Anita Alvarez was sworn in as Cook County's first female and first Hispanic state's attorney in December 2008. Ms. Alvarez began her career in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in 1986 and steadily worked her way up through the ranks, handling hundreds of felony cases ranging from homicide, narcotics, armed robbery, criminal sexual assaults, and domestic violence. She has argued before the Illinois Appellate Court and tried more than 50 felony jury trials. Prior to her election as state's attorney, Ms. Alvarez served as chief deputy state's attorney; chief of staff to the state's attorney; chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau; deputy chief of the Narcotics Bureau, and supervisor of the Public Integrity Unit. She also spent more than three years in the Gang Crimes Unit where she prosecuted gang-related homicides. Ms. Alvarez is president of the Chicago Bar Association.

Robert P. Boehmer is director of the Institute for Public Safety Partnerships at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which specializes in partnership building, working with police and other justice officials, and community and other organizations to deliver advanced education, training, and technical assistance. Prior to joining the Institute, Mr. Boehmer was general counsel and secretary for ICJIA and the Illinois Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Council. Mr. Boehmer has made significant contributions to the Illinois Integrated Justice Information Systems (IIJIS) initiative since its inception. While with ICJIA, he chaired the IIJIS Privacy Policy Subcommittee, which, under his leadership, developed several products, including Privacy Issues Confronting the Sharing of Justice Information in an Integrated Justice Environment and Privacy Policy Guidance for Illinois Integrated Justice Information Systems, Volume 1. The Global Privacy and Information Quality Work Group (GPIQWG) used the experience of the subcommittee and associated materials to inform its discussions and make recommendations.

Mr. Boehmer is former chair of the GPIQWG and is a member of the Global Executive Steering Committee. He is chair of the U.S. Department of Justice Global Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. Attorney General on justice information sharing issues. In addition, Mr. Boehmer is a regional representative to the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) Advisory Council and a member of the NCJA Board of Directors. Prior to joining ICJIA in 1987, Mr. Boehmer was a Chicago police officer. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a juris doctorate from DePaul University.

Dorothy Brown was first elected Cook County Circuit Clerk in 2000, becoming the first African American to hold the position. She was re-elected in 2004 and again in 2008. Ms. Brown holds a master's in business administration, a juris doctorate, and is a certified public accountant. As the official keeper of records for all judicial matters brought into one of the largest unified court systems in the world, Ms. Brown manages an annual operating budget of more than $100 million and a workforce of more than 2,300 employees.

Ron K. Brunson is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. His research examines youth experiences in neighborhood contexts, with a specific focus on the interactions of race, class, and gender, and their relationship to criminal justice practices. His work appears in the British Journal of Criminology, Crime & Delinquency, Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, Justice Quarterly, Sociological Quarterly, and Urban Affairs Review.

Cynthia Caporizzo is the Senior Policy Advisor for Criminal Justice to the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). In that capacity, she works on a myriad of organizational and policy issues, including criminal justice, juvenile justice, law enforcement and child welfare. Prior to joining ONDCP, Ms. Caporizzo supervised a variety of juvenile and criminal justice and law enforcement projects on violence suppression, juvenile, adult, dependency, and behavioral health drug courts, and child welfare policy while working as the Director of Policy and Planning for the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice and the City Attorney's Office in San Francisco, Calif. Prior to that, Ms. Caporizzo was assistant director for Intergovernmental Affairs and public liaison for the COPS office, and the U.S. Department of Justice Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

John Chisholm is the district attorney of Milwaukee County in Wisconsin. Mr. Chisholm organized his office to work closely with neighborhoods and expanded his nationally recognized Community Prosecution Program. He formed a Public Integrity Unit to focus on corruption matters and a Witness Protection Unit to thwart attempts to intimidate victims and witnesses of crime. He also helped inaugurate a drug treatment court. Mr. Chisholm is a member of the Racial Disparities Oversight Commission, Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission, Community Justice Council, Safe & Sound, and Milwaukee Addiction Treatment Initiative boards.

