Mark H. Bergstrom, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing
Mark H. Bergstrom is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission on
Sentencing. The Commission is a legislative, criminal justice agency responsible for
the development and adoption of guidelines for sentencing, resentencing, parole, and
recommitment, and for monitoring compliance with these and other statutory provisions.
Mr. Bergstrom is also an Associate Teaching Professor of Sociology & Criminology at
The Pennsylvania State University, Adjunct Professor of Law at the Duquesne University
School of Law, and an Adjunct Faculty at the Villanova University Charles Widger School
of Law. He is the 2019 recipient of the Richard P. Kern Memorial Award, presented by the
National Association of Sentencing Commissions for contributions to the development of
sentencing policy and research.
Christopher M. Campbell, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Portland State University
Dr. Campbell obtained his PhD in criminology and criminal justice from Washington
State University. His work emphasizes the compilation of basic and applied research to
generate cumulative knowledge for the sake of improving the justice system with a base of
empirical evidence. The majority of his work consists of evaluating policy and practice in
sentencing as well as community and institutional correctional strategies among adult and
juvenile populations. Other work Dr. Campbell has conducted involves being a consultant
for the U.S. Department of Justice regarding racial bias in policing, policing use of force
analyses, examining Oregon pretrial processes, offender risk assessment creation and
validation, as well as the impact of sentencing on recidivism. He also routinely works as a
consultant and expert witness for various state legislatures, and departments of correction
for evaluation research and to help determine best practices.
Douglas Hughes Carver, Deputy Director, New Mexico Sentencing Commission
Douglas Hughes Carver is the Deputy Director of the New Mexico Sentencing
Commission. He previously led a nonprofit focused on government ethics and served
as a staff attorney for the New Mexico Legislature in the areas of criminal justice and
government ethics. Mr. Carver holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.Phil. from Trinity
College Dublin, and a J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
Chris Chandler, Probation and Parole Services Manager, Washington County Community Corrections
Chris Chandler is a Probation and Parole Services Manager at Washington County
Community Corrections, located in Hillsboro, Oregon. Chris has worked in juvenile and
adult corrections for over 15 years and holds a Master of Public Administration Degree
from Portland State University.
Matt Claman, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Alaska Criminal Justice Committee
Matt Claman first came to Alaska in 1980. After graduating from law school, Matt
returned to Alaska to make his home, raise his family, and establish his career. Matt was
elected to the Alaska State House in November 2014 and has been serving since January
2015. Matt currently serves as the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Prior to
service in the State House, Matt served on the Anchorage Assembly beginning in 2007,
was elected Chair of the Anchorage Assembly in 2008, and served as the Acting Mayor
of Anchorage in 2009. An attorney for over 30 years, Matt managed his own small law
business for over 11 years, taught law classes at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and
was elected to the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association in 2002, serving as
President of the Board in 2007-08.
Isabel Coronado, M.P.H, Family-Based Justice Center
Isabel Coronado, is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and a current Research Scholar in
the Litmus program at NYU's Marron Institute where she coordinates the Family-Based
Justice Center, a national technical assistance center that helps local counties, states,
and Tribal nations create programs to keep families together through comprehensive
services instead of sending parents/primary caregivers to prison. Prior to joining NYU,
she participated in the Next100 cohort as a Policy Entrepreneur, where she researched,
advocated, and wrote an original policy proposal on behalf of children who experience
parental incarceration. Prior to that, she served as the Deputy Director of the American
Indian Criminal Justice Navigation Council, where she led the development of a new
non-profit in Oklahoma serving incarcerated Native American people during reentry and
reconnecting them to their families and Tribal communities. Isabel was selected by the
Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute as a 2018 Champions for Change
recipient, Mvskoke Women's Leadership as the 2019 College Student of the Year, and by
Mvskoke Youth Council as the 2020 Youth Visionary in promoting civic engagement.
Isabel received her BS in 2017 from Northeastern State University, and her master's of
public health with an emphasis on rural and underserved populations from Oklahoma
State University in 2019.
Veronica Ballard Cunningham, Executive Director and CEO, American Probation and Parole Association
Veronica Ballard Cunningham has been the Executive Director and CEO of the American
Probation and Parole Association since 2016. She leads operations and supports the
strategic direction of the professional membership association. Ms. Cunningham served
as a justice system practitioner and reentry professional, and executive for more than 30
years. She held the top leadership position in two of the largest community corrections
agencies in America - The Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Parole and the Cook
County Adult Probation Department in Chicago. Ms. Cunningham has a master's degree
in Criminal Justice from Louisiana State University.
