DeAndra Roaché
DeAndra Roaché, FCIArb. is a distinguished Arbitrator, Mediator and Educator with a prominent national and international ADR practice. She brings a unique blend of professional skills and experiences that are highly valued in the industry, specializing in labor, employment, construction, maritime, and other commercial business disputes. As the Founder and President, she leads an innovative alternative dispute resolution services company and her professional affiliations include influential leadership roles in various nonprofit industry organizations and corporate boards. Prior to launching her ADR practice, Ms. Roaché accumulated a decade of extensive experience in Rail Infrastructure/Transportation, Labor/Collective Bargaining and Arbitration & Mediation processes unique to the railroad industry, including Presidential Emergency Boards in the Washington, DC corporate office of a major transportation company.
Ms. Roaché serves on numerous arbitration and mediation rosters including the American Arbitration Association, Federal Mediation Conciliation Service, National Mediation Board, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution’s Panel of Distinguished Neutrals and other permanent arbitration and mediation panels. She is a certified Workplace Mediator and Trainer as well as a certified Dispute Resolution Board/DRB practitioner. Her expertise encompasses arbitral matters in the land, air and sea transportation industries, as well as the public sector and hospitality industries. She works with companies, court systems, governmental agencies and individuals in various industries to address their conflict prevention, conflict resolution and conflict management needs. In addition to her active arbitration and mediation practice, Ms. Roaché is a passionate educator and frequent lecturer on various topics in the field and a guest panelist faculty member with the Labor Arbitration Institute (LAI).
With over a decade of labor and employee relations experience, Ms. Roaché received training in labor relations at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations-ILR/Scheinman Institute and holds a Master's degree in Conflict Resolution & Negotiation. She is currently a NAA Arbitrator SALON Fellow with the DC/Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Academy of Arbitrators. She is a past distinguished American Arbitration Association Judge Higginbotham Jr. Fellow and a current Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb).
As a Dispute Resolution Specialist and Educator, Ms. Roaché is featured in the 2024 ABA publication by A. Schmitz “The Arbitration Conversation – Insights and Wisdom from Experts in the Field” Chapter 4E: Railroads. She was a featured speaker in September 2023 on the ABA’s Business Law Section and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution’s podcast, “Avoiding the Dispute Before It Begins – Episode 5: Dispute Resolution Boards (DRBs).” Additionally, she co-authored a book chapter on the arbitration process in the railroad industry in the National Academy of Arbitrator’s “A QUARTER CENTURY OF NEW DIRECTIONS IN LEADERSHIP AND MISSION” publication (2022). Ms. Roaché takes a comprehensive holistic approach to teaching the practical skills and fundamentals of conflict competency and dispute resolution to students and enjoys educating, mentoring and developing the next generation of ADR practitioners.