Kay Chopard Cohen, J.D., is the deputy executive director of the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA), the nonprofit association representing state, local, and tribal government on issues of crime control and public policy. In this capacity, Ms. Chopard Cohen manages projects ranging from a national training program for community-based strategic planning, to programs to create and enhance state and tribal collaboration. She also manages technical assistance and training projects for domestic preparedness officials at the state and local level. In addition, she has served as a consultant, facilitator, and educator in nearly every state on strategic planning, faculty development, presentation and facilitation skills, and a variety of criminal justice issues such as domestic violence, drugs, violent crime, mental health and justice issues, and sex offender management for practitioners throughout the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems. She has served for many years on the faculty of several continuing legal education institutions and organizations, including the National Center for State Courts, National Judicial College, American Bar Association Judicial Division, National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators and National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Ms. Chopard Cohen has published more than 20 legal resource books, justice reports, articles and newsletters. For 10 years prior to coming to NCJA, Ms. Chopard Cohen created two national training programs for prosecutors and judges, respectively, and acted as a liaison to state and local elected officials for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. Ms. Chopard Cohen is also a former prosecutor, solo law practitioner, assistant Iowa attorney general, and administrative hearing officer. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa School of Law and a member of the Iowa Bar and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar.

Nicholas Corsaro, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor. Dr. Corsaro joined the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale faculty in 2008 after completing his doctorate from the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Corsaro has been involved in multiple research projects examining the change in gun violence with specific deterrence approaches. He was a researcher on the Indianapolis Violence Reduction Partnership project, the Violent Crime Impact Team project conducted by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives Division in Washington, D.C., and the national Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. Most recently, he has been published in the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice and Justice Quarterly.

Cabell C. Cropper is the executive director of the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA), the nonprofit association representing state, tribal, and local government on issues of crime control and public policy. Mr. Cropper serves as the principal liaison between state and local units of government, the various agencies of the U.S. government, and criminal justice interest groups. In consultation with the NCJA board of directors, Mr. Cropper develops and implements programs and policies to accomplish NCJA's mission to foster the development of criminal justice systems in states and units of local government that enhance public safety, prevent and reduce the harmful effects of criminal behavior on individuals and communities, adjudicate defendants and sanction offenders fairly and justly, and use their resources effectively and efficiently. Mr. Cropper served as director of management and administration for the American Prosecutors Research Institute for 11 years, where he supervised a staff of 39 providing training, technical assistance, and research services to prosecutors and related professionals nationwide and overseas. Mr. Cropper also has served as a program consultant with the New York State Division of Probation, as a probation specialist with the Colorado Judicial Department, and as a probation officer with the Denver, Colo., district court.

Mr. Cropper received a bachelor's degree from the School of International Service at The American University, a master of public administration degree from the University of Colorado, and a master of business administration degree from the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration.

Jack Cutrone was appointed executive director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority in October 2009 after having served as the agency's general counsel since January 2006. As executive director, Mr. Cutrone implements agency policy and directs ICJIA staff on the day-to-day operation of the agency. He also serves on the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council, the Adult Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board, the Illinois Sex Offender Management Board, Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, and the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council. Prior to his state service, Mr. Cutrone was a trial and appellate attorney in both the public and private sectors for more than 30 years, including serving as deputy chief of the Cook County State's Attorney's Special Prosecutions Bureau. He has also served as an author for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education and has taught on a part-time volunteer basis at area law schools and at bar association seminars in substantive law and trial practice.

Pat Dishman has more than 35 years of public service with Tennessee state government. She served in four state departments and oversaw numerous state efforts to provide more efficient and effective direct and contract services for the citizens of Tennessee. Ms. Dishman directed contract/grant offices in both the Tennessee Children's Services Department and Finance & Administration Department.

Ms. Dishman recently retired from Tennessee state government. At the time of her retirement, she was director of the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs in the Tennessee Department of Finance & Administration. In her role as director, she was responsible for the development, review, awarding, and administration of about 500 contracts for services with state, local, and not-for-profit agencies. Additionally, she directed the state's application for and implementation of numerous Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services grants. The Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs also served as the state administering agency for the U. S. Department of Justice. The office also was responsible for oversight and management of agencies across the state providing services through contract for the citizens of Tennessee. Ms. Dishman received a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology from Middle Tennessee State University and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Tennessee in Nashville.

