Diane McSpiritt, JD

Owner

Diane is the owner and primary mediator at Tampa Bay Mediation. She is certified by the Florida Supreme Court in Circuit Civil, Family, Dependency, County Civil and Appellate Mediation, and is a qualified Assistant Trainer in Circuit Civil, Family, Dependency and County mediation. She is a Florida Supreme Court approved panel arbitrator and in 2007 was appointed by Florida State Attorney General Bill McCullum to the Florida New Car Lemon Law Arbitration Panel on which she served for almost 15 years.

Diane's exceptional communication skills, coupled with her mediation training and experience, makes her an outstanding mediator and negotiator. Her common-sense approach to mediation and her ability to make people feel comfortable makes her the perfect choice to address your mediation needs. She has been praised by her clients for her “down to earth” practical attitude, approachability, and demonstrated compassion toward both parties. Attorneys and clients appreciate her ability to focus on the issues at hand and keep participants on track, making it easier to design reasonable alternatives to difficult problems.

Prior to becoming a mediator, Diane spent more than 20 years working in Fortune 50 corporations, including AT&T, Philips, and Motorola. She held varying and diverse positions in marketing, communication, contract management and internal auditing, giving her a breadth of experience not common in most careers. But no matter which career path Ms. McSpiritt chose, she always knew her communication and negotiation skills would help her successfully navigate the many opportunities and challenges presented in each job.

Diane's extensive experience working with clients from all backgrounds and her global business experience has given her an appreciation for all cultures, making it easy for her to work with people of different views and experiences. She values the differences people bring to the table, and as a result, enjoys working with participants as they gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities for resolution presented during the mediation.

Diane is a contract mediator for the 6th Judicial Circuit of Pinellas & Pasco Counties, the 13th Judicial Circuit of Hillsborough County in Florida, and the Florida Division of Financial Services. During the housing crisis, she was selected to serve as a Residential Foreclosure Mediator in Florida's 5th, 6th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th Judicial Circuits. She also participated as a subject matter expert in multiple Residential Foreclosure Mediation training programs and has designed and delivered several mediator continuing education training programs in the Tampa Bay area.

Diane earned an A.A. degree in Liberal Arts from St Petersburg (Florida) College, a B.A.degree in Political Science from the University of South Florida (St Petersburg, Florida), and a M.A. degree in Corporate and Organizational Communication from Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison, NJ). She has completed numerous professional training courses in mediation through the USF Conflict Resolution Consortium (now My Florida Mediator), and has completed executive education training programs through AT&T School of Business, Motorola University, George Washington University, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Most recently, Diane graduated from Stetson University College of Law, and is on her way to fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming an attorney.

Her professional career came full-circle when she accepted a position as an adjunct professor of Communication at St Petersburg College, the same college from which she graduated oh so many years ago. Diane is a member of the Association of Conflict Resolution, the Association of Communication Consultants, and sits on several community boards and associations.