Marilyn S. McKnight, M.A. is one of the founders of divorce mediation practice In the Midwest having begun in 1977. She has been a leader in the field of professional family mediation having served on the boards of the Academy of Family Mediators (AFM), the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), the Academy of Professional Family Mediators (APFM), and now the Professional Mediation Board of Standards (PMBS). During her tenure in the leadership of professional family mediation she has continuously strived for creating accreditation for professional family mediators beginning with the Test Design Project during the 1990s where she first became acquainted with the Human Resources Research Organization (HUMRRO) which provides design and implementation of professional testing for organizations.
Ms. McKnight has chaired the certification committees of all of the organizations mentioned above, and worked with numerous family mediation professionals to continuously move forward the work of designing and implementing a certification exam for family mediators that is valid, reliable and legally defensible, that will provide credibility to the profession and to the public of what a family mediator is and does. The Professional Mediation Board of Standards is designed to do just that. Ms. McKnight will work with HUMRRO to create an exam for professional family mediators in the specialty of divorce mediation.