Firm in Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh. She is a founding member of Solutions for Separating Better, an Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice Group and serves as a mediator for special education cases through NC-DPI and is an NC-DRC certified Family Financial and Superior Court mediator. She received a BA in Speech Communication from San Jose State University and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law.
Betsy Polk
Principle, Mulberry Partners
Betsy Polk is the President of The Mulberry Partners, LLC, a triangle based firm that helps leaders, teams and partners figure out how to work together by strengthening communication, resolving conflict, and achieving meaningful, sustainable goals. Betsy is co-author, with Maggie Chotas, of Power through Partnership: How Women Lead Better Together (Berrett-Koehler Publishing). Betsy lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and two teenagers.
Hank Straus
Business Consultant
With a background in urban issues (Urban Studies, George Washington University) and 25 years as owner and operator of Aurora, the Triangle’s first fine dining Italian restaurant, Hank now consults for small businesses and professional practices. Hank is a certified mediator for NC Mediated Settlement Conferences and has launched an elder mediation firm called Elder Matters of the Carolinas.
Trey Tanner
Attorney
Trey Tanner is a general practitioner in the law firm of Blackburn & Tanner PLLC and has a law degree from UNC, an MA in Critical Theory from the University of Nottingham, and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He and his wife Jackie have lived in Carrboro for over 20 years, and have three boys. When Holy Family Episcopal Church closed its daycare, Trey and other parents formed Childcare Matters, a member-run non-profit LLC, to take over its daycare mission.
Alan Parry
Attorney
Alan Parry is a founding partner of the Chapel Hill law firm Parry Tyndall White, representing individuals and businesses in a wide variety of civil disputes. He is a graduate of Duke Law School, and is certified by the NC Dispute Resolution Commission for Superior Court mediations, as well as mediations of estate and guardianship cases. Alan and his wife Mary live in Chapel Hill, and are the parents of three children.
If you are interested in board service, please contact Frances Henderson at fhenderson@nulldisputesettlement.org.