Chett Epperson is the Rockford Police Department Police Chief. Mr. Epperson started his career with the Rockford Police Department as a police cadet in 1981. He rose through the department attaining the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant, and deputy chief before becoming chief of police in 2006. The Rockford Police Department has an authorized strength of 285 sworn and 36 non-sworn personnel. The department successfully passed its first CALEA Assessment in 2008, and was recognized at the 2009 Spring CALEA Conference. Rockford Police Department is a nationally recognized National Incident Based Reporting System Agency, reporting crime data directly to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The department adopted a community-oriented policing strategy emphasizing geographic accountability and the use of data-driven problem-solving tactics.

Mr. Epperson received a bachelor's degree in sociology from Rockford College in 1990 and master's of business administration from Rockford College in 1998. He is active in several police organizations and community projects.

Esther Franco-Payne is program director for the Justice/Violence Initiative of Chicago Metropolis 2020, a business-based civic organization promoting long-term planning and smart investment in the Chicago region and working for better outcomes in the legal and corrections systems. Her responsibilities include working with community organizations and policymakers across Illinois to address issues such as childhood exposure to trauma and violence, juvenile justice, and prisoner re-entry. Ms. Franco-Payne also serves as manager of the Collaborative on Reentry, a statewide group of stakeholders involving representatives from municipal, county, and state government, the non-profit sector, and religious and labor groups charged with developing recommendations regarding alternatives to incarceration and related challenges of housing, education and employment, and juvenile re-entry. 

Ms. Franco-Payne was recently appointed a commissioner for the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission, and participates on the Coordinating Council for the Illinois Models for Change initiative. Prior to joining Chicago Metropolis 2020, Ms. Franco-Payne worked for the Family Violence Coordinating Council of the Circuit Court of Cook County and for the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention. Ms. Franco-Payne received a master's degree in clinical social work from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.

Diana Graski is a court technology associate with the National Center for State Courts. The National Center for State Courts is a long-term participant in the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative and the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). Ms. Graski supports NIEM 2.1's new Family Services domain and the Court/Child Welfare National Exchange Template Task Force.

Janet R. Holmgren has served as the chief judge of the 17th Judicial Circuit, comprised of Boone and Winnebago counties, since 2007. In addition to her administrative duties, Ms. Holmgren, presides over the Therapeutic Intervention Program Court, a collaborative mental health court project with the Janet Wattles Center designed to identify persons involved in the criminal justice system as a result of serious mental health issues, and provide them with intensive services and support as a diversion from incarceration and hospitalizations. In December 2009, Ms. Holmgren implemented a family drug court in Winnebago County, a specialty court component of the abuse and neglect court where parents with substance abuse or co-occurring disorders can receive services and enhanced access to treatment.

Prior to becoming chief judge, Ms. Holmgren was appointed as an associate judge in 1995, and elected circuit court judge in 1998 and retained in 2004. Ms. Holmgren currently serves as the chair of the Specialty Courts Committee for the Illinois Supreme Court's Conference of Chief Judges. She is a member of the newly convened Illinois Supreme Court's Special Supreme Court Advisory Committee for Justice and Mental Health Planning and the regional facilitator for Region 2 of the Illinois Department of Human Services Department of Mental Health's Transformation Transfer Initiative: DMH Criminal Justice/Mental Health Transformation Planning. She also is a member of the Illinois Mental Health Courts Association, Illinois Supreme Court's Judicial Conference's Criminal Law and Probation Administration Committee, Illinois Judges Association Board of Directors, and the Executive Advisory Board of Resolution Systems Institute, which promotes the creation and expansion of alternative dispute resolution programs throughout the Illinois court system.

Rachel Johnston is director of the Research and Development Division of the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Ms. Johnston has worked for CPD for more than 10 years. In the course of her CPD career, Ms. Johnston has worked in grants acquisition and management, the development and publication of internal policies and procedures, and the initiation and management of research projects on wide-ranging law enforcement-related topics. Ms. Johnston received a master's degree in urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is writing her dissertation for completion of a Ph.D. in criminology, law, and justice from the same institution.

