Abby Abinanti (Yurok) who serves as Yurok Chief Judge holds a doctor of jurisprudence from the University of New Mexico School of Law, and was the first California tribal woman to be admitted to the State Bar of California. She was a State Judicial Officer (Commissioner) for the San Francisco Superior Court for more than 17 years assigned to the Unified Family Court (Family/Dependency/Delinquency). She retired from the Superior Court in September 2011, and on July 31, 2014 was reappointed as a part-time Commissioner for San Francisco assigned to Dependency, and Duty Judge for that Court where she served until 2015. She has been a Yurok Tribal Court Judge since 1997 and was appointed Chief Tribal Court Judge in 2007, a position she held in conjunction with her Superior Court assignment until 2015. She has also serves as the President of the Board of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute since its establishment in 1996.
 
Juan Ambriz joined the Judicial Council of California (JCC) staff as a business systems analyst in March 2017 after previously working for the agency from 2009 to 2012. His primary responsibilities are the deployment and support of the California Courts Protective Order Registry. Prior to joining the JCC, Juan worked as an implementation consultant and analyst for court case management system vendors Tyler Technologies and Journal Technologies, respectively. Juan also worked previously as a clerk and supervisor in the clerk’s office of the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino. Juan holds a BA in history from the University of California, Riverside.
 
Scott Anderson was born in Arizona but raised on San Juan Island in Washington State. He moved to Humboldt County California 13 years ago and has been a community member ever since. Scott has worked for the Humboldt Superior Court for five years and is currently the Court Coordinator for the Joint Jurisdiction Family Wellness Court.
 
Blair Angus is the Assistant County Counsel for Humboldt County. She represents the County in matters involving election law, special districts, property tax assessments, and health and human services. Since 2010, Blair has been supporting Humboldt County Child Welfare Services’ (CWS) efforts to improve their collaboration with tribal ICWA representatives. Her work includes assisting in the development of policies and procedures as well as participating negotiations to establish protocols between local tribes and CWS. Prior to joining County Counsel in 2008, Blair worked in Humboldt County as a deputy public defender representing indigent defendants charged with serious felonies. Blair received her law degree with distinction from the University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law. She holds an undergraduate degree in history from Bryn Mawr College. Blair is a Member of the California Bar.
 
Jim Antal is the Associate Administrator for OJJDP’s Special Victims and Violent Offenders Division and has over 20 years of experience working in the field of juvenile justice, child welfare and mental health.  At OJJDP, he has provided leadership on national mentoring programs, missing and exploited children’s programs, tribal youth programs and public/private partnerships supporting alternatives to detention.  In 2014, he was named as the designated federal official for the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian/Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence and received the Assistant Attorney General’s award for his work on this initiative. Prior to his work with OJJDP, he was the state Juvenile Justice Specialist at the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention.  His work at the Governor’s Office included managing the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant, Formula (Title II) and Title V funds as well as fulfilling the role of Disproportionate Minority Contact coordinator.  Mr. Antal received a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland School of Social Work, and has practiced child and family therapy before transitioning into the administration of several outpatient mental health clinics across the state of Maryland.  He is married and lives in Maryland with his wife and three children.
 
Stephanie Autumn (Hopi/Irish) brings extensive experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating programs in Indian country. Ms. Autumn has 38 years of local, national, and international American Indian advocacy and policy work experience, and has presented at various human rights forums at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland and in New York. She has worked throughout the country on issues of American Indian adult and juvenile justice, substance abuse prevention, restorative justice, and tribal youth mentoring programs. Ms. Autumn served as the Executive Directive of the Minnesota Restorative Justice Campaign for five years and is a skilled restorative practitioner facilitator, trainer, and circle keeper. Ms. Autumn’s expertise includes developing culturally competent strategic-planning tools and trainings for American Indian/Alaska Native tribes. She has directed national projects on American Indian juvenile domestic assault, restorative justice, pre- and post-release services for American Indian offenders, tribal mentoring, and truancy. She recently served as project director for three Department of Justice–funded programs for tribal youth that provided training and technical assistance to more than 135 tribal grantees. Ms. Autumn has provided expertise/testimony for the Minnesota and South Dakota Departments of Corrections with regards to traumatic brain injury and trauma informed care needs/issues with incarcerated American Indian juvenile and adults. For the past 15 years, Ms. Autumn has provided expertise to the Minnesota Department of Education on disproportionality issues that impact American Indian youth and communities. She is working on a project with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Red Lake Band of Ojibwe to develop a “Healing to Wellness” Center for Red Lake tribal youth and families. Ms. Autumn is the founder of the American Indian Prison Project Working Group.
 
Steve Aycock is the Judge-in-Residence of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Until 2008, he was with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation where he had been the chief judge at the Colville Tribal Court for nine years. Previously, Judge Aycock worked for 12 years as the director of the Colville Tribal Legal Office where he represented individual members of the tribes in civil matters. The office specialized in children’s and elders’ advocacy. He has also worked for Evergreen Legal Services and as a public defender in Franklin County District and Superior Courts. From 1984 to 1986, he was a clinical instructor, and in 2008 he taught federal Indian law at the University of Idaho, College of Law. Judge Aycock made presentations at the University of Washington, University of Kansas, and Michigan State University law schools on issues related to tribal law and courts. He is a board member for the Committee to Aid Abused Women in Reno, Nevada. Since coming to the National Council, he has presented at national, state, and tribal conferences on various domestic violence and tribal issues. Most recently, he has been one of the technical assistance providers to the Intertribal Training and Technical Assistance Working Group helping tribes implementing criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian defendants in domestic violence cases. Judge Aycock received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington State University in 1977. He graduated from the University of Idaho, College of Law in 1980.
 
Dianne Barker-Harrold (Cherokee Nation) is a licensed attorney, is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, and has been working with crime victims for more than 34 years. She served as a victim advocate, was elected District Attorney for four counties in Oklahoma, and was the first Native American female to serve in that position. Dianne has worked extensively in Indian country serving as a tribal attorney and tribal court judge for 14 tribes in Oklahoma. She has received several awards during her career, which include her being selected twice as Oklahoma’s Outstanding District Attorney, Outstanding State Prosecutor for Bikers Against Child Abuse, 2010 Bonnie HeavyRunner Award for her victim advocacy work in Indian country, 2013 National Crime Victim Long Term Service Award presented by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and 2013 Distinguished Alumnus for Northeastern State University. Dianne is a frequent speaker and trainer and current activities include serving as the Senior Technical Assistance Specialist for Unified Solutions Tribal Community Development Group, Inc., for OVC Tribal Grantees for Comprehensive Tribal Victim Assistance and Children’s Justice Act Partnerships in Indian Communities projects; the Native American Representative on the Oklahoma State VOCA Board; the Attorney for the Tribal Council of the Cherokee Nation, and also serves on the Cherokee Nation’s One Fire Victim Task Force; and she is the Chief Judge for Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. In June 2015, the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. asked Dianne to testify to address needs for funding for victim services in Indian country.
 
Mirtha Beadle is Director of the Office of Tribal Affairs and Policy, which serves as Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) primary point of contact for tribal nations, tribal organizations, federal agencies, and other governmental agencies on behavioral health issues facing American Indians and Alaska Natives. In this capacity, Ms. Beadle is responsible for advancing cross-agency actions that support tribal self-governance; working to ensure agency policies, programs, and activities address behavioral health needs of tribal communities; leading and supporting tribal consultation, outreach, education, coordination, and engagement efforts; and implementing specific provisions of the Tribal Law and Order Act. Ms. Beadle also served as Deputy Director, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and Deputy Administrator for Operations at SAMHSA. Prior to joining SAMHSA, Ms. Beadle served as Deputy Director of the Office of Minority Health (OMH) within the Office of the Secretary, Health and Human Services. In this capacity, she was the principal advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health in planning, developing, and implementing policies, programs, and activities to achieve the secretary’s goals for improving the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives, African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders and eliminating health disparities. She was also responsible for strategic planning, evaluation efforts, congressional and White House Initiative reports, and overseeing the OMH budget, operations, and programs. Ms. Beadle led the development of the National Partnership for Action, a community-inspired effort that led to the development of the National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity. Ms. Beadle holds a master of public administration degree from Western Michigan University and a bachelor of science degree in management systems from the College of Technology at Andrews University.
 
Chia Halpern Beetso (Spirit Lake Dakota) serves as the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s (TLPI’s) Tribal Court Specialist and has experience working with tribal courts, federal Indian policy, and tribal law. She received a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and a JD from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Prior to coming to TLPI, she was a Deputy Prosecutor for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and has prosecuted a variety of criminal matters, including domestic violence, in tribal court. In addition, Chia has provided training and technical assistance (T/TA) to tribal healing to wellness courts and has coordinated T/TA efforts on this front nationwide. Chia has also researched, drafted, and presented TLPI resources on the Tribal Law and Order Act and the Violence Against Women Act implementation.
 
Kurt Begaye (Navajo) Hashk’ááhadzohí (Yucca Strung Out on a Line Clan), born for Tó’aheedliinii (Water Flow Together Clan), is Navajo originally from Chinle, Arizona, and has 18 years’ experience working in various capacities of HIV prevention, care, and capacity-building services. At the Navajo AIDS Network, Inc., he was instrumental in adapting evidence-based interventions addressing the prevention and direct service needs of people affected and infected with HIV on the Navajo Reservation. Recognized for his work, Kurt was invited to join the capacity-building assistance team at the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center and then later with the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, both located in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2013, he relocated to St. Michaels, Arizona, and works as an independent consultant providing technical assistance and capacity-building services to tribes, community-based organizations, universities, and health departments working with American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.
 
Nan Benally is the Tribal Program Grants Manager for American Probation and Parole Association in Lexington, Kentucky. Nan has a diverse background and strong set of qualifications in the provision of training and technical assistance, particularly with tribal populations. Her background in social justice, while working in a forensic environment, has strengthened her knowledge in addressing issues of probation and parole and the activation of support networks. Most recently, she provided case management and therapeutic services in the Jefferson County Drug Court program in Louisville, Kentucky. Her experience with tribal systems has been advocating on behalf clients of Native American heritage either already incarcerated or reconnecting with families and/or communities as a way to reclaim their heritage. She has a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Arizona State University.
 
Arlana Bettelyoun is the Executive Director of Oglala Lakota Children’s Justice Center. Arlana has 25 years’ experience in the child welfare/child protection field working investigations, managing cases, and facilitating the Tribal Child Protection Team. She is also the coleader in developing the Oglala Sioux Tribes Child and Family Code, Wakanyeja Na Tiwahe Woope, a historical document passed and enacted into law in May 2007. Arlana has presented nationally on children’s advocacy and laws as well has been given awards for exemplary and unique work on behalf of children in Indian country.
 
Marlys Big Eagle (Crow Creek Sioux) Marlys Big Eagle is an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. Ms. Big Eagle is currently the Director of the victim witness program for the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of South Dakota. Her duties include overseeing the victim witness program assuring that victims of crimes are afforded their rights, providing victim advocacy, assisting with court preparation and providing court assistance for victims and witnesses. Ms. Big Eagle has worked a variety of cases throughout her career including human trafficking, fraud, murder, child abuse, child sexual abuse and a variety of violent crime cases. Ms. Big Eagle is part of the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for US Attorney’s Rapid Response Team. As part of the Rapid Response Team, Ms. Big Eagle has assisted numerous victims on a national level. Ms. Big Eagle has provided critical incident response for mass casualty cases including the US v. Dylan Roof Murder/Hate Crime case in Charleston, South Carolina and the US v. Whitey Bulger Murder case in Boston, MA. Ms. Big Eagle is also a mentor EOUSA’s Victim Witness Mentor program tasked with providing training to new victim assistance staff with a particular focus on Indian country. Ms. Big Eagle’s previous work experience includes a position as the Executive Director of Missouri Shores Domestic Violence Center and a Criminal Investigator on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation
 
Hedi Bogda has a long history working in tribal law. She not only has her own law office but is the Appellate Justice for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Court of Appeals in Belcourt, North Dakota and is the Attorney/Consultant for the Pauma Band of Mission Indians in Pauma Valley, California, Cedarville Rancheria in Cedarville, California, and the Tule River Tribe in Porterville, California. As Appellate Justice for Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Court of Appeals, she presides over and adjudicates appellate cases in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Appeals Court. She prepares clear and concise court orders based on decisions rendered in all appeal hearings. As the Attorney/Consultant, Hedi specializes in providing legal advice and representation to departments, divisions, and entities of the Pauma Band of Mission Indians, Tule River Tribe, and Cedarville Rancheria on a variety of issues, including matters of Indian law; tribal, state, and federal regulatory law; tribal sovereignty; environmental law; water and natural resource law; land use planning; employment law; commercial, business, and economic development matters; gaming; taxation; land into trust; criminal and civil law; domestic violence and sexual assault; and cultural resources. She has also negotiated and drafted numerous agreements, tribal codes, policies, and ordinances on behalf of the various Indian tribes. She also specialized in the development of a Sexual Assault Response Team for the Pauma Band of Mission Indians. Lastly, she regularly prepares and drafts legal documents, legal instruments, legal memoranda, and opinions, and she researches and interprets case law, statutes, legislation, regulations, and various legal documents concerning a variety of legal issues. Prior to her current positions, Hedi worked as an attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and various law firms, and she was also a federal and tribal prosecutor in the state of South Dakota. Hedi earned her juris doctor in May 1997 from University of North Dakota School of Law, Grand Forks, North Dakota. She also attended Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. Hedi is also a member of both the Minnesota State Bar Association and South Dakota Bar Association.
 
Hallie Bongar White is the founder and Executive Director of the Southwest Center for Law and Policy (SWCLAP), a legal training and technical assistance provider for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. SWCLAP is the parent organization of the National Tribal Trial College, SAFESTAR (Sexual Assault Forensic Examination, Services, Training and Access to Resources), and the National Indian Country Clearinghouse on Sexual Assault. Hallie is an attorney licensed to practice in tribal, state, and federal courts (including admission and practice before the U.S. Supreme Court). She writes, consults, and trains nationally on issues related to sexual and domestic violence, stalking, abuse of persons with disabilities, firearms violence, and abuse of elders in Indian country.
 
A. Nikki Borchardt Campbell (Paiute and Ute) acts as the Executive Director of the National American Indian Court Judges Association. Ms. Campbell has worked in and with tribal communities for her entire career. She is a former practicing attorney, with experience litigating and working in all aspects of federal Indian law, including tribal-state-federal jurisdictional issues. She has experience and expertise working with tribal courts and tribal judicial systems, intergovernmental collaborations, Indian child welfare matters, traditional dispute resolution, Indigenous peacemaking, providing training to Indian legal services, and on criminal justice matters as they pertain to tribal communities. Ms. Campbell obtained her BA and MA from Stanford University and her JD at Arizona State University.
 
Elsie Boudreau (Yup’ik) is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) from St. Mary’s, Alaska. She is the President of Arctic Winds Healing Winds. She helped establish an Alaska Native Unit within Alaska CARES, a Child Advocacy Center. As a prior Children’s Justice Act Project Coordinator, she helped develop an educational video highlighting child sexual abuse in Alaska, grasping the wisdom of elders and identifying ways for healing to apply to traumatic experiences. She has also worked with various law firms as a victim’s advocate providing support to approximately 300 victims of clergy child sexual abuse.
 
The Boyz is a traditional Native singing group within the northern contemporary style singing category. The fifteen members represent several tribal nations including HoChunk, Lakota/Dakota, Ojibwe, Cree, Potawatomi, Otoe, Kickapoo, Ponca, Oneida, Menomonie, Arapaho and Navajo. The group was formed nearly thirty years ago in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, as a way to keep young boys off the streets. They have evolved into a highly accomplished singing group, winning many singing contests across Indian country such as thee Gathering of Nations World Class Championship 1996 & 2007, and Schemitzun Connecticut World Championship Singers in 2002 & 2008 and more recently took top honors at the Super Bowl of singing contests at the San Manuel Powwow (San Bernardino California) 2015 & 2018. The Boyz took top honors at the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards for Best Contemporary Drum Group and Best CD Album Cover in 2007 and also won an award at the Native American Music Awards for Best Contemporary Group in that same year. 
 
Jeremy Braithwaite, PhD is a Tribal Research Specialist at the Tribal Law and Policy Institute in West Hollywood, California. His research specializations include tribal justice systems, Native resilience, land claims issues, and tribally driven research and evaluation methodologies. He supports the Center for Native Child and Family Resilience and its mission to honor and develop knowledge of culturally relevant practice models, interventions, and services that contribute substantively to child maltreatment prevention efforts and family resilience.
 
Alane V. Breland is the Assistant Chief Prosecutor for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. In the past, she has served SRPMIC as the Interim Director of the Salt River Family Advocacy Center, as a Deputy Prosecutor, and as a guardian ad litem in the Salt River Legal Services Office. Alane was admitted to the practice of law in the state of Arizona in 2007. She is a member of the Supreme Court of Arizona Committee on Character and Fitness and a graduate of State Bar of Arizona Bar Leadership Institute. Alane graduated from the University of Alabama with a bachelor of arts degree in English, and received a juris doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law. She sits on the Executive Board of Directors for the MISS Foundation, an international nonprofit organization that provides support to grieving families following the death of a child.
 
Dr. Eric Broderick served for 38 years in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a Commissioned Officer in the United States Public Health Service rising to the rank of Rear Admiral Upper Half.  He has extensive experience as a clinician, in health program operations, health policy development, program assessment, and health system management. He focused his career on addressing the health needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
After obtaining his bachelors (1970) and doctoral degrees (1973) from Indiana University, Dr. Broderick completed a General Practice Residency at the United States Public Health Service Hospital in Seattle, WA (1974). He then accepted a position with the Indian Health Service (IHS) and worked in clinical assignments in New Mexico (1974) and Wyoming (1976) and as a regional dental consultant in Oklahoma (1985). He was awarded a Masters of Public Health degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1988, and attained Diplomat status in the American Board of Dental Public Health in 1990. He served as the Director, Division of Oral Health, Acting Director of the Division of Clinical and Preventive Services (1996) and Acting Deputy Director, Office of Public Health (2000) for the Indian Health Service.  In these positions he was responsible for management of a broad range of health programs within the Indian Health Care system and an annual budget of approximately $1 billion.  In addition to these duties, he also served as an Agency Lead Negotiator for Self Governance Compacts in Alaska, California and Oklahoma. Between 2002 and 2005 he served as Senior Advisor for Tribal Health Policy in the Immediate Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role he advised the Secretary and his immediate staff on all matters pertaining to the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives. 
 
Lisa Brunner has worked in the advocacy field for more than 18 years and was the executive director of Sacred Spirits First Nations Coalition, whose work addresses violence against Native American and Alaska Native women, for 13 years. Sacred Spirits First Nations Coalition is responsible for the creation of the Harm Reduction program on the White Earth Reservation in its response to the heroin epidemic and has since become a model for tribes and the state. Ms. Brunner has advocated on the local, state, national, and international levels to create effective change to public policy that maintains violence against Native women. Lisa has also served on a panel at the United Nations regarding violence against Indigenous Women of North America. Lisa is also a founding member of the National Congress of American Indians, Violence Against Women Task Force. Additionally, Ms. Brunner has served as a Train-the-Trainer for the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center as a “Domestic Violence Indian Country” Instructor. Lisa testified at Thematic Hearing on Violence Against Native Women in the United States before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Lisa also testified before Congress for the Hearing on Combating Human Trafficking—Federal, State, and Local Perspectives before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Lisa has served on the National Technical Working Group, SOAR to Health and Wellness Training for Health Care Providers to Respond to Human Trafficking. Lisa was honored with the Bonnie HeavyRunner Award for her work. She is a 2016 Bush Fellow.
 

