Meet the Faculty

Every year, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies employs approximately 120 faculty who provide instruction for courses in our degree and certificate programs. Below is a snapshot of our faculty who have had long-standing teaching assigments with SCPS, some of which have continued for a decade or more.

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Accounting

Gary Brooks, DBA, CPA
Gary Brooks has held accounting and finance positions with leading defense contractors. For the last 25 years, his work has been in support of the intelligence community focused on the federal budget process, including budget reporting and execution. He teaches Introductory Accounting and Selected Topics in Advanced Accounting. Brooks holds an MBA from Averett University and a DBA from the University of Phoenix. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in Virginia and holds the following certifications: CIA, CITP, CGFM, CGMA, and CDFM-A.

Richard T. Evans, MBA, CPA
Richard Evans brings over 20 years of professional accounting experience to the classroom. He is passionate about helping students become professionals and leaders in their chosen field of accounting.  Evans has been teaching at SCPS since 2006, with courses in Governmental Accounting and Auditing. He received his MBA in Accounting from California State University and holds the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) designations. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in California and Virginia.

Leon Hutton, MBA, CPA
Leon Hutton has over 30 years of teaching experience in accounting, finance, and strategy for several universities in the Washington, DC area and teaches Intermediate Accounting. He is a teacher- practitioner working for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, overseeing financial reporting, internal controls, and the financial statement audit. Hutton served as the financial representative to a U.S. delegation to the Soviet Union negotiating costs for an arms control treaty. He holds an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in Virginia.

Michael "Bret" Hood
Michael “Bret” Hood spent 25 years as an FBI Special Agent investigating complex cases while specializing in financial crimes, corruption, and money laundering violations. Upon his retirement in 2016, Bret opened 21st Century Learning & Consulting, LLC, a training and consulting business designed to help prevent people from making the mistakes that lead that first lead them down the slippery slope.

Bret was recruited to become an Association of Certified Fraud Examiners faculty member and was awarded the ACFE’s James R. Baker Speaker of the Year award in 2020. Bret was named the top-rated speaker at both the ACFE’s Global Fraud Conference as well as the Institute of Internal Auditor’s Global conference. In addition, Bret also serves as an adjunct professor of forensic accounting for Mt. St. Mary’s University and an adjunct professor of corporate governance and ethics for the University of Virginia. Bret has previously served as an adjunct professor of forensic accounting for the University of Virginia and Florida Gulf Coast University. Bret is also part of the Forensic Accounting Advisory Council at Mt. St. Mary’s University.

Harvey Hutchinson
For over twenty years, Harvey Hutchinson has served high-net-worth individuals and families as a trust & estates lawyer, senior wealth strategist, and senior financial planner. Mr. Hutchinson developed, implemented, and monitored comprehensive wealth plans that covered many areas of law, including tax law, estate and trust planning & administration, business law, and family wealth strategies. Prior to serving as a wealth strategist, Mr. Hutchinson practiced law with an emphasis in estate planning, estate and trust administration, business planning, tax planning, and retirement planning.

Noel Montesa, MS, CPA
Noel Montesa has been involved in adult education for 18 years, and teaches Introductory Accounting. Currently, he is the Senior Director