Sandra Brown is a visiting scholar with the Women's Justice Institute. She is also an incarcerated survivor completing the final months of her sentence at the Fox Valley Adult Transition Center in Aurora, IL. While incarcerated, Brown has become the first incarcerated woman in Illinois history to earn an academic master's degree and the first accepted into an academic doctoral program at California Coast University. A host of her spoken-word poetry and critical narratives have been published in the volume, "Critical Storytelling from behind Invisible Bars: Inmates and Undergraduates Write Their Way Out. Upon earning an EdD in Organizational Leadership, Brown aspires to help other justice-impacted women empower themselves through education.

Oscar Fabian Soto is a formerly incarcerated Chicano activist-scholar, prison abolitionist, and community organizer in North San Diego County. He is a teaching associate in the Department of Sociology, a PhD candidate in Sociology and Black studies at University of California-Santa Barbara and a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Criminology& Justice Studies at California State University San Marcos. He is the recipient of a Hein Family Fellowship, a Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship, and the GSA Excellence in Teaching Award. His published works include Passive Revolution and the Movement against Mass Incarceration: From Prison Abolition to Redemption Script published in Social Justice, Can the Panthers Still Save Us? published in St. Anthony’s International Review, and Far from a Revolution published in the Journal for Higher Education in Prison all work critiquing global capitalism. His areas of specialization include Globalization, Global Political Economy, Radical Criminology, Revolutionary Theory, and Marxism-Leninism.

Clint Terrell is a 4th year PhD student at UC Santa Barabra in the English Department. His research looks at racial nationalist prisoner politics and themes of redemption in U.S. prison autobiography. Clint spent 3 years in the California State Prison System, 18 months in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Tehachapi State Prison and he has been organizing formerly incarcerated students on college campuses since the Pelican Bay State Prison Hunger Strikes in 2013.

"Bashir Hawkins has been active in the field of Higher Education Administration for 7 years, focusing on incarcerated, and formerly incarcerated students education and reentry.

Bashir Hawkins received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Rutgers University, as a graduate of the NJ-STEP Mountainview Program. Mr. Hawkins also holds an Associate of Applied Science degree in Accounting from Union County College.

Bashir Hawkins currently serves as the Financial Aid Coordinator and Asset Manager of the Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) RISE (Returning & Incarcerated Student Education) program in New Jersey, which offers an associate degree in Liberal Arts inside the NJ state correctional facilities. "

Daniel Bullman is a public health researcher who works with justice impacted individuals to build webs of support. Directly impacted, he knows the toll adjudication takes on mental health and family resiliency.

Daniel supports sustainable community development as the volunteer management coordinator for From Prison Cells to PhD, and previously as a community affairs officer for the City of Indianapolis, where he connected with communities and identify strategies to improve quality of life that were traditionally addressed through law enforcement action for over a decade.
Daniel is a certified community health worker and has been previously recognized by the City of Indianapolis and the Ball State University Alumni Association for his work addressing placemaking, healthcare access, and food insecurity in Indianapolis.

Daniel holds a Bachelors Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Ball State University and is a graduate student studying applied public health practice at Georgia Southern University.

Omari Amili is a father of six who works for a Seattle-based nonprofit called Choose 180. After being convicted on 30 felonies for bank fraud, he climbed from a GED to a Master's degree from the University of Washington.

Patrick Rodriguez is a formerly incarcerated leader who serves as the Co-Executive Director for the Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in prison, the Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement for Common Good Atlanta, is a Justice Policy Fellow for the Education Trust and was selected to be a part of the Georgia Association for Latino Elected Officials 2021 Leadership Cohort. Patrick has been both studying and working in the prison education space since his incarceration and after his release from prison in 2019. He came out of prison with one focus and that is to serve. His mission is to serve those who have been through the same experience as him, especially as it relates to higher education and the challenges of reentry. Patrick is currently studying at Kennesaw State University and is majoring in Organizational and Professional Communication and plans on continuing his studies in graduate school starting in the fall of 2022.

