Three new mediators join the NMB

Washington, D.C. – The National Mediation Board (NMB) is pleased to announce that in June 2015 three new mediators have joined the NMB:

Jane Allen joins the NMB with 22 years of experience in the airline industry. She also practiced law for five years. Ms. Allen worked for five years in a senior executive capacity at a large legacy carrier. She had overall responsibility for cabin crew operations as the Senior Vice President Onboard Service. Subsequently, Ms. Allen directed the company’s human resource and labor activities as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources. As a member of the company’s executive committee, she provided advice and counsel on strategic human resource and labor matters to the senior executive team and the Board of Directors.

Ms. Allen also held a variety of positions over 17 years at another large legacy air carrier. As the Vice President of Employee Relations and Chief Labor Negotiator, she directed all collective bargaining, and was responsible for contract interpretation, labor relations, and mediation. In this position she gained broad experience under numerous Railway Labor Act provisions, and in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Ms. Allen also served as the carrier’s Vice President of Flight Service and the Managing Director of Compensation and Benefits for all employees.

Ms. Allen holds a JD from Vanderbilt University’s School of Law and a BA in Communications from The Ohio State University.

Eva Durham joins the NMB with 40 years of airline labor relations experience at regional, legacy and ULLC carriers. She began her career as a flight attendant with Ozark Airlines, where she was elected to the AFA MEC. At TWA, Ms. Durham served as a labor advocate on cross divisional labor teams and later worked with multiple labor groups as manager in the TWA human resource – labor relations organization. Her labor experience in the regional airline industry includes serving as Vice President Inflight at Atlantic Southeast Airlines, and leading the Inflight department at Compass Airline. Ms. Durham gained ULLC experience at Frontier and Spirit Airlines, where she served as Senior Director Inflight. Her tenure in the airline industry includes labor relations, contract negotiations, and leading change during airline bankruptcy, strike, mergers, spin offs, and transitions.

Ms. Durham holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Her MBA was earned at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia. She has completed mediation training at Harvard Law School and worked as a Georgia civil and domestic relations mediator.

Catherine McCann joins the NMB with considerable experience in labor relations. Prior to joining the NMB, Ms. McCann worked in the commercial aviation industry for 18 years in various Human Resources and Labor Relations capacities. She served as the Vice President of Employee Relations and the Vice President of People for American Eagle Airlines. She had responsibility for all Human Resources and Labor Relations functions and negotiated multiple labor agreements with each of American Eagle’s unions, including six restructuring agreements during bankruptcy.

During her tenure at American Eagle, Ms. McCann gained extensive experience in the utilization of interest based bargaining and alternative dispute resolution techniques. She managed labor relations, contract administration, grievance resolution and arbitration issues.

Ms. McCann also has labor relations experience with unions in Canada and the Bahamas.

Ms. McCann holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of North Texas.