2021 Speakers

	Bree Adams Bill Senior Advisor Praxis International Bree Adams Bill is a Senior Advisor at Praxis International where she builds on her considerable experience to assist, guide, and promote the implementation of training and technical assistance across and within the Praxis programs: Advocacy Learning Center, Blueprint for Safety, Institutional Analysis and Strengthening Rural Advocacy. Ms. Bill Adams has over 20 years providing direct-service, institutional and social-change advocacy within the movement to end gender-based violence and serves on the Board of Directors Executive Committee for Violence Free Minnesota.

	Deb Baer Program Coordinator, Domestic Violence Court and Coordinated Community Response MN Ninth Judicial District DV Courts and CCR Teams Deborah Baer has been the Domestic Violence Court and Coordinated Community Response Program Coordinator for the MN Ninth Judicial District since 2013. She has successfully lead the district’s desire to develop and implement Domestic Violence Courts in two counties within the district, and work toward development of additional CCR Teams in the remaining rural frontier communities of Northern Minnesota. Ms. Baer is a survivor who advocates for enhancing victim/survivor safety, increasing community hope and trust in the justice system, and holding offenders accountable for the harm they have caused.

	Bonnie Clairmont Victim Advocacy Specialist Tribal Law & Policy Institute Bonnie Clairmont is a victim advocacy specialist for the Minnesota Office of the Tribal Law & Policy Institute (TLPI). Prior to her employment with TLPI, Ms. Clairmont was the outreach/client services coordinator for the sexual offense services of a rape crisis center of Ramsey County. While employed there, Bonnie provided leadership in the development of Sexual Assault Response Teams and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs and offered guidance with multidisciplinary sexual assault protocol development. Ms. Clairmont has worked more than twenty-five years advocating for victims providing and improving services for victim/survivors of sexual assault, battering, and child sexual abuse, particularly those from American Indian communities. Ms. Clairmont has also provided technical assistance to research conducted by Amnesty International USA that led to the report, "Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous Women from sexual violence in the USA."

	Carvana Cloud Executive Director Community Empowerment Solutions Carvana Cloud is an attorney, former prosecutor, and founder of Community Empowerment Solutions (CES), a social justice collaborative designed to empower underserved communities by creating conditions that reduce violence and promote positive outcomes. Carvana began her legal career as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and completed her most recent stint as the Bureau Chief of the Special Victims Bureau, dedicated to enhancing victim safety and offender accountability in regards to domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and human trafficking crimes. Carvana's litigation and coalition building expertise informed the creation of homicide prevention initiatives such as Houston's Domestic Abuse Response Team (D.A.R.T.) and other systems-based advocacy programs designed to provide crisis intervention, victim stabilization, and safety planning to survivors in a trauma-informed manner. Ms. Cloud frequently trains on strangulation, the role of expert witness testimony, and the importance of culturally-specific advocacy in criminal investigations and prosecutions.

	Heather Davies Project Specialist Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, Inc. Heather Davies is the project specialist for National Training and Technical Assistance at the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Amesbury, MA. Ms. Davies works with communities around the country to implement the Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model and the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement. Before joining the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, Ms. Davies worked for five years at Casa Myrna as the coordinator of SafeLink, the Massachusetts statewide domestic violence crisis hotline. Ms. Davies began her career as an attorney and she practiced law as a civil litigator for 11 years prior to joining Casa Myrna.

	Kelly Dunne Chief of Operations Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center Kelly Dunne is the chief of Operations and director of Training and Technical Assistance for the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Massachusetts. Ms. Dunne has focused her work on analyzing the response systems created to protect victims and hold offenders accountable. In 2003, she created the nationally-acclaimed Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model (DVHRT). Based on Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell’s Danger Assessment, the Model seeks to reduce domestic violence homicides and re-assaults by employing risk assessment practices to identify potentially lethal offenders, establishes case-specific multidisciplinary responses, and coordinates monitoring of high-risk domestic violence cases. The Model has been replicated in 25 communities across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and over 200 communities nationally. Under a grant from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, Ms. Dunne provides national technical assistance and training to communities to replicate the Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model and Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement.