Susanne DiPietro, J.D., Executive Director, Alaska Judicial Council
Susanne DiPietro is the Executive Director of the Alaska Judicial Council. Before coming
to the Judicial Council, she worked as the Judicial Education Coordinator for the Alaska
Court System. Ms. DiPietro received her J.D. from Northwestern University in Chicago
and is a Fellow of the National Center for State Courts' Institute for Court Management.
She is the author of a number of reports and articles on criminal and civil litigation and
has served as staff to Alaska Criminal Justice Commission. She has worked as a consultant
to the court systems in Albania and Mongolia.
Brittany Friedman, American Bar Foundation, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California
Dr. Brittany Friedman is a sociologist of punishment and social control at the University
of Southern California and Faculty Affiliate of the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation
and the Equity Research Institute. She is a 2021-2022 American Bar Foundation/JPB
Foundation Access to Justice Faculty Scholar, examining the relationship between legal
representation, pay-to-stay, and civil recoupment strategies. Her ABF/JPB project is titled
"Pay-to-Stay as a Civil Justice Crisis: How Civil Lawsuits Against Incarcerated People for
the Cost of Incarceration Deepen Socioeconomic Inequality." With Dr. April Fernandes
and Dr. Gabriela Kirk, she is Co-PI of "The Comparative Study of Pay-to-Stay." Her first
book, which is under contract with The University of North Carolina Press in their Justice,
Power, and Politics special series, is tentatively titled, Born in Blood, a highly anticipated
book that traces how racist control strategies were institutionalized and designed to
eradicate Black political protest and the implications for contemporary prison order
and racial inequality in U.S. prisons. Friedman is also Co-PI with Dr. Paul Hirshfield
and Alexis Karteron, J.D. of an ongoing project examining the impact of Covid-19
policymaking on U.S. prison conditions.
Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Senior Research Analyst,The Sentencing Project
Nazgol Ghandnoosh is a senior research analyst at the Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit
working for a fair and effective criminal justice system, where she has written about
the declining prospects for parole on life sentences, racial perceptions of crime, and best
practices for eliminating racial inequality in the criminal justice system. Dr. Ghandnoosh
regularly presents to academic, practitioner, and general audiences, and her work has been
featured in national media outlets. She earned a B.S. at the University of Pennsylvania and
a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Erin Harbinson, PhD, Executive Director, Criminal Justice Research Institute, The Judiciary - State of Hawaii
Erin Harbinson is the executive director of the Criminal Justice Research Institute
(CJRI), which is administratively attached to the Office of the Chief Justice in the Hawaii
Judiciary. CJRI was established out of recommendations for criminal pretrial reform in
the state, and is authorized to study all aspects of the criminal justice system. A current
priority is creating a statewide centralized criminal pretrial data reporting system, which
will link data sources across statewide agencies. Prior to joining CJRI, Dr. Harbinson
was a research scholar for the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
at the University of Minnesota Law School where she led research projects studying
probation and parole policies in partnership with community corrections agencies.
She has worked as a policy analyst for the Council of State Governments Justice Center
conducting technical assistance for states implementing justice reinvestment legislation.
She received her PhD in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati and worked for
the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute. While there, she conducted trainings
on risk assessment and evaluated programs for adherence to evidence-based practices for
correctional agencies across the country.
Rhys Hester, JD, PhD, Clemson University
Rhys Hester, JD, PhD, is a professor at Clemson University where he teaches Criminal
Law, Courts, and Justice Administration. His research focuses on judicial decisionmaking,
sentencing, and risk assessment. He is the former deputy director of the
Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing and is currently working with the Commission
to support its proposal for revisions to the guidelines. Dr. Hester is also a contractor
for the National Institute of Justice on a project related to the review and revalidation
of the PATTERN risk assessment tool. Hester previously held positions as Associate
Research Professor at Penn State University and Research Fellow at the University of
Minnesota Law School. His research has been published in leading journals in the field
of criminology and criminal justice, including Criminology, Journal of Quantitative
Criminology, and Crime and Justice: A Review of Research.