Candice M. Kane, Ph.D., J.D., is the chief operating officer of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, a strategic public health initiative to support community-based and city-wide violence prevention. Her responsibilities with the Chicago Project include day-to-day oversight of all program activities, including those related to CeaseFire, the campaign to stop shootings and killings, and evaluation. In addition to her management duties, Dr. Kane is actively involved in the framing and implementation of policy, program development, drafting of program-related materials including training curricula and brief performance reports, and budget projections. Prior to joining Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, Dr. Kane was executive director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, and part of the University of Chicago team that developed, implemented, and tested the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Comprehensive Gang Model.

Mary Lou Leary joined the Office of the Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Justice Programs in May 2009 when she was appointed Deputy Assistant Attorney General. She was named Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in September 2009. Prior to that, she served as Executive Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, a private nonprofit in Washington, DC, for four years.

From 1999 to 2001, Ms. Leary's service at the U.S. Department of Justice included acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, Deputy Associate Attorney General for the Office of the Associate Attorney General, and acting Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Ms. Leary has also served as United States Attorney, Principal Assistant and then Senior Counsel to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Chief, Superior Court Division. Her career included extensive trial and grand jury experience as Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia and Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Arthur J. Lurigio, Ph.D., is associate dean for faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University Chicago, where he received tenure in 1993. A psychologist, Dr. Lurigio has completed extensive research in the areas of offender drug abuse and dependence problems, mental disorders and crime, community corrections, police-community relations, criminal victimization, and victim services. Dr. Lurigio also is director of the Center for the Advancement of Research, Training, and Education at Loyola University Chicago, and a senior research advisor at Illinois Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC). In 2003, Dr. Lurigio was named a faculty scholar, the highest honor bestowed on senior faculty at Loyola University Chicago. In recognition of the overall outstanding contributions of his research to criminology and criminal justice practices, Dr. Lurigio was conferred the highly prestigious University of Cincinnati Award in 1996, the Hans W. Mattick Award in 2003, the Champion for Recovery Award in 2009, and the University of Illinois Award for Distinguished Contributions to Criminal Justice Research and Practice in 2010.

Lori McCormick is director of McLean County Court Services and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the McLean County Juvenile & Adult Probation/Court Services Department as well as the 26-bed McLean County Juvenile Detention Facility. Ms. McCormick has nearly 30 years of community-based correctional experience, including development and implementation of programs designed as alternatives to incarceration for both juveniles and adults. She serves on the executive board of the McLean County Juvenile Justice Council, and is a contributing member of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council serving McLean County. Ms. McCormick has been a guest lecturer at Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, and the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, and has taught The American System of Corrections at Heartland Community College. Ms. McCormick received a bachelor's degree in corrections from Illinois State University and a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati.

Jonathon E. Monken was appointed Illinois State Police Acting Director in March 2009. A graduate in the top 1 percent of his class at West Point, Mr. Monken was assigned to the head recruiting officer position for Northern Illinois Officer Strength Management Team, the highest ranked of such teams in the nation. Mr. Monken is an Iraq War veteran who held a variety of leadership positions while serving in the U.S. Army, including Company Commander, responsible for leadership, training, and welfare of 120 cadets, and Battalion Command Sergeant Major, in charge of 500 cadets. Mr. Monken received a bachelor's degree in military history from West Point, and a master's in business administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He is a recipient of a Bronze Star Medal, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and an Army Commendation Medal with V Device for Valor. He also was a 2005 American Red Cross Illinois Hometown Hero award winner for Fox Valley.

Lt. Jeffrey Murphy is the Chicago Police Department (CPD) Disabilities Liaison and Crisis Intervention Team Coordinator. A 37-year CPD veteran, Lt. Jeffry Murphy worked his way up through the ranks to Watch Commander of the Englewood District, and then to the Research & Development branch of central administration for CPD.

As a parent of a young man living with mental illness, he has faced the personal struggles of dealing with mental illness in his own family. As the Chicago Police Department's liaison to the Chicago Metro Area Mental Health Planning Council and its Subcommittee on Police Education, his persistent lobbying both within and outside CPD lead to the development and implementation of mental health crisis intervention team (CIT) training for experienced police officers. Launched in 2004, this initiative made Chicago the largest urban area in the country with a CIT program in place for its officers. The program also led to CPD involvement that same year in launching the first felony mental health court in the United States. The initial success of the Cook County Mental Health Court led to a $1.2 million dollar SAMHSA grant in September 2005, which provided for significant expansion of the mental health court, and CIT training for an additional 500 Chicago police officers, as part of the Community Reintegration Collaborative (CRC). The CRC joins the Cook County Circuit Court, States Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office, and Mental Health Probation Unit, Cermak Hospital Cook County Jail, TASC, Thresholds, University of Illinois at Chicago, and CPD to develop effective treatment alternatives to incarceration. This unique collaboration was recommended by SAMSHA as a model for the country.