	Julie Germann Attorney Finding the Right, LLC Julie Germann is the founder of Finding the Right, LLC, where she provides training and technical assistance to improve response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. Ms. Germann is a former prosecutor with over a decade of experience prosecuting cases of violence against women and children. Ms. Germann has worked with sexual assault and child abuse multidisciplinary teams and trains nationally. She provides best practice reviews, and contributes to legislative advancements and policy manuals, such as the SART Toolkit published by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

	Staley Heatly District Attorney 46th Judicial District of Texas Staley Heatly has served as the District Attorney for Texas' 46th Judicial District since 2006. In 2013, he founded Texoma Alliance to Stop Abuse, a non-profit that provides direct services to victims of domestic violence as well as operates a battering intervention and prevention program. In 2018, he created a Domestic Violence High Risk Team that serves his three-county district. Staley is also a member of the board of directors of the Texas Council on Family Violence, where he serves as co-chair of the Public Policy Committee. In 2016, Staley was a member of the Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission which examined cases of wrongful conviction in Texas. In 2017, he was honored as Prosecutor of the Year in recognition for his work on the commission and for his efforts combatting family violence across Texas. In 2020, he authored Family Violence: Investigation and Prosecution, a comprehensive manual for prosecutors, law enforcement, advocates, and other allied professionals.

	Jordyn Lawson Senior Director of Residential Services Genesis Women's Shelter & Support Jordyn Lawson is the director of Residential Services at Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support, and has a passion for ending domestic violence and helping those who have experienced the pain of trauma heal and grow. Ms. Lawson supervises both the emergency shelter and Annie’s House transitional living program. Previously, Ms. Lawson was the assistant clinical director at Genesis, and has worked in the field of domestic violence and trauma recovery for over 12 years. During that time, Ms. Lawson has provided individual and group counseling services to women, adolescents, and children victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and childhood trauma.

	Rachel Lira Executive Director Texoma Alliance to Stop Abuse Rachel Lira is the Executive Director of the Texoma Alliance to Stop Abuse (TASA). Rachel volunteered with and served on the board of TASA for three years prior to her appointment as the organization’s first full-time employee in 2020. She also serves as the Domestic Violence High Risk Team Coordinator for the 46th Judicial District, which spans three rural counties in north Texas, and was part of the pilot year of the Institute for Coordinated Community Response.

	Erica Olson Consultant Anassa Consulting Erica Olson, owner of Anassa Consulting, is a professional consultant, trainer, and subject matter expert specializing in interpersonal violence, trauma, and trauma-informed leadership. Erica draws on her 20 years of experience in direct services, advocacy, policy, and applied research to aid nonprofits, government agencies, and the private sector in advancing their knowledge and practices around domestic and sexual violence, gender inequality, and trauma. Erica has been appointed to multiple state and national efforts to address and prevent violence, including the CDC’s Rape Prevention & Education Program and National Violent Death Reporting System. Erica has co-authored curricula, policy, protocols, and legislation, and has been published in the peer-reviewed Victims & Violence. She has trained professionals at all levels, from local to international.

	Amalfi Parker Elder Senior Program and Training Specialist Praxis International Amalfi Parker Elder, Senior Program and Training Specialist, develops and delivers programming, consultation and training for community-based advocates and criminal legal system practitioners, working to enhance their systemic responses to intimate partner violence through Praxis’ Institutional Analysis, Blueprint for Safety and Advocacy Learning Center programs. Based in New Orleans, Ms. Parker Elder supports communities around the country in understanding, identifying, and addressing institutional inequities. Prior to joining Praxis, Ms. Parker Elder coordinated the adaptation, launch and implementation of the New Orleans Blueprint for Safety, as well as the New Orleans Blueprint’s equity assessment of the local disproportionately high arrest rate of Black women for domestic violence crimes. She first joined the gender-based violence movement as an attorney representing survivors in obtaining protective orders, divorce, and child custody.