Tolu Lawal graduated from NYU Law in the Class of 2019 and is currently working as a Racial Justice Legal Fellow with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. While at NYU, she focused her vocational and extracurricular efforts on racial justice advocacy. She has served as the Co-Chair of BALSA, a 3L Representative with SBA and BALSA, a founding member of the Campus Climate and Bias Committee, and one of the lead organizers of Racism Lives Here Too. She also has interned at the Center on Race, Inequality and the Law, the ACLU Racial Justice Project and the Juvenile Defenders Clinic. She is currently an organizer with Unlock the Bar.

Dr Lukas Carey completed his Doctorate in education and has worked in the field for most of his career as a coach, teacher, trainer and educator. While filling a role in Australian local government he was charged with and convicted of receiving secret commissions and served time in prison. During and since Lukas’ incarceration, he developed a strong interest in the role that previously incarcerated people have in the development of policy and procedure in the justice system concerned with education and post-release employment. He is a strong advocate for the importance of Lived Experience in education and in reducing recidivism and international incarceration rates.

Tina (she/her) has lived experience of years of incarceration and invasive state surveillance as a carceral citizen. She will not be “free” from the parole system until the end of 2022. She is also nearing the end of her Honours year where she is conceptualising, through auto-ethnography, the collateral consequence of conviction in South Australia. Through her experience of being both student and subject of criminology, Tina has started to question the safety of universities for people with lived prison experience. The solidarity of carceral citizenship motivates her activism and story-telling, as does the struggle to see person-first language replace harmful system labels when referring to people like herself."

Taryn Williams, named ASI "Woman of the Year" and College of Business Outstanding Graduate, recently completed her undergraduate studies in Management at CSU Long Beach. While there, she received prestigious titles such as CSULB President's Scholar, US Department of Education McNair Scholar, and CSU Pre-Doctoral Program Sally Casanova Scholar. Taryn has presented research on topics such as community pushback to farmers' markets, multiple regression analysis of opioid overdoses in the US, as well as bias and judgment as barriers to human growth and upward mobility. Most recently, her honors thesis explored the creation of faculty development diversity training focusing on formerly incarcerated students. Taryn is an incoming doctoral student in the Organizations and Management department at UC Irvine. There, she plans to investigate how mentorship and leadership aid in reintegrating non-traditional communities into the workforce, as well as how employers’ bias, judgment, and discriminatory hiring practices impact the unemployment rates of those with conviction histories. Taryn aspires to create programming and change policies in support of the FI community getting and maintaining employment, as well as help companies understand the value that FI brings to team dynamics and organizational outcomes.

Ray Tebout, SPHR, GPHR, CASAC is an experienced human resource consultant who helps organizations improve both employee equity and productivity outcomes through coaching, training, and professional development. He most recently ran an in-prison college program at Rutgers University, as Assistant Dean and Director. Ray’s practice areas include Theory Y leadership development, HR management, human resource development, and performance improvement planning. He also trains addiction counselors in the knowledge and skills needed to earn their practice credential and provide better service to the addiction community. Ray holds a BA in Counseling Psychology and Economics from the City University of New York, several human resource and human service certifications, and non-profit board seats. He is currently completing his MS in Human Resource Management with Central Michigan University.

linkedin.com/in/ray-tebout

Suzanne Prefontaine Phillips MPA, Ed.D.
Dr. Suzanne Phillips has graduated from Azusa Pacific University with her Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Student Development. She obtained her master at California Baptist University with a focus in Public Administration and her bachelor's degree from California State University San Bernardino in Criminal Justice. Her dedication to reentry service stems from her witnessing a broken reentry system in 2012 when her friend and now husband reintegrated back into his community after a twenty-year sentence. Her passion for higher education and reentry continues as she is a professor for the Incarcerated Student Education Program at Cerro Coso Community College and teaches inside California Correction Institution (CDCR) Tehachapi California. She recently has stepped into the role of Reentry Navigator for Spokane Community College and supports students who are currently and formerly incarcerated. With her lived experiences of being a first-generation college student and justice-involved individuals, she is dedicated to helping students achieve their goals and aspirations. She was raised in Alaska now resides in Washington.