In 2007, CPD's Crisis Intervention Team received the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association President's Award and The Illinois Governor's Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement Education. Lt. Murphy was named 2007 CIT Coordinator of the Year at the Third National CIT Conference in Memphis. He is on the Board of Directors for Thresholds Services of Chicago, NAMI of Greater Chicago and CIT International.

Mark Myrent serves as associate director for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority where he oversees the Research and Analysis Unit. He previously worked as research director for the Cook County Juvenile Court, conducting studies of juvenile detention alternatives and mental health screening of court-involved youth. Prior to that, Mr. Myrent worked for more than 20 years at ICJIA as a senior research analyst and Illinois Integrated Justice Information System project manager. He is the author of numerous publications on the topics of criminal justice strategic planning, juvenile justice trends, disproportionate minority contact, computerized access to criminal history records, victim assistance programs, and jail crowding. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member at the Chicago campuses of both Loyola University and the University of Illinois.

Elizabeth A. Robb is chief judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Illinois, which includes Ford, McLean, Livingston, Logan and Woodford counties. As chief judge, Ms. Robb has worked collaboratively with departments in the criminal justice system and community organizations to establish the McLean County Drug Court and Recovery Court (a mental health court), establish a Pro Se Small Claims Mediation program, and conduct a review of evidence based practices utilized by social service agencies in the community. Prior to her election as chief judge in 2005, Ms. Robb was appointed an associate circuit judge in 1993, and elected a circuit judge in 2000. She was elected vice-chair of the Conference of Chief Judges in 2008. She is a member of the Illinois Judicial Conference, serves on the Study Committee on Juvenile Justice of the Judicial Conference, is a member of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee for Justice and Mental Health Planning, the Legislative Committee of the Supreme Court, and the Judicial Mentor Committee. She also is a member of the Executive Committee of the Court Reporting Services Agency and is chair of the McLean County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Ms. Robb assisted in the establishment of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program in McLean County and the 11th Judicial Circuit Family Violence Coordinating Council. She also co-chairs the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Roundtable.

Michelle R. Rock is the specialty courts administrator for the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Winnebago County. Ms. Rock oversees the therapeutic intervention program (TIP) court, drug court and family drug court. TIP is a collaborative mental health court designed to identify persons with a severe mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system. The goal is to provide necessary wraparound services to reduce the number of days in jail and psychiatric hospitalization for individuals with mental illnesses, thereby reducing recidivism. Ms. Rock is chair of the Mental Health Coordinating Council which, along with Chief Judge Janet Holmgren, is spearheading efforts to develop a juvenile mental health court. Prior to becoming specialty courts administrator, Ms. Rock was an assistant state's attorney for 15 years. While with the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office, she helped develop TIP and served as TIP prosecutor from its inception in 2005. Ms. Rock is president of the Mental Health Court Association of Illinois. Her past memberships include the Winnebago County Bar Association Board of Directors, Violence Prevention Collaborative Governance Team, Community Corrections Advisory Board, and 17th Judicial Circuit Family Violence Coordinating Council.

Dennis P. Rosenbaum, Ph.D. in psychology, is professor of Criminology, Law and Justice and director of the Center for Research in Law and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Previously, he served in the positions of director of Graduate Studies, department head, and dean. Dr. Rosenbaum's areas of research expertise include police organizations, the life course of police officers, community policing, hot spots policing, community and school-based prevention, interagency partnerships, information technology applications, and program evaluation methods. Dr. Rosenbaum has directed many national evaluations and has completed eight books. He is principal investigator and project director of the National Police Research Platform, a longitudinal project funded by the National Institute of Justice to advance the state of knowledge and practice in American policing.

