PMBS (Professional Mediation Board of Standards) Update

presented by Steven Boyd Menack, JD, APM, M.P.A. (moderator); Marilyn McKnight, AP, MA; Martin Kranitz, AP, MA; and Peter Maida, AP, JD, Ph.D. 

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

12:00 Noon – 1:30 PM Eastern (9:00-10:30 AM Pacific)

Registration

About the Webinar

This important webinar will provide crucial information about the newly developed National Mediation Credentialing Program for Mediators that all mediators should know about.

It will showcase details about the competency-based credentialing standards initiated by the Professional Mediation Board of Standards. Every practicing mediator should become aware of these new credentialing standards and assessments, and the many benefits they will confer on practicing professional mediators for distinction as an expert mediator!

About the Moderator & Panelists

Steven Boyd Menack, Esq., APM, a renowned practitioner, presenter and proponent of divorce and family mediation, is the Founding President of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators, and an Advanced Mediator and Founding Member Mediator within the national Academy of Professional Family Mediators. A Harvard University scholar and Columbia Law School graduate, Steve has performed more than 5,000 mediations since entering the field of divorce mediation in the early 1980’s, and has personally trained numerous attorneys, psychotherapists, financial planners and accountants in the professional practice of divorce mediation through Rutgers University and other educational institutions.

Recognized by Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World, Steve has contributed extensively to legal publications on mediation since the middle 1990’s, has been quoted in the printed press on divorce mediation, and has appeared as a guest speaker on divorce mediation in national and regional live and taped television shows and radio programs.

Nationally regarded as an accomplished and tireless advocate for the professional practice of mediation, Steve served as Chair of the Certification Committee of the Academy of Professional Family Mediators, he currently serves as Vice-President and Professional Development Committee Chair of the Professional Mediation Board of Standards, and also sits on the Board of Directors of the national Academy. Steve’s objectives are to continue his contributions in professionalizing the practice of mediation by working to develop standards and examinations for a professional Certification in divorce and family mediation for mediators throughout the United States.

Marilyn S. McKnight, M.A., is one of the founders of divorce mediation practice In the Midwest having begun in 1977. She has been a leader in the field of professional family mediation having served on the boards of the Academy of Family Mediators (AFM), the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), the Academy of Professional Family Mediators (APFM), and now the Professional Mediation Board of Standards (PMBS). During her tenure in the leadership of professional family mediation she has continuously strived for creating accreditation for professional family mediators beginning with the Test Design Project during the 1990s where she first became acquainted with the Human Resources Research Organization (HUMRRO) which provides design and implementation of professional testing for organizations.

Ms. McKnight has chaired the certification committees of all of the organizations mentioned above, and worked with numerous family mediation professionals to continuously move forward the work of designing and implementing a certification exam for family mediators that is valid, reliable and legally defensible, that will provide credibility to the profession and to the public of what a family mediator is and does. The Professional Mediation Board of Standards is designed to do just that. Ms. McKnight will work with HUMRRO to create an exam for professional family mediators in the specialty of divorce mediation.

Martin Kranitz, M.A., MCDR, has been a mediator and trainer for over 35 years. He has mediated over 4000 disputes and court-referred custody cases and has trained over 6000 people in various aspects of mediation. Martin has been in the vanguard of promoting court ordered mediation in Maryland and was a Commissioner for Chief Judge Bell’s Maryland Commission on Dispute Resolution. He is author of “Getting Apart Together ; a couples’ guide to fair divorce or separation”, co-author of “Starting Your Own Mediation Practice: a work book” and for 5 years wrote a regular column for Mediation Monthly.

He is a nationally known presenter and trainer. He has provided training in university, business, industry, government, community and private practice settings and helped establish (along with Kate Cullen) the first family mediation program in the Ukraine. He holds the rare distinction of being a non-attorney graduate of Harvard Law School’s Mediation Program. He is/has been a panel mediator for DOJ, World Bank, AA County Circuit court-Child Access mediation and CINA/TRP mediation programs.

Martin was awarded the Chief Judge Robert Bell Award of Excellence by the Maryland State Bar Association and the first Sharon Pickett Award, presented by the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution. Martin is one of the original founding members and first president of Maryland Counsel on Dispute Resolution, he helped establish the Anne Arundel County Conflict Resolution Center and is an original board member of the Academy of Professional Family Mediators and current board member of the Professional Mediator Board of Standards.

Peter Maida, Ph.D., JD, was a full-time permanent faculty member at the University of Maryland for twenty-five years and an adjunct faculty member at ICAR, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. He has taught classes in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Research in Criminal Justice, Corrections, Deviant Behavior, Juvenile Delinquency, Addictive behavior, and Psychology of Criminal Behavior. These topics were taught at both the undergraduate as well as graduate level. He team-taught briefly as an adjunct professor at American University and is teaching at that university for the last two years as a Senior Professorial Lecturer. He was a member of the former Academy of Family Mediators and edited this organization’s journal, The Mediation Quarterly, for seven years.

Concurrent with teaching Dr. Maida has mediated disagreements since 1985, between divorcing spouses, professionals, supervisors and supervisees, and consumers and businesses as well as provided mediation training nationally and internationally. He was asked by the US Department of Justice to create an organization that would train mediators, nationwide, to mediate complaints alleging discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Other areas of mediation experience include civil rights, commercial and workplace, human relations, healthcare, probate, and domestic relations disputes.

He was past -Executive Director of the Key Bridge Foundation for Education and Research in Washington, DC. He has provided Mediation/EEO training to attorneys at the EEOC as well as Federal government agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as judges in Maryland and Nevada. Dr. Maida also served as a mediator for EEO disputes for the Environmental Protection Agency for which he also gave technical assistance in creating the program.

Dr. Maida has managed mediator rosters for the following agencies: U.S. Department of Justice (580 mediators), U.S. Department of Energy 10 mediators), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission  5 mediators), NASA (6 mediators).

Dr. Maida has developed a psychometric test entitled Trans-acting In the Workplace. This test measures a person’s knowledge, skills, and abilities with respect to interacting with others in the workplace.

Time and Place

Wednesday, November 12, 2025
12:00 Noon – 1:30 PM Eastern (9:00-10:30 AM Pacific)

Cost

Free for all attendees.

More Information about the Webinar

Only APFM members and paid attendees will receive an email with instructions on how to log into the webinar, to be held using the services of zoom.us. If you are uncertain about the status of your APFM membership, log into the APFM website to check it. Help logging in is available here: https://apfmnet.org/website-help/.

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Confirmed APFM members and paid registrants will be sent information on how to login to the webinar. Additional confirmed participants will be sent login information after registration and prior to the webinar. For webinar access questions, please contact [email protected]. Please note that it may not be possible to provide immediate assistance on the day of the webinar.