Niki Hotchkiss, Ph.D., Assistant Director, Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission
Niki Hotchkiss is the Assistant Director of Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission.
Previously, she held the position of Research Specialist with the Commission and has been
designing research and analyzing data related to criminal sentencing and court operations
since 2016. Prior to her work with courts, Niki was a faculty member at Kenyon College
and Washington College, teaching courses such as Criminology, Research Methods, and
Sociology of Law. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and Public Affairs from
the University of Denver and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University,
Bloomington.
Keri-Anne Jetzer, Coordinator, Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission
Keri-Anne Jetzer received a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Lakeland College in
Wisconsin in 1998 and a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice from Washington State
University in 2001. That same year she started her career in the criminal justice field
working as a researcher at the Washington State Department of Corrections. In 2007,
she became a research investigator with the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines
Commission. The state legislature eliminated the SGC as an independent agency in 2011
and moved its policy portion to the Office of Financial Management, at which time Keri-
Anne moved into her current position as the SGC Coordinator.
Matthew Kleiman, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing
Matthew Kleiman, Ph.D., is the Deputy Director of the Pennsylvania Commission on
Sentencing and an Associate Research Professor with the Department of Sociology
and Criminology at The Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on the
development of risk assessment tools for use at pretrial release and at sentencing, the
development of guidelines to inform parole decisions, and the evaluation of sentencing
alternatives. Additionally, his work has focused on the development of resource
assessment models for courts, program evaluation, the implementation of court specific
performance measures, and improving the rule of law.
Brett Miller, Research and Data Analysis Unit for the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing
Brett Miller is the manager of the Research and Data Analysis Unit for the Pennsylvania
Commission on Sentencing. He oversees the Commission's data management,
preparation and dissemination of sentencing data reports, and response to requests
for data and legislative impact analyses. He has been with the Commission for 5 years
and has contributed to the development of parole decisional guidelines, the 8th edition
of Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines, and a series of simulation models to project
prison populations and sentencing decisions. Prior to joining the Commission, Brett
worked in the defense, aerospace, and manufacturing industries in reliability and quality
engineering. He received a Master of Science degree in Industrial and Enterprise Systems
Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Kelly Lyn Mitchell, Executive Director, Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, University of Minnesota
Kelly Mitchell has dedicated her career to sentencing policy and research. She is currently
the Executive Director of the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at
the University of Minnesota Law School where she is the co-director of the Sentencing
Guideline Resource Center. Ms. Mitchell was appointed Chair of the Minnesota
Sentencing Guidelines Commission in 2019 where she spearheaded an effort to undertake
a systematic review of the commission's policies for racial impact. She served as President
of the National Association of Sentencing Commissions from 2014 to 2017.
Prior to joining the Robina Institute, Mitchell was the Executive Director of the Minnesota
Sentencing Guidelines Commission from 2011 to 2014, and worked as a staff attorney
and manager for the Minnesota Judicial Branch from 2001-2011, where she served as
the Branch's liaison to other criminal justice agencies and was responsible for several
statewide programs and services such as drug courts, the court interpreter program, and
examiner services for sex offender civil commitment exams. Mitchell also provided legal
support to trial court judges and court administrators on issues ranging from criminal
and juvenile delinquency law to court records access and fines and fees in the criminal
justice system. She also provided legal support for several Minnesota Supreme Court rules
and policy committees, and in this role led efforts to fully revise the Minnesota Rules of
Criminal Procedure and the Minnesota Juvenile Delinquency Rules of Procedure.
Over the course of her career, Mitchell has held numerous appointments on committees
and task forces on issues such as prison population control, probation supervision, sex
offender management, and collateral consequences. She continues to work with states
interested in adopting or revising their sentencing guidelines and lend her expertise to
criminal justice agencies at the local, state, and federal level. There are few people that can
rival Ms. Mitchell's contributions and the diversity of ways she has served this field.
Ms. Mitchell earned her JD from the University of North Dakota Law School, and has a
master's in public policy from the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public
Affairs.
Katie Mosehauer, Program Director, State Initiatives, Council of State Governments Justice Counts Center
Katie Mosehauer is a program director helping The Council of State Governments Justice
Center in conceptualizing and constructing new projects and publications that help
advance the criminal justice field in using data to drive increase the use of evidence-based
practices and improve criminal justice system outcomes for individuals and communities.