Danica Love Brown, MSW, Ph.D., (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) was born and raised in Northern New Mexico. She currently is the Behavioral Health Manager at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and has worked as a mental health and substance abuse counselor, social worker and youth advocate for over 20 years. She has a history of working in the areas of prevention, drug and alcohol/mental health treatment, community and restorative justice, and sexual health with Native American and adjudicated youth. She specializes in working with culturally and socioeconomically diverse populations and Tribal communities, utilizing a trauma informed care framework. Danica is an Indigenous Wellness Research Institute ISMART fellow alumni, Council of Social Work Education, Minority Fellowship Program fellow alumni and Northwest Native American Research Center for Health, fellow alumni. Her research is focused on Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Decolonizing Methodologies to address historical trauma and health disparities in Tribal communities and she loves puppies.
 
Ruth Anna Buffalo (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation) is a member-elect of the North Dakota House of Representatives from the 27th District, serving from December 1st, 2018. She has a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice and three master’s degrees: one in management, another in business administration and one in public health. Ruth Buffalo is the first Democratic Native American woman to serve in the North Dakota state legislature.
 
Kendall Cadwell (Lower Brule Lakota Nation) has been working in the field of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child abuse for more than six years. Ms. Cadwell is married and has five children and two stepchildren.
 
Katie Campbell is the Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator for RedRover and has worked with nonprofits for 10-plus years. During this time, she has worked with diverse communities across racial, ethnic, and economic lines in positions ranging from front-line service to management roles. She has worked with survivors of domestic violence, as well as other individuals at risk, and with many nonprofits serving these communities. Katie is a firm believer that more can be accomplished when organizations work together and with the community rather than in silos. Katie’s educational background includes an MA in sociology from Sacramento State University, which she credits with furthering her passion for listening and learning from others. Her work at RedRover brings together two of her greatest passions: working with people and supporting the welfare of animals.
 
Rachel Carr (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) Utilizing her experience working with and for tribal communities, Rachel Carr has presented on a variety of topics including domestic violence and sexual assault in Indian country, historical trauma, and improving the tribal systemic response to domestic violence and sexual assault. In addition to her professional experience, Rachel has obtained her MSW from Michigan State University to enhance and broaden her understanding and perspective on complex social issues. Ms. Carr has also advocated for domestic violence legislation including the Violence Against Women Act (2013) on the local, state, and national level. Rachel serves as the Executive Director for Uniting Three Fires Against Violence (UTFAV). Prior to her current role, Ms. Carr served as the Policy Specialist for UTFAV and as a victim advocate for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians/Advocacy Resource Center.
 
Vida Castaneda is a Senior Analyst in the Tribal/State Programs Unit with the Center for Families, Children and the Courts and has been employed by the Judicial Council since December 2005. She is multiethnic and descendant of the Chumash, Ohlone, Tarahumara, and Zapotec tribes. She received her undergraduate degree in 1998 from San Diego State University with a major in sociology and a minor in American Indian studies. In 2000, she received a master’s degree in social welfare from UC Berkeley specializing in Title IV-E/public child welfare. During the second year of graduate school, Vida conducted her internship at the Department of Human Services in San Francisco County working with the Indian Child Welfare Act caseload. From October 2000 until December 2005, Ms. Castaneda worked as a child protective services worker on the mental health caseload in San Francisco County.
 
Marilyn Casteel (Curyung) is an Aleut who was born, raised, and lived most of her life in Dillingham, Alaska. Marilyn is the daughter of the late John and Martha Nelson. She identifies herself as an Aleut, but she is just as proud of her Swedish, Norwegian, and Jewish heritage. She, her husband Hayse, and their children have made their home in Dillingham, Alaska. Marilyn has been the Executive Director of Safe and Fear-Free Environment since April 1, 2014. She is a survivor of domestic violence and a recovering alcoholic of 28 years. She brings her personal life experiences to the work that she is compassionate about and works toward ending violence in her community and Bristol Bay every day.
 
Chris Chaney (Seneca-Cayuga Nation) has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Oklahoma (1984) and a juris doctor from Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School (1992). Chris’s bar memberships include the Navajo Nation, Utah, New Mexico, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Chris started his legal career in Farmington, New Mexico, and has extensive litigation experience in Jicarilla Apache Tribal Court, Southern Ute Tribal Court, and Navajo Nation District Courts. He has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Utah where he prosecuted federal crimes from the Navajo Nation, the Uintah and Ouray Ute Tribe, and other tribal jurisdictions. Chris has served as Deputy Director in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services and as a Deputy Director in the Department of Justice, Office of Tribal Justice. Since 2012, Chris has served as the Unit Chief for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Office of the General Counsel, Criminal Justice Information Law Unit (CJILU). The CJILU provides legal advice to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia which serves 18,000 tribal, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
 
Janelle Chapin lives in Fairbanks, Alaska with her husband and two children. She has worked in the domestic violence and social services field for 18 years. Janelle holds an associate degree in human services–addictions counseling and bachelor of fine arts degree in social work. She is involved several nonprofit social service boards in Fairbanks. Janelle is the program specialist at the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center. Her passion is social justice and creating a safer future for our children.
 
DeeJay Chino (Navajo Nation) is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. She received her masters of public administration degree from the University of South Florida and is a doctoral student in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In her current position as the National Baseline Study Field Operations Manager at American Indian Development Associates, she is working on the implementation of a study to examine public health, wellness, and safety of American Indian and Alaska Native women living in tribal communities and Alaska Native villages. Until recently, DeeJay worked on several tribal youth prevention and education programs in Nevada and New Mexico. She has also worked on several tribal youth–oriented programs addressing education, policy, and health issues.
 
Bonnie Clairmont (HoChunk Nation of Wisconsin) resides in St. Paul, Minnesota where she has been employed with the Tribal Law and Policy Institute (TLPI) since 2004 as the Victim Advocacy Program Specialist providing training and technical assistance to tribal nations on issues related to crime victimization. Prior to her employment with TLPI, Bonnie worked for more than 25 years as a victim advocate for sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and human sex trafficking. Bonnie provided extensive training to promote multidisciplinary training/collaboration between advocates, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and others on providing victim-centered responses to victims of all crimes including sexual violence, domestic violence, children exposed to violence, and elder abuse. She was the primary author for the publication Sexual Assault Response Teams: Resource Guide for the Development of Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART) in Tribal Communities. Bonnie co-edited the published book Sharing Our Stories of Survival, an anthology of writing by Native women who have experienced violence. Bonnie provided technical assistance to research conducted by Amnesty International U.S.A for the report “Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the U.S.A.” Bonnie was the 1995 recipient of the Office for Victims of Crime, National Crime Victim Service Award presented to her by President Bill Clinton.
 
Jim Clairmont (Sicangu Lakota) provides spiritual guidance and support to those in need such as victims of crime and abuse. Jim has conducted various healing ceremonies such as the chair ceremony to memorialize victims of homicide and the wiping of tears ceremony. He serves on the Elder’s Council at the University of Minnesota offering guidance and spiritual support to Native students experiencing personal problems. He provides spiritual support to patients in hospitals as an “on-call” volunteer Native spiritual advocate. Prior to his retirement, Jim was a teacher for more than 20 years in the Twin Cities where he taught Indian studies, chemical health, and Lakota language. He has presented workshops and served on panels about topics such as the appropriate use of Native spirituality in our work; sexual assault and exploitation perpetrated by spiritual leaders; and listen to the grandmothers at numerous conferences. As a former dancer and as a lead singer for a well-noted drum group, the Porcupine Singers, Jim has been in the powwow world all his life and now enjoys emceeing powwows and lecturing on the role of the singer and on Indian history and culture. His pride and joy are his two children, son Lakota (Hokie) and daughter April, and his five grandchildren and his many hunka children.
 
Cordelia Clapp, RN, BSN (Pawnee) has built her expertise during more than 25 years of nursing with the last decade of work in a clinical tribal setting in Oklahoma as their public health nurse. She also secured and was the coordinator of the domestic violence and faith-based grant tribal programs providing prevention and awareness about violence against women and sexual assault with focus to bring spiritual knowledge and healing presence to the dark times that survivors face through faith-based spiritual leaders by responding sensitively and effectively to victims of crime. Ms. Clapp serves as a nurse trainer of the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Service, Training, Access and Resources (SAFESTAR) program, a project supported by the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
 
Alex Cleghorn is an Assistant Attorney General and a Special Assistant to Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth on Alaska Native issues. Alex joined the Alaska Department of Law in 2017. Before joining the Department of Law, Alex primarily represented tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal economic enterprises, including serving as General Counsel for Southcentral Foundation (SCF). SCF is an Alaska Native–owned healthcare organization that serves nearly 65,000 Native people living in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, and 55 rural villages in the Anchorage Service Unit. SCF employs more than 2,000 people in more than 80 programs.  Before returning home to Alaska, Alex represented tribes and tribal organizations in California for many years. He served as General Counsel, Tribal Attorney, and Tribal Court Judge. He assisted in the formation of a consortium court serving several tribes and subsequently served as Presiding Judge for consortium court with a wellness court component. Alex was appointed to the California Tribal Court-State Court Forum, a California Judicial Council advisory committee. He negotiated and implemented various Memorandums of Understanding and protocols, including those addressing filing of tribal court protective orders. Alex was born in Anchorage and grew up in Fairbanks. He is of Alutiiq descent, a tribal citizen of Tangirnaq Native Village, and a shareholder of Natives of Kodiak and Koniag Incorporated. Alex serves his community on the Koniag Board of Directors and as a mentor through the Koniag Education Foundation. Alex received his BA from the University of Washington and his JD from Northeastern University School of Law.
 
Melissa Clyde (Navajo) is from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She has a master of social work degree from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She has a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from the University of Arizona. She has extensive experience in tribal child welfare services, including direct child protective services and case management. Melissa also has experience in children’s mental health as a treatment coordinator for a nonprofit organization. In 2013, Melissa joined Casey Family Programs as Senior Director in Indian Child Welfare Programs. Prior to joining Casey Family Programs, Melissa served as National Indian Child Welfare Association’s Senior Program Director. Her professional experience includes coaching, training, and technical assistance on culturally appropriate system-change efforts, community development, child welfare services, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and various topics to support capacity building in tribal and state jurisdictions. During the summer of 2011, Melissa represented the Indigenous peoples of North America as one of eight participants in the world at the UN Indigenous Fellowship Programme in Geneva, Switzerland.
 
Nazmia E. A. Comrie is a Senior Program Specialist responsible for the development, implementation, and delivery of technical assistance efforts as the Deputy Program Manager for the Collaborative Reform Initiative. She is an issue manager for issues related to human trafficking, hate crimes, interpersonal violence, and mass demonstrations, and has expertise in officer wellness and safety and youth safety. To date, Nazmia has authored and coauthored a number of publications relevant to her areas of expertise and the criminal justice field as a whole. Nazmia received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Rochester and her master’s degree in criminal justice from University at Albany, where she worked on research involving homicides, wrongful convictions, community policing, and gangs.

 
Jackie Crow Shoe (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians) is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota and works as a Policy Associate II with the University of Southern Maine. Jackie served as a consultant with Minnesota’s Department of Human Services for 10 years in the Child Safety and Permanency division. Included in that work was assisting 87 counties in the areas of Indian child welfare and partnering with the 11 tribes. She also served as a Child Welfare Reform Consultant, Family Assessment Response Consultant, Family Group Decision Making and Children’s Justice Act Consultant as well as being involved in Early Intervention Programming for states and tribes. Jackie also worked as a Management Analyst for the Office of Indian Policy with the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Prior work included serving as the Child Welfare Officer for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Tribe in Minnesota.
 

Amber Kanazbah Crotty (Navajo). Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty is a member of the 23rd Navajo Nation and serves on the Health, Education, and Human Services Committee and is the chairwoman for the Naabik’íyáti’ Sexual Assault Prevention Subcommittee. The subcommittee is tasked with strengthening responses to sexual assault victims, exploring data sharing and cross-deputation with outside agencies, developing a coordinated community response to sexual assault, strengthening sexual assault laws, and addressing any other issues relating to sexual assault crimes on the Navajo Nation. Amber is of the Kinyaa’ánii Clan and her maternal grandfather is Deeshchii'nii. She is originally from Tó’Halstoii (Sheep Springs, NM), and comes from a long legacy of female leaders, strong weavers, tenacious sheepherders, and loving grandmothers. She studied American Indian Studies-Law and History at University of California, Los Angeles. As a Council Delegate, mother, and community member, Amber advocates for Navajo Citizens who have little to no political agency, such as domestic violence victims, sexual assault survivors, vulnerable children, LGBTQ2Si, mentally ill homeless and ICWA children/families. Amber is a firm believer in “Ałchíní bá a’nít’á,” – Do it for the Children. 

Vince Davenport is a Supervisory Senior Policy Analyst with the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services in Washington, D.C. He oversees program development for the Grants Administration Division and also serves as the Deputy National Blue Alert Coordinator. He retired as a senior police commander in 2015 after 25 years of service with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Kansas.
 
Valerie “Nurr’araaluk” Davidson (Orutsararmiut Native Council) is an enrolled tribal member of the Orutsararmiut Native Council (ONC). Davidson has worked for more than 15 years as a national policy maker on matters affecting Indian health. Most recently, she served as the Senior Director of Legal and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), where she represented Alaska Native health needs at federal and state levels. Davidson served as Chair of the Tribal Technical Advisory Group to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from its inception in 2004 until August 2014. She represented all tribes over a period that spanned the terms of several secretaries of Health and Human Services and under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Davidson was also the spokesperson and chief political and legal strategist for ANTHC’s Dental Health Aide Therapy Program, the country’s first mid-level dental program. Davidson served for 11 years as the Technical Co-Lead Negotiator of the Alaska Tribal Health Compact and served on a team to negotiate agreements with the Veterans Administration that allow rural veterans to seek care in their home communities. Valerie also negotiated a triparty agreement to streamline rural sanitation construction projects with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the State of Alaska, and the ANTHC. Davidson also served as Chair of the Foraker Group, Chair of the Alaska Commission on Children and Youth, and as a member of the Alaska Health Care Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice Advisory Committee on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence. She serves as a Trustee of the First Alaskans Institute. Davidson earned her juris doctorate, with a certificate in Indian law, from the University of New Mexico School of Law, and a bachelor’s degree in education with a minor in bilingual education from University of Alaska Southeast. Davidson, a Yup’ik, was born in Bethel.
 
Virginia Davis is a Senior Policy Advisor at the National Congress of American Indians. Virginia works on policy and legal issues related to violence against Native women and public safety in tribal communities. She also represents tribal government interests at the United Nations and in other international forums. From 2009 to 2012, she served as the Deputy Director for Policy at the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice (DOJ). At the DOJ, Virginia led work on the reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act in 2013 and provided policy advice on matters related to violence against women. She helped oversee the award of nearly $500 million in grants annually. Virginia graduated from Harvard Law School and Yale University and was a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow at Georgetown University. She has written and spoken widely on criminal justice issues, civil and women’s rights, federal Indian law and policy, and international human rights.
 
Kim Day RN, SANE-A, SANE-P, Forensic Nursing Director with the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) has 40 years of nursing experience with a focus on sexual assault nursing and forensic nursing since 1998. Kim also has SANE program development and coordination experience. She has participated in development of the Indian Health Service Adult/Adolescent sexual assault examiner training, and the SAFESTAR training curriculum. Kim has also provided education nationally on a range of topics focused on the clinical care and response to patients who have experienced sexual violence. She has provided training and technical assistance with the IAFN since 2006 on the National Adult/Adolescent SAFE Protocol and the National Training Standards. In this role, she participated in the revision of the first National SAFE Protocol, the development of the National Pediatric Protocol, and revision of the National SAFE Training Standards. Kim was a contributing author for the most recent editions of the Atlas of Sexual Violence and Sexual Assault: Victimization Across the Lifespan, Volume 1: Investigation, Diagnosis and the Multidisciplinary Team and co-authored U.S. Agency for International Development’s Clinical Management of Children and Adolescents Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence and Exploitation: Technical Considerations for PEPFAR Programs.
 
Teri Deal joined National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) in 2009 with experience working both in research settings and in direct service with youth. Her work at NCJJ has primarily focused on supporting juvenile justice systems, departments, and programs to collect and use data. She has provided training and technical assistance to dozens of juvenile justice stakeholders on incorporating continuous quality improvement into their practices, implementing evidence-based programs, and analyzing and reporting data. She recently directed the Juvenile Justice Model Data Project funded by Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention that developed guidance for the field on fundamental measures of juvenile justice. She has also worked on several school-justice initiatives and led the Multi-state Study of Subsequent Offending, a five-state study to advance measures for juvenile recidivism. Ms. Deal graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, obtained her master’s degree in education at the University of Virginia, and is pursuing a PhD in community engagement.
 
Sarah Deer (Muscogee [Creek] Nation) is a 2014 MacArthur Fellow and a professor at the University of Kansas. Deer is also the Chief Justice for the Prairie Island Indian Community Court of Appeals. Professor Deer has received recognition from the U.S. Department of Justice and the American Bar Association for her work to end violence against Native people.
 
Marnie Dollinger is a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) at the U.S. Department of Justice. She is responsible for advising tribal jurisdictions regarding their implementation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act in Indian country. She is providing programmatic expertise in the Native American Sex Offender Management Initiative and will be assisting in the continued success of the Sex Offender Management and Planning Initiative. Prior to joining the SMART Office, Ms. Dollinger was a Behavioral Analyst with the U.S. Marshals Service Behavioral Analysis Unit located at the National Sex Offender Targeting Center. As a behavioral analyst, she provided behavioral investigative advice in the assessment of unknown subject sexual crimes and the location and apprehension of fugitive sexual offenders under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. She specialized in cold case crime scene reconstruction and its application to the behavioral motivations of violent offenders. Before her work with the Justice Department, Ms. Dollinger was a State Program Administrative Director for the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. The program serves civilly committed sexual offenders on two campuses within the state. In her role, she served as the Director of Behavioral Analysis and a Clinical Supervisor providing assessment, treatment planning, behavioral intervention planning, and administrative direction in policy creation and implementation. In the early years of her career, Ms. Dollinger worked with vulnerable adult and mentally ill and dangerous populations. In addition to working in the field of sexual offender management, Ms. Dollinger received a master’s degree in forensic science from National University in San Diego, California, and dedicated much of her career to death scene and crime scene investigation. She worked with the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office and Medtox Laboratories in addition to county and private laboratories and hospitals. She continues her forensic science interests as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Investigative Forensics for the University of Maryland University College.
 
Matt M. Dummermuth serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs. In that role, he leads the Justice Department’s principal funding, research, and statistical component, overseeing more than $12 billion in grants and other investments (including more than $5 billion awarded in fiscal year 2018) designed to support state, local, and tribal criminal and juvenile justice activities and victim services. Under his direction, in fiscal year 2018 OJP joined the Office on Violence Against Women and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to make almost a quarter-billion dollars in public safety grants available to tribal communities. Included in that amount is almost $133 million in funds set aside expressly for serving American Indian and Alaska Native crime victims. Mr. Dummermuth served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa from 2007 to 2009. Under his leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted record numbers of child exploitation defendants and launched an Internet-predator warning program that reached more than 42,000 students in 150 middle schools. In addition, he created the first human trafficking task force in Iowa, bringing together law enforcement agencies and victim assistance organizations to combat trafficking operations and provide services to trafficking survivors. Mr. Dummermuth also previously served in the Justice Department as Counsel and Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Prior to joining OJP, he was in private practice in Iowa where he focused primarily on civil litigation involving constitutional, governmental, agricultural, and business matters. Mr. Dummermuth is a graduate of Iowa State University and Harvard Law School. He was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and clerked for the Honorable Judge David R. Hansen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Sarah Eagle Heart (Oglala Lakota) is an accomplished and internationally experienced executive focused on serving Indigenous Peoples. She is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Native Americans in Philanthropy since September 2015. Ms. Eagle Heart has vast experience working at small nonprofit organizations and corporate tribal organizations, as well as large international non-governmental organizations. She has built upon her traditional cultural knowledge to understand the essential need for cross cultural communication, education, mutual respect, collaboration, partnership and advocacy. She has extensive experience in the faith-based community on cross sectional public policy initiatives with, and for, diverse communities nationally and internationally as Team Leader for Diversity and Ethnic Ministries, and Program Officer for Indigenous Ministry serving on the staff of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church headquartered in New York, New York. Ms. Eagle Heart is a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
 
Lucille Echohawk (Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma) has worked on behalf of First Nations families, communities, and tribes at the local, state, and national levels, including being a founder of Native Americans in Philanthropy. She earned a BA at Brigham Young University and a MED at Loyola University of Chicago. Lucille served for many years (prior to her December 2010 retirement) as a Senior Specialist, Indian Child Welfare with Casey Family Programs, working in the Great Plains Region as well as nationally. She serves as a member of National Child Welfare Resource Center on Tribes (NRC4Tribes) National Advisory Council, a member of the American Humane Association Board of Directors and its Children’s Advisory Committee, and as a member of the Child Welfare League of America’s Executive Committee.
 