After serving 5 years in prison for robbery, Josh rose to become a Fortune 500 manager by age 23, then left the corporate world to devote his life to international education. Since then he has led the development of over 100 language, leadership and partner programs with top-ranked universities; built online learning systems in five continents; and founded three EdTech companies. In 2012 he was awarded an “International Teaching Excellence” award by Columbia University and University College London and coined the term “Digitized Public Intellectual”. Josh holds a Doctor of Education in Leadership and EdTech, a Master in English Literature & Law, Certificates in Human Rights Law and Multiple Intelligences, and the prestigious International Diploma in Language Management from Cambridge University.

As a pioneering and trailblazing formerly incarcerated PhD recipient, I have, over the last 5 years, watched my career descend into shambles, as neither I, nor those around me - my advisors, mentors, and colleagues - had any idea what to do to stop the hemorrhaging. Being a former prisoner PhD was new to everyone, yet the problems I encountered were not new to the academy. Beginning with the personal transformation that ended my criminal career and fueled my long but steady ascent to the PhD and its many successes, my story will serve to show how a radical scholar with a PhD from the top program in his field can be systematically rendered powerless to do meaningful work, lift his voice, or maintain his dignity and independence despite his work gaining readers everyday. Through a non-accusatory narrative of events, the author will show how treacherous the road “at the top” can be. And, in-so-doing will serve to demonstrate, as a call to arms, how absolutely critical a cadre of intensely supportive comrades are to anything approaching career success for any radical formerly incarcerated scholar. We must stand on our own. We must create our own power.

Esther Matthews, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Criminology at Gonzaga University. Her lived experience of incarceration informs both her research and teaching. Her research focuses on punishment, incarceration, and reentry, with a special emphasis on identifying promising reentry solutions. She is a critical criminologist who primarily relies on mixed-methods research design. In addition to using survey experiments to better understand how public stigma affects people who are or were incarcerated, Esther frequently visits prisons to conduct ethnographic investigations of carceral life and subsequent reentry. Her most recent research seeks to understand the challenges of reentry, along with the public stigma and systemic barriers that make desistance difficult. Esther’s research has been featured in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, Incarceration and the Washington Post. She uses her lived experience in the system, along with her academic training, to provide a rich, authentic, and humane understanding of the criminal legal system.

Robert Woodmark is a Master’s student at the University of Southern California’s Spatial Sciences Institute. He is currently enrolled in the Geospatial Information Science and Technology program. He achieved his Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Urban Development from the University of Washington. Robert specializes in urban and regional planning, project management, and spatial data analysis with an emphasis on environmental mitigation.

"My name is Gaylisa Carr and I’m an advocate, criminal justice expert, motivator, and formerly incarcerated.

I have been educating, supporting and mentoring men and women in Ohio through various systems, situations and experience.

I own a for profit, Amie Lee’s Heart, which is the employment vehicle for the formerly justice involved and I manage Adjusting Lives Healing Hearts, which is the non profit system. Through ALHH, we go into the prisons and educate and prepare those for life as best we can but the main focus is the cognitive behavioral therapy.
"My name is Gaylisa Carr and I’m an advocate, criminal justice expert, motivator, and formerly incarcerated.
I have been educating, supporting and mentoring men and women in Ohio through various systems, situations and experience.
I own a for profit, Amie Lee’s Heart, which is the employment vehicle for the formerly justice involved and I manage Adjusting Lives Healing Hearts, which is the non profit system. Through ALHH, we go into the prisons and educate and prepare those for life as best we can but the main focus is the cognitive behavioral therapy.