Katie currently leads the Justice Counts initiative and comes to this role with more than
20 years of experience leading non-profits and developing coalition-based social impact
policy that improves the lives of Black, Indiginous, and people of color in issues ranging
from national elections to childhood nutrition and education to reentry.
Sandy F. Mullins, J.D., Co-Director, Family-Based Justice Center
Sandy Mullins has over two decades of experience in policymaking, including as the
Director of the Office of Executive Policy of the Washington State Department of
Corrections and Senior Policy Advisor on Public Safety and Government Operations to
the Governor of Washington, where her portfolio included criminal and juvenile justice
and victim services. Ms. Mullins served as the Executive Director of the Washington State
Sentencing Guidelines Commission and Sex Offender Policy Board. Prior to her work in
Washington, she served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar,
which works with its partners to improve criminal- and juvenile-justice processes and
outcomes through legislative reform.
Kelly Officer, Research Director, Oregon Criminal Justice Commission
Kelly Officer joined the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) in 2010, and has
served as the Research Director since January 2021. She has an MS in Statistics and
extensive experience analyzing criminal justice data as well as evaluating program
effectiveness and criminal justice performance measures. Mrs. Officer works on a wide
variety of projects for the Oregon CJC, as she is the lead on fiscal analyses related to
proposed legislation, conducts analyses on Oregon traffic stop data, and conducts analyses
on multi-agency projects where the CJC partners with other criminal justice system
agencies within the state.
Jinwoo Charles Park, Executive Director, District of Columbia Criminal Code Reform Commission
Jinwoo Charles Park is the Executive Director of the District of Columbia Criminal Code
Reform Commission, an advisory body that provides legal and policy analysis of proposed
legislation and best practices concerning criminal offenses, procedures, and reforms to
the D.C. government. Mr. Park personally drafted many of the provisions included in a
proposed set of comprehensive revisions to the District's criminal code. Mr. Park earned a
B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. at Georgetown University.
Nicole D. Porter, Senior Director of Advocacy, The Sentencing Project
Named a "New Civil Rights Leader" by Essence Magazine for her work to challenge mass
incarceration, Nicole D. Porter manages The Sentencing Project's state and local advocacy
efforts on sentencing reform, voting rights, and confronting racial disparities in the
criminal legal system. Since joining The Sentencing Project in 2009, Porter's advocacy
and findings have supported criminal legal reforms in several states including Kentucky,
Maryland Missouri, California, Texas and the District of Columbia.
Carl Reynolds, Senior Legal and Policy Advisor, Council of State Governments Justice Center
Carl Reynolds helps manage and develop projects related to courts, corrections, law
enforcement, and sentencing. He works on Justice Reinvestment and other projects
where expert legal and policy research is needed. He has worked on justice reinvestment
projects in states including West Virginia, Michigan, Washington, Rhode Island, Montana,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kansas, and Minnesota.
Prior to joining CSG, Carl served as Director of the Texas Office of Court Administration.
From 1993 to 2005, he was General Counsel for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
(TDCJ), the agency responsible for prisons, probation, and parole, and the Texas Board
of Criminal Justice-the governing body for TDCJ. Prior to that position, he was the
Executive Director of the Texas Punishment Standards Commission, General Counsel
to the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, director of the Senate's redistricting
staff, and a Briefing Attorney for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Carl holds a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, an M.A. from the Lyndon B.
Johnson School of Public Affairs, and a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati.
Ken Sanchagrin, J.D., Ph.D., Executive Director, Oregon Criminal Justice Commission
Ken Sanchagrin is the Executive Director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.
Prior to becoming the Commission's director, Ken served as its Director of Research,
overseeing the implementation of the Oregon Statistical Transparency of Policing (STOP)
Program as well as the associated research examining STOP data and the creation of
numerous statistical reports examining sentencing, recidivism, and other criminal justice
system policy issues in Oregon. Before joining the Commission, Ken was an Assistant
Professor of Sociology at Appalachian State University, where he taught courses in
criminology, criminal punishment, law, and statistics. He also authored peer reviewed
journal articles on topics such as juvenile delinquency, the economic impact of prison
building, and statistical methods. Originally from southern Appalachia, he has a PhD
and master’s degree in sociology from the University of Iowa, a juris doctor degree from
Michigan State University, and a BA in history from the College of Charleston.
