Katie Rosen: Labor Arbitrator Training Was Pivotal To Her Career

During her fourth grade parent-teacher conference, Katie Rosen’s teacher told her mother that everyone in the class came to her to resolve their fights. She remembers running back and forth between classmates as they stood on opposite sides of the playground, gathering each person’s side of the story. “From a young age to now, I’ve enjoyed being a problem-solver to encourage two disputing parties to come to a mutually agreeable resolution.”

Rosen’s path to becoming a neutral began long before she enrolled in the Scheinman Institute’s Labor Arbitrator Development Program (LADP), a 15-month training and mentoring experience designed to prepare emerging arbitrators for successful neutral practice. Like many ILR undergraduates, Rosen, who graduated with her B.S. from ILR in 2008 and with her Master of Public Administration in 2009, initially planned to attend law school, “but the seminal classes that changed my mind were the conflict resolution and negotiations courses I took in my time as an undergrad.” Along with labor relations internships, she participated in the student mediator training program at the Scheinman Institute. These opportunities “convinced me that labor relations was the right field for me. I always held a dream to one day become a neutral.”

Rosen’s labor relations career spanned impactful roles across both public and private institutions. At the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, she worked her way up through the labor relations department, being heavily involved in contract negotiations with all of the Agency’s unions and overseeing civilian staff who supported the operation of the Port Authority Police Department. She later served as head of labor relations for Nuvance Health, a regional hospital system, navigating contract negotiations with frontline healthcare workers at the height of COVID-19. “I worked collaboratively with the unions on complicated issues, such as negotiating the COVID vaccine mandate for all employees at the time.” 

When Rosen left Nuvance Health in 2023, she knew she wanted to start working for herself and felt that the time was right to pivot from advocacy and realize her dream of becoming a neutral.  When she reached out to colleagues for advice, arbitrators she respected suggested the LADP. The LADP’s commitment to diversifying the labor arbitration profession also appealed to her, and she began the program in the fall of 2023. 

The program exceeded Rosen’s expectations. She credits the instructors—arbitrators with decades of experience—for their real-world insight and support. 

Rosen had many valuable experiences throughout the program, from shadowing well-established arbitrators to learning how to manage the business side of an arbitration practice. One of her favorite moments was learning how arbitrators may have different approaches to the same set of facts. “I may reach a different outcome than the person sitting next to me, and that’s ok as long as it’s supported by reason.”

Today, she is a fully launched arbitrator with a growing practice. “Completing the program has opened many doors for me. The LADP gave me an accreditation and connections that I needed to start becoming a working arbitrator as quickly as possible.” She also gained valuable mentors that she continues to learn from after the program. For Rosen, who was recently elected to the ILR Alumni Association Board of Directors, the LADP served as both a professional milestone and return to her ILR roots, bringing her labor relations career full circle.