PbS

Barry Stoodley is the former associate commissioner for the Maine Department of Corrections' Division of Juvenile Services. This agency is responsible for the management and operation of two juvenile correctional facilities as well as a regional network of community-based programs providing detention, diversion and correctional case management services. The Division is committed to the implementation of evidence-based practice and high levels of quality assurance, to ensure positive outcomes for clients, residents, and staff. The Division is also committed to Collaborative Service Planning and the integration of services and programming across functional domains.

From 1971 to 1978, Mr. Stoodley served as a probation-parole officer for the Division of Probation and Parole and later as district supervisor directing adult and juvenile community-based programs from 1979 to 1996. From 1996 to 2000 he served as a regional correctional administrator for the newly created Division of Juvenile Services within the Maine Department of Corrections. The work became operationally specialized, focusing exclusively on juvenile offenders including detention, diversion, probation and aftercare functions.

He graduated from Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) in 1969 followed by a master's degree in sociology from the University of Toronto in 1971.

Always concerned with improving outcomes for youth and their families, Barry has supported the implementation of a number of new initiatives including Performance-based Standards (PbS), ACA Accreditation, Collaborative Problem Solving, Motivational Interviewing, Jurisdictional Team Planning for Detention, Evidence-Based Practice and Recidivism measurement. Strengths-based approaches, such as Family and Systems Teams have been integrated into the work of the Division.

He currently is the President of Performance-based Standards Learning Institute and also serves on the Lives in the Balance board of directors.

Simon Gonsoulin, the Neglected Delinquent Technical Assistance Center’s (NDTAC) director, brings over 30 years of experience in education, special education, and juvenile justice. In addition to his work with NDTAC, Simon serves as the juvenile justice resource specialist for the Technical Assistance Partnership supporting System of Care communities focusing on the needs of youth involved in the juvenile justice system. He is an expert in issues related to juvenile justice education and administration as well as special education administration. Most recently, as the deputy secretary of the Office of Youth Development within the Governor's Cabinet in Louisiana, he served as the lead administrator for the state's juvenile justice system, including its secure care facilities, statewide probation and parole functions, contracted community-based programming and a newly-created stand-alone state agency of juvenile justice. Prior to that, he served as the state director of education for the same office. Simon also has worked directly in schools and classrooms as both an instructor and principal.

Terri has nearly 30 years of experience in the juvenile justice and criminal justice fields in both the private and public sectors. She has held various executive positions in the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC), including the Deputy Secretary of Community and Field Services, overseeing adult parole and community corrections functions in the state, the Administrator of the Kansas Parole Board, and the State’s first Director of Release Planning. From 2012-2017, Williams oversaw the executive branch juvenile justice continuum in Kansas as the Acting Commissioner of the Juvenile Justice Authority and the Deputy Secretary of Juvenile Services in KDOC. During her tenure in that position, Ms. Williams helped lead comprehensive juvenile justice policy and legislative reform in Kansas, working closely with all branches of government and national organizations such as the Council of State Governments and the PEW Charitable Trust Public Safety Performance Project.  The system reform resulted in what is regarded as some of the most evidence-based, progressive juvenile justice code and policies in the nation.

Terri earned Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Corrections from Washburn University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Kansas.

Williams is an associate member of the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA), and a past member of the CJCA executive board, having served as Secretary and Midwest chairperson. She is a past member of the Kansas Juvenile Justice Workgroup, the Kansas Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee, Board of Governors for the American Correctional Association, co-chair of the Waterbury, Connecticut Re-Entry Council, and the Kansas Human Trafficking Advisory Board. She currently serves on the national executive board of Performance-based Standards (PbS) as Treasurer. In 2018 she was selected to serve as a member of the Kansas State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (KAG). She was appointed Chairperson of the KAG in 2019 by Governor Laura Kelly.

Terri Williams is the Chief Development Officer for Community Solutions, Incorporated (CSI), a private-non-profit agency serving juvenile justice, criminal justice, and child welfare populations.

Megan Milner is the Director of Community-based Services for the Kansas Department of Correction – Juvenile Services and has served in this role since 2017. Prior to this, Megan served as the Deputy Superintendent at the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex, now the state’s only juvenile correctional facility for male and female youth and the 2017 recipient of the PbS Barbara Allen-Hagan Award for their work with female youth exhibiting crisis behaviors.  She has over 19 years’ experience in the criminal justice field and has been the state’s PbS State Coordinator since 2014.

Megan holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washburn University and a Master’s in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati. She is also a Certified Public Manager through the University of Kansas Public Management Center.

Lisa J. Bjergaard is the Director for the Division of Juvenile Services in North Dakota. DJS is the state's juvenile corrections agency, and is organized under the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. DJS operates both institutional and community corrections.

Lisa joined the North Dakota Division of Juvenile Services as a case manager in 1989 and in 1993 became the Regional Manager for the eastern half of North Dakota. In 2006, Lisa was named Director.

Michael Dempsey was appointed executive director of the Indiana Department of Correction’s (IDOC) Division of Youth Services in May 2009. He began his assignment with the IDOC as superintendent of the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in June 2006. Prior to moving to Indiana, he served as the superintendent of the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex for approximately two and a half years. He began his career in corrections with the Missouri Department of Corrections, starting as a corrections officer at the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1985. Since that time, Mike has held positions as a correctional sergeant, lieutenant, captain and major. He has also held positions as correctional training officer, internal affairs investigator, assistant superintendent and associate superintendent.

Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration and criminal justice and has been actively involved with the American Correctional Association (ACA) as a member and certified auditor. He has also been involved with the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators (CJJA), formerly known as the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA), working with Performance-based Standards (PbS) which is now being implemented in all IDOC juvenile correctional facilities.

In the mid 1990’s, Joseph attended Southeastern Louisiana University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice.

In March of 2016, Joseph was appointed to his current position of Executive Director for the Florida Parishes Juvenile Justice District, becoming the first employee to transition through every rank of the agency. In addition to having responsibility over all of the District’s operations, he remains engaged with the many city and district courts throughout the region, as well as various law enforcement agencies, juvenile justice practitioners and stakeholders statewide and nationally.

Joseph now holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Louisiana State University. His father is smiling down; “Geaux Tigers”! He is a graduate of the 12-week Dale Carnegie course for Effective Communications and Human Relations and has received its Highest Award for Achievement. As a public speaker, Joseph shares his passion for working with kids, the public, and effecting organizational change. He currently serves as President of the Louisiana Juvenile Detention Association, is a member of the Performance Based Standards Learning Institute’s Board of Directors and is also a member of the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators, where he regularly convenes on a national level with state department heads, to study, discuss, and develop initiatives and best-practices within juvenile justice.

David Giordano focuses his practice on patent drafting and prosecution across a wide variety of technologies including life sciences, materials sciences, medical devices, software, telecommunications, and mechanical devices. David represents a broad array of clients, including individual inventors, small and mid-size companies, universities, and large multinational corporations, and prosecutes patents in the United States and internationally. David also has extensive experience counseling clients. He has conducted due diligence analyses, including freedom-to-operate and validity opinions, for intellectual property matters pertaining to pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, antibodies, consumer products manufacturing processes, and semiconductor manufacturing processes. Additionally, David advises clients with regard to the strategic development of their patent portfolios and has successfully negotiated licenses on behalf of his clients.

David has substantial litigation experience that spans technologies from active pharmaceutical ingredients and medical devices to consumer products and mobile phone technologies. He has experience developing strategies relating to validity and infringement, as well as post-grant challenges. David’s litigation and post-grant experience allow him to counsel clients and prosecute patents with an awareness of the issues that could appear during litigation, resulting in prosecution and portfolio development strategies that increase the strength and value of a client’s intellectual property. David also counsels clients regarding trademarks and copyrights, including filing trademark applications and copyright registrations.

Prior to founding Giordano Law LLC, David practiced at Giordano & Chavous LLC for four years after practicing IP law at WilmerHale from 2004-2013. David is also President and a Director for Parkway in Motion, Inc., a non­profit community organization serving the West Roxbury and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston.

Velvet McGowan was appointed as the PbS agency coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) in August of 2013 after serving as the PbS field liaison for DJJ. Previous to this appointment, Velvet served as the deputy chief for Security and Operations at DJJ with a security cadre of over 300 security officers. She began her career in 1985 as a juvenile correctional officer with SCDJJ and worked her way thru the ranks from security lieutenant to a major of the Internal Training Unit. In 2004, she was promoted as the facility administrator for the Female Offender Program.

In 2006, she was recognized as the "State Employee of the Year" by the Governor of South Carolina. She is a child's advocate who believes that a positive caring adult can make a world of difference in the lives of our youths. Velvet is a national certified licensed trainer for One Circle Foundation and a certified public manager. She's held state office as the vice president for the South Carolina Corrections Association and is a member of the Correctional Peace Officer Association and the American Correctional Association (ACA). Velvet sees her appointment to the PbS Learning Institute board as a privilege and an honor and looks forward to contributing greatly.

Shannon Weston currently serves as the Director of Quality Assurance and Public Information Officer for the Alabama Department of Youth Services (DYS). She has served in this position since 2016 and is responsible for the coordination of the Performance-based Standards initiative. Shannon also serves as the agency’s grant manager, special projects coordinator, and is a national certified trainer for the Mental Health Training for Juvenile Justice (MHT-JJ) curriculum.

Shannon previously served as the Grants and Public Policy Coordinator for the Alabama Department of Mental Health for ten years. In this capacity, she was responsible for grant development and project implementation, public policy development, and legislative initiatives. Prior to working for the Dept. of Mental Health, Shannon served as the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Alabama for three years. Shannon received her Doctorate in Rehabilitation Counseling from Auburn University and her Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Shannon was also a Presidential Scholar and graduated from the University of Alabama Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Minor in Business Administration.

Joyce Burrell joined the PbS coaching team in 2015, having worked in the juvenile justice field for more than twenty-five years. Joyce has led significant juvenile justice reform initiatives and provided technical assistance to many agencies in the United States, especially those interested in implementing reform, improving performance and integrating mental health and trauma informed services in traditional correctional models of care. Joyce has served as project director on national, state and local initiatives and has worked for federal, state, city government and the private sector. Before going into private consulting, Joyce served as a principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research, where she directed the OJJDP State Training and Technical Assistance Center within the Human and Social Development Program and previously the National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children Who are Neglected or Delinquent (NDTAC) and served as the juvenile justice senior advisor supporting grantees through the TA Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. Joyce served as the Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and directed the Division of Juvenile Justice and Opportunities for Youth (DJJOY), where she introduced and implemented PbS, trauma-focused care, supported the implementation of several evidence-based treatment interventions, while supporting a team in developing a comprehensive model of mental health care for children and youth in New York facilities and all of the community offices in the juvenile system. She did similar work at the local level in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.