Mike Schmidt, District Attorney, Multnomah County
Mike Schmidt was elected Multnomah County District Attorney in May 2020. He was
appointed by Oregon's governor to begin his term several months early when the former
district attorney retired. He took office August 1, 2020.
The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office (MCDA) is comprised of approximately
75 attorneys and 100 administrative staff. DA Schmidt is leading the office through highly
unusual and difficult circumstances created by the response to the COVID pandemic. The
drastic reduction in court operations between May 2020 and the spring of 2022 MCDA led
to a case backlog; caseloads are at an all-time high. Other challenges include addressing
more than 500 cases resulting from the protests for racial justice in the wake of the killing of
George Floyd in Minneapolis, an increase in gun violence, and inadequate social supports to
address housing, addiction and mental illness concerns of Multnomah County residents.
While managing these challenges, DA Schmidt has advanced work to make the criminal
legal system more equitable and reduce collateral impacts while holding criminals
accountable for their actions. He created a Justice Integrity Unit at MCDA, which is
handling clemency, resentencing and expungement requests. He contributed to a new
court to divert certain cases from traditional punishment systems. He brought in outside
oversight for a police excessive force claim. He launched several public-facing dashboards
to make MCDA's work transparent. A number of MCDA policies have been revised in
such areas as cash bail and cases involving undocumented persons. He has formed a
partnership with Oregon Health Sciences University to help MCDA take a public health
approach to gun violence. DA Schmidt has opened the office to community guidance,
forming a community advisory committee.
Jeremiah Stromberg, Assistant Director, Oregon Department of Corrections
Jeremiah Stromberg is the Assistant Director of the Community Corrections Division
for the Oregon Department of Corrections. Since 2012, he has governed the funding,
legislation, policies, and practices of parole and probation supervision for the State of
Oregon; oversees program evaluations and custodial inspections; and provides training
and technical assistance to Oregon's 36 counties. Since 2018, he has served as the National
Chair of the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision.
From 2009 - 2013 he served on the Oregon Board of Parole and Post Prison Supervision,
first as the Executive Director and finally as a Member of the Board. His criminal justice
career began with Multnomah County Department of Community Justice where from
1997 - 2009 he worked between the juvenile and adult divisions, overseeing a variety of
specialized supervision units.
Alex Tsarkov, Executive Director, Connecticut Sentencing Commission
As Director, Alex Tsarkov assists the Commission in its mission to review pre-trial and
sentencing policies and make policy recommendations to the General Assembly and the
Governor.
Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Tsarkov worked for the Judicial Branch Court
Support Services Division (JB-CSSD) as a Court Planner for two years. Prior to JB-CSSD,
he worked at the Connecticut General Assembly from 2007 to 2013.
Mr. Tsarkov holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Trinity College and is a graduate
of the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Jon Tunheim, Prosecuting Attorney, Thurston County, Washington
After earning his Bachelor's Degree in Physics at South Dakota State University, Jon
Tunheim moved to Washington to attend law school at the University of Puget Sound
School of Law. In 1990, after he was admitted to the practice of law, he was immediately
appointed as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Thurston County. Jon was named Chief
Deputy in 2003, serving the office in that capacity until elected Prosecuting Attorney in
2010. He has served on the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission since
2015 and is currently one of three co-chairs of the Criminal Sentencing Task Force, which
is has been leading the comprehensive review of the state's Sentencing Reform Act since
2019.
Anna VanCleave, Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic and Associate Professor of Law
Anna VanCleave directs the Criminal Defense Clinic, which represents individuals
facing the loss of liberty in Connecticut state courts. She worked as a public defender
in Washington, D.C., and in Louisiana and has represented children and adults in both
non-capital and capital cases at the trial and appellate levels and in post-conviction
proceedings. She was the chief of the Capital Division of the Orleans Public Defenders
from 2014 to 2016. Before joining UConn, Professor VanCleave was a research scholar
and the director of the Liman Center at Yale Law School, where she co-taught seminar
courses on poverty and inequality in legal systems and the criminal justice system,
experiential research projects, and the Capital Punishment Clinic. She received her law
degree from NYU School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest
Scholar, and was a Forrester Teaching Fellow at Tulane Law School.
