Daniel is a Fellow of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, housed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. NCTDR was founded in 1998 with a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. In 2003, the Center began working with the UMASS Department of Computer Science and the National Mediation Board to model mediation processes online under the first of two National Science Foundation grants. The ODR standards developed by NCTDR/ICODR, of which he was a principal author, were issued by ISO in March 2025 as the core of ISO Standard 32122: Transaction Assurance in E-commerce — Guidance for Offering Online Dispute Resolution Services. The Center currently has 55 Fellows, from every continent except
Antarctica.
In 2005, Jeff Aresty and I got lost in LIverpool trying to find the restaurant where we were to have dinner with a group from the ODR Forum. While we walked, we talked about our frustrations with traditional international aid, and framed out a project that would use music to empower individuals in conflict and post conflict areas to create value, generate money, and decide how to apply that money to their own communities. Thus began my association with IBO, and the birth of PeaceTones.
Daniel was a founding member and is the immediate past President of The International Council for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR), a nonprofit consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards for the global effort to resolve disputes and conflicts using information and communications technology.
Daniel served as the co-chair of the international group that devised the Universal Disclosure Protocol for Mediation, and he continues to be active as an advocate for the UDPM.
Daniel served as the Co-Chair of Working Group 3 of the ODR Task Force for the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution.
Daniel was the Co-Chair of the International Mediation Institute’s Online Mediator Competency Task Force.
Daniel is a past member of the Supreme Court of Virginia’s Access to Justice Commission, Self-Represented Litigants Committee, and a current member of a committee of the Virginia Supreme Court reviewing mediator ethics and standards of practice for court certified mediators in Virginia.
Daniel was a participant observer to the Uniform Law Commission’s Study Committee on the Singapore Convention.
Daniel was a participant observer to the UNCITRAL Working Group III proceedings on international commercial dispute resolution.