DONNA SILVERBERG, J.D.
FOUNDER + PRINCIPAL
Donna Silverberg, owns and operates DS Consulting in Portland, Oregon, a full-service, woman-owned conflict management and consensus building firm focusing on the issues and needs of public agencies and non-profit organizations. For more than thirty years, Donna has worked with businesses and groups with emphasis on public health, natural resources, organizational, and health care issues. In addition to her work as a public servant for the state of Oregon, she has worked as a consultant with local, state, and federal agencies; elected officials; tribal governments; NGOs and businesses; and community groups on a wide variety of public policy issues. Donna focuses on helping people improve their ability to help themselves with their problems in innovative and sustainable ways. She does this by listening carefully to their needs and applying her knowledge of effective techniques with the insights of her clients.
She served as Special Assistant on Dispute Resolution to Governor Kitzhaber's Natural Resources Office, Acting Director of the Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission, and helped design Oregon's Public Policy Dispute Resolution Program. Donna is a member of the California State Bar, the Association for Conflict Resolution, and the Oregon Mediation Association. She was on the Oregon Mediation Association Board of Directors from 1998-2005 and again in 2017, and served as the OMA Board President from 2002-2004, and 2017.
With more than thirty years of conflict management experience and time spent as a public servant, Donna brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the classroom. She engages students with real life stories and case studies from her career to demonstrate the practical application of theory and process. Her classrooms are known for their very active learning environments that combine lectures, storytelling, simulations and dialogue between students, live coaching, and experience sharing. Donna serves as a adjunct professor at Lipscomb University’s Institute for Conflict Management, Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute for Conflict Resolution, and visiting professor at Hamline University, the University of Oregon’s School of Law, and the University of San Diego’s School of Law. She also conducts trainings on a variety of conflict management topics for individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations and agencies on all levels of government.
Donna resides in Oregon’s Upper Hood River Valley, with her husband Charles and their dogs, Gryphon and Bella.