Sam English (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) has been an artist all his life and is a recovering alcoholic who advocates for the arts and recovery from alcohol. Sam drank alcohol for 25 years, quitting at age 39. At that point, Sam was a captive of alcoholism and everything in his life destroyed, such as personal integrity and a marriage with three children. On December 10, 1981, Sam had his last drink, went to a men’s stag meeting associated with Alcoholics Anonymous (he chooses to break his own anonymity), and has been sober for more than 25 years. Sam’s art career was always in his blood; however, it didn’t come alive as a profession until he sobered up. It was at that point that a decision had to be made, and he chose the artist profession knowing that it would be a life of art and poverty, and that it has been. Sam has been fortunate enough to have created approximately 80 poster print images for various American Indian programs. Sam has designed the images for eight of the Indian Nations: Justice for Victims of Crime conferences to date.
 
A. J. Ernst has more than 30 years of experience as a clinician, administrator, and program evaluator. He is the former Director for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Native American Center for Excellence, which provided training and technical assistance on substance use disorders and suicide prevention to more than 150 tribes. A. J. also served as the Director of Human Services for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians after they declared a State of Emergency in 2013, and he served as the Director of Technology Transfer for SAMHSA’s Co-occurring Center for Excellence. A. J. is a Senior Technical Expert on several projects including the Children Bureau’s Center for Native Child and Family Resilience at JBS International, Inc. A. J. lives near Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife and daughters.
 
Mona I. Evan (Village of Kake) is the Higher Education Coordinator for her tribal government and provides support for transportation and infrastructure projects in her community. I was raised by my single mother and grandparents in Kake, who were both community and business-minded role models who inspired my life of service. My work history includes medical records and coding at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage; working as a Community Health Aid Practitioner in Kake in both clinic and hospital (SEARHC) environment; providing organizational and administrative support for training events for tribes nationwide to protect and improve protections for tribal children; developing user manuals for database programs designed for multiple offices; managing day-to-day operations, Interim CEO, and current President of the Advisory Board of our local Internet provider; and being a member of the board of directors for our local Corporation. My favorite job is the planning and implementation of our local culture camp, which has been provided for our community youth for 30 years.
 
Jennifer A. Fahey, JD, MPA has worked in law and policy for the past 20 years, primarily in government and nonprofit agencies. She is a practicing attorney and criminal justice consultant, providing training and technical assistance to local, state, and tribal jurisdictions nationwide and is a primary author of the recently published “Joint Jurisdiction Courts: A Manual for Developing Tribal, Local, State and Federal Justice Collaborations.” Ms. Fahey previously served as an elected county attorney in Minnesota, and while in office she helped develop an innovative, alternative “sentencing circle” program in coordination with the judiciary, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the Mille Lacs Band of Indians, and the community. Ms. Fahey later served as Deputy Director of the Crime and Justice Institute where she worked to create and implement responsible criminal justice and social policy grounded in evidence-based principles. Ms. Fahey holds a law degree from Hamline University School of Law and an MPA from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government.
 
Diana Faugno graduated with a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of North Dakota and a master of science in nursing from the University of Phoenix. Ms. Faugno is a Founding Board Director for End Violence Against Women International. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the California American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and is the current president of the Academy of Forensic Nurses as well as a retired fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Science and a Distinguished Fellow in the International Association of Forensic Nurses. She is the nurse examiner at the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center and a nurse examiner for Eisenhower Medical Center’s SART team. She is the co-author on numerous textbooks and papers on dealing with the forensic medical aspects of violence.
 
Kate R. Finn (Osage Nation) is the Staff Attorney for the First Peoples Investment Engagement Program. Ms. Finn most recently served as the inaugural American Indian Law Program Fellow at the University of Colorado Law School where she worked directly with tribes and Native communities. Kate holds a JD and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado and a BA from Princeton University. Kate’s work encompasses strengthening healthy Native communities through economic development initiatives and addressing violence against Indigenous women. Kate has co-authored several articles on the intersection of resource development and violence against women in Native communities. Prior to attending law school, Kate served as a Program Coordinator with the Denver Victim Services Network ensuring that victims of crime in the Denver metro area had access to a comprehensive network of services. She worked on the local level to connect service agencies, and also advocated at the federal level for adequate protections of victims of crime.
 
First Nations Women Warriors is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. First Nations Women Warriors is a group of professional Native Women Veterans who are focused on helping Veterans through guidance and resources. With their networking and administrative skills they can assist other like organizations that support Veterans. Their mission is to Inspire, Honor and Empower their fellow Native Women Veterans through mentoring, and educating. Their vision is that Native Women Veterans are respected and recognized for their service and sacrifices to their country.
 
Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) is the Lieutenant Governor-elect of Minnesota. Her election on Nov. 6, 2018, made her the first Native American woman to ever be elected to statewide executive office in U.S. history. She's served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2015. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represents District 46A in the western Twin Cities metropolitan area. A member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, she joined fellow DFLer Susan Allen, (Rosebud Sioux) and Republican Steve Green, an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe as the only other Natives in the Minnesota State House. On July 28, 2016, Flanagan became the first Native American woman to address the Democratic National Convention (or any convention of a major party), from the podium. Flanagan has worked on issue of education and political organizing for urban Native Americans in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. Elected to the city's School Board, she served from 2005 to 2009. In 2017, she became a candidate for lieutenant governor, joining Congressman Tim Walz in the 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election. She won, thus becoming the first racial minority woman elected to statewide office in Minnesota as well as the second Native American woman elected to statewide executive office in the United States. Flanagan has been given a leading part in setting up the Walz administration.
 
Pamela Foster led grassroots efforts to establish an AMBER Alert in Indian Country. She started a petition in remembrance of her daughter and voiced her concerns on what can be done to keep children safe. On April 12, 2017, U.S. Senator John McCain introduced the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2017, legislation that would expand the AMBER Alert child abduction warning system on Native American reservations by clarifying that Indian tribes are eligible for Department of Justice (DOJ) grants that help assemble AMBER Alert systems for law enforcement agencies. Foster spent many months advocating for the bill and urged lawmakers to support the bill. While lobbying for the bill, Foster was invited to The State of the Union address by Congressman Andy Biggs. On January 30, 2018 at the State of the Union, Foster had the opportunity to speak with Kevin McCarthy and other lawmakers asking them to support the Legislation. On April 12, 2018 at The Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Foster received the Champion Award by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for her advocating and efforts to encourage Native American communities to adopt AMBER Alert plans and develop programs to protect children from predators. Pamela now works with Fox Valley Technical College and continues to lead grass-root efforts to encourage Indian communities to adopt AMBER Alert programs to protect children from predators. She is active in tribal communities, engaging tribal leaders and government officials to implement the AMBER Alert plans for tribes across the country. Foster continues to bring to light awareness of abductions, human trafficking, sexual assault against women and children, and child abuse.
 
Kandi Fowler (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians/Oneida) is the Project Beacon Program Manager for the American Indian Center of Chicago. Kandi is a licensed drug and alcohol abuse counselor with the state of Illinois. Over the past 15 years, she has worked for a variety of social services agencies and has developed specialties in counseling individuals dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, HIV, and trauma, as well as women in the prison system. She is passionate about helping women overcome human trafficking as she is a former victim of human trafficking.
 
Samantha Fried is an adjunct faculty member of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service and teaches advanced practice courses, forensic social work and social work and law to master’s students. Additionally, she received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan and a master’s in social work from Columbia University with a minor in law after completing several courses in the Columbia University School of Law and working with law students in the Child Advocacy Clinic.
 
Paul Fuentes has been employed with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma as a Probation Officer since September 2009. He has contributed to the overall growth of justice services offered by the tribes by way of successful grant writing and program development. Mr. Fuentes oversees the probation program, sex offender registration, and healing to wellness court. He successfully led a team of diverse groups from the conception to completion stages of a tribal justice center facility. Mr. Fuentes serves as a private consultant with Fox Valley Technical College and a peer reviewer of grant solicitations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
 
Eric Gale is a Principal Social Worker for the Navajo Nation Department of Family Services. He  handles policy development, program design, and implementation for DFS in the areas of child welfare and its various subsystems surrounding Title IV-E, Title IV-B, and BIA ‘638 funding. He possess more than 10 years of social work experience with both direct field level and administrative experience. Eric possesses a master of social work degree and master of science degree in child psychology, a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and a bachelor’s degree in family studies/human development—all from Arizona State University. He is Apache and Navajo.
 
Avis Garcia, PhD, L.P.C. L.A.T. (Northern Arapaho) is an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Nation and affiliated with the Eastern Shoshone Tribe of Wyoming. She earned a doctorate in counselor education and supervision and a minor in American Indian studies at the University of Wyoming, and is also a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Addictions Therapist. For 17 years she has been a mental health provider in the treatment of at-risk youth and families. She is also an advocate of education in Indian country and a resource provider for promoting cultural enhancement of evidence-based practices and practice-based evidence of treatment approaches for American Indian children and their families exposed to trauma. Avis has more than 14 years of experience and is knowledgeable about the concerns of implementation and adaptation of evidenced-based practices being introduced into Indian country. She is known for her efforts to unify traditional American Indian practices and beliefs into the formal teaching and instruction of Indigenous people for the professionals working with these populations.
 
Suzanne M. Garcia has worked with service providers and Native nations throughout her career. Currently, she is a Tribal Legal Specialist at the Tribal Law and Policy Institute working on several projects that concern subjects as promising practices for tribal/state/local collaborations, family wellness courts, the commercial sexual exploitation of children, child welfare, domestic violence, and juvenile justice. Suzanne was in-house counsel for the Washoe Tribe for seven and a half years where, among other things, she developed human services programs; supported cultural resource management; negotiated memorandums of understanding on issues such as child welfare, domestic violence, and law enforcement; and represented the tribe in tribal, federal, and state courts. Prior to that, Suzanne worked for the Domestic Violence Victims Assistance Project in the cow counties of rural Nevada.
 
Jerry Gardner (Cherokee) serves as the Tribal Law and Policy Institutes (TLPI) Executive Director and is an attorney with more than 35 years of experience working with American Indian/Alaska Native Nations, tribal court systems, and victims of crime in Indian country. Jerry has served as the Executive Director of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute since its founding in 1996 and oversees all TLPI projects and services. Jerry has also served as the Director of the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Tribes, Council Member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities (IRR), and an ABA Tribal Courts Council member.  Jerry has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, UCLA School of Law, and Southwestern School of Law. He previously served as the Administrator for the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA). He has been an appellate court judge for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (North Dakota) and Poarch Creek Band (Alabama). He served as the Senior Staff Attorney with the National Indian Justice Center (NIJC) from NIJC’s establishment in 1983 until TLPI’s founding in 1996. He served as a Professional Staff Member at the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in the late 1970s. He also served in legal training positions for the national office of the Legal Services Corporation and the American Indian Lawyer Training Program. Jerry received his J.D. from the Antioch School of Law. 
 
Anthony Gastelum (Organized Village of Kake) is  the Tribal Courts Coordinator for the Organized Village of Kake (OVK) and is a Certified Behavioral Health Aide. Anthony has earned his certificate in behavioral health science/drugs and alcohol from San Diego Community College; he is also a veteran from the U.S. Army serving from 1975 to 1981 during the Viet Nam Era. Over the years, he has been actively involved with (OVK) Youth and Adult Culture Camps, Tribal Courts/Circle Peacemaking, 7th Generation Mentoring Program, Across Ages Mentoring Program, Behavioral Health Prevention, SEARHC Traditional Foods Project, OJJDP Tribal Youth Program/Technical Assistance under the EDC, National and local Healthy Native Community Fellowship, and Andrew Zimmern Foods Alaska Inside Passage. Now he serves in the role of Tribal Courts Coordinator working with (OVK) Tribal Council. Anthony is passionate about helping people, he also is a traditional singer with the (Dancing Cloud Singers) out of Pala, California, and drummer and a leader in traditional ceremonies to promote emotional healing.
 
Ann Gilmour is an attorney with the Judicial Council of California, Center for Families, Children and the Courts, working with the Tribal Project Unit. The work of the Tribal Projects Unit includes the Indian Child Welfare Act initiative. Ms. Gilmour has more than 20 years pf experience in the field of Indian law practicing first in British Columbia where she did aboriginal rights and title litigation. Since moving to California in 1999, she has continued to work in the field of Indian law, focusing primarily on the Indian Child Welfare Act. She joined the Judicial Council in 2007.
 
Dr. N. Diane Gout has worked in the field of violence against women for nearly 30 years. At heart, she is an advocate and believes passionately in telling our stories. Moving from advocacy to research and evaluation, she conferred her PhD from Boston University in the interdisciplinary sociology and social work programs. Her dissertation is entitled “Cultural Identity and Familial Relationships as Protective Factors against Intimate Partner Violence among American Indian and Alaska Native Mother.” She is the owner and executive director of Gray O.A.K. LLC, a Maine-based research and evaluation company working primarily with tribes and nontribal agencies who work with tribes throughout the United States and Alaska. The overarching mission of the company is to empower communities and develop internal capacity through the promotion of ownership, autonomy, and knowledge (O.A.K.). Dr. Gout has successfully developed a framework for data collection that is interwoven with the art of storytelling, a concept that is well-received and regarded by tribal agencies and organizations.
 
Juli Ana Grant is a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office on Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART) at the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to her position at SMART, Ms. Grant worked for the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to her work at the Department of Justice, Ms. Grant was the Manager of Sex Offense Management and Domestic Violence Programs and the Tribal Justice Exchange Project at the Center for Court Innovation where she oversaw development and implementation of sex offense management programs, specialized sex offense courts, and domestic violence courts in New York State, including developing collaborative projects; coordinating grant writing for innovative approaches; providing training to advocates and other professionals; and participating in countywide and statewide management committees. Ms. Grant was also a part of the Tribal Justice Exchange Project team, working to ensure tribal communities had access to training and ongoing technical assistance about problem-solving community-based practices and encouraging formal collaborations between traditional tribal justice systems and state and local court systems, as well as identifying and disseminating best practices developed in Indian country that could help to strengthen public safety initiatives elsewhere in the United States. In addition, she provided technical assistance to states on domestic violence issues to help design and develop protocols, research projects, service plans, resources, and techniques for documenting results. Before joining the center, Ms. Grant was the Director of Victim Services in Brooklyn Criminal, Community and Supreme Courts, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, and the Brooklyn Family Justice Center, overseeing staff providing crisis intervention, social services, restitution, and child care to victims of crime. In addition to supervising staff and services, Ms. Grant participated in multiple planning committees for specialized services, expanded outreach to underserved communities, and developed early intervention projects for domestic and sexual violence victims.
 
Alex Graves, through Rolling Thunder Training, provides training to law enforcement, prosecutors, advocates on victim of crime response, officer-involved domestic violence, and a range of family violence crimes. He is a Branch Chief assigned to the Physical Techniques Division at the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. His previous assignment was Branch Chief at the Firearms Division. Alex began his law enforcement career with the U.S. Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division. After leaving the Marine Corps, Alex spent 12 years with the Hawaii County Police Department where he served as a Detective/Sergeant supervising the West Hawaii Criminal Investigation Section, Domestic Violence Unit. Alex then went on to work in South Dakota with Sacred-Circle/Cangleska Inc., as a Law Enforcement Training Specialist and as a Special Investigator for the Oglala Lakota Nation’s Attorney General. Alex joined the staff of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in 2005 as a Law Enforcement Program Specialist. There he was responsible for the development and delivery of the Domestic Violence Indian Country Training Program and specialized in the delivery of domestic violence training across the United States. He also spent a period assigned to the Physical Techniques Division teaching law enforcement control tactics, physical fitness, CPR, and first aid. He has been published on the topics of forensic interviewing of children, intra-agency trainers, domestic violence and child abuse, human trafficking, officer-involved domestic violence, and reduced hazard ammunition, and has presented at seminars around the country and internationally on officer survival, firearms, the causation of youths at risk, the Violence Against Women Act, and officer-involved domestic violence. Alex serves on the Civil Rights Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He is also a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for CASA Glynn and serves on the Glynn County Citizens Panel Review. He has a BS in criminal justice administration from Bellevue University. He has competed in numerous triathlons including the Hawaii Ironman World Triathlon Championship and most recently the Augusta, Georgia 70.3 Ironman.
 
Greg Grey Cloud (Crow Creek Sioux Tribe) is cofounder of Wica Agli, an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, and has been actively involved in domestic violence education awareness for the past six years. He sits as an advisor on Force. Force is a national organization that has brought men and women together developing safe spaces for victims and survivors of sexual assault to share their stories and create national conversations to create avenues to stop rape culture. Greg has been recognized for his activism and has received several environmental awards for his work and sits on the national climate leadership network. This group consists of 25 young men and women across the nation fighting to stop climate change as well as bring awareness of the intersections of domestic violence/sexual assault in extractive industries. Greg is a passionate grassroots activist who advocates for the protection of his nations’ women and children.
 
Jeff L. Grubbe (Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians), with his election in 2006, continues a legacy of service on the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Tribal Council, following in his grandfather Lawrence Pierce’s footsteps, who previously served on the Tribal Council. Preceding his appointment, Mr. Grubbe worked as a data-entry clerk in the Trust Enforcement Support Activities department for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1999, Mr. Grubbe entered the Agua Caliente Resort and Spa tribal intern program where he worked in the casino as a table games shift manager. His experience eventually led to his involvement in other tribal service including the Agua Caliente Child Development Committee, the Agua Caliente Election Board, the Gaming Commission, and the Tribal Building Committee. Mr. Grubbe later joined the Agua Caliente Development Authority and has been involved with it since 2003. He continues to serve as the Tribal Council Liaison. While working in the casino, Mr. Grubbe attended the University of Redlands and earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems. He also has an associate arts degree from Haskell Indian Nations University.
 
Steven Hafner, MA, CHES is a research assistant in the Office of Research and Evaluation at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), one of two federal scientific agencies at the U.S. Department of Justice. At NIJ, he works on NIJ’s projects related to tribal crime and justice. Steven previously interned for the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board in Rapid City, South Dakota, and collaborates with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board in Portland, Oregon, on projects related to health communication and violence prevention. Steven is also a certified health education specialist (CHES). He holds a BA in evolutionary anthropology and German studies from Duke University, an MA in health education from Columbia University, and is a doctoral candidate in social and behavioral sciences at the TH Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University.
 
Leslie A. Hagen serves as the Department of Justice’s first National Indian Country Training Coordinator. In this position, she is responsible for planning, developing, and coordinating training in a broad range of matters relating to the administration of justice in Indian country. Previously, Ms. Hagen served as the Native American Issues Coordinator for the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA). In that capacity, she served as EOUSA’s principal legal advisor on all matters pertaining to Native American issues, provided management support to the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and coordinated and resolved legal issues. She also served as a liaison and technical assistance provider to Department of Justice components and the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on Native American Issues. Ms. Hagen started with the Department of Justice as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the Western District of Michigan. As an AUSA, she was assigned to Violent Crime in Indian Country and handled federal prosecutions and training on issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and human trafficking affecting the 11 federally recognized tribes in the Western District of Michigan.
 
