CLA 2021 WINTER CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

Thomas Abt
Director, National Commission 
on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice
Senior Fellow, Council on Criminal Justice

Among other criminal justice topics, Abt studies, teaches, and writes about the use of evidence-informed approaches to reduce urban violence and is the author of Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence - and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets, published in June 2019. Prior to joining the Council,  Abt served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and held leadership positions in the New York Governor's Office and the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice. Abt’s work has been featured in major media outlets, including the Atlantic, the Economist, Foreign Affairs, the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, and National Public Radio. 

Reginald Dwayne Betts
Founding Director
Million Book Project
photo credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet and lawyer. He is the founding director of the Million Book Project, an initiative out of the Yale Law School’s Justice Collaboratory to radically transform the access to literature in prisons. For more than 20 years, he has used his poetry and essays to explore the world of prison and the effects of violence and incarceration on American society. The author of a memoir and three collections of poetry, his latest collection of poetry, Felon, explores the post incarceration experience and lingering consequences of a criminal record. In 2019, Betts won the National Magazine Award in the Essays and Criticism category for his New York Times Magazine essay that chronicles his journey from prison to becoming a licensed attorney. He is a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2018 Emerson Fellow at New America and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Harold Clarke
Director
Virginia Department of Corrections

Harold W. Clarke grew up in the Canal Zone in Panama. After graduating from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, in 1974, Mr. Clarke joined the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services as a counselor. He rose through the department, becoming a unit manager, deputy warden, and then warden at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in 1987. In August 1990, he was appointed Director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, a position he held until 2005 when he left Nebraska to become the Secretary of the Washington State Department of Corrections. In November of 2007, Mr. Clarke left Washington to become the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Read more...

Marshall Clement
Deputy Director, Policy and Strategic Planning
Justice Center, The Council of State Governments

 Marshall Clement provides strategic leadership across the breadth of the CSG Justice Center’s policy and programmatic work to increase public safety and strengthen communities. Previously, Marshall served as the organization’s division director of state initiatives. Over a 13-year tenure at the CSG Justice Center, Marshall led the growth and evolution of the Justice Reinvestment program, which assists policymakers seeking to reduce spending on corrections and reinvest these savings in strategies that lower recidivism rates and increase public safety. As part of this process, Marshall coordinated the work of a team of policy analysts and national experts to analyze corrections data and policy and develop policy options for policymakers in 27 states. Read more...

Veronica Ballard Cunningham
Executive Director 
American Probation and Parole Association (APPA)

 Veronica Ballard Cunningham is the Executive Director of the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA). As the chief executive officer, she has responsibility for operations and programs for the professional membership association which is comprised of more than 30,000 individuals working in pretrial, probation, and parole agencies, as well as judges, researchers, educators, and others interested in reentry. In addition to training and professional development, APPA provides technical assistance and support, serves as an information clearinghouse, and advocates for policy and reform efforts and evidence-based practices in the justice system in general, but community corrections, more specifically. Read more...

Kevin Kempf
Executive Director
Correctional Leaders Association

Kempf began his career in 1995 as a correctional officer at Pocatello Women's Correctional Center in the State of Idaho. He went on to serve in a variety of positions including parole officer, investigator, section supervisor, district manager, warden, chief of prisons and deputy director. The Idaho Board of Correction appointed Kempf director of the department in December 2014. Read more...

 Anne Precythe
Director
Missouri Department of Corrections

As Director of Corrections, Precythe is responsible for the 21 adult correctional facilities, six community supervision centers, a community release center, and more than 40 probation and parole offices across the State of Missouri. This includes more than 11,000 staff, 59,000 probationers and parolees, and more than 30,000 inmates.

 Precythe brings over 30 years of service as a corrections professional into her role as director. Before becoming the second woman director for the Missouri Department of Corrections, Precythe served as the Director of Community Corrections in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Read more...

Dr. Beth Skinner
Director
Iowa Department of Corrections

Prior to taking the position as Director, Dr. Skinner was in charge of research, training, and programs to reduce recidivism for Iowa DOC as the Director of Risk Reduction since 2017. She began her career in Corrections in 2002 as an intern working with probation, and in 2003 as a residential officer with the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services in Coralville, IA. She went on to serve the Sixth District as a supervisor prior to her taking a position with the Council of State Governments Justice Center in 2012.  In 2015 Dr. Skinner returned to Iowa Corrections as the Statewide Recidivism Reduction Coordinator and was then appointed Director of Risk Reduction in 2017.  Read more...

Josh Tewalt
Director
Idaho Department of Correction

Josh Tewalt re-joined the Idaho Department of Correction on December 1, 2018, after two years as the Director of Operations for the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), currently known as the Correctional Leaders Association (CLA). In that role, he traveled the country promoting the profession of corrections, supporting ASCA/CLA members in the implementation of evidence-based practices, and influenced national policies and practices affecting public safety. Read more...