Elizabeth (Liz) Bodamer (she/her/ella) is LSAC’s Policy & Research Analyst and Senior Program Manager. Prior to coming to LSAC, Liz was the American Bar Foundation/AccessLex Doctoral Fellow in Legal Education and Higher Education. She has a PhD in Sociology from Indiana University Bloomington. Her dissertation work focused on factors that impact minoritized law students sense of belonging. While in graduate school, Liz was the Director of Student Affairs at Indiana University Maurer School of Law for four years. Liz holds a JD from Indiana Maurer School of Law. Liz graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009.

My name is Nathaniel Jay I am a John Jay College student. My period with the criminal justice system was well over 28yrs. My present status is the fulfillment of all my envisioned dreams and possibilities. This includes the following: a college degree by December 2021, network installation' and activation. To provide all that I have been gifted with upon encountering those worthy and in need. These gifts were earned by me and granted by my elders who deemed me worthy of receipt. I want to share the wealth. So every encounter, and all venues are platforms of opportunities to excel. My mission is life long self perpetuated with no restrictions and/or limitations.

I’m a formerly incarcerated man whose now been free from parole for one year to date.

Im a community leader here in Saint Louis, I gather and share resources to the people in need. I provide labor services as well, recruit teens and young adults to find this work trendy and fashionable.

I’m also a model, actor and entertainer who uses that platform as well to distribute our mission and initiatives about prison reform and advocacy.

I’m currently an ambassador, scholar, speaker and recruiter for From Prison Cells To PhD, Inc.

I’ve traveled to many places to do work in this industry, I’ve also been a mediator to gun violence de escalation here in Missouri.

I’m also a key mentor with the juvenile justice system here in Saint Louis city/county.

I’m also looking to connect with the colleges and universities really heavy on the promoting inside different schools. I’m available for hire do work remotely, seasonally, short notice, etc.

I can give a testimonial, I’m all about the solution to any issues or problems we face. As of now I’m building a hauling company by way of the pandemic fueling me to serve our communities so to the pandemic this is a new trade that’s come about and is still tied to uplifting our people.

Check out the article attached below: Importance of Voting

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2020-11-03/a-slap-in-the-face-missourians-with-felony-convictions-dont-want-to-wait-to-vote?

Steven A.Simmons is a formerly incarcerated MSW student at University of Washington Tacoma. Steven has been organizing in community spaces for formerly incarcerated students since 2015, and has been fighting to dismantle barriers for students with conviction histories every step of the way.

Dr. Jason Kahler is a scholar, teacher, and writer from Michigan whose work focuses on writing pedagogy, social justice, disability, and popular culture. His writing has appeared in a wide range of places, including "Analog," "Film, Fashion & Consumption," "The Journal of Prison Education and Reentry," and "The MacGuffin." Follow him on Twitter @JasonKahler3.

Lisette was a teacher for close to a decade in NYC public schools where she enjoyed having a positive impact on every student she encountered. After an involvement with the legal system, Lisette found a new sense of purpose in being a voice for people who are still in carceral spaces. For this reason, she became an Academic Coordinator at Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison. In that role, Lisette managed the college program in a women's correctional facility. She also participated in and then led a women’s cohort with Ritual4Return, an organization that uses theater and restorative justice practices to heal the trauma and stigma of incarceration. Presently, Lisette is the Curriculum Director for the Racial Justice and Abolition Democracy project at Columbia University.

Lisette lives by this quote from Nelson Mandela: ""education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Dr. Sheryl Recinos is a Family Medicine physician practicing as a Hospitalist in California. As a young teen, she was incarcerated for misdemeanor larceny with a penalty of up to two years in North Carolina's maximum security juvenile prison, C. A. Dillon. She spent ten months in Dillon before being released from foster care back into her father's custody. She ultimately ended up homeless in Los Angeles by sixteen, graduating from high school while living on the streets. She attended community college before transferring to UCLA, where she earned a BA in Sociology. She also holds a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a MA in Education from CSU Northridge, and studied medicine at Ross University School of Medicine. She is the award winning author of her memoir, Hindsight: Coming of Age on the Streets of Hollywood, and is adapting this book for younger readers. Her lifelong goal is to end homelessness.

