Maralise Hood Quan Named Citizen of the Year

Maralise Hood Quan, Executive Director of the Pierce County Center for Dispute Resolution, has been named Citizen of the Year by the Washington State Chiropractic Association (WSCA). She was presented with the award at the WSCA Annual Conference on Oct. 18 at the Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center in Seattle. The 1000-member WSCA is the only statewide association that represents the chiropractic profession in Washington State.

“It is extremely rare that mediators are selected for awards, because the hard work of resolving a conflict is truly done by the parties involved,” Maralise explained. “A mediator uses their skills and abilities to facilitate that hard work of the parties. We have a saying: ‘The ‘I’ in mediate is silent’ which means we are rarely recognized publically for our work. I was surprised and touched by the honor and respect that this award represents.”

Maralise has been the Executive Director of the Pierce County Center for Dispute Resolution located at 738 Broadway in Tacoma since 2007. She received her Juris Doctorate degree from Concord Law School in 2008. Prior to that she served as Chief of Staff to State Representative Dennis Flannigan, serving the people of the 27th Legislative District for five years. In Tacoma, she has worked as a professional focused on land use, state agency mediations and problem solving services. 

She has a Masters Degree in Social Anthropology from the Universite’ Paris VIII - La Sorbonne degree program, and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and Conflict Management from World College West, California. Upon graduation at World College West, she was the coordinator for the Conflict Resolution Program at the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica.

In the local community, she is actively involved in several volunteer and professional taskforces including Resolution Washington, Downtown Merchants, Pierce County Housing Justice Project, Leadership in Action Program on Homelessness, American Leadership Fellows, Human Service Coalition of Pierce County Law and Justice Council Pierce County, Washington Mediation Association and Foreclosure Fairness Act Stakeholders group.

 Maralise and her husband Julio Quan live in Tacoma.