Maria Simpson, Ph.D. has been a member of SCMA for more than 20 years serving as secretary while on the Board of Directors, editor of the newsletter, committee chair, and conference speaker. She was also Board Chair of the SCMA Education Foundation, now Kids Managing Conflict, for five years and secretary for two, creating the Annual Symposium for teachers and Administrators. She also served as a mediator for the LA County Superior Court for more than ten years.
Maria brings her mediation skills to her work as an executive coach, trainer, and teacher. She works primarily with executives in government agencies, arts organizations, and nonprofits building workplace relationships and leading team development seminars and retreats.
Maria taught conflict resolution and management communications in the graduate program on Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding at CSU Dominguez Hills and in the M.A. program in Organizational Management at Antioch University. She has also spoken on issues related to management communications for SCMA, ACR, ABA ADR, NAFCM, and Construct, a program for commercial real estate managers.
Maria has written a weekly column called Two Minute Training on conflict resolution and management communications since 2003. Her first book, Leading Unstoppable Teams! is a collection of her columns (selected columns available at mariasimpson.net), and her second book, Tales from the Conference Room: On Teams and Trust, is expected early next year.
Maria was honored to receive the SCMA President’s Award twice, in 2012 for her service to the organization, and again in 2017 for her work in rebuilding the Foundation. In 2018 she was honored with the Conversity Award for Leadership in Education from the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center.