During his 26 years of incarceration, Jarrod earned several degrees (AA, BA, BS, MA) and had the privilege to administrate the onsite college program for over 12 years. Being a student and college program clerk helped him gain an insider’s perspective on the implementation and maintenance of postsecondary education programs in prison, as well as barriers to equity. Since his release in 2015, he earned an MS in Psychology, and applied to Ph.D. programs for three years, but was repeatedly denied due to his criminal background. Now, he is a Ph.D. student at Tulane University in the interdisciplinary City, Culture, Community department with a concentration in sociology, where he is studying Post Incarceration Syndrome, nosology (the history of psychiatric diagnoses), and participatory action research. To implement quality, equitable college prison programs, Jarrod emphasizes the need for including the voices of both formerly and currently incarcerated individuals.

"-2019 National history Honor society inductee
-2020 Mercy college Associate of Science graduate
-2021 Creator of Quality Love Enterprise, LLC
-Community capacity development associate"

" Alexander Anderson is the CEO of Ritual4Return. During the 1980’s, while incarcerated in New York State maximum-security prisons, Alexander decided that he needed to better his education. He obtained a high school diploma at Comstock and later a Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University at Auburn.
After his release, Alexander decided that the best way to make amends to his community for his crimes was by living a positive and productive life. He obtained a LMSW in social work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, a NYS CASAC certificate for addiction counseling, and a Restorative Justice certification. Alexander has spent more than three decades working as a counselor, social worker, mentor, performance artists, theater director and executive director.
Alexander is committed to building safe and creative spaces for individuals seeking a transformative life after incarceration.


"

Vincent Garrett is a graduate of the University of San Francisco, with a Master’s degree in Organization & Leadership in the Department of Leadership Studies, within the School of Education. His goal is to become an educator, scholar and practitioner for programs that support formerly incarcerated college students and inform policies that impact formerly incarcerated students. His Master’s Thesis was on creating a framework for the creation, implementation, operation and evaluation of what he terms “Campus Reentry Support” programs for formerly incarcerated students.

He currently works for a program called Restoring Our Communities that supports formerly incarcerated students at Laney College. He’s a co-founder and current Board President of FICGN (Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network).
He graduated from UC Berkeley in 2016 with BA in Sociology; graduated from Merritt College with 5 AA degrees and was once a certified union sound and communications data installer. He has been off parole since 2000.

Carrie Hutnick is the Associate Director of Community-Based Learning (CBL) at Drexel University, where she facilitates educational opportunities faculty, students, staff and partners to become more informed, more proximate and more reflective about social concerns and conditions in their communities while partnering to work collaboratively for positive change. Her work focuses on education and community-building as fundamental tools for change. She is a member of the Graterford Think Tank, a group of incarcerated and non-incarcerated educators and scholars all trained to instruct courses and develop curriculum covering various issues including community, transformation, education and liberation. Carrie's professional and personal work has been situated in community-based and higher education settings on issues related to community organizing, social movements, social justice, and abolition of the prison system for the past twenty years.

Michelle Burchett is a woman in recovery, formerly incarcerated college graduate. At present Michelle is nearing her final year as a student at the University of Washington Tacoma, MA Community Planning.

Michelle is putting her life experience before, during, and after her formal education into transformative action with the statewide movement of organizing Formerly Incarcerated Students. Her decision to add her name to this project is grounded in the ongoing value that community has brought to her own path of recovery and higher education.

