Meet Melissa Kinzler
With the ethics of a trained professional, the compassion of a trained listener, and the imagination of a world-class peacebuilder, Melissa has helped individuals and companies craft viable agreements, creative solutions and overcome obstacles for nearly three decades.

Now a Superior Court Mediator, a Harvard educated practitioner and DOJ-Trained peace builder, Melissa works as a respected ADR Practitioner in San Diego, California. She is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, The Southern California Mediation Association, serves on the Dispute Resolution and Mediation Committees for the American Bar Association and serves on the Commercial, Court, and EEP sectors of the Association for Conflict Resolution.

A DRPA certified practitioner, Melissa stays relevant in the industry through her continuing education. She is currently at Harvard School of Law studying Mediation and Conflict Resolution with the worlds top practitioners. Kinzler is also currently working on an article for publication about the risk-loss realities as a mediator.

Career History
Kinzler first made a name for herself as a San Francisco executive, negotiating publishing and advertising agreements with Bay Area movers and shakers during the Silicon Valley boom.

Next, Kinzler transitioned to commercial finance, developing agreements with finance leaders Wells Fargo, US Bank, and Citizens Bank helping Community Bank Presidents expand their commercial lending divisions. Kinzler served as an Interim VP of a private Philadelphia banking firm before spearheading S. Arizona Merchant Services. There, Melissa represented First Data Inc, parent corporation of VISA, developing financial dossiers and negotiating legal agreements with over 200 merchants.

Following the banking crash of 2008, Kinzler moved from commercial banking to developing large scale disaster response plans (DRPs) and with her compelling work in Commercial Disaster Response. Melissa’s clients included US Border Patrol, Police, Fire, Gov’t Agencies and Homeland Security. Kinzler has conducted commercial real estate negotiations and earned a Psychology Degree from Cal Poly. Melissa often donates her time and skills to worthy causes, even launching a series of International workshops during COVID shutdowns to address C-PTSD, Mental Health and Conflict Resolution.

Next, Kinzler embarked on her Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution, Negotiation and Peacebuilding from CSUDH before entering Harvard School of Law PON Executive Education, studying and training with some of the nation’s top mediators, conflict resolution and negotiation experts. She had the privilege of studying International Conflict Resolution with a heralded U.S. Ambassador.

In her spare time, Melissa is a cookbook author and hiking enthusiast who can be found sailing & kayaking the waterways of the California Coast with her significant other, Sean.

Practitioner Melissa Kinzler

 Skills

Alternative Dispute Resolution
Negotiations
Mediations
Conflict Resolution
Workplace Disputes
Peacebuilding
Facilitation
Mergers and Acquisitions
Conciliatory 

Paying It Forward

Melissa volunteers her professional skills to associations and non-profits in her community.