Kelly K. Hallman, PhD (Cherokee Nation) is a health policy researcher focusing on Indigenous empowerment, sexual violence prevention, adolescent health, and equity in access to opportunities. Dr. Hallman combines quantitative and participatory research methods to explore how programs can be more culturally relevant, impactful, and sustainable. Dr. Hallman is the Research and Evaluation Specialist at the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Consulting Advisor to the StrongHearts Native Helpline, and a Senior Associate at the GIRL Center for Innovation Research and Learning. Dr. Hallman leads the Indigenous Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Network, an initiative to build the capacity of Native-led organizations in Indian country to undertake and assess girl-centered programming in their communities. She has designed, evaluated, and strengthened programs for Mayan communities in Mexico and Guatemala, and has led health policy research initiatives throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Kelly’s research has demonstrated that girls’ access to education, training, and community resources shrinks at the time of puberty due to threats of sexual assault; female social networks help reduce girls’ risks of sexual assault; the sexual partner types of poorly educated adolescent girls have more complex underpinnings than previously recognized; and gender role restrictions, poverty, and care responsibilities—not Indigenous ethnicity—are the largest barriers to Mayan girls’ schooling in Guatemala. Dr. Hallman serves as an advisor on various panels and studies, including Institutional Review Boards. She received her doctorate degree in economics from Michigan State University.
 
Jeffery Harmon (Cherokee Nation) is a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Mr. Harmon is the Chief Prosecutor for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) in Arizona. He previously served as Deputy Prosecutor and Assistant Chief Prosecutor before being promoted to his current position in 2012. Mr. Harmon is also appointed as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona. Through his work with the SRPMIC, Mr. Harmon strives to improve the services to the community and to protect the general welfare of the community, in particular children and vulnerable adults. Mr. Harmon was admitted to practice law in the state of Arizona in 2006. He was selected to participate in the 2009–2010 class of the Bar Leadership Institute sponsored by the State Bar of Arizona, and has served on the Bar Leadership Institute’s Selection and Curriculum Review Committee since 2010. Mr. Harmon has been a member of the Native America Bar Association of Arizona for years and serves as a board member and President-Elect. Mr. Harmon received a BS degree in industrial engineering from the University of Washington and a juris doctor from Arizona State University, where he participated in the law school’s Indian Law Clinic and graduated with a certificate in Indian Law.
 
Melisa Harris (Chickasaw Nation) was born and raised in Southern Oklahoma. She has spent nearly two decades working in child protection in Indian country and is  a forensic interviewer for the Grayson County Children’s Advocacy Center in Sherman, Texas. Melisa brings her unique perspective to child abuse and maltreatment within tribal communities, having experienced “the system” as a youth in foster care, as well as a social worker and a foster parent. Melisa also serves on the Board of Directors for Native American Children’s Alliance, an intertribal membership organization whose mission is to promote excellence in child abuse prevention and intervention in Native American and Alaska Native communities. She trains in the areas of historical trauma, cultural awareness, and the Indian Child Welfare Act (25 U.S.C. § 1902).
 
Lenny Hayes (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the northeast corner of South Dakota. Lenny is also owner and operator of Tate Topa Consulting, LLC and is in private practice specializing in marriage family therapy. He has extensive training in mental and chemical health issues that impact the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ and Native community. Lenny has traveled nationally and locally training and presenting on the issues that impact both the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ and Native community and the impact of sexual violence against men and boys. Lenny is involved with several local LGBTQ organizations and is former Chairman of the Board of the Minnesota Two-Spirit Society. As Chairman of the Board of the Minnesota Two-Spirit Society, he assisted with Native organizations in developing policies in the protection, safety, and nondiscrimination of Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ people in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Lenny is a board member to the First Nations Repatriation Institute; Advisory Committee Member with Capacity Building Center for Tribes; Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ Advisory Committee Member for the Center for Native American Youth, Washington, D.C.; LGBTQ Advisory Co-Chair Council Member for the Southwest Indigenous Women’s Coalition; Advisory Board Member for the National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability and Permanency for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Two-Spirit Children and Youth in Foster Care; Committee Member for ACE-DV Leadership Forum with the National Resource Center for Domestic Violence; and a former council member for the MN HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Council.
 
Iris PrettyPaint, PhD (Blackfeet) is the Training and Technical Assistance Service Line Director and the Native Aspirations Project Director at Kauffman and Associates, headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Native Aspirations is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to provide national training and technical assistance to 65 American Indian and Alaska Native villages to reduce violence, bullying, and suicide among youth. The Native Aspirations Project contributes to a nationwide tribal movement toward healing, violence prevention, and positive youth development. Dr. PrettyPaint provides administrative oversight for a 10-member team to conduct data-driven community prevention planning; build community coalitions; and implement evidence-, practice-, and culture-based interventions. She has more than 30 years of experience as an educator, researcher, and evaluator; she is a leading authority on cultural resilience, student retention, and Indigenous evaluation; and her publications address issues of traditional Native culture and resilience, family support models, cultural and school partnerships, and Indigenous theoretical foundations on educational persistence. She has delivered training and technical assistance on a variety of topics, such as the contagion of violence and student retention.
 
Sarah Henry is an Attorney Advisor for the National Center on Protection Orders and Full Faith and Credit (NCPOFFC), a project of the Battered Women’s Justice Project. The mission of the NCPOFFC is to promote and facilitate nationwide implementation of the full faith and credit provision of the Violence Against Women Act and enforcement of the federal firearm prohibitions and the federal domestic violence/stalking criminal provisions. Ms. Henry provides training, legal analysis, and policy review on local, state, tribal, and national issues. She conducts research and develops training materials, resources, and publications. Before assuming her current position, she worked as a teacher. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado Law School.
 
Lisa Heth (Lower Brule Lakota Tribe) has worked In the field of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse for more than 26 years. Ms. Heth has been a strong advocate for women and children on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations in South Dakota and is the Executive Director for Wiconl Wawoklya, Inc. (Helping Families), which operates two domestic violence shelters, one on the Crow Creek Reservation and the other one located in Lower Brule, a transitional housing program and a resource center. She is the founder of the Children’s Safe Place (children's advocacy center) located adjacent to Project Safe Shelter and, recently, Pathfinder Center, a place of refuge for victims of human trafficking. Ms. Heth received the prestigious 2015 OVC National Crime Victims’ Service Award; Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s Bonnie Heavy Runner Victim Advocacy Award in 2012; the Carol Malcki Advocacy Award from the Sound Dakota Coalition Ending Domestic and Sexual Violence in 2010; and the South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Victims’ Rights Appreciation Award in 1998. Ms. Heth was appointed in 2002 to 2012 by the governor of South Dakota to the South Dakota CASA and served as the co-chair of the South Dakota Coalition Ending Domestic nd Sexual Violence from 1999 to 2001, 2010 to 2011, and 2013. Ms. Heth served as the Chair for the Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains from 2011 to 2013, which is a tribal coalition and serves more than 20 tribes. In September 2018, Ms. Heth was appointed to the South Dakota Victim Compensation Board. Ms. Heth is a member of the Lower Brule Lakota Tribe. Ms. Heth has three children and seven grandchildren.
 
Hon. Joyce D. Hinrichs is currently the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Humboldt and of its Juvenile Court. Judge Hinrichs grew up in Humboldt County knowing she wanted to be involved in Juvenile Justice, even though she did not know that is what it was called at the time. She went away to college thinking she was never going to live in any rural part of the State. Still, after graduating from the University of the Pacific with a B.A. in Psychology in 1980 and from McGeorge School of the Law, UOP, with a law degree in 1983, she came home to await the results of the State Bar Examination, only to stumble onto the career she had only dreamed of up until that point. Following the advice of her mentor attorney, she applied for jobs in Humboldt County as either a deputy district attorney or public defender, so she would get litigation experience before moving to a larger venue. She was hired by the local District Attorney’s office and was assigned the juvenile assignment in which she prosecuted juvenile delinquent matters and represent children in juvenile dependency matters. She was a deputy district attorney for almost three years; in private practice for about eleven years, during which time she had a contract with the County to represent child and parents in the court system and was privately retained to represent foster parents; and then in 1997 she was hired as the Juvenile and Family Court Commissioner. She remained the Commissioner until 2008, when she was elected Judge. After three years as a Criminal Court Judge, she returned to Juvenile Court as the Presiding Judge in 2017.  It has been her honor and privilege to work with the local tribes and the Department of Health and Human Service to help estabilish the Joint Jurisdiction Wellness Courts. 
 
Frances Ho is an attorney with the Center for Families, Children and the Courts at the Judicial Council of California. She provides subject matter expertise in the areas of domestic violence and self-help programs. Before joining the Judicial Council, Ms. Ho worked for the Superior Court of California in Solano County for seven years. Her experience at the trial court level included working in the court’s self-help center as their Domestic Violence Attorney and working as a court administrator, managing collaborative court programs. In her first year of practice, Ms. Ho worked for Legal Services of Northern California, where she established a restraining order clinic in the city of Vallejo. In Solano County, Ms. Ho sought to improve the public’s access to the court and community resources through partnerships and collaborations. Ms. Ho received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a bachelor of science degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego. Ms. Ho spends her spare time enjoying the company of her family and friends.
 
Rebekah HorseChief (Osage/Pawnee), NAICJA Program Coordinator, provides personalized TTA to CTAS Purpose Area 3 grantees to strengthen and enhance their tribal justice system capacity and to implement programs aimed to address alcohol- and substance abuse–related crimes. Rebekah’s background includes working with tribes and tribal organizations on highly significant tribal issues including education; tribal historic preservation, P.L. 102-477 Employment and Training Administration, and grants management; policy development and economic development initiatives; tribal college accreditation; contract support costs under the Indian Self-Determination Education and Assistance Act; and tribal sovereignty initiatives. Ms. HorseChief grew up in Oklahoma and New Mexico. She obtained a master’s degree in Indigenous peoples law from the University of Oklahoma, College of Law and a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico.
 
Jeannie Hovland is the Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans (ANA), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She was confirmed by the Senate in June 2018. As Commissioner, she oversees ANA’s discretionary funding programs to American Indians, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders; serves as an advocate for Native Americans; and coordinates activities within HHS to develop policies, programs, and budgets affecting Native Americans all under the authority of the Native American Programs Act. She also serves in the dual role of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs, affirming the government-to-government relationship between ACF and Indian tribes. She serves as the chair of the ACF Native American Affairs Council and provides advice, opinions, and reviews policies within ACF affecting Indian tribes. Prior to her appointment, Hovland served as senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, where she oversaw a diverse portfolio of Indian affairs matters. Hovland has also served as the tribal affairs advisor to Senator John Thune (R-SD) for over 12 years. Hovland played a key role in developing legislation drafted in direct response to the needs and requests of Indian tribes, such as, the Tribal Law and Order Act and Code Talker Recognition Act of 2008. Prior to her employment with Senator Thune, Hovland was CEO of Wanji Native Nations Consultants which offered training services for Tribal programs and Tribal governments. Hovland is an enrolled member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.
 
Diane Humetewa (Hopi) is a U.S. District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona and was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, serving in that position from December 2007 to August 2009. Confirmed in 2014 as the first Native American woman and enrolled tribal member to serve as a federal judge, Humetewa is one of three Native Americans in history to serve in this position. Humetewa is also a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Professor Humetewa has served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and to the Deputy Attorney General for the U.S. Justice Department, as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Guideline Commission, Native American Advisory Committee, and as an Appellate Court Judge for the Hopi Tribe, of which she is an enrolled member.
 
Darlene Hutchinson Biehl is the Director of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), where she oversees its programs and services to help victims in the aftermath of crime and to provide continued support to them as they rebuild their lives. Appointed by President Donald Trump, she was officially sworn into office in August 2017. With more than 20 years of experience in victim advocacy, Ms. Hutchinson has had an active role passing legislation, advancing public policy, teaching at police academies, and working directly with victims and their families – following all types of crime. Prior to joining OVC, Ms. Hutchinson honed her expertise as a victim advocate by volunteering for 10 years at rape crisis centers in Alabama and Texas and served for 7 years as president of a victims' support and advocacy group in Central Alabama. Simultaneously, Ms. Hutchinson worked in publishing, including 8 years as editor of law enforcement publications in Alabama, Washington, D.C., and Texas. She also spent nearly 6 years as the Communications and Media Director for the Dallas Bar Association. Ms. Hutchinson played a key role in the development of Alabama's innovative victim notification system and was part of the small team responsible for the passage and ratification of Alabama's Victims' Constitutional Amendment in 1994–95. She has received numerous awards for her dedication to empowering survivors and protecting their rights while enhancing public safety. It's been a 30-year journey, as Ms. Hutchinson first became aware of the inadequacies of the justice system and the needs of crime victims after being kidnapped at gunpoint from a small-town post office when she was 20 years old. Blindfolded and tied, Ms. Hutchinson escaped on the second day and assisted in the apprehension and prosecution of the offender. Following a plea, he served 20 years in prison for kidnapping and rape. Through her own experience, Ms. Hutchinson became inspired to help other survivors navigate the complex criminal justice system and rebuild their lives, while she's also been a champion for victims' rights. She has accompanied hundreds of survivors and families to parole hearings and/or trials, and the policies and laws she's helped put in place will benefit thousands for years to come. A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Ms. Hutchinson holds a B.S. in Journalism from Troy State University in Troy, Alabama.
 
Hon. Charlene Jackson (Diné) is the owner and managing attorney at the Jackson Law Firm, PLLC; an Associate Judge for the Town of Paradise Valley, Arizona; a Chief Judge for the Fort Mohave Tribal Court of Appeals; a Chief Judge for the Cedarville Rancheria Court of Appeals; an Associate Justice for the Colorado River Indian Tribe; a Judge Pro Tem for the Tonto Apache Tribe; and a Judge Pro Tem for the Washoe Tribe of California and Nevada.
 
Gina Jackson (Te-Moak Western Shoshone), MSW, is the program director at Native Americans in Philanthropy, coming from the National American Indian Court Judges Association. She previously worked for Casey Family Programs as an Indian Child Welfare (ICW) Director working at the Executive Office of the President on the Community Solutions Team, which included working on the Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) initiative. She also served at the Department of Interior, Assistant Secretary’s Office of Indian Affairs working on the Federal interagency team developing the ICWA Guidelines and Regulations. Ms. Jackson has extensive experience working tribal justice, tribal-state collaboration, and systems change for child welfare both state and tribal. She serves as a connector and an igniter in all of the circles she touches, sharing innovation and cultivating collaboration everywhere she goes always being mindful of cultural differences and striving for equity as a standard in our nation.
 
Mike Jackson (Village of Kake) grew up in Kake, Alaska listening to his elders tell Kake history, the Story of Creation and Raven’s life as it pertains to our history. The clans and crests of the two moieties that have inspired his visions of the characters to come up with designs of our way of life. Mike was fortunate to know his great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles and extended family in his village, they guided him throughout his life in a good way and taught him Our Core Community Values—“Our Laws of the Land” that he lives by. Mike has always practiced peacemaking in his life and ceremonies.
 
Michelle James (White Earth) is the Project Beacon Program Manager at the Seattle Indian Center. Ms. James has more than 20 years of experience in the human services field. She is a Certified Advanced Level Victim Advocate, and has been employed by the Seattle Indian Center for the past 17 years where she has worked on a number of programming initiatives. Ms. James grew up in a tight-knit Native American community in Oakland, California, and now resides in Seattle, Washington. She is the mother of two adult children: a son, Dominique, and a daughter, Zaria. Ms. James enjoys spending time with the light of her life, Thalia, her three-year-old granddaughter.
 
Mattee Jim (Zuni) is of the Zuni People Clan born for the Towering House People Clan; this is how she describes herself as a Navajo. Mattee has extensive experience in HIV prevention; HIV testing and counseling; community planning on the regional and state level; and training in curriculum development, recruitment, project management, policy development and training, cultural competency trainings, and sensitivity training. Mattee is a Supervisor for HIV Prevention Programs at First Nations Community HealthSource, a member and a Co-Chair of the Transgender Task Force for the New Mexico Community Planning and Action Group, and a decision-making member for the Statewide New Mexico Community Planning and Action Group. She is also on a Community Advisory Board for Shared Action and a National Advisory Board Member of the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, a Board Member for the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, and a Co-Chair for the New Mexico Transgender Coalition. Mattee easily connects with high-risk populations on a variety of sensitive topics and is skilled in networking and strategizing activities with local, state, and national programs in the areas of improving HIV testing and prevention services for at-risk and underserved populations.
 
Adria Johnson works for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s Tribal Assistance Program and is a volunteer re-entry liaison for the American Indian prison Project Working Group. Adria coordinates and leads the Leech Lake Tribal Assistance Program’s front office in assisting their enrolled elders, disabled band members, veterans, energy assistance, and MFIP constituents. Adria was “born and raised” on the Leech Lake Reservation in Cass Lake, Minnesota, which she has called home for 42 years. Adria has two boys and two girls and one grandbaby (Aria). Her children are ages 22, 21, 11, and 10. Aria is three years old. Throughout her 42 years of growing within her community, her most appreciated learning is the comfortability, the sense of belonging when you feel like you don’t belong.
 
Olin C. Jones (Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma) has more than 40 years of experience in the field of criminal justice. Olin Jones established a consultancy firm to offer a unique blend of tribal and state relationship-building expertise. The scope of his background highlights a lifelong commitment to public safety service, criminal justice policy, planning, program development, and addressing the concerns of underserved communities. Prior to his retirement from state service in August 2017, Olin served four of California’s Attorneys Generals over the last 18 years as the first Director of the California Attorney General’s Office of Native American Affairs. During his time at the Attorney General’s Office he framed the mission of the Office of Native American Affairs and developed goals that would address the justice-related needs of California’s reservations, rancherias, and other federal and state justice agencies that serve Indian lands. As the director, he structured solutions for some of the most challenging of Native American justice issues in California such as improving collaboration between tribal governments and local law enforcement, clarifying tribal policing authority, enforcing tribal court domestic violence protection orders, and promoting compliance of the federal/state Indian Child Welfare Act. Olin began his criminal justice career in 1973 with local law enforcement and accepted a position at the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning in 1989, and in 1996 went on to the California Attorney General’s Crime and Violence Prevention Center and was appointed as the first Director of the Attorney General’s Office of Native American Affairs in 2000. In addition to addressing tribal issues, Olin’s expertise includes community-based corrections, gang violence suppression, crime/violence prevention, policy, legislative solutions, federal and state grants administration, and cultural familiarity instruction. Olin is member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and holds a bachelor’s degree from Minot State University in North Dakota. He has been honored with numerous awards and certificates for his work in Indian country. Olin has been married to Debra for 39 years and has three adult children and six grandchildren.
 
Lori Jump (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is the Assistant Director of the StrongHearts Native Helpline. She brings a wealth of tribal advocacy experience to StrongHearts having worked for 25+ years as the Program Manager of the Advocacy Resource Center, a comprehensive victim services program for the Sault Tribe, providing advocacy, shelter, and civil legal representation for victims of domestic and sexual violence. Lori is also a founding member and former Executive Director of Uniting Three Fires Against Violence. Uniting Three Fires is Michigan’s tribal coalition that provides training, technical assistance, and resources to support tribal programs in responding to domestic and sexual violence. 
 
Dr. Brian Kauffman is the Executive Director of the Western Community Policing Institute at Western Oregon University. He earned his BA (2001) in management and communications from Western Baptist College, MA (2005) in adult education, and a PhD (2015) in educational leadership from Oregon State University. Dr. Kauffman’s research interest center on tribal police executive leadership and the conflicts that exist between U.S. legal systems. Dr. Kauffman’s background includes serving as a sheriff’s office patrol supervisor leading multiagency community policing teams, tactical team member, training, and volunteer coordinator. Dr. Kauffman has also served as a Captain with the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training supervising the police and corrections curriculum development unit. He has received more than 1,600 hours of specialized law enforcement training teaching as a certified police and corrections instructor in areas including high-risk vehicle stops and building searches, SFST’s, community policing and problem solving, traffic law enforcement and accident investigation, ethics, and other police and corrections-related courses. Dr. Kauffman has trained thousands of individuals across the United States and U.S. territories in community policing, problem solving, leadership, and homeland security topics. Dr. Kauffman has served two terms on his local city council with his last term as council president.
 
