Mediation Center names
Cottrell executive director
POUGHKEEPSIE – Attorney Jane Cottrell has been named Executive Director of the Mediation Center of Dutchess County, Board President Nevill Smythe announced.
Cottrell a certified mediator and a former member of the Mediation Center board, was named acting executive director last February following the resignation of longtime executive director Jody Miller. Miller left the position to become the new Equal Employment Opportunity/Human Rights Officer for Dutchess County. Following an eight-month search, the Mediation Center board voted unanimously to name Cottrell executive director.
“The board and staff of the Mediation Center are very pleased that Jane has accepted our offer to move from acting executive director to executive director,” Smythe said. “Jane has proven over her tenure with the agency both as a board member and as acting executive director that she has the credentials, temperament and the abilities to lead us into our exciting future. After a thorough search for this position, we found the best candidate right in our own backyard.”
Cottrell said she was “thrilled with the opportunity to help shape the future of an organization I care about so deeply. The board, the staff, the volunteers and our funders have all been hearteningly supportive during the transition and it’s great to be going forward on this basis.”
Cottrell holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Utah and earned her law degree at Columbia University. During her career as an attorney and mediator in both the United States and the United Kingdom, she worked with individual and corporate clients in commercial matters and divorce. She began her career with a Wall Street firm then moved to the corporate world, first at Cablevision and later as vice president and general counsel of CBS Cable.
Cottrell completed basic and advanced mediation training at Regent’s College in London and trained at the Mediation Center under Miller. She served on the board of the Mediation Center for several years and continues to mediate divorce cases with the agency. She is a member of the New York State Dispute Resolution Association and the Dispute Resolution Sections of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