Dr. Rosenbaum regularly serves as an advisor to local, state, federal and international agencies in the public safety field and is currently the United States representative on the Scientific Committee of the International Center for the Prevention of Crime. Dr. Rosenbaum serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Quantitative Criminology and is a fellow in the Academy of Experimental Criminology, devoted to promoting randomized control trials in the criminal justice field.

Steven M. Settingsgaard is chief of the Peoria Police Department. Prior to being appointed to the position of Peoria Police Chief in May 2005, Mr. Settingsgaard served for 26 years in the Milwaukee Police Department, retiring at the rank of Inspector. He is a board member of Neighborhood House, the Peoria County ETSB, and the Peoria County Association of Chiefs of Police. Mr. Settingsgaard graduated from Concordia University in Wisconsin with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. He received his master's in business administration from Bradley University in 2007 and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and Northwestern University's School of Staff and Command.

Lisa Shoaf, Ph.D., is the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services Statistical Analysis Center Director. Dr. Shoaf's primary responsibility as SAC director is to facilitate awareness of and access to criminal justice statistics and to generate statistical reports and publications on criminal justice topics. Prior to becoming director in 2004, Dr. Shoaf was a research analyst with the agency, responsible for conducting and reviewing evaluations of Ohio's criminal justice programs, including a process evaluation of the Akron Mental Health Court and a study of the Akron Weed and Seed program. She has collaborated with multiple state and federal agencies on information sharing projects such as the National Violent Death Reporting System and the Death In Custody Reporting Program. Most recently, she and her colleagues have been involved in a multi-city effort to implement a crime reduction initiative based on the original Boston Ceasefire strategy. Dr. Shoaf obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1993 and a master's degree in psychology in 1997 at The Ohio State University. She obtained a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology in 2002.

Brett Taylor is Deputy Director of National Technical Assistance at the Center for Court Innovation, a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to reducing crime, aiding victims, strengthening communities and increasing public trust in the justice system. Before joining the Center in 2007, he served as the senior defense attorney for six years at the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to that, he was a trial attorney for the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn for over 10 years.

Mr. Taylor has presented at numerous national conferences on community courts, community prosecution and other community justice topics. He is starting his third year as the Attendance Court Hearing Officer in P.S. 27, a Brooklyn elementary school. He has also been a trainer for the Red Hook Youth Court since 1998 and has just completed his tenth year of organizing and coaching the Red Hook Youth Baseball League. Mr. Taylor holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Gladyse Taylor is acting director of the Illinois Department of Corrections. She oversees all areas of IDOC including policy, procedure, and operations. Most recently, Taylor served as assistant director of the department where she facilitated the implementation of programming and procedures relative to the Crime Reduction Act through the Risk, Assets and Needs Assessment Task Force, Adult Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board and the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council. Ms. Taylor first joined IDOC in 2005 where she played a key role in planning and funding for many of the department's treatment programs, including program expansion for the Sheridan National Model Drug Treatment and Reentry Program, the Methamphetamine Treatment and Re-entry Program at Southwestern Correctional Center, and other key re-entry initiatives including statewide job preparation programs, Halfway-Back, and transitional jobs programs aimed at reducing recidivism.

Taylor transitioned from the Governor's Office of Management and Budget where she served as deputy director before returning to IDOC in February 2010 as chief fiscal officer and director of the Public Safety Shared Services Center. In those roles, Ms. Taylor was responsible for formulating fiscal and budgeting policies and plans, developing and coordinating fiscal operations, capital budgeting, procurement, federal and state grant formulation, and serving as the liaison for IDOC, Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, Illinois State Fire Marshall, Illinois State Police, Illinois Office of Emergency Management and the Prisoner Review Board. Ms. Taylor has a bachelor's degree in business from DePaul University. She worked for more than 25 years in the private sector for divisions of PepsiCo and L'Oreal prior to joining Illinois state government.

