Jim Melamed co-founded Resourceful Internet Solutions (RIS) and Mediate.com in 1996. Before this, Jim founded The Mediation Center in Eugene, Oregon in 1983 and served as Executive Director of the national Academy of Family Mediators from 1987 to 1993.
Jim is past-Chair of the Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission and is a member of the Oregon State Bar. Jim teaches Mediation at Pepperdine University School of Law's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.
Jim was the first President and Executive Director of the Oregon Mediation Association (1985) and received the OMA's 2003 Award for Excellence.
Jim Received the Oregon State Bar Dispute Resolution Section's 2006 Sidney Lezak Award of Excellence and the 2007 John Haynes Distinguished Mediator Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution.
Jim's undergraduate degree is in in psychology, with honors, from Stanford University and his law degree is from the University of Oregon.
Carol Knapp has directed technical development for corporations, nonprofits and university programs since 1983, focusing exclusively on the Internet since 1996. She has held the top technical position at Resourceful.net since 1997. Most recently, she has designed and supervised development of enterprise level content management, ecommerce, conferencing and membership systems. Recent projects include development for EdSource, IAM, CRInfo and CADRE. Prior to that, Ms. Knapp served as Technical Director for Crown Research, Inc., a retirement industry firm offering integrated software solutions for residential care, marketing and facility management. Ms. Knapp also held a management position at Computer Application Support, a managed solutions provider for niche businesses in Oregon and California.
Byron Knapp has been working with computer systems since 1983. With a degree in Engineering Technology from LBCC, he started his career creating and supporting accounting software for industrial applications. He ventured into retail hardware sales and support as co-owner of Computer Application Support, which had two retail outlets. When the Internet flourished, he began emphasizing server-based support; hardware and operating systems. Before joining RIS, he owned Kargo.Net, a value added Internet Service Provider (ISP) known for personalized customer support and Cold Fusion hosting. Byron's interests include network security, stability, mirroring and load balancing. His satisfaction comes from keeping our network fast and reliable, as well as up to date with new hardware and systems innovations.
Josh Remis has been a "computerphile" since the Commodore 64. After graduating from The Evergreen State College and spending several months in Latin America, he went to work as a labor union organizer for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!). While working for UNITE! he developed his skills as a graphic artist (designing graphics for union tracts and other propaganda) and gained experience in HTML. Josh gains most satisfaction from his work when he can apply his skills against a technical challenge. When he's not working he is most certainly salsa dancing.
John Ford is a conflict management consultant who focuses on the workplace. In that capacity he mediates, trains and facilitates the design of conflict management systems. His fascination with the internet and new opportunities for communication developed shortly after his arrival in the USA in 1996 from South Africa. John co-edits Perspectives, the online newsletter of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution, and is an editor with the Mediation Information Resource Center. As such he is responsible for content development on the mediate.com web sites. His goal is to provide quality information about mediation and conflict resolution for both mediators and the public.
Angela Letney has over 10 years experience keeping customers satisfied. She began working for Polaroid in 1995, maintaining their software and hardware systems. Under contract with the State of Oregon to repair and maintain the Drivers Licensing Equipment and providing customer service through a "Help Desk". She gained valuable experience in finance and office management with a mortgage company in Salem, Oregon. Before coming to RIS, Angela was also a Trade Show Coordinator for a large industrial company. Angela is exceptionally organized and very detail oriented.
