University Ombuds

Don Greenstein has a background in conflict management, facilitation of difficult communications, organizational development, law, and creative dispute management processes. He has more than 30 years of experience creating unique conflict resolution processes to meet the needs of those involved. Don’s processes encompass conflict coaching, facilitation, mediation and ombuds services for educational institutions, business, work place, family, end of life, community, private and court-annexed interpersonal issues. His passion is helping people and entities with ongoing, long-term relationships work peacefully and positively through differences.

Don is an affiliate at the Boston Law Collaborative, an adjunct professor with the MA General Hospital Institute for Medical Professionals, a senior affiliate of the MA Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC), and is an active reservist ombud with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster response matters. He has a freelance mediation, facilitation, conflict coaching, training and external ombuds practice based in Massachusetts with work throughout the United States. Don is a member a variety of mediation panels including the American Health Lawyers Association, Udall Foundation Environmental Roster, Department of Interior Workplace Roster, Metrowest Mediation Services, Metropolitan Mediation Services, and the Boston Law Collaboration Employment Roster.

He has extensive experience with educational institutions, businesses, federal, state and local agencies relating to conflict resolution, conflict coaching, facilitation, dispute resolution training, team building and workplace management issues.

Esther Lin has a decade of experience handling a broad range of disputes, including workplace conflicts, employment discrimination, and complex business issues. Esther received her BA in Philosophy from Stanford University and JD from Harvard Law School, after which she served as a law clerk to a federal district judge in Boston and practiced as an intellectual property litigation attorney. During her years as a federal judicial clerk and trial lawyer, she witnessed firsthand how protracted litigation can so often produce hostility, drain financial and emotional reserves, and hinder creative problem solving.

That experience sparked a desire to help people manage and resolve conflict outside of court in more informal, flexible, and holistic ways. After training as a mediator in 2017, Esther completed a year-long mediation fellowship at The Mediation Group (TMG) in Brookline, Massachusetts, and later joined TMG's Mediation and Organizational Development panels. There she mediated business and workplace disputes, taught conflict resolution workshops, and served as an inaugural Steering Committee member for TMG's racial justice initiative.

Esther has completed the International Ombudsman Association's Foundations course, as well as a training in Reflective Structured Dialogue, an approach to facilitating dialogues across differences in challenging, high-conflict situations. She was born in South Korea and spent her childhood years on the West Coast, in the Midwest, and in the South. She now lives in the Boston area with her husband and three daughters. She is fluent in Korean.

Kylie Millbern is a trained mediator, facilitator and ombuds. She enjoys sharing her experience in the conflict resolution world to engage others in creative thinking and problem solving. Kylie completed her MA in Conflict Resolution from University of Massachusetts Boston and was presented with the Ambassador John W. McDonald Award for Leadership and Innovation for her Master’s project where she evaluated a sport and peace education camp that uses ultimate frisbee to bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth.

While working on her Master’s, Kylie joined The Mediation Group (TMG) as an organizational consultant and administrator. She has worked with unions, local municipalities, educational entities, healthcare organizations and non-profits delivering training workshops, conducting climate assessments, mediating and facilitating group processes. Kylie’s experience with mediation and adoption led her to join the Plummer Youth Promise’s mediation roster to mediate conversations around unique issues related to children in the Massachusetts foster care system.

Kylie is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in and out of the workplace. At TMG, she serves on the Racial Justice Steering Committee focused on exploring and expanding our understanding of the effects of bias, racism and social inequities within our own workplace, the professional community and surrounding communities. It is a life-long and ever-evolving pursuit.