Since joining the lab in August, Ivan has served as a teaching assistant for courses at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Ivan is interested in Social Justice as well as Urban Policy. Currently, Ivan is a student in Columbia Universities School of Professional Studies and is a Justice in Education Initiative scholar. Outside of the lab, Ivan is a father, musician and artist

My name is Wilfredo Laracuente. I am a formerly incarcerated leader currently supporting the REAP program at Columbia Business school and the Justice-in-Education Initiative at the Columbia Center for Justice.

Deborah Soule is a 2003 graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, having earned a Bachelor's degree in Sociology at the Bedford Hills Campus where she was the administrative clerk for the program for many years. Deborah believes that college for justice impacted individuals is a life-changing path that produces good neighbors and can personally attest to the resulting transformation one can experience. She is a staunch advocate for prison education expansion programs and currently works with Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison to help ensure that such transformative principles grow, thrive, and become expected best practice.

Justin Allen is a formerly incarcerated community organizer and Transformative Justice advocate. He currently works for America Votes leading legislation to restore voting rights to returning citizens, and he is part of the Millions for Prisoners New Mexico chapter seeking to dismantle the systems that murder and imprison us. He recently graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in American Studies and continues to engage with those impacted by state violence and incarceration as a Peer Support Worker. He has also been engaging with the New Mexico House of Representatives to stand against harmful legislation that expands the prison industrial complex, while advocating for legislation that are investments in humanity. Justin has identified that his voice is how he has been able to re-establish his roots in the community, as he understands voting rights to be an extension of our voice and mark of citizenship. He is advocating for voting rights restoration for all citizens including those behind the walls (regardless of conviction) to honor the 10th demand of the 2018 Prison Strike.

Jeremiah is a criminal legal system consultant and the Director of Beyond the Blindfold of Justice, which advocates on behalf of prisoners sentenced as adults for crimes they committed in their teens. Sentenced to life without parole at age 14, Jeremiah began writing about what he experienced and witnessed and eventually became a regular contributor to The Crime Report, a multimedia criminal justice news and resource site based out of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Jeremiah also began publishing articles and commentaries in law journals such as the American Journal of Criminal Law. He is the only prisoner to obtain membership to Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers. Before being freed, the Washington State Court of Appeals adopted his legal analysis in a landmark decision which ended the unlawful confinement of prisoners. Seven months after his release, he became a JD candidate at Gonzaga University School of Law.

Lucas Alan Dietsche is a graduate of Criminology/Criminal Justice and member of the Division of Convict Criminology. He is an adjunct professor for print-based correspondence prison courses at Adams State University. He is the Editor of Transformative Justice Journal and also Co-Facilitator of the National U.S. Prisoner Reintegration Conference. He has many articles published on Poetic Inquiry Criminology, carceral feminism, as well as publications of poetry. His published works are “Word Out”, “Elba”, “Commies and Zombies”, “Since the Oregon Trail”, “Moods are Like Wisconsin Weather”,and “Kapshida.” He has published poetry in Transformative Justice Journal, Ariel Anthology, Poetry Behind the Walls, and Nemadji Review.

Darnell Epps is a graduate of Cornell University, and a former student of the Cornell Prison Education Program. Presently, Darnell works as a qualitative analyst with Ithaka S+R, and is contributing to work focused on advancing technological equity for incarcerated college students. Darnell is also a student at Yale Law School, and his writings on education and prison reform have been published in the New York Times, The Harvard Blackletter Law Journal, the Gotham Gazette and the NY Daily News.

Dr. Mary Kaye Holmes is a #1 international best-selling author, speaker and Certified Success Coach based in New York. She is the award-winning founder of the global movement "Outlive the Labels" and a mouthpiece for criminal justice reform and human trafficking awareness. As a survivor of human trafficking, domestic violence and incarceration, she is a trusted authority on emotional intelligence and thriving beyond adversity.

Dr. Mary Kaye's latest endeavor, her new 501(c)3, the H.A.L.O. Campaign (Human Trafficking Advocacy and Learning Opportunities for Exploited Black and Brown Girls), creates pathways to employment and entrepreneurship for human trafficking survivors. Her memoir, Trapped in Plain Sight: The Unfamiliar Face of Human Trafficking was recently released June 2021 and achieved best-seller status on Amazon.