Tonya Van Deinse, PhD, MSW, Research Associate Professor, UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work
Tonya Van Deinse, PhD, MSW, is a research associate professor at the UNC Chapel
Hill School of Social Work and a mental health services researcher focused on the
development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions that span the mental
health and criminal justice systems. Dr. Van Deinse's current research projects focus on
approaches to probation for adults with mental illnesses, using implementation science
to enhance the uptake of specialty mental health probation, implementing and evaluating
integrated re-entry programming for adults with co-occurring substance use and mental
health disorders exiting county detention, and evaluating the implementation and efficacy
of data-driven supervision guidelines for probation.
Tracy Velázquez, Senior Manager, Pew Charitable Trusts
Tracy Velázquez is the senior manager for research for Pew's public safety performance
and mental health and justice projects. Her team produces and publishes analyses of
jail, community supervision, and juvenile justice and crisis response systems. Before
joining Pew, Velázquez served in research and policy positions for several national and
state criminal justice reform and health policy organizations and as a consultant to local,
state, and federal governments. She holds a bachelor's degree with honors from Harvard
University, a master's degree in justice, law, and criminology from American University,
and a master of public administration from Montana State University.
Brooke Vice, Parole/Probation Supervisor-Justice Reinvestment, Washington County Community Corrections
Brooke Vice, MSW, (she/her/hers), began her career with Washington County
Community Corrections as a Parole and Probation Officer in 2005 after gaining her
Master of Social Work degree from Colorado State University. In 2016, Brooke served as
the Training & Development Supervisor within the Parole & Probation Division and went
on to supervise the division's Sex Crimes unit. She currently supervises the department's
Justice Reinvestment programs to include Integrative Re-entry Intensive Supervision
Services (IRISS), IRISS Prevention, Family Sentencing Alternative Pilot (FSAP), Drug
Court, and Veterans Treatment Court. Brooke is a local and national presenter, more
recently presenting on the topics of Implementation Science and Inter-Rater Reliability for
the American Parole and Probation Association. She has served as instructor for Oregon's
Department of Public Safety Standards Training Academy and has served as Co-Chair
for the Statewide Assessment and Case Management Network. Brooke enjoys program
development emphasizing utilization of trauma informed practices and the centering of
equity, diversity, and inclusion for justice involved individuals and their families.
Zach Winston, Policy Director, Oregon Justice Resource Center
Zach graduated from Western Connecticut State University with his B.S. in Justice and
Law Administration and received his Juris Doctor from Lewis & Clark Law School.
During law school, Zach worked on several projects with OJRC including the Oregon
Innocence Project. After law school, Zach joined Mark C. Cogan, P.C., where he practiced
criminal defense. He represented clients on misdemeanors, Measure 11 charges, DHS
investigations, and expungement. Most recently, Zach worked at The Pathfinder Network's
Center for Family Success as a Family Advocate/Facilitator, where he facilitated groups for
justice-involved parents and advocated for marginalized individuals.
Zach is formerly incarcerated and uses his firsthand experiences to inform his work
around criminal justice reform.
Hon. Gene Zmuda, Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals
Gene A. Zmuda was elected to the Sixth District Court of Appeals in November 2018.
He previously served as Administrative and Presiding Judge for the Sixth District. Prior
to serving on the appellate court, Judge Zmuda served as a judge of the Lucas County
Court of Common Pleas, General Trial Division, in Toledo, Ohio, beginning in 2006. He
served as Administrative Judge in 2012 and 2017-2018 and as Presiding Judge in 2013.
In December 2008, the Ohio Supreme Court appointed Judge Zmuda to serve as one
of two Commercial Docket judges for Lucas County, and he continued to serve in that
position until 2018. Prior to his service on the common pleas bench, Judge Zmuda served
as judge for the Toledo Municipal Court from 2003 to 2006, and in private practice for
19 years up until his service on the bench. Judge Zmuda is a member of the Ohio State
Bar Association; the Ohio Judicial Conference, Executive Committee and co-chair, Civil
Law Committee; Trustee of the Ohio Judicial College; and presently serve as chair of the
governance board for the Ohio State Data Project; chair of the Task Force on Conviction
Integrity and Postconviction Review; and co-chair of the Interbranch Affairs Committee
for the Council of State Goverments and member of its leadership council. Judge Zmuda
is as an adjunct professor at the University of Toledo College of Law and Undergraduate
Honors College, and has served as President of the University of Toledo Honors College
Alumni Affiliate. He received his BA from the University of Toledo, and his JD from
University of Toledo College of Law.