Nancy Kelly has 30 years of experience in public education. Nancy is permanently certified as a special education teacher and ESL teacher, and holds a school and district administrator certificate. Her educational experiences have been focused around autism spectrum disorders spanning early intervention to adult education. Nancy developed a New York State Department of Education–approved early intervention/preschool ABA 6:1:3 curriculum/program. Along with her many years of classroom teaching and program administration, she has facilitated parent support groups, provided integrated education consultation for school districts, and provided one-on-one and group social skills training for preschool- through high school–aged students. She has also served as a vice principal of a kindergarten through eighth grade school and an adjunct professor and lecturer of psychology and special education at colleges and universities. Nancy is a public health advisor at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and works for the Center for Mental Health Services.
 
Matthew D. Kenyon is the Performance Measurement Manager for the Office for Victims of Crime at the U.S. Department of Justice. He previously worked as an Associate Manager for CSR, Inc. overseeing research and data analysis activities for the performance measurement of Bureau of Justice Assistance grant programs. Matt is a doctoral candidate in criminology, law, and society at George Mason University, where he has focused his research on innovation and change in justice organizations.
 
Chief Judge Lawrence King joined the Colorado River Indian Tribes Tribal Court in 2009. He is a magistrate for the Town of Paradise Valley. Judge King is on the Board of the Arizona Magistrates Association and serves as its president, and he teaches continuing education subjects. Before his appointment as Chief Judge in 2014, Judge King worked as a Judge Pro Tempore and Acting Chief Judge for Colorado River Indian Tribes and Judge Pro Tempore for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, the Hualapai Tribe, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. In his career as a civil servant, Judge King has served the public by working for Governor Rose Mofford of Arizona and Lt. Governor Thomas P. O’Neil III of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was also a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. He clerked for Judge Stephen L. Reinhart on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
 
Adrea Korthase (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) is originally from Boyne City, Michigan. She is a Site Manager for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), where she supports tribal and state judges who work with child welfare cases. Prior to working with NCJFCJ, Adrea worked for tribal, state, and municipal governments focused on grants management, child welfare policy, and tribal court programs. She has a JD with a Certificate in Indigenous Law and Policy from Michigan State University College of Law.
 
Karan Kolb is a member of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians.  She is the Social Services Director at Indian Health Council Inc. overseeing the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) program for a seven Tribe consortium and is responsible for the delivery of many programs under the realm of social services. Karan has over 27 years of experience working with Tribal Governments and families in the areas of family preservation, court advocacy and reunification services as well as parenting and child welfare. She has developed the ICWA program by building communication and collaboration with partnerships with county, universities and tribal agencies championing the need for prevention services and training to tribes. Karan has participated in San Diego County’s System Improvement Plan (SIP) and California State Disproportionality projects which included strategies aimed at reducing the number of Native American children in the child welfare system and improving the outcomes for Native foster children.  She is a member of 7th Generation, a workgroup of various child welfare and community partners working together collaboratively to improve child welfare services for Native children and their families. She is involved with Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children or (CSEC) Collaborative and Initiatives and served as a board member of the Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition representing the Rincon Tribe. Karan serves as a Community Advisory member for San Diego State University School of Social Work and has been recently appointed as the delegate for tribal consultation with the state of California. She is a member of the ICWA state workgroup and participant in the California Indian Family Task force through the California Attorney General’s Bureau of Children’s Justice.  She serves on the Native American Research Internal Review board and a Tribal Liaison for California State Covered California. Most recently she is a collaborative partner with the John Hopkins Pediatric Infant Care Collaborative with Indian Health Services implementing ACEs training and Trauma Informed Care throughout the health services as a Co-Director of the Prevention and Early Intervention Team and Interdepartmental Case Management Team crossing care into all departments. She earned her MA in Psychology with the University of the Rockies. She is the mother of 2 children and has an 8 year old granddaughter.
 
Judith Kozlowski is a subject matter expert with the Department of Justice Elder Justice Initiative. Prior to that she was a Senior Advisor to the HHS Assistant Secretary for Aging and the Administration on Community Living (ACL) where she worked on national policy initiatives concerning elder abuse and financial exploitation. While at ACL, she worked closely with the Director of the Office for American Indians, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiian Programs. She had a long career as a state and federal prosecutor in New York, Miami, and Washington, D.C. where she focused on the investigation and trial of complex fraud and white-collar cases. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she created and ran a multidisciplinary elder financial exploitation federal prosecution team for more than a decade. She was also a trial counsel and branch chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Director of the Criminal Prosecution Assistance Group at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Ms. Kozlowski also helped establish the Office for the Financial Protection of Older Americans at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She regularly speaks at local and national conferences on elder justice, particularly financial exploitation.

 
Esther A. Labrado (North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians) is a Project Attorney at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) where she manages NCAI’s work supporting tribes as they implement Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction pursuant to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. Prior to joining NCAI, Esther clerked for the Honorable Marjorie K. Allard of the Alaska Court of Appeals. She received her BA from San Francisco State University and her JD from Harvard Law School.
 

Caroline LaPorte, JD is the Senior Native Affairs Policy Advisor for the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center. Her work focuses on housing, human rights, children and youth, firearms, and criminal justice all within the gender-based violence framework. She is a Texas Bar Licensed Attorney and previously worked as a family law attorney and at Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), an organization that represents children in foster care. She has been published twice by the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Magazine and was the co-author of an article that was published in the Domestic Violence Report, which focused on applying the human rights framework to domestic violence in the United States. She graduated from Baylor University in Texas, majoring in philosophy. After undergrad, she joined the Teaching Fellows (Miami Cohort) and was placed in Little Haiti and Liberty City. She went on to attend the University of Miami School of Law, where she graduated cum laude. Caroline was named a Hendry Bandier Fellow for her work in child advocacy and human rights and was the recipient of the Natasha Pettigrew Memorial Award. During her time in law school, she clerked for the Office of Tribal Justice at the Department of Justice and for the chief legislative attorney of Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, of which she is immediate descent. She was additionally elected to serve on the National Executive Board for the National Native American Law Student’s Association. Caroline also served as a fellow in the Children and Youth Law Clinic.
 

Sherrie Lawson survived the Washington Navy Yard shooting that occurred on September 16, 2013. While running from the shooter she scaled an 8 foot brick wall to escape along with dozens of coworkers. She lost twelve coworkers in the attack. She knew three of the victims and was working on projects with two of the victims. Shortly after this tragic event she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and severe anxiety. In her healing journey she became passionate about supporting others that are suffering from the “invisible wounds’ of trauma. The Rebels Project (TRP) has been a key factor in her road to recovery and she wants to share this gift with others that may be suffering from mass trauma. She currently serves as Director of Development for The Rebels Project and is a lecturer at the University of Colorado-Denver campus. She joined The Rebels Project in 2014 and began working with TRP in an official capacity in 2016. Sherrie holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. At the time of the Washington Navy Yard shooting she was an elected official in Washington, DC and a doctoral candidate in a Leadership and Organizational Change program at Walden University. Sherrie is excited to use her education and experience to help grow TRP.  She is a SoulCollage facilitator, enjoys live music, international travel, various forms of yoga and meditation, and hiking the beautiful Rocky Mountains. She lives with her rescue kitty, Jax.  
 

Stacy Leeds (Cherokee Nation) is Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas. As Vice Chancellor, she provides leadership for campus-wide engagement, collaboration, and outreach to citizens, businesses, governmental and nonprofit entities in Arkansas and beyond. From 2011-2018, Dean Leeds served as the 12th dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law. She is the only native woman to have served as dean of a law school in the United States. She currently teaches American Indian law, including a legal clinic. She holds law degrees from the University of Wisconsin (LL.M.) and the University of Tulsa (J.D.).  She is also a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A.) and the University of Tennessee (M.B.A).  Prior to joining the University of Arkansas, Leeds was a professor and administrator at the University of Kansas and the University of North Dakota. She began her academic career as a William H. Hastie Fellow at the University of Wisconsin School of Law. She is a recipient of the American Bar Association's Spirit of Excellence Award and an elected member of the American Law Institute. She is a former Alphonse Fletcher, Sr. Fellow affiliated with the W.E.B. DuBois Institute at Harvard University and a former Sequoyah Fellow at Northeastern State University.  Leeds currently serves on many national and local boards including the American Indian Graduate Center, the Law School Admission Council, Arkansas Children's Hospital Northwest, Arvest Bank (Fayetteville), Theatre Squared, Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, Kituwah Economic Development Board, Charles Thomas & Mary Alice Pearson Educational Foundation, Akiptan, Inc., Northwest Arkansas Council and Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. Her past government appointments includes serving as a Justice on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, Chairperson for the Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission, and appointments in eight tribal judiciaries at both the trial and appellate levels. A former athlete and life-long sports enthusiast, she was inducted into the Muskogee Athletic Hall of Fame in her hometown in Oklahoma (2015) and was a two-sport college athlete at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2016, she completed a 950-mile journey as a Cherokee Nation Remember the Removal cyclist.

 
Judge Patricia Lenzi (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe) is an enrolled member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Chief Justice of the Bishop Paiute Court of Appeals, an appellate justice for the St. Regis Mohawk Appeals Court, Chief Judge of the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Court and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, and Deputy Judge for the Colorado River Indians Tribal Court. She holds a BA in criminal justice from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and a JD from the UC Berkeley School of Law. Judge Lenzi is a member of the California Bar and the California Tribal Court–State Court Judicial Forum. She has participated in conducting tribal court evaluations by Native Knowledge Harvest, LLC. Judge Lenzi has extensive courtroom experience and general legal experience, having tried 100+ cases to jury verdict in state court, successfully represented tribes in tribal, state, and federal civil litigation, administrative matters, and appeals. Prior to appointment to the judiciary, she served as a Deputy District Attorney with Sacramento, Yolo, and Alpine County (California) district attorney’s offices, and Tribal Prosecutor for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Duckwater Shoshone Tribe. Judge Lenzi provides continuing education for professionals throughout the United States and was an adjunct professor for trial practice at UC Davis School of Law. She has extensive experience as an instructor in multiple states, and for members of the judiciary through the National Tribal Judicial Center, the National Judicial College, the Inter-Tribal Council of California; numerous tribal, state, local, federal, and international law enforcement officers; private-sector business security specialists; social workers; bar associations; and community groups and students.

 
Chris Lobanov-Rostovsky is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 27 years of experience working in the area of sex offender management and treatment, including both treatment and policy development. Mr. Lobanov-Rostovsky  works for the Colorado Department of Public Safety/Division of Criminal Justice as the Program Director for the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board, where he is responsible for developing standards for the treatment and management of sexual offenders, approving treatment providers, and providing legislative and policy input. Mr. Lobanov-Rostovsky also works as a private consultant for federal and federally funded agencies and organizations (Fox Valley Technical College), including tribal jurisdictions, developing and providing training, technical assistance, program assessment, literature reviews, peer review of grant solicitations and reports, and legislative and policy development. Mr. Lobanov-Rostovsky has also published a number of articles and chapters related to sex offender management, with specific expertise on the state implementation of federal sex offender management legislation and sex offender public policy.
 
Guadalupe Lopez (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and has been employed for the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition since 2007. She has extensive experience in advocacy for American Indian and Alaska Native women who have experienced domestic and sexual violence. Guadalupe is known for her expertise in training and presenting on a wide variety of issues surrounding sexual violence of American Indian and Alaska Native women. She has also volunteered as a sexual assault advocate for Sexual Offence Services of Ramsey County, and has been a faculty member for Praxis International’s Advocacy Learning Center. In addition, Guadalupe was also one of five researchers who interviewed 105 Native women used in prostitution and trafficking for their report “Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota.”

 
Matthew Lysakowski is a social science analyst at the U.S. Department of Justice.

 
Michele Maas (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Anishinaabe) is an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and a descendant of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Great Ojibwe Nation and Three Fires Confederacy. Michele Maas, LCSW has extensive experience in providing psychotherapy and early intervention prevention counseling to individuals and families within the Native American/Alaska Native community. She integrates her understanding of Anishinaabe culture with Western evidence-based interventions and practices. Ms. Maas has more than 20 years of experience in providing substance abuse and mental health counseling services. Ms. Maas has developed curricula that utilize a holistic method of healing while guiding individuals in their journey of recovery/discovery from trauma, substance abuse, historical trauma and sexual trauma, and grief. Ms. Maas has been an invited speaker at local, national, and international conferences. She has extensive experience in presenting and facilitating workshops on issues pertaining to the Native American/Alaska Native community that focus on working complex trauma, historical and intergenerational trauma, domestic violence, and other sociocultural/sociopolitical subjects faced by Native Americans with particular focus on those living in the urban areas. Michele is passionate about her work within the community and is committed to working to end cycles of historical intergenerational trauma within the Native American/Alaska Native Community.

 
Luke Madrigal (Cahuilla Band of Indians) is a traditional Cahuilla Bird Singer and was an artist/recipient of a California State Endowment for the Arts Grant where the Cahuilla Bird Songs were revitalized by Alvino Siva, Robert Levi, and Saturino Torres. He is a Smithsonian Scholar (Native Visiting Artist Program Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.). He has worked in Tribal Child Welfare Programs for more than 30 years, and has extensive knowledge pertaining to local Native American culture, education, and administration. He has served six years on the Tribal Council. He is a Gaming Commissioner or the Cabazon Band of Indians. He was the Co-Chair of the 2014 California Indian Conference at California State University, San Bernardino. He has also chaired the American Indian Community Foundation, is a Founding Board member of the Native American Land Conservancy of Southern California, has served on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Commission on Diversity, and has served on the School Board of Sherman Indian High School in Riverside. He is a traditionalist and cultural consultant serving as a board member for the National Indian Child Welfare Association and Chair of the Native American Chancellors Advisory Council at UC Riverside. He also serves on the California Indian Nation College Committee, Riverside Metropolitan Museum Cahuilla Continuum Advisory Committee, and is the Co-chair for the Riverside County Tribal Alliance for American Indian Children and Families. 

 
Juana Majel-Dixon (Pauma Band of Mission Indians) has served as the Traditional Legislative Councilwoman for the Pauma Band of Mission Indians since 1970 and has been involved in several Native American issues, including but not limited to Public Law 280, Self Determination (63E), Indian Education Act, Native American Religious Freedom Act, Native American Graves Protection Regulatory Act, the Indian Child Welfare Act, Violence Against Women Act and Tribal Law and Order Act. Ms. Majel-Dixon has been a professor at Palomar College since 1981, where she provides Instruction in the areas of Federal Indian Law and U.S. Law, American Indian Philosophy and Religion, and Introduction to American Indian Culture prior to contact and California Indian.  She previously taught at San Diego State University and Mesa College. She serves the Pauma Band of Mission Indians as Natural Resource Director where she is responsible for environmental operations (includes the land, watershed and air shed) and Policy Director where she is responsible for overall tribal policy development and response to Congress and Federal operations, including their response to criminal and civil issues. Ms. Majel-Dixon served on the trust reform task force during the Clinton and Bush administration; Co-Chair with Chief Tillman to the first Trust Reform group with Kevin Gover; NCAI Chair, Violence Against Women Act; Chair of the Cultural and Religious Concerns Committee; NCAI Liaison for Medicare/Medicaid Case Management and Tribal Technical Team; NCAI Alcohol Substance Abuse Summit Liaison; Co-Chair, Task Force to Stop Violence Against Native Women; SAMSHA Tribal Technical Advisory Committee; and Co-chair to the Tribal Justice Advisory Group. She holds a Joint Doctorate in U.S. Policy and Education from Clairmont Graduate School and San Diego State University, and a Master of Science in Counseling, Master of Arts in Community Block Development and a Bachelor of Science in Human Behavior. 

 
Anne Makepeace has been a writer, producer, and director of award-winning independent films for more three decades. Her new film, Tribal Justice, premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February 2017 and screened at many festivals across the country, winning Best Documentary prizes at the American Indian Film Festival and the Charlotte Film Festival, the Rigoberta-Menchú Grand Prix at the Montréal First People’s Film Festival, the Directing Award at Cinetopia. Tribal Justice received support from the MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Vision Maker Media, CPB, California Humanities, and private foundations. The film was broadcast on the acclaimed PBS documentary series, POV, in August 2017, and is distributed to the educational market by Bullfrog Films. Her recent documentary, We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân, about the return of the Wampanoag language, had its broadcast premiere on the PBS series Independent Lens in November 2011. The film has won many awards, including the Full Frame Inspiration Award and the Moving Mountains Award at Telluride Mountain Film for the film most likely to effect important social change. The $3000 Mountain Film prize went directly to the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, enabling them to launch their first-ever language immersion camp for children. We Still Live Here was funded by ITVS, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the LEF Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others. Makepeace was able to complete the film with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Other recent films by Anne Makepeace include: I. M. PEI: Building China Modern (PBS broadcast on American Masters in 2010) and her Emmy nominated feature documentary Rain in a Dry Land (lead show on PBS P.O.V. 2007), which chronicles the journey and resettlement of two Somali Bantu refugee families from Africa through their first two years in America. Makepeace won a National Prime Time Emmy for her American Masters/PBS documentary Robert Capa in Love and War, which premiered at Sundance in 2003. Coming to Light, her documentary about Edward S. Curtis, also premiered at Sundance, was short-listed for an Academy Award in 2000, broadcast on American Masters in 2001, and won many prizes, including the O’Connor Award for Best Film from the American Historical Association, an Award of Excellence from the American Anthropological Association, a Gold Hugo from Chicago, Best Documentary at Telluride, and many others. Her first documentary, Baby It’s You, premiered at Sundance, was broadcast as the lead show on P.O.V. in 1998, and screened at the Whitney Biennial 2000.
 
Art Martinez (Chumash) is a clinical psychologist who serves as the Senior Advisor for Tribal Capacity Building Services. Most recently, Art served as the clinical psychologist and Head of Service of the Shingle Springs Tribal Health Project. Art previously served as the executive clinical director of The Child & Family Institute, a principal Mental Health contractor for Sacramento County Child Protective and Children’s Mental Health Services.  He founded and directed the Washoe Family Trauma Healing Center in Gardnerville, Nevada; which served as the primary provider of mental health and child assessments for dependency matters for Tribal court jurisdictions in the State of Nevada.  Art has served as a trainer and consultant in culturally competent evaluation and program development. In 1999 Art was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human services to the National Advisory Council for SAMHSA and the Center for Mental Health Services. Over the past thirty years he has worked for tribal governments and organizations in the development and provision of services to children and families. He is a past Director of the department of Marriage, Child and Family therapy at the San Diego Campus of Alliant University as well as Director of Counseling and Psychological Services for UC Merced. Art has served as a nationally known consultant in issues involving Native Americans, Native American Family Dynamics, Indian Child Welfare, Native American Child Development, and Native American Traditional values and health interventions.
 
Rita Y. Martinez, BA and MPA and CRP Candidate (Laguna Pueblo) obtained her BA in criminology and minor in social welfare (cum laude) from the University of New Mexico. She has gained more than 10 years of management and research experience working as a Program Manager for AIDA, LLC. She is a recipient of the prestigious Morris K. Udall Scholarship and the American Indian Student Services scholarship for her educational achievements. She continues to pursue her graduate education and is enrolled in the master in public administration and master in community and regional planning dual degree program at the University of New Mexico.
 
Nicole Matthews (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) is the Executive Director for Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition, a statewide coalition and National Tribal Technical Assistance Provider, addressing sexual violence and sex trafficking against Indigenous people. The mission of this organization is to strengthen the voices of Indigenous women to create awareness, influence social change, and reclaim the traditional values that honor the sovereignty of Indigenous women and children thereby eliminating the sexual violence perpetrated against them. Their vision is Creating Safety and Justice for Native Women through the Teachings of Our Grandmothers. She received her bachelor of science degree from St. Cloud State University in applied psychology including a minor in human relations and multicultural education. Nicole was one of five researchers who interviewed 105 Native women used in prostitution and trafficking for their report “Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota.” Nicole sits on the State of Minnesota Attorney General’s Work Group on Sexual Assault; is a board member for the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center; sits on the Work Group on Sexual Assault Investigation Training for Peace Officers; and has presented at numerous conferences and events on sexual violence and sex trafficking. Nicole is also the proud mother of three beautiful children and the grandmother to one. They give her the strength and motivation to continue working to end gender-based violence.
 
