Loraine M. Della Porta, Esq. (she/her) is an experienced mediator, coach, facilitator and trainer. Her career reflects extensive experience in public engagement, consensus building, organizational development and dispute systems design. In 2012, Loraine founded The Resolution Collaborative (TRC), a diverse consortium of professionals who are dedicated to the peaceful and effective resolution of conflict and building of conflict competency for individuals and organizations of all types and sizes.
Prior to founding TRC, Loraine served for 12 years as the Deputy Director of the MA Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC), a free-standing institute of the University of Massachusetts Boston which assists public entities in resolving conflict, facilitating public engagement and collaborating on important policy issues within government and across sectors. Loraine also served as the director of UMB’s Kettering Public Policy Institute, which provided a vehicle for communities to engage in deliberative dialogue and civil discourse on public policy issues such as immigration, affordable health care, land use/environmental issues, racial/ethnic tensions and youth violence.
Loraine graduated with honors from Providence College and Roger Williams University School of Law. She studied extensively at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University and later earned an Executive Certificate in Diversity & Inclusion from Cornell University. Loraine is also certified by the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) and assists government entities and other organizations (domestic and foreign) in framing issues for public dialogue and deliberation. She is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Peace, Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston where she has taught Advanced Intervention Techniques for Public Disputes and Deliberative Dialogue courses. For the past several years, Loraine has served as adjunct faculty at Roger Williams University School of Law and Quinnipiac University School of Law, where she teaches mediation and also co-directs the Connecticut Agricultural Mediation Program.
Loraine is admitted to legal practice in Massachusetts and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution’s Public Disputes and Consensus Building Committee. She is a past president of the Board of Directors for the New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution (NEACR) and the Center for Mediation and Collaboration of Rhode Island (CMCRI). Loraine was recently inducted into the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN).