Jen Comiskey
Executive Director
P 865.924-7365
jen.comiskey@2mediate.org
Jen is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee. She attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas on a Hays Memorial Scholarship, and graduated in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in Politics. After college, Jen moved back to Knoxville with her husband Clayton Leasure, and attended the University of Tennessee College of Law with a Green Law Scholarship and a Tennessee Law Scholars’ Fellowship, graduating in 2006. She currently lives in Powell with husband Clayton and their amazing son Emmett, born in 2017. She received her family mediation training from Community Mediation Center in February, 2005. She has worked at Community Mediation Center since July, 2005. Jen was trained in Restorative Practice processes at International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP)—victim offender reconciliation, circle process, and large and small group restorative justice facilitation. She is a Rule 31 Family Mediator, a facilitator, and a conflict coach.
Sharon Upshaw
Program Director
P 865 215-6570
sharon.upshaw@2mediate.org
Sharon attended Pellissippi State Community College, graduating with an Associate Bachelor’s degree in Paralegal Studies in 1998. In 1996, she was the first employee hired shortly after CMC was incorporated in 1994. She is the Program Director for the organization, and is directly in charge of all family cases referred to CMC. She also handles all mediations from courts in surrounding counties, and all non-court matters – employment, neighborhood, agency, church – which come to CMC for mediation. She serves as a lay member of the KBA Access to Justice Committee’s Expungement Subcommittee. In 2025, Sharon received the 2025 Grayfred Grey Public Service in Mediation Award, presented by the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators. Sharon is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and graduated from Austin-East High School. She is the proud mother of two sons.
Peyton Cross-Donaldson
Associate Director, Community Mediation Center
Cell: (865) 719-1556, peyton.cross@2mediate.org
Peyton Cross-Donaldson moved from Atlanta, GA to Knoxville in 2016 to study at the University of Tennessee. She graduated in 2020 with her English degree, and then attended law school at the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. While in law school, Peyton began volunteering at the Community Mediation Center. After graduating, she accepted an offer as the company’s General Sessions Program Director, a role in which she primarily assists tenants in housing stability measures through landlord-tenant mediations and coordinated efforts with Knox County’s Eviction Prevention Program. She received her civil mediation training from the Community Mediation Center in 2024.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2025-2026 Officers & Board of Directors
Heidi Plenn Wegryn, Esq., Chair
Jennifer Kuczmarski, Vice-Chair & Treasurer
Caitlin Elledge, Esq., Secretary
Marcus Rudolph, Immediate Past Chair
Frederick Ring, Board Member
Michael Fortune, Esq., Board Member
Fran Clemmons, MS, Board Member
Kevin Teffeteller, Esq., Board Member
Yolanda Rich, J.D., MBA, CHC, Board Member
Emily Heird, Board Member
Gordon Russell, Board Member
Leslie Deatrick, Board Member
MEDIATORS
CMC has approximately 20 volunteer mediators who donate their time on a regular basis to one or all of our mediation programs. New volunteers are selected and trained each year to co-mediate in our Civil and Family Programs. CMC does not require that our volunteers be Rule 31 listed, but our volunteer trainings are Rule 31 approved, and can be used as a training requirement if volunteers choose to be a Rule 31 listed mediator. After being trained, CMC Volunteers make a commitment to mediate regularly for at least one year. Many of our mediators have been with us for over a decade, and some for over two decades! Two mediators are assigned to each case we do, and work as a team to help the parties in dispute. How to become a CMC Mediator.