Rachel Maurice is serving as the Assistant Director for the Division of Victim Services at the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. She has worked in this position since 2015. The Division of Victim Services has a team of more than 60 experienced advocates that work with victims, witnesses, and their families throughout and beyond the criminal justice process. During this past year, the Division of Victim Services established and trained a team of advocates in crisis response to provide crisis intervention. This team of advocates serve as secondary responders after a mass tragedy event occurs to assist victims in the aftermath of a crisis. This team has responded to incidents such as the Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting. She has a passion for working with victims of crime because of her personal experience as a survivor of the 2001 Santana High School shooting that claimed the life of two of her classmates, wounded 13, and permanently scarred many others on campus that day that fled the scene and survived. To date this is the worst school shooting in San Diego County history. Because of her personal experience she realizes the importance of having trauma-informed trained advocates to assist victims in preparing these survivors to deal with the emotional and physical trauma after a mass casualty event. Rachel has spent most of her career working with tribal communities. She is serving as a member of the Riverside County Tribal Alliance for American Indian Children and Families and as a member of the Domestic Violence Tribal Sub-Committee, where coordination efforts are made to help tribal victims of domestic violence. She served as coordinator for the alliance for three years. Tribal Alliance members work collaboratively in developing culturally appropriate services based on a foundation of understanding, communication, and cultural awareness among the sovereign tribal nations, community, and governmental agencies. During her 11 years working with the Riverside Superior Court she worked in Juvenile Court, Family Law, Civil, Criminal, and Collaborative Courts. Rachel also served as a legislative committee member for the California Court Clerk Association for two years where she provided statewide training to judicial staff and other professionals impacted. She would regularly attend state legislature meetings to meet with lawmakers and advocate for favorable legislation that would impact court operations. Rachel served as the Riverside Superior Court adoption day Program Director where she coordinated with many agencies to finalize adoptions for families across Riverside County. She served as a volunteer with the Court Appointed Special Advocate where she would advocate on behalf of children in foster care for more than five years. 
 
Rosemary McCombs Maxey (Muscogee [Creek] Nation of Oklahoma) is a retired ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ. For the past 16 years, Rosemary has taught the Mvskoke language at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. She has been a guest language instructor at Emory University, Atlanta, and William and Mary College, Richmond, Virginia. Rosemary hosts a Mvskoke language camp at her home and uses video conferencing to mentor language learners throughout the year. Her hobbies are quilting and reading.
 
Judge Kim McGinnis, PhD (Pueblo of Pojoaque) received a PhD in neuropharmacology from the University of Michigan in 1999. The focus of her graduate studies related to mechanisms of neuronal cell death. She was a postdoctoral fellow in Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology, Molecular Neurogenetics Unit, where she studied changes in neuronal protein expression in postmortem human brain. She graduated from Boston University School of Law in 2004 and was a public defender in Detroit, Michigan, until 2011, when she moved to Taos, New Mexico. In New Mexico she worked as a civil attorney in Northern New Mexico, representing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in family law cases in state and tribal courts. The Pueblo of Pojoaque Tribal Council appointed her associate judge in 2013 and chief judge in 2015. Judge McGinnis presides over Pojoaque’s Path to Wellness Court, a healing to wellness court, which was launched in 2015, and the Children’s Court.
 
Jeffrey McKay is the Deputy Director for Alpine County Health and Human Services, and he has more than 12 years of combined law enforcement and county social service experience. Jeffrey earned his MSW at Humboldt State University in May 2017, and previously worked for El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency—Child Protective Services as the coordinator for the county’s commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) program and County Task Force. Jeffrey developed the first CSEC protocol for El Dorado County in 2013, worked with the California Department of Social Services and California Welfare Directors Association to develop the state’s CSEC program, and has more than five years’ experience working with CSEC youth in the child welfare and probation systems. Jeffrey serves as a professional academic coach for Humboldt State University providing mentoring and coaching to BSW and MSW students in the university’s Distance Learning Program.
 
Hali McKelvie (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) has experience presenting to local tribal communities on various topics discussing social change, domestic violence, and sexual assault in Indian country and improving the tribal response to domestic violence and sexual assault. Along with providing education for the tribal membership and advocating for community members, she also advocated for the passing of the Violence Against Women Act (2013) at the national level. Hali has a strong background in substance abuse treatment and community reintegration. Hali has served as the Community Outreach Specialist for Uniting Three Fires Against Violence (UTFAV) since the fall of 2014. Prior to her employment with UTFAV, Hali served as their board treasurer and worked as a Community Educator for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians/Advocacy Resource Center.
 
Tatewin Means is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota, Oglala Lakota and Inhanktonwan nations in South Dakota. Tatewin has two children, Mankato and Persayah, and currently lives in Rapid City, SD. Ms. Means grew up in Kyle, SD on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and later moved to Rapid City, SD where she graduated from Rapid City Central High School. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University in Environmental Engineering with a minor in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Tatewin then went to law school and received her JD with a concentration in Human Rights Law from the University of Minnesota Law School. She then returned home once again and completed her Masters of Arts degree in Lakota Leadership and Management from Oglala Lakota College. A longtime advocate for human rights, survivors, children, and families, Tatewin Means served as the Attorney General for the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota from 2012-2017. She is also served as a German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow in 2015 where she strengthened her leadership skills and bolstered a strong network of cross-sectional leaders. In the past year, Tatewin was the Graduate Studies Department Chair at Oglala Lakota College. Recently, Tatewin sought the Democratic nomination for South Dakota Attorney General—the first ever Indigenous woman to seek the office of a state Attorney General in the United States. Currently, Tatewin is the Executive Director of Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, an Indigenous non-profit organization on the Pine Ridge Reservation, seeking to lead systemic change through the development of a regenerative community. 
 

Ada Pecos Melton, MPA (Jemez Pueblo) is the AIDA President. She brings 30 years of experience in the design and management of culturally relevant Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) focused on tribal justice systems and allied agencies. This hands-on experience has enabled Ms. Melton to design and manage culturally relevant research, evaluation, and assessment studies for projects conducted throughout Indian country. She has written numerous project reports, developed instructional and information materials, and authored articles dealing with tribal victimization and justice issues. She holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice, both from the University of New Mexico.

 
Ann Miller has been an attorney with the Tribal Defenders Office of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Reservation in Montana for 22 years and the managing attorney for 12.  During her tenure, the Defenders Office implemented an innovative in-house service for clients with co-occurring mental health and chemical dependency and adopted a holistic defense practice with assistance from the Center for Holistic Defense sponsored by the Bronx Public Defenders Office in New York.  Ms. Miller served on Montana’s Public Defender Commission for 6 years and currently serves on Montana's Statewide Reentry Task Force.
 
Jeri Moomaw is the Executive Director of Innovations HTC, a social justice organization in Washington State. Her duties include advocacy, training and technical assistance, project development, and supervision of the “Marked No More” tattoo removal program. She is a nationally recognized keynote speaker, trainer, and tribal antiviolence expert. She has deep experience combating human trafficking, gangs, violence against women, and direct client services. Her experience includes program development and facilitation of high-risk youth-focused intervention curriculum in community, school, and correctional-based learning environments. As a Native survivor of trafficking, Ms. Moomaw understands how health and service disparities cause barriers in effectively addressing commercial sexual exploitation of children in urban, rural, and reservation tribal communities. It is her mission to bring awareness, education, and tools to equip tribes and front-line professionals to recognize and combat trafficking and support victims in their communities.
 
Liz Murphy (Oklahoma Choctaw) is the Tribal Animal Law and Policy Specialist for the Native America Humane Society and is also a Deputy Solicitor General for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Her research and practice are focused on victim’s advocacy, tribal sovereignty, Indian law, criminal law, and animal law. She loves and advocates for all animals, be they companion, livestock, or wild, and believes that less violence against animals results in safer tribal communities. 
 
Mary Kathryn Nagle (citizen of Cherokee Nation) is a lawyer and playwright. She is a partner at Pipestem Law PC where she maintains an appellate practice focused on protecting tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction to restore safety for Native women and children. She graduated summa cum laude from Tulane Law School, and following law school clerked for three separate federal judges (at the U.S. District Court, District of Nebraska, and on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit). This past year, she authored and filed three briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center’s VAWA Sovereignty Initiative (Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, United States v. Voisine, and United States v. Bryant), all with a focus on preserving tribal jurisdiction to ensure safety for Native women and children. Nagle has litigated issues related to tribal sovereignty and rights for American Indians under numerous federal statutes, including the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act. She serves as the Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program and has been commissioned as a playwright by Arena Stage, Portland Center Stage, and the Rose Theater (Omaha, Nebraska). Her play Sliver of a Full Moon has been performed at law schools across the United States, including Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, NYU Law School, Stanford Law School, and, most recently, Arizona State University Law School.
 
Elton Naswood (Navajo) is of the Near to the Water People Clan, born for the Edge Water People Clan, his maternal grandfather’s clan is of the Mexican People, his paternal grandfather’s clan is of the Tangle People, this is how he is Diné. He is originally from Whitehorse Lake, New Mexico, and grew up in Window Rock, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation. He resides in Maryland. Mr. Naswood is a Senior Program Analyst, Capacity Building Division at the Office of Minority Health Resource Center, a nationwide service of the Office of Minority Health. He previously was a Capacity Building Assistance Specialist at the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center and was formally the Founder and Program Coordinator for the Red Circle Project, AIDS Project Los Angeles. He is a member of the Community Expert Advisory Council for the Indigenous HIV/AIDS Research Training program at the University of Washington and the U.S. Representative Leader for the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV/AIDS.
 
Jeremy NeVilles-Sorell (White Earth Ojibwe/Winnebago) has worked in the field of domestic violence since 1994 on issues affecting children who have experienced domestic violence, supervised visitation, batterer’s intervention, and providing training and education. He worked for four years coordinating the Duluth Family Visitation Center serving families with a history of domestic violence and dealing with visits and exchanges of children between parents. Jeremy worked during that time at the Women’s Transitional Housing Coalition in Duluth, Minnesota, as the Children’s Program Coordinator providing activities and groups for children who have witnessed violence. He joined the staff of Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance Project in 1998, a national program to assist American Indian tribes and Alaskan Native villages to develop responses to violence against Indian women through training and technical assistance, and is the Training and Resources Director. He is also involved with community groups and educational efforts to engage and promote nonviolent lifestyles for men. Jeremy has conducted groups with teenage boys and girls on domestic violence, facilitated groups for Native men who have battered, and organized community education events. Jeremy also sits on the steering committee for the North American Men Engaged Network and is on the Men of Color Expert Working Group for the Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center for Underserved Communities.
 
Binigiwong Nibikwe Indignicaz Binigiwong’s birth name is Teresa Nord and her family is Navajo, Hopi, and Ute Indian from Colorado and New Mexico. Binigiwong is also Hispanic and Caucasian. Binigiwong was formerly incarcerated at Shakopee Woman’s Correctional Facility from 2015 to 2017 for drug possession and became acquainted with the American Indian Prison Project by attending Talking Circles and Culture Group. Through those groups Binigiwong was able to build a connection with the facilitator who later mentored her on a 1:1 basis until her release. The prison project was essential in her success after release because of the reentry services and support that she received through the program. Binigiwong later became a volunteer advocate for the Prison Project and a facilitator for the Woman Talking Circle in the Twin Cities area. Through this work, Binigiwong maintained a connection with her culture and community that led to her now successful career as a Parent Mentor at the ICWA Law Center in South Minneapolis, Minnesota. Binigiwong very much enjoys the mentorship that the American Indian Prison Project employs as well as helping families to better navigate the child protection system. Today Binigiwong is three and a half years sober from all drugs and alcohol. Binigiwong feels very passionate about helping her fellow relatives who struggle with addiction, domestic and sexual violence, child protection, and reentry after incarceration. 
 
Jenna Novak has more than 10 years of experience as a victim advocate working to improve the conditions that make populations vulnerable. These past eight years, she has become a subject matter expert on human trafficking. Her expertise lies in assessing project models, gaps, and areas of contention and collaboration between all levels of government, systems, and community. She has provided training and technical assistance, and created and implemented capacity-building tools and programs. Ms. Novak has scaled innovative solutions for the public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders to strengthen a model community response to human trafficking in a trauma-informed and survivor-centered way. Specific audiences include federal and local law enforcement, service providers, judges, prosecutors, child welfare entities, juvenile justice agencies, healthcare professionals, and larger task forces and coalitions. Ms. Novak also specializes in the intersections of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
 
Arlene O’Brien (Tohono O’odham Nation) is the Program Manager for the Southwest Center for Law and Policy (SWCLAP) a nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization based in Tucson, Arizona. Since 2002, SWCLAP has been providing legal training and technical assistance, on a national level, to Office of Violence Against Women grantees serving American Indian/Alaska Native victims of sexual and domestic violence, stalking, elder abuse, teen dating violence, firearms violence, and abuse of persons with disabilities. Arlene is a citizen of the Tohono O’odham Nation and is responsible for the coordination of the SAFESTAR Project, as well as of the administrative tasks. Arlene is originally from a small village of Gu Vo, located on the Tohono O’odham Nation in Southern Arizona, where most of her family resides. Prior to joining SWCLAP, she served as the Executive Assistant to the Chairman for the Tohono O’odham Nation in Sells, Arizona, providing administrative support. She is the proud mother of two sons, Charlie and Marciano.
 
Carmen O’Leary (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) is the Director of Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains. She is a citizen and a resident of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe where she has gathered her experience and expertise to develop programs that serve Native women experiencing violence. Carmen is a trainer on advocacy around sexual assault and domestic violence. She is a certified trainer with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center for Law Enforcement on Domestic Violence. Carmen has worked at providing insight on tribal codes in relation to sexual assault, domestic violence, and the issuance of protection order. During the year 2000, she worked as a consultant for the State Court Association in providing training on full faith and credit to judges and court state on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) provision. She has worked as a social services aide in a hospital setting, as a child protection worker, and as the coordinator for the women’s shelter for 17 years. Carmen is a Tribal Legal Lay advocate for the Cheyenne River Tribal court and has served as a part-time magistrate for tribal court. She has facilitated re-education classes for domestic violence offenders and also for women’s support groups and adults molested as children. Carmen has served on the VAWA 904 Research Task Force, is the regional representative for the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center where she is the Vice Chair, and is on the Sacred Heart Center board, a local program that governs the women’s shelter and an adolescent program. Carmen volunteers as a guardian ad litem for children in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal court.  
 
Michelle Rivard Parks is a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and in the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota.  Mrs. Parks is an appointed member of the North Dakota Supreme Court State and Tribal Court Committee.  In January of 2011, Mrs. Parks was appointed by U.S. Attorney Eric Holder to serve on the U.S. Department of Justice Violence Against Women Federal and Tribal Prosecution Task Force. Mrs. Parks served as the Chief Prosecutor for the Spirit Lake Nation for approximately four years and continues to serve the tribe as Tribal Attorney.  Mrs. Parks has background in training and educating tribal, state and federal law enforcement agencies, attorneys, court staff and other individuals and entities on a variety of topics relating to the practice of both tribal law and federal Indian law. In 2008 Mrs. Parks was appointed as a Special Judge in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa jurisdiction and in 2014 Mrs. Parks was appointed as the Chief Justice of the MHA Nation Supreme Court. In the fall of 2003, Mrs. Parks joined the staff at UND School of Law as an Adjunct Professor and has since taught courses on Federal Indian Law, Tribal Economic Development and the Law, and Tribal Law.  Additionally, Mrs. Parks serves as the Associate Director of the Tribal Judicial Institute at UND School of Law where she provides training and technical assistance to tribal, state and federal officials, judges and personnel on topics relating to the planning, implementation and enhancement of tribal justice systems as well as topics relating to tribal law and federal Indian law.
 
Eric Parsons moved to Montana in 2014 after spending several years as a civilian police dispatcher and a part-time firefighter in his native Massachusetts, to pursue an opportunity with the Office of Consumer Protection and Victim Services. Parsons became heavily involved with the work of the Montana Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission and other special projects and in January 2017 assumed the role of Program Specialist. This position includes management responsibility for the Montana Hope Card program, Address Confidentiality Program, and work on several consumer protection issues. Parsons recently began acting as the coordinator for the Montana Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission and Native American Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team. He also volunteers with Lewis and Clark County Search and Rescue and serves as the Swift-water/Ice Rescue Team Lead. 
 
Dr. Aaron Payment (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) is serving in his third term as Chairperson of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Prior to this, he served two terms on Tribal Council. A high school drop-out from an impoverished reservation community, Dr. Payment earned a GED, Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s in Public Administration (1991), a second Master’s degree in Education Administration (2016), is two classes from a third Master’s in Education Specialist (2018) and his doctorate in Educational Leadership (2017). Since 1993, he has provided annual tribal governance training to future Michigan legislators through the Michigan Political Leadership Program. Dr. Payment has worked as a college instructor, student retention coordinator, Dean’s Assistant, Native American student services coordinator, as Federal State Policy Administrator for his Tribe, 16 summers with the Upward Bound program, and 5 summers coordinating the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan Anishinabe Future Leaders Program.  Chairperson Payment serves or has served in the following capacities: National Congress of American Indians, 1st Vice President (VP), Past Secretary & Area VP; Member, HHS Secretary Tribal Advisory Council Member; National Institutes of Health’s Tribal Consultation Advisory Committee; Delegate, SAMHSA’s Tribal Technical Advisory Committee; Chair, HHS Health Research Advisory Committee; National Advisory Council on Indian Education (Presidential Appointment); Tribal Interior Budget Committee; Mid-West Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, Vice President; United Tribes of Michigan, President, Past President; Past Chairperson, Chippewa Ottawa Treaty Resource Authority; Past Vice President, Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan; Vice Chair Chippewa - Luce - Mackinac Community Action Agency; Advisory Board & Presenter, Michigan Political Leadership Program.
 
Steven W. Perry is a Statistician for the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Since 2003, he has served as the program manager for BJS Justice Expenditures and Employment Statistics program; State Court Prosecutors Statistics program; and, more recently, the Indian Country Justice Statistics Program. Mr. Perry has authored several BJS publications, including congressionally mandated “Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities” reports; “2007 State Prosecutors Offices with Jurisdiction in Indian Country”; “Improving Criminal History Records in Indian Country, 2004–2006”; “Prosecutors in State Courts, 2005”; “Census of Tribal Justice Agencies, 2002”; and “American Indians and Crime, 1992–2001.” He has led the effort to improve tribal crime data through the Recovery Act—Tribal Crime Data Estimation Project; the Tribal Criminal History Record Improvement Program; and the Tribal Crime Data and Information Sharing Conferences. Prior to joining BJS in 2003, Mr. Perry served as a Survey Statistician for the Census Bureau, where he worked on the SIPP and SPD surveys measuring welfare reform. Mr. Perry received his BA in sociology with a minor in criminal justice from Norfolk State University and holds an MA in sociology with a minor in survey methodology from the Ohio State University. Mr. Perry has served in the U.S. Army and received the National Defense Medal in 1992.
 
Jana Pfieffer (Dine) has been employed as the Lead Case Manager for First Nation’s E.A.S.T. Program since 2017. Prior to joining First Nations, Ms. Pfeiffer served as the Membership and Outreach Coordinator for the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, and also worked as a Community Culture Liaison at the Institute for Dine Culture, Philosophy, and Government, LLC. Ms. Pfieffer graduated from the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in Native American studies and women’s studies.
 
Alison Phongsavath has long been involved with the foster and adoptive communities. Alison was adopted internationally and identifies as a transracial adoptee.  Alison began her service at Humboldt County Child Welfare Services as a social work intern in 2007. After graduating from Humboldt State University with her Masters in Social Work, she began her employment with the same agency where she remains. Alison is now a Program Manager that currently oversee the ongoing program. 
 