	Allie Phillips Founder/CEO Sheltering Animals & Families Together (SAF-T) Allie Phillips is an author, attorney, advocate, and founder and CEO of the Sheltering Animals & Families Together (SAF-T) Program™, the first and only global initiative helping domestic violence shelters to create on-site pet housing. Ms. Phillips is a former prosecuting attorney who has worked for the National District Attorney’s Association as the founder/director of the National Center for Prosecution of Animal Abuse and deputy director of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse. Ms. Phillips was the vice president of Public Policy and vice president of Human-Animal Strategic Initiatives for American Humane Association. She is an award-winning book author, and is on the steering committee of the National Link Coalition, chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Animal Law Section, member of the Coalition on Violence Against Animals, and National Alliance of Victims’ Rights Attorneys.

	Brandi Sawyer Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor Private Practice Brandi Sawyer, LPC-S, is currently in private practice and has over ten years of experience working with survivors of interpersonal maltreatment, including adults and children exposed to family and sexual violence. She has worked in crisis center, community mental health, children's advocacy center, and foster care agency settings throughout East Texas, where she has served in direct service and administrative roles. These roles have included a prominent presence on multiple trauma-informed agency committees with the goal of implementing organizational change. She is completing a PhD at Texas A&M University- Commerce in Counselor Education and Supervision and research interests include treatment effectiveness with complex trauma, rural mental health, and attachment theory.

	Kelly Stoner Victim Advocacy Legal Specialist Tribal Law & Policy Institute Kelly Stoner serves as a victim advocacy legal specialist for the Tribal Law and Policy Institute. For the past twenty years, Ms. Stoner has taught at the North Dakota School of Law and Oklahoma City University (OCU) School of Law on American Indian/ Tribal Law and Domestic Violence-related classes. Ms. Stoner directed the University of North Dakota Native American Law Project that served clients of the Spirit Lake Reservation with a caseload that targeted domestic violence and sexual assault cases. She also directed the Native American Legal Resource Center at OCU where she supervised law students prosecuting domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking cases and representing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in civil matters. From 2011- 2019, Ms. Stoner served as a judge for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and also supervised a project in partnership with the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma that established a SAFE Unit at a local hospital, recruited SANEs and targeted community education on domestic violence and sexual assault. Ms. Stoner helped to launch Oklahoma’s only tribal coalition against domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking called the Native Alliance Against Violence. She is a frequent lecturer for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic Violence and for the Office on Violence Against Women’s national technical assistance providers on domestic violence issues in Indian Country.

	Dave Thomas Program Manager II International Association of Chiefs of Police Dave Thomas is the program manager for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and is retired from the Montgomery County Police Department. As an officer, Mr. Thomas taught at the Police Training Academy, served on the S.W.A.T. team, was a hostage negotiator, and a member of the Domestic Violence Unit. In addition to helping create the Domestic Violence Unit, he developed curriculum in domestic violence training, as well as the policy development on domestic violence-related issues. In 2002, Mr. Thomas signed on with the Johns Hopkins University Division of Public Safety Leadership as program administrator for Domestic Violence Education, as well as teaching courses related to violence against women crimes in the Division’s Police Executive Leadership Program. Mr. Thomas has worked with community stakeholders regarding coordinated community response to deliver training and technical assistance on issues pertaining to violence against women.

	Maren Woods Program Director Praxis International Maren Woods, Program Director of Praxis International, oversees and delivers programming for Praxis’ Institutional Analysis and Blueprint for Safety programs. Ms. Woods' work in the movement to end violence against women began in northern Minnesota in 2000 when she served as the coordinator of an extensive community-based analysis of the U.S. criminal justice system’s response to violence against Indigenous women. She has since volunteered as an on-call advocate for a battered women's shelter and as a birth doula for low-income women. Ms. Woods' has extensive experience providing expert training and guidance to rural, urban, and suburban communities to assess and improve their institutional response to violence against women in supervised visitation, child protective services, advocacy, and criminal and civil legal systems.