Michael Thompson is the director of the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center.  The Justice Center serves policymakers seeking practical, nonpartisan advice and consensus-driven strategies, informed by available evidence, to increase public safety and strengthen communities.  Mike has been with CSG since 1997, transforming its regional criminal justice program employing one person into a nationally known organization with a staff of 35 people with offices in New York City, Bethesda, Maryland, Austin, Texas, and Seattle.  During his tenure, he has launched and overseen various national policy initiatives, including the Criminal Justice / Mental Health Consensus Project, the Reentry Policy Council, and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative.  These efforts have prompted congressional hearings, federal legislation, national news coverage, and bipartisan legislative and programmatic initiatives in states across the country. Prior to joining CSG, Mike worked for the Office of the Court Monitor, established by a U.S. District Court Judge, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  He received his B.A. from Middlebury College, where he graduated with honors.

Paula Wolff, Ph.D., is senior executive at Chicago Metropolis 2020, a business and civic organization implementing policy initiatives and programs for regional action on issues including land use, transportation, childhood development, and education. Dr. Wolff's policy emphasis is on justice and violence, examining issues of crime, violence, incarceration, and rehabilitation. She served from 1992 to 2000 as president of Governors State University (GSU), the only upper-division university in Illinois. From 1977 to 1991, she served as director of Policy and Planning for Governor James R. Thompson. In 1990 and 1991, Dr. Wolff directed Governor Jim Edgar's Transition Team, as she had participated in Governor James R. Thompson's Transition team in 1976 and 1977. Prior to her appointment as GSU President, Dr. Wolff was a Visiting Fellow at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she helped to establish a not-for-profit collaborative serving four pilot sites in the Chicago public schools.

Dr. Wolff has a bachelor's degree from Smith College and a master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in political science. She serves on the boards, including as chair, of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, Joyce Foundation, Ariel Investments Board, Metropolitan Planning Council, Johnson Foundation, Safer Foundation, Chicago Foundation for Women, University of Chicago Medical Center (Chair 1996 - 2006), and University of Chicago Board of Trustees.

Paul Wormeli is executive director of the Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute, a non-profit corporation formed to help state and local governments develop ways to share information among the disciplines engaged in homeland security, justice and public safety. Mr. Wormeli was the first national project director of Project SEARCH, and was subsequently appointed by the president as deputy administrator of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Wormeli was also the first chairman of the Integrated Justice Information Systems Industry Working Group, a consortium formed in 1999 of more than 100 companies at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice to help facilitate the implementation of integrated justice information systems throughout the nation.

In 2009, Mr. Wormeli was appointed to a three-year term on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Law and Justice. The committee was established in 1975 to provide a more scientific understanding of issues pertaining to crime and justice, and its activities today include identifying new areas of research and participating in resolving scientific controversies. Mr. Wormeli has founded three companies in the law enforcement and public safety information systems field, providing computer aided dispatch and records management software applications to law enforcement and public safety agencies. Software developed and implemented by his companies has been used by hundreds of agencies throughout the United States and Australia. Mr. Wormeli holds a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the University of New Mexico, and a master's degree in engineering administration from the George Washington University.

Kathryn E. Zenoff received her juris doctorate degree from Columbia University Law School.  She practiced in the private sector in New York City and Chicago and served as an assistant state's attorney in Cook and Winnebago counties. Judge Zenoff became an associate judge in the 17th Circuit in 1995 and was appointed a circuit judge by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1998.  She subsequently won election and was retained in 2004. She served as presiding judge of the Criminal Division and the Mental Health (Therapeutic Intervention Program) Court in the 17th Circuit, and chaired the community wide task force that created the problem solving court. In 2003, she was elected chief judge and served until her assignment to the Appellate Court in May 2007. Judge Zenoff was elected and has served as presiding justice of the Second Appellate District since August 2008.

As a member of the Illinois Conference of Chief Judges, Judge Zenoff chaired the Specialty Courts Committee, which issued a comprehensive report on mental health courts and drug courts in Illinois. In 2007, Judge Zenoff was named National Co-Chair of the Judges' Leadership Initiative for Criminal Justice and Mental Health Issues and has contributed to the Chief Justice Initiative project and the Judges' Guide to Mental Health Jargon and newly published Judges' Guide to Mental Health Diversion. Justice Zenoff has also participated in the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Transformation Initiative project convened by the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health. In September 2009, she testified in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law hearing entitled, "Human Rights at Home: Mental Illness in our Jails and Prisons." In March 2010, the Illinois Supreme Court named Judge Zenoff chair of the newly created Supreme Court Advisory Committee for Justice and Mental Health Planning.