Jennifer Pierce-Weeks, RN, SANE-A, SANE-P is CEO for the International Association of Forensic Nurses, where she implemented the adult/adolescent online SANE training and learning management system. She comes with 30 years of nursing experience, with a focus on forensic nursing since 1995. She presents nationally on a variety of forensic nursing–related topics, including sexual assault and abuse, intimate partner violence, strangulation, child maltreatment, and program sustainability. Ms. Pierce-Weeks’s work at a national level includes being past president of the International Association of Forensic Nurses where she served on the board from 2006 to 2010, serving as a consultant for the Southwest Center for Law and Policy’s SAFESTAR Project, and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s SANE Sustainability Project. In addition, she has written, edited, and reviewed state-specific protocols and customized protocols for hospitals, SARTs, and tribal communities. Ms. Pierce-Weeks was a contributing author for the most recent edition of the Atlas of Sexual Violence; has contributed to Forensic Health Online, has published in the Journal of Forensic Nursing and Journal of Emergency Nursing; and has edited the STM Learning text Violence Against Women, co-authoring the chapter on strangulation in the living patient. She also co-authored The Clinical Management of Children Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence: Technical Considerations for PEPFAR Programs.  
 
Columba Quintero-Cruz is an Integrative Nutrition Coach and a Fitness Instructor (Zumba, Strong, Zumba Gold, Zumba Step, running). She has many years of experience in Tribal Grants Administration but practices culturally relevant health and wellness coaching and fitness instruction as a hobby to help promote healthy lifestyles among tribal persons, youth, and elders.
 
Carlette Randall is a first-language Lakota (Sioux) speaker raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She has worked in the human services field for more than 25 years, supporting tribal efforts both in urban areas and on reservations. Her roles have included direct service provider, project coordinator, evaluator, tribal liaison, and federal agency advisor. Ms. Randall received an MSW from the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work and a certificate in business management from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
 
J. Carlos Rivera (Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians) is the Executive Director at White Bison, Inc. located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, an enrolled tribal member with the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, and also of Mexican descent. He resides in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. J. Carlos received his Human Services and Chemical Dependency Studies certifications at the American River College and served as a substance abuse treatment provider for 10+ years at the Sacramento Native American Health Center, Inc. providing services to adult men and women on parole, juvenile offenders, and other referrals from the Department of Corrections. In his role at White Bison, he oversaw daily operations at the Wellbriety Training Institute. He is also passionate about developing new curricula to better meet the needs of tribal and urban Native American communities. J. Carlos has also been an active committee member for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency State Committee for California, appointed by Governor Jerry Brown. Through the process of treatment and recovery he has found a greater purpose in life that inspired and motivated him to establish a healthy foundation for his family’s future.
 
Ashley Sarracino (Pueblo of Laguna) is the founder and Executive Director of My Native Sisters' Fire, Inc. Ms. Sarracino is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe in New Mexico, where she lives and works. She is a graduate of Stanford University (BA/MA) and is also the CEO of Native Ascension Community Development, LLC, a small Native American-Women owned business and leader in business support solutions, offering professional and technical services for Federal, State, Tribal, Nonprofit and Government Industry Clients. Ms. Sarracino also serves on Teach For America's national Native Alliance Initiative Advisory Council and the Governance Council for Coral Community Charter School in New Mexico.
 
Aldo Seoane (Yoeme) is cofounder of Wica Agli a domestic and sexual violence awareness organization focused on engaging men in the conversation of ending violence against women and children, located Mission, South Dakota. Aldo Seoane, through Wica Agli, has been actively working with tribes across the country to raise awareness of the intersections of domestic and sexual violence and the need to reclaim traditional teaching in Indigenous communities. In 2013–2015 Wica Agli worked closely with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and national groups to defeat the Keystone XL pipeline. 
 

Joanne Shenandoah, Ph.D .,is one of “America’s most celebrated and critically acclaimed Native American musicians of her time”, Associated Press. She is a Grammy Award winner with 3 Nominations), over 40 music awards (including 14 Native American Music awards – Hall of Fame Inductee) with music ranging from solo to full symphony and 22 recordings. She is a humanitarian, working as a peace advocate, earth justice and has captured the hearts of audiences all over the world, from North and South America, South Africa, Europe, Australia and Asia. She has received multiple awards and praise for her work to promote universal peace and understanding. She is a direct descendent of the famed “Chief Shenandoah” who is noted to have been given a “Peace Medal” by George Washington and established Hamilton College, Clinton, NY (The Oneida Academy). On January 21, 2017 Founder, Mitchell Bush presents to Joanne Shenandoah: “The American Indian Society of Washington, DC presents its most prestigious award to a Native American whose life’s work has led to the improvement and empowerment of Native Americans through social, political, legal, environmental or educational initiatives. Shenandoah is a founding board member of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge www.hiawatha.syr.edu, a non-profit higher learning educational facility that is based on Iroquois principles. Also in 2014 she served as Co-Chair for the Attorney General’s National Task Force of Children Exposed to Violence for the Department of Justice.  Shenandoah has performed for noted leaders such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Huston Smith, Mikhail Gorbachev, and is celebrated with the honor of East - West Interfaith Ministry. www.interfaithseminaries.net “A bridge for peace in and among all cultures and spiritual traditions.” Shenandoah has performed at prestigious events such as St. Peter’s Basilica, The White House of the US, Carnegie Hall, 5 Presidential Inaugurations, The Vatican - St. Peter's Basilica for the canonization of the first Native American St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Madison Square Garden, Bethlehem Fine Arts Center, Palestine, Crystal Bridges Museum, Smithsonian museums, The Ordway Theater, Hummingbird Centre, Toronto Skydome, The Parliament of the Worlds Religions, (Africa, Spain and Australia) and Woodstock ‘94. “Joanne Shenandoah is one of the finest attributes to Native American Music and Culture.” Neil Young  "She weaves you into a trance with her beautiful Iroquois chants and wraps her voice around you like a warm blanket on a cool winter's night," Robbie Robertson “Tonight I have heard an angel!!” (Joanne Shenandoah) Miguel Ruiz –Author of the Four Agreements. 
 

Ansley Sherman, (Muscogee Creek), serves as Program Attorney for the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA). Ansley has an extensive background working with tribes and tribal courts, especially on collateral consequences, best practices, holistic defense issues, drafting estate planning documents for tribal members, and federal grants management. Prior to working for NAICJA, Ansley worked as a legal fellow and law clerk at the Native American Rights Fund. Ansley is licensed to practice law in the state of Colorado. She obtained her BA from Fort Lewis College and her JD from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law.
 
Dr. Roshanda Shoulders is a program specialist for the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Capacity Building Division. She is the Federal Project Office for the Capacity Building Center for Tribes, and the National Quality Improvement Center for Preventive Services and Interventions in Indian Country. Roshanda has been in child welfare for more than 15 years. Roshanda has worked in child welfare as a social worker/clinician at the Department of Social Services in Connecticut, the Yale Child Study Center, and the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency.
 
Ernest Siva (Cahuilla/Serrano) grew up on Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning, California, and learned the Serrano language and culture at home. Mr. Siva earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education and choral music from the University of Southern California. Siva serves as Tribal Historian and Cultural Advisor for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and serves on the Board of Directors of the California Indian Storytelling Association, the Board of Trustees of Idyllwild Arts, and the Board of the Riverside Arts Council (serving the inland area). He is Artistic Director of the Pass Chorale, a community chorus in the San Gorgonio Pass area. He is Founder and President of the Board of Directors of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center and Ushkana Press, saving and sharing all the Southern California American Indian cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. He is also President and Founder of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, where he serves as Distinguished Guest Artist in Native American Culture at California State University, San Bernardino.
 
P. Benjamin Smith (Navajo) is the Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Affairs for the Indian Health Service (IHS). The IHS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for American Indians and Alaska Natives. As the Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr. Smith provides leadership on Tribal and urban Indian health activities, in particular implementation of the Title I and Title V authorities under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, through oversight of the Office of Tribal Self-Governance, the Office of Direct Service and Contracting Tribes and the Office of Urban Indian Health Programs.  Mr. Smith received his Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University, a Master of Arts degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University. He is also one of the Navajo Nation’s Chief Manuelito Scholars.
 
Judge Eric Smith was appointed as a Superior Court judge in Palmer, Alaska in 1996 and retired in 2016. His caseload covered criminal cases, civil cases, child protective cases, juvenile cases, and probate cases. He served as Vice Chair of the Fairness, Diversity and Equality Committee, Chair of the Criminal Pattern Instructions Committee, and Administrative Head of the Three Judge Sentencing Panel, and was a member of the Judicial Conduct Commission. Judge Smith received the Community Outreach Award from the Alaska Supreme Court in 2016. Judge Smith focused heavily on alternative dispute resolution, and remains responsible for implementing court rules that authorize judges to refer criminal cases to tribes and other organizations for their recommendations on sentencing. Prior to coming to Alaska in 1982, Judge Smith worked in the General Counsel’s Office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He became the Executive Director of Trustees for Alaska in Anchorage in 1982. In 1986, he opened his own office working primarily on tribal and environmental issues. His clients included the Rural Alaska Community Action Program, citizen groups, and a number of tribes and Native organizations throughout the state. The Alaska Federation of Natives presented him with the Denali Award in 1996 in recognition of his work on behalf of Alaska Natives. Judge Smith is a graduate of Yale Law School and Swarthmore College.
 
Hon. John P. Smith, along with Judge Wahwassuck, founded the first joint jurisdiction courts in the nation. Judge Smith retired from the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and continues to work as part of Project T.E.A.M.
 
James A. Smith is a Grant Program Manager with the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) at the U.S. Department of Justice.  In this position, he designs, develops, and leads national grant programs centered on public safety, crime prevention, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and sex trafficking in Indian Country. Prior to OVW, James worked at the Community Oriented Policing Services Office (COPS) at DOJ, where his focus was program development in the areas of tribal, law enforcement, anti-gangs and anti-drug programs.
 
Gina M. South, JD was honored to serve as the State Director for the Alabama Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) for five years. During that time, the Alabama CACs increased from 28 to 33 centers. Mrs. South was also successful in strengthening the relationship between the CACs and the local underserved Native communities. Prior to her work with the CACs, Mrs. South taught criminal justice and legal studies, as well as cultural diversity to students at Faulkner University. After being admitted to the Alabama Bar Association in 2008, she practiced family law and was a member of the Volunteer Lawyers Association of Alabama. In 2017, Mrs. South was admitted to the Texas State Bar Association, where she practices family law for the Manuel Diaz Law Firm. Mrs. South is a member of the Oklahoma Choctaw Nation, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and Freed Hardeman University. Mrs. South  resides in Plano, Texas, with her husband and four children, and serves as a board member and trainer for the Native American Children’s. 
 
Justine Souto (Oneida Nation) has expertise working with justice systems, grants management, and interpersonal communications. She is highly skilled in multi-disciplinary collaboration, resource mapping and strategic planning. She has strengths-based approach to her leadership and motivational style. Ms. Souto overseas the Tribal Justice System Planning Program which provides technical assistance to grantees receiving to help them understand their community’s most pressing justice-related issues and to develop a response through planning to address those issues. She also assists with the program management of the Office for Victims of Crime Indian Country Training and Technical Assistance. Ms. Souto was honored to serve as Miss Oneida in 1990, and has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay and a Master of Arts degree in counseling from Lakeland College, Sheboygan, WI.
 
B.J. Spamer has served in a leadership role with NamUs at the UNT Health Science Center since 2011. In her current role as the Executive Director of Operations, she performs strategic management for the NamUs program in collaboration with the National Institute of Justice; oversees the analytical, forensic, and case management components of NamUs; develops grant applications and budgets; monitors and reports grant performance matrices; and develops and administers criminal justice training courses. Ms. Spamer previously worked as an Intelligence Analyst with the Kansas City (Missouri) Police Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and as a Forensic Case Manager for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.  She holds a B.S. in Behavioral and Social Sciences from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), a B.A. in English from UMUC, and a Masters Degree in Forensic Science from The George Washington University.
 
Kelly Stoner (Cherokee) serves as the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s Victim Advocacy Legal Specialist. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1988. For the past 20 years, Kelly has taught at the North Dakota School of Law and Oklahoma City University School of Law (OKCU) where she taught American Indian/tribal law and domestic violence–related classes. She directed the University of North Dakota Native American Law Project that served clients of the Spirit Lake Reservation with a caseload that targeted domestic violence and sexual assault cases. In 2011, Kelly was appointed as a judge for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. She also supervised a project in partnership with the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma that established a SAFE Unit at a local hospital, recruited SANEs, and targeted community education on domestic violence and sexual assault. Kelly directed the Native American Legal Resource Center at OKCU where she supervised law students prosecuting domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking cases and representing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in civil matters. She is a frequent lecturer for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic Violence and for the Office on Violence Against Women’s national technical assistance providers on domestic violence issues in Indian country. Ms. Stoner helped to launch Oklahoma’s only tribal coalition against domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking—the Native Alliance Against Violence. 
 
Lawrence Swalley was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and obtained his bachelor of arts at Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell SD with a major in communications (1984). He later entered the military and pursued vocational education as a broadcast engineer-electrician for the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged (1987–1991). Upon returning to the reservation he found employment with the Department of Public Safety and served as a law enforcement officer for Pine Ridge and Federally Certified in Artesia, New Mexico (1997–2001). At 54 years of age his experience includes cultural camp coordinator, director of programs, social worker, spiritual advisor, traditional storyteller/singer, actor/writer, and law enforcement officer. Over the past 10 years, he has been a social worker with the Child Protection Service Agency for Pine Ridge and employed with the Oglala Lakota-Children's Justice Center, formerly Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Program where he represents the holistic and best interest of physically and sexually abused children within the judicial system. He has been providing cultural orientation for children and families amongst his people by utilizing the Creation Story of the Lakota. As a storyteller/singer and presenter, he combines the best in oral tradition as handed down for centuries by the Buffalo Calf People (Great Sioux Nation), with contemporary social dilemma and structure. This orientation establishes the root of Indigenous origin, thought, and philosophy as a manifestation of the role, responsibility, and purpose for the woman and man in any era or social construct.
 
Amanda Takes War Bonnett (Oglala Sioux) is public education specialist for the Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains, Reclaiming Our Sacredness, which is a coalition of domestic violence and/or sexual assault programs committed to the reclamation of the sacred status of women. The society offers a vision that ends domestic and sexual violence against Native women, in all aspects—a vision of change. The society works to support and strengthen sisterhood and local advocacy and program development efforts through culturally specific education, technical assistance training, and resource implementation. Amanda has worked in the field of journalism for more than 30 years, she was a former editor and managing editor of Lakota Times and Indian Country Today for 14 years and was publisher/owner of a tribal newspaper Lakota Country Times serving western South Dakota for five years and has since retired from print news and works to promote healthy lifestyles for women and children. She is a graduate from Sinte Gleska University with a master’s degree in mental health and from Oglala Lakota College in Lakota studies. She has worked as a Communications Coordinator at a K–12 Little Wound School on the Pine Ridge Reservation for 10 years and developed a successful interface model between school and community. She is also a part of the Stone Boy Women’s Society, Inyan Hoksila Winyan Omniceya, a traditional Lakota women’s society using spiritual guidance and traditional ceremonies to assist in the healing of the women and children who need their services. She has four children, three stepchildren, and 13 grandchildren. Her hobbies include beading, crafting, drawing, cake decorating, sewing, gardening, and having fun with her grandchildren. She is married to Dr. Archie Beauvais, Sicangu Lakota, a PhD graduate from Harvard University, retired.
 
M. Patricia (Trish) Thackston is a Policy Advisor with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice.  Trish manages a broad portfolio of tribal justice related grant programs and cooperative agreements including the Tribal Justice Systems Program, the Tribal Justice Systems Strategic Planning Program, tribal violent crime initiatives, and a wide range of tribal training and technical assistance projects. She is currently a co-chair for the DOJ-wide Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) which brings together all of the DOJ’s tribal-government specific grant funding under a single coordinate solicitation. She is also an active member of numerous tribal justice committees and working groups both inside the Department of Justice and with outside agencies and organizations.   Trish began working on tribal justice initiatives in BJA in 1996 with the Tribal Strategies Against Violence initiative.  Prior to her work at BJA, she worked with abused and neglected children in a number of residential treatment settings and as a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer serving the needs of children in the child protective system in VA.
 
Gayle Thom Medically retired as an FBI Victim Specialist on the Rapid Deployment and Evidence Response Teams, Gayle Thom is a 28-year veteran of multiple roles in the criminal justice field. In 2014–2015 Thom implemented a Crash Assistance Program with the South Dakota Highway Patrol. Thom has extensive experience with crisis response experience and training in both tribal and nontribal critical incidents. A frequent speaker and trainer nationally, she serves as a consultant for the Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center, as a grant peer reviewer for a number of U.S. Department of Justice/Office of Justice Programs and is an independent consultant for Indian country and nontribal matters. Thom responded to the Red Lake School Shooting, worked at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and responded to victims of Hurricane Katrina. For more than 10 years, she was honored to respond to violent crime scenes and provide direct services to victims in tribal communities on a regular basis. Having served on the six-person FBI American Indian/Alaskan Native Advisory Committee, she has also been honored to receive awards for her dedication, service, and contribution on behalf of crime victims in Indian country. Previously in the field of criminal intelligence and drug enforcement, Thom has worked, lectured, and traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and other countries. She is also an enthusiastic consultant, providing training and technical assistance for all communities, with a distinct passion for those with underserved populations.
 

Karonienhawi Thomas (Mohawk) is a Detective Sergeant with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department Detective Division. She has been an officer with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police since 2009. Her primary duties include preliminary investigations of all major crimes, domestic incidents, crimes against children, and sex crimes.  She is a certified Crime Scene Technician and Instructor for Law Enforcement Cadets in the area of Domestic Violence with Zone 9 Police Academy in Plattsburgh NY. Thomas graduated from SUNY Potsdam in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership with specialized certification in School Violence and Conflict Resolution from St. Lawrence University in 2015.  She is currently working on her second Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling at St. Lawrence University. Thomas served as Commissioner of Social Services in 2014-2015 for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.  She is a board member of the Native American Children Alliance and the Seven Dancers Coalition.  Thomas is a member of the SRMT Child Advocacy Center Multi Disciplinary Team and sits on the advisory board of the SRMT Three Sisters Domestic Violence Program.  Karonienhawi is a founding member of the Kononkwe Women’s Council.  She is a proud mother of two children and is a wolf clan Mohawk. 
 
William A. Thorne, Jr. (ret.), (Pomo/Coast Miwok) a Pomo/Coast Miwok Indian from northern California, was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in May 2000 by Gov. Michael O. Leavitt. He retired in September of 2013. He was a judge in the Third Circuit Court for eight years, having been appointed by Governor Norman Bangerter in 1986, and then served in the Third District Court for six years, having been appointed by Governor Leavitt in 1994. Judge Thorne received a B.A. from the University of Santa Clara in 1974 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1977. Judge Thorne has served for over 34 years as a tribal court judge in Utah, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nevada, California, Nebraska, and Michigan. He is the former president and current vice-president of the National Indian Justice Center (a nonprofit that trains tribal court and other personnel around the country), and a former member of the Board of Directors for National CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates, a nonprofit group that provides volunteer representation for abused and neglected children in court). He was formerly a member of PEW Commission on Children in Foster Care, the Board of Directors for the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (a nonprofit seeking to improve the level of research and practice related to adoptions), a former member of the Board of Trustees for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, a former board member for NACAC [North American Council on Adoptable Children] and a former member of the ABA Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children. He is also a former member of the Utah Judicial Council, the Board of Circuit Court Judges, and the Board of Directors for the National American Indian Court Judge’s Association, and most recently ended his term as Chair of the Board for Child Trends, Inc. (a non-profit devoted to research dealing with children and families). He is also a former chair of the Utah Juvenile Justice Task Force of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, former vice-chair of the Utah Board of Youth Corrections, former co-chair of the Judicial Council’s Committee on Improving Jury Service, former chair of the Judicial Council’s Bail Bonding Committee, former chair of the Court Technology Committee, former member of the Salt Lake County Domestic Violence Advisory Committee, and a former member of the steering committee for the Judicial Council’s Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Fairness. He is currently Chair-Elect for the board of WestEd Inc. (a non-profit focusing on excellence and equity in education), a member of the board for the Center for the Study of Social Policy, a member of the Advisory Council for the Capacity Building Center for Tribes of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, and a member of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In 2016 the National Center for State Courts recognized Judge Thorne with their Distinguished Service Award. Since his retirement from the bench, Judge Thorne has worked to improve the lives of children and their families.
 