Dr. Mary Kaye graduated from New York Law School and currently serves as In-House Corporate Counsel for a NYC financial services firm. She lives in NY with her supportive husband.

Shon Hopwood is an Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Shon’s unusual legal journey began not at law school, but federal prison, where he learned to write briefs for other prisoners, including two petitions for certiorari that were later granted review by the United States Supreme Court. Shon’s story has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, and on 60 Minutes.

Shon received a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law. After law school, he clerked for Judge Janice Rogers Brown at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He then served as a teaching fellow at Georgetown Law’s Appellate Litigation Program while litigating appeals in federal circuit courts. He works on criminal justice reform issues, including the enactment of the First Step Act and related litigation.

Dieter Tejada is the Executive Director of the Justice Impact Alliance (JIA), a national nonprofit working to advance the movement of justice impacted leaders and allies applying collaborative and transformative approaches that address long standing issues of inequity and injustice within the legal system and beyond. Concurrently, Dieter serves as the Founding President of the National Justice Impact Bar Association (NJIBA). As the first justice impact led legal organization NJIBA works to represent, advance, and empower the justice impacted people and the movement for justice in and through the field of law. Dieter earned a degree in Political Science from University of Connecticut and went on to attend Vanderbilt University School of Law, from which he received his juris doctorate JD degree. Subsequently Dieter took the Bar Exam, passing with one of the highest scores in the nation.

Miguel Willis is the Innovator in Residence at the Penn Law School’s Future of the Profession Initiative (“FPI”). Miguel concurrently serves as the Executive Director of Access to Justice Tech Fellows (“A2J Tech Fellows”), a national nonprofit organization that develops summer fellowships for law students seeking to leverage technology to create equitable legal access for low-income and marginalized populations. Immediately prior to joining FPI, Willis served as the Law School Admissions Council’s (“LSAC”) inaugural Presidential Innovation Fellow. Willis’ entrepreneurial spirit, drive to innovate, and commitment to diversity and access to justice earned him recognition by the American Bar Association as a 2018 Legal Rebel, and 2019 Fastcase 50” honoree. Willis currently serves on the advisory board of University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law’s Innovation for Justice (i4J) program. In addition, to serving on The Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council. Willis earned a degree in Political Science from Howard University. He is a 2017 graduate of the Seattle University School of Law.

Angela Winfield is chief diversity officer for the Law School Admission Council. In this role, she provides leadership, vision, energy, and a unified philosophy to LSAC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on behalf of member law schools and the students who seek a career in law. Prior to her current position, Winfield was associate vice president for inclusion and workforce diversity at Cornell University, where she led the university’s affirmative action and federal contractor compliance programs, managed the university’s five identity/affinity-based colleague network groups, provided training opportunities for the 7,000+ member staff, oversaw religious accommodations, and served on the university’s ADA coordinator team. Winfield is a certified leadership coach and motivational speaker and has presented to companies including 3M, Société Générale, and LexisNexis. She also is an advisory board member for the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, serves on the board of trustees for Cayuga Community College, and sits on the board of directors for The Rev Theatre Company, Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation, and Success Beyond Sight. Winfield earned her JD from Cornell Law School and is admitted to the New York bar. She earned her BA from Barnard College of Columbia University.

Jessica Younts is an advocate and leader who has refused to let a society labeled status of ex-offender stop her from achieving immeasurable accomplishments and help pave the way for others. Jessica is the co-founder of the Justice Impact Alliance (JIA). She served as the VP of Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) from 2011 - 2021, working to re-enfranchise the voting rights for people with felony convictions. Jessica obtained her law degree from Nova Southeastern University and passed the New York Bar Exam in 2011. In 2021, she successfully defended her dissertation for a PhD in criminal justice