Mediation Settlement Day 2025

Lisa M. Courtney, Esq. is the Director of the Division of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the NYS Office of Court Administration, where she works to oversee and promote the growth of alternative dispute resolution programs. She is an advisor to the Chief Judge’s Statewide ADR Advisory Committee, former co-chair of the New York Women’s Bar Association’s ADR Committee, and winner of the NY Peace Institute’s Peace Raiser Award (2019). Lisa received her J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and graduated cum laude from Columbia College. She speaks Spanish and Hebrew.

Duncan MacKay serves as the Deputy General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer at Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES), a Fortune 500 and Standard & Poor’s 500 energy company based in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire that operates New England’s largest energy delivery system. Eversource and its more than 10,000 employees are committed to safety, reliability, environmental leadership and stewardship for its 4.6 million electric, natural gas and water customers. Duncan has been with Eversource since 1996, following 8 years in private practice as a labor & employment attorney and litigator for the Hartford-based law firm Robinson & Cole.

Duncan leads a team of attorneys responsible for advising and representing the company on a broad range of legal matters, including labor and employment law, employee benefits, state and federal regulatory compliance, dispute prevention and resolution, corporate governance, finance, and securities law.

As Chief Compliance Officer, Duncan oversees Eversource’s enterprise-wide compliance program. He collaborates closely with the Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Audit teams, as well as senior business leaders, to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate compliance, regulatory, and litigation risks.

A recognized leader in dispute prevention and resolution, Duncan has championed the adoption of innovative strategies across the Eversource enterprise. His initiatives include the integration of dispute prevention and stepped ADR clauses in commercial contracts, early case evaluation protocols, and the strategic use of dispute prevention and ADR mechanisms to resolve issues before they escalate into litigation. “There are often business solutions and other creative resolutions to business-related conflicts that dispute prevention and alternative dispute resolution approaches and techniques enable, particularly with established ongoing business counterparties, that are simply missed in traditional win-lose civil litigation.”

Duncan is deeply engaged in the broader ADR community. He is a longtime member of the Executive Advisory Committee of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR)—an independent nonprofit organization that promotes the prevention and resolution of conflict to better enable the pursuit of purpose—co-chairs CPR’s Dispute Prevention Committee, and is a past chair of its Energy, Oil & Gas Committee. He is also a member the AAA ICDR Energy Advisory Committee, and was part of the first cohort of invited members to join the Association of Commercial and Transactional ADR Professionals (ACT-ADR), where he is the leader of its newly established Dispute Prevention Working Group.

In partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and collaboration with ACC’s Litigation Network, Duncan is spearheading the formation of the ACC’s first ADR Subcommittee, aimed at promoting best practices and innovation in corporate dispute management.

Duncan’s professional affiliations include active roles on the ADR Committees of the Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Energy Bar Associations (EBA), and he previously co-chaired the EBA’s ADR Committee. Duncan served as a member of the Connecticut Commission on Civil Court ADR, where he contributed to recommendations for enhancing the state judiciary’s ADR programs.

Duncan is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a BA in Legal Studies, and a graduate, cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, where he met his wife (Julie) of 35 years, also an attorney, and have made their home in Connecticut and have three grown children.

Kate Vitasek is an international authority for her award-winning research and Vested® business model for highly-collaborative relationships. Vitasek is a Distinguished Fellow for the University of Tennessee’s Global Supply Chain Institute where she leads UT’s Certified Deal Architect program – a progressive program teaching the art, science and practice of how to create – and sustain – highly collaborative win-win business relationships.

Kate’s research has led to eight books. Vitasek is widely published with over 400 articles in publications including Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, The Economist, FAST Company, Information Week, CIO Magazine, World Financial Review, Supply Chain Management Review and the University of Pacific Law Review.

Her latest book – Preventing the Dispute Before it Happens – is published by the American Bar Association and was written in collaboration with Jim Groton, Ellen Waldman and Allen Waxman and she currently does a monthly column “Going Back to School on Dispute Prevention” in CPR’s Alternative’s magazine based on insights from the book and her work in using collaborative approaches to prevent disputes.

Vitasek has been lauded by World Trade Magazine as one of the “Fabulous 50+1” most influential people impacting global commerce and most recently her work on the Vested business model using formal relational contracts to create long term sustainable business relationships was named as one of eight “breakthrough ideas” for 2025 by Thinkers50. Kate has been featured on CNN International, Bloomberg, NPR, Fox Business News, and Forbes for her practical and research-based advice for creating and sustaining strategic business relationships.

Kate Vitasek is in both the Sourcing Industry Group and the International Association of Outsourcing Professional’s “Hall of Fame,” is a World Commerce and Contracting “Fellow,” and has been named a “Power Influencer” by World Financial Review. In 2023 Vitasek was honored as the 2023 recipient of CPR’s Outstanding Leadership in Dispute Prevention award.

Prior to joining the University of Tennessee, Vitasek held positions with P&G, Microsoft, Accenture, Stream International and Supply Chain Visions – a boutique-consulting firm she founded which was recognized by ARC Advisory Group as one of the “10 Coolest” boutique consulting firms.

Noah Hanft is an independent arbitrator, mediator, consultant, and executive coach recognized globally for his ability to resolve complex disputes efficiently and effectively. A former General Counsel of MasterCard Worldwide, he brings a unique blend of business insight, legal expertise, and deep commitment to alternative dispute resolution (ADR). During his tenure at MasterCard, he oversaw global legal, regulatory, and policy matters, personally mediated major business conflicts, and led the company’s transformation from a not-for-profit association to a successful public company.

From 2014 to 2019, Mr. Hanft served as President and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), where he advanced innovative best practices in arbitration and mediation worldwide. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of numerous distinguished ADR panels—including CPR, AAA, ICDR, FINRA, and federal and state mediation programs—he has mediated and arbitrated a wide range of commercial, employment, intellectual property, and financial disputes. Mr. Hanft is also Co-Founder of ACT-ADR and serves on the Board of Directors of the Association for Conflict Resolution's Greater New York Chapter.