Kristie M. Traver has worked in the victim advocacy field for more than ten years, acting in various roles including direct service staff, program manager, and Executive Director of a victim services non-profit organization.  She has worked with Tribal Government victim services programs in both the continental US and Alaska, as well as with programs addressing domestic violence in military communities.  Currently she is the Co-Director of the NICCSA Alaska Office, a certified SAFESTAR and certified Legal Advocate through the National Tribal Trial College.  Prior to her domestic violence/sexual assault victims' advocacy work, Ms. Traver spent more than a decade in non-profit fund development, marketing, and management focused on human services programs.
 
Kate Trujillo (Laguna/Isleta Pueblos) Kate joined the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) in May 2018 and has an extensive background in nonprofit program development and evaluation. Prior to receiving her master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan, she received her BA in psychology and international studies from Portland State University, then worked nationally and internationally developing, implementing, and evaluating programs to improve public health outcomes in underserved populations. During her MPH program, Kate received graduate-level training in motivational interviewing, qualitative research methods, community-based participatory research, and program evaluation. As a program coordinator at NAICJA, Kate works to strengthen tribal justice systems through identifying and sharing innovative tribal justice practices and through providing a range of training and technical assistance to tribal courts.
 
Allison Turkel is the Deputy Director for the Federal, International, and Tribal Division at the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) within the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP). In this capacity, she has oversight of the International Terrorism Victim Expense Reimbursement Program, Mass Violence support program, Interagency Agreements with federal partners, and the Victim Reunification Travel Program as well as the Tribal Vision 21 programs, Children Justice Act projects, and the Comprehensive Tribal Victim Assistance Program. Prior to coming to OVC, Ms. Turkel served as a Senior Policy Advisor in OJP’s SMART (Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking) Office, where she worked with American Indian tribes to implement the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) and with the military on sex offender issues. Prior to that, she was the Director of the National District Attorneys Association’s (NDAA) National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse (NCPCA), where she managed and supervised program activities and staff. She also provided training and technical assistance nationwide and in the territories to prosecutors, law enforcement, child protection workers, social workers, medical personnel, forensic interviewers, and other multidisciplinary team members on child abuse, maltreatment, sexual exploitation, computer-facilitated crimes against children, and domestic violence. She authored numerous articles including the sexual abuse section of the “Preparing a Case for Court” chapter in the two-volume set, Child Maltreatment, A Clinical Guide and Photographic Reference, 3rd edition (2005). Prior to her appointment as the Director of NCPCA, Ms. Turkel served as the Chief of Training for NDAA’s child abuse programs, which included NCPCA and the National Child Protection Training Center. Ms. Turkel was responsible for oversight of the national, regional, and local training conferences and programs, as well as supervision of all staff training. Prior to joining NDAA, Ms. Turkel was an Assistant State’s Attorney in McLean County, Illinois for 18 months where she prosecuted felony domestic violence cases, including severe physical abuse cases of children. Before that, she was an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office for nine and a half years. She tried a wide variety of felony cases, including narcotics, child physical and sexual abuse, and homicides. Prior to becoming a prosecutor, Ms. Turkel was a police officer for eight years. She served in patrol as a plainclothes undercover officer investigating high crime areas and rose to the level of Lieutenant. She also served as the Training Lieutenant in charge of in-house training and fire arms instruction. Ms. Turkel received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her JD from Temple University.
 
Eugenia Tyner-Dawson (Sac and Fox Nation) is with the Department of Justice and serves as the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Attorney General for Tribal Affairs and the Executive Director of the Justice Programs Council on Native American Affairs, in the Office of Justice Programs. She is a member of the Sac and Fox Nation and is a descendant of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. Ms. Tyner-Dawson has worked in law enforcement and has an extensive background in serving tribal governments and tribal organizations. For 11 years, she worked with her own tribe, directing numerous tribal programs. In 1996, Ms. Tyner-Dawson worked as a tribal lobbyist for SENSE, Inc., in Washington, D.C., and in 1998, she began work with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), at the Indian Health Service (IHS), in the Office of Tribal Self-Governance. In 2000, she transitioned to the HHS Secretary’s immediate office, where she served as the first permanent Intergovernmental Affairs Senior Advisor for Tribal Affairs and the acting Executive Director of the HHS Intradepartmental Council on Native American Affairs through June 2006. She also served as the Acting Deputy Director of the IHS, supporting the management of the $3.7 billion national healthcare delivery program for approximately 1.6 million of the nation’s 2.6 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Ms. Tyner-Dawson completed her HHS tour as the Associate Director for Planning and Policy Coordination for the Office of Minority Health. She has an associate of arts degree in business administration.
 
Lauren van Schilfgaarde (Cochiti Pueblo) serves as Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s (TLPI’s) Tribal Law Specialist, facilitating technical assistance to tribal courts, including healing to wellness courts, and researching legal and policy issues as they face tribal governance and sovereignty. Lauren works with tribes on building tribal justice capacity, restorative justice models, and child welfare and culturally competent best practices. Lauren additionally serves as professor for the Tribal Legal Development Clinic at the UCLA School of Law. Prior to TLPI, Lauren served as law clerk for the Native American Rights Fund and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. Lauren is licensed in the state of California, and serves on the board of the National Native American Bar Association, the American Bar Association’s Native American Concerns Committee, and the American Bar Association’s Tribal Courts Council. Lauren previously served on the board of the California Indian Law Association. Lauren graduated from the UCLA School of Law, where she focused her studies on tribal and federal Indian law. Lauren is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
 
Ponka-We Victors (Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona and Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma) is a lifelong resident of Wichita, Kansas.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Newman University in 2005 and a Masters of Public Administration from Wichita State University in 2008.  She has been a Democratic member of the Kansas House of Representatives, since 2011.  She is the only Native American in the Kansas legislature.
 
Judge Korey Wahwassuck served as a tribal court judge for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Tribal Court from 2006 until 2013 when she was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to serve as a Minnesota District Court Judge for the Ninth Judicial District. Previously, Judge Wahwassuck served as a Kansas Supreme Court Certified Mediator, and practiced law for 15 years, specializing in Indian law, child welfare, and juvenile delinquency. Judge Wahwassuck was a founding member of the first Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction Wellness Courts in the nation, and authored “The New Face of Justice—Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction” for the Washburn Law Journal and “Building a Legacy of Hope—Perspectives on Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction” for the William Mitchell Law Review. Judge Wahwassuck is also a member of Project T.E.A.M. (“Together Everyone Achieves More”), helping other jurisdictions create tribal-state collaborative courts of their own. Judge Wahwassuck served as a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s Drug Court Initiative Advisory Committee and Minnesota Supreme Court’s Racial Fairness Committee, and the Safe Harbor Statewide Model Protocol Judges Work Group; serves on the Committee for Equality and Justice; and chairs the Ninth District Equal Justice Committee. Judge Wahwassuck also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and was a member of Tribal Advisory Committee to the Indian Law and Order Commission. Judge Wahwassuck earned her bachelor’s degree and JD from the University of Missouri–Columbia. She has taught courses on Native American spirituality and sovereignty, treaty rights and tribal sovereignty, tribal court-state issues, and juvenile delinquency guidelines at Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Missouri, Leech Lake Tribal College, the National Judicial College, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Judge Wahwassuck serves on the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Tribal Leadership Forum, and previously served on the NCJFCJ’s Tribal Court Committee and as an Advisory Member of NCJFCJ Diversity Committee.
 
Angie Walker (Winnebago Tribe) is an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and Eagle clan member. Angie Walker is a wife, mother, and grandmother to six grandchildren and a survivor of domestic violence/sexual assault. Angie has a strong passion to help victims of crime within her community, with nine years of experience as a Victim Witness Coordinator and 14 months as the Juvenile Probation officer with the Winnebago Tribal Court. Collaboration with prosecutors, BIA-Law Enforcement, BIA-Corrections, U.S. Attorney’s office, FBI, BIA criminal investigator, Tribal/Federal Probation officers, Victim Witness Specialist of the U.S. Attorney’s office/FBI, and domestic violence programs to help clients reach their goals. Angie Walker has experience in working with victims and witnesses throughout their tribal case by providing numerous supports. Angie Walker served the community as a notary, a certified clerk, and a certified motherhood is sacred facilitator. She is a team member of the multidisciplinary team of child/abuse and sexual assault cases with minors, Winnebago Coordinated Community Response team, prior Winnebago Juvenile Justice Planning team member, Nebraska Tribal Coalition of the four tribes of Nebraska and numerous areas within the tribe. Angie Walker served four years as the secretary for the Winnebago Community Police Review board and participated in a Department of Justice training video on alcohol-facilitated sexual assault in Indian country. She facilitated the BEP programs within our community and is a certified facilitator of the Men’s Re-Education and Women’s Turning Point program. For the past five months, Angie Walker has moved into the position of the Outreach Support Assistant within the Winnebago Behavioral Health and Domestic Violence program. Facilitating a women’s talking circle and providing education on the dynamics of domestic violence. Remain connected to all surrounding areas when serving victims of crime and seeking resources.
 
Jim Walters directs day-to-day operations, budget, and staff for the AMBER Alert National Training and Technical Assistance Program. He has been actively involved in the program as a consultant since its inception in 2004, serving both as a trainer and as training and technical assistance liaison in support of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Southern Border Initiative and the AMBER Alert program in Indian country. In addition to his work for Fox Valley Technical College, he has more than 35 years of diversified experience as a peace officer, U.S. Air Force Security Forces Supervisor, technical training instructor, program manager, investigator, special weapons and tactics team leader, and Regional SWAT Commander. He is also founder and president of the Border Research Group, a nonprofit organization that assists tribal communities and nongovernmental organizations in dealing with child protection, human trafficking, and family violence. Jim Walters has a bachelor (Maitrise) of science degree in criminal justice from Sorbonne University―Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne.
 
James Warren retired as the Administrator of the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) for the Wisconsin Department of Justice in January 2008, a position he had held since March 1997. As administrator, he was responsible for all agency investigations and was instrumental in the development of the agency’s Internet Crimes against Children’s Task Force and the Native American Drug and Gang Initiative. Jim is the former chair of the Wisconsin Police Executive Group and was a member of the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association, the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, and the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies. Prior to working with DCI, Jim was with the Milwaukee Police Department from July 1965 until 1997. He worked his way up from a police aide to be a police officer, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain and was promoted to deputy inspector in August 1991. Jim has taught police science at Milwaukee Area Technical College and criminal justice at UW-Milwaukee and Concordia University. Jim is the past president of Indian Summer Festivals and United Festivals, Inc. He is the past co-chairman of the Greater Milwaukee Crime Prevention Project. Jim is  an associate with Fox Valley Technical College where he provides consulting, content expertise, and provision of faculty for the National Criminal Justice Training Center’s Indian country projects. Projects include the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act Training and Technical Assistance Project, Native American Sex Offender Management, Tribal Community Policing Efforts, as well as numerous Indian Country Community Safety Summits; Crimes against Children in Indian Country initiative; and other multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary national, state, tribal, and local training initiatives. Jim is an enrolled member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation.
 
Amanda Watson (kanaka maoli Native Hawaiian) and currently works with the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC) as a Program Coordinator for the national technical assistance and training project on sex trafficking in Indian Country. Prior to their work with MIWSAC, Amanda worked as a sexual assault advocate for university, county, and national organizations.  Amanda also worked at several universities in Residence Life and Multicultural Affairs.

Samantha Wauls (Lakota and Black) is the Project Coordinator for the Tribal Resource Tool at the National Center for Victims of Crime. She also serves on the Advisory Council for the Native Alliance Initiative, a program launched under Teach for America to support Native Corps members and alumni. Before joining the National Center, Samantha was a teacher for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and worked on health and healthcare issues impacting people of color and Indigenous communities in Phoenix, Arizona. She was a 2014 Policy and Advocacy Fellow with the American Youth Policy Forum and a Fall 2015 Research Intern with the Education Trust. She is a proud alum of Public Allies Arizona and Teach For America in South Dakota. She grew up in San Bernardino County, and graduated from California State University, Northridge with a degree in Africana studies. Recently, Samantha participated in an intensive summer immersion program at Columbia University on Indigenous peoples’ rights and policy.
 
Diana Webster, Esq. (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) The Native America Humane Society (NAHS) was formed in 2014 after Diana Webster (president and CEO) received a call from her cousin on a reservation in northern Minnesota to ask why she saw Diana volunteering to help dogs in Mexico on Facebook and not helping reservation “rez” dogs. Diana, a California attorney, knew from her family and from her work with tribal justice systems at the Tribal Law and Policy Institute that Native people on reservations and in urban communities still lacked access to resources and help for their families and their pets despite recent economic development through gaming. With NAHS, she works to empower tribal nations and Native communities in humanely managing their animals while acknowledging their tribal sovereign rights, traditions and culture, and the competing social challenges that still impact human health, safety, and happiness.
 
Danielle Weiss is a Lead Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton working as a senior-level policy and strategy consultant and technical advisor to the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences. Ms. Weiss provides analytical research, project management, and technical support on a variety of portfolios and special projects involving forensic sciences and the law. She has been key to the development and expansion of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System for which she was a lead member of the team that won a Service to America medal in 2011. Ms. Weiss provides leadership support for two NIJ forensic programs: Using DNA Technology to Identify the Missing, and Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence to Exonerate the Innocent. She provided technical editing for and managed the production of NIJ’s resource on fingerprint identification, Fingerprint Sourcebook, and managed or contributed to the development of numerous other training programs. She has also been a liaison on a number domestic and international partnerships, and supports the National Commission on Forensic Science as the liaison to the subcommittee on medicolegal death investigation. Prior to NIJ, Ms. Weiss was a Senior Attorney in the DNA Forensics Division of the National District Attorneys Association, where she developed and provided forensic science trainings. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Western New England University, a juris doctorate from Western New England University School of Law, and a master’s degree in forensic sciences from the George Washington University.
 
Stephanie Weldon, MSW is the Director of Child Welfare for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) of Humboldt County. Stephanie is a Yurok Tribal member and a mother of six children. Stephanie formerly served as the DHHS Social Services Director, Deputy Director of Children and Family Services, and as a Social Worker Supervisor. Prior to her work with Humboldt County DHHS, Stephanie served as the Social Services Director for the Yurok Tribe. Stephanie has worked in the tribal community 20 years of tribal community and programs experience and more than 13 years of administrative social services experience inclusive of program development, community engagement in social service programs, health education, youth prevention, and program administration. Stephanie received her bachelor’s degree in Native American studies and master of social work degree from Humboldt State University. Stephanie works to develop and advocate for collaborative systems that serve the most vulnerable children and families in the community in a culturally relevant and accessible way
 
Susan Wells is Chief Tribal Judge of the Kenaitze Tribal Court and a pro tempore judge for the Native Village of Eklutna and is a citizen and a former council member of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe. Judge Wells is a lifelong Alaskan who lives in Kenai, Alaska. She is a retired Master Teacher for the Kenai Borough School District with more than 20 years of experience teaching. She received her bachelor of science degree in elementary education and interdisciplinary studies from Western Oregon State College in 1993 and her master’s degree in education and reading from the University of Alaska Southeast in 2007. She completed two years at Abraham Lincoln University School of Law. She regularly attends continuing education courses at the National Judicial College to keep current on issues impacting tribal courts and Indian country. Judge Wells was nominated and received the 2018 National American Indian Court Judges Association Judicial Excellence Award. She is a member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA), and Cook Inlet Region, Inc. She sits on the Board of Directors for NAICJA and the CIRI Foundation and is a TERO Commissioner for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe. Chief Judge Wells strives to listen with an unbiased ear and apply the law with care to protect the honor, integrity, and judicial independence of the court.
 
Eileen West is a Senior Program Specialist for the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her program areas include tribal Title IV-B and Title IV-E child welfare programs. Eileen has been in child welfare more than 25 years. Her experience includes investigating child and abuse neglect allegations and case management; she is the state manager for in-home, foster care, and adoption programs, and co-lead for the CFSR and program improvement plan.
 
Matthew West (Uncompahgre Band of the Ute Tribe Fort Duchesne, Utah) is an enrolled member of the Uncompahgre Band of the Ute Tribe Fort Duchesne, Utah. Mr. West has spent the last 33 years in service to his Native people and communities as a tribal police officer, Assistant Tribal Prosecutor, public defender, and Indian Child Welfare Act Director. Mr. West  works as a Certified Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault/Legal Advocate for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ Victims Assistance Program in Fort Hall, Idaho. Mr. West is a trainer and presenter in several areas related to domestic violence/sexual assault and child abuse/neglect. Mr. West is a board member of the Native American Children’s Alliance and previously served as a California Social Worker Educational Committee and State Training Educational Committee member and was a Kings County Behavioral Health Board member and Fresno County Cultural Competency Committee member.  
 
Nichole Williamson is the Director of Alpine County Health and Human Services in Markleeville, California. In this position she was responsible for the development and implementation of the Child Welfare Memorandum of Understanding with the Washoe Tribe in March 2014. The collaborative work with the Washoe Tribe received recognition with a 2014 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties and a 2014 Merit Award from the California State Association of Counties. Prior to employment in Alpine County, Nichole was an Executive Director of several social service community-based agencies in South Lake Tahoe, California. She serves as the Chair of the Alpine First 5 Commission, member of the Alpine County Child Abuse Prevention Council, member of Alpine County Community Corrections Committee, and member of the Alpine County Economic Development Committee. Nichole has a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from the University of Tennessee.
 
Geri Wisner (Muscogee [Creek] Nation) is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a former U.S. Marine, and a mother. She is a Tribal Prosecutor, the Executive Director for the Native American Children’s Alliance, and oversees the Wisner Law Firm. Ms. Wisner is a nationally recognized speaker on the issues of criminal justice in Indian country, collaborative responses to address violent crimes, and integrating traditional tribal healing and practices within justice responses.
 
Kimberly Woodard is the Senior Tribal Affairs Specialist for the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Prior to joining OVC in 2014, Kimberly worked as the American Indian/Alaska Native National SANE-SART Coordinator for the Indian Health Service, and spent 10 and a half years in the Tribal Division at the Office on Violence Against Women. Kimberly began working in the violence against women field more than 20 years ago, starting as a courtroom-based victim advocate in Washington, D.C. She later managed a courthouse walk-in legal clinic, where she provided legal advice and representation to victims of domestic violence, before becoming the STOP Administrator for the District of Columbia. Kimberly holds an AB in English and history from Duke University, a JD from the George Washington University Law School, and an MS in clinical mental health counseling from the Johns Hopkins University.
 
Marilyn J. Bruguier Zimmerman, MSW (Assiniboine-Sioux), Tribal Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is an enrolled member of the Assiniboine-Sioux tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation. Prior to coming to OJJDP she was the Director of the National Native Children’s Trauma Center and an Associate Director of the Institute for Educational Research and Service at the University of Montana. In her new role, Ms. Bruguier Zimmerman will provide guidance and advice to the OJJDP Administrator on strategies to improve outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native youth living on and off reservations who are at risk of justice system involvement or victimization. She has extensive experience working directly with tribes and is an expert in the areas of children’s exposure to violence, traumatic grief, suicide prevention, domestic violence, sexual assault, substance abuse, and juvenile justice. Ms. Bruguier Zimmerman served on both the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities and the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence, the latter of which issued its final report, “Ending Violence So Children Can Thrive” in November 2015. In her role as Senior Tribal Policy Advisor, Ms. Bruguier Zimmerman will have the opportunity to continue this work and act on the recommendations contained in this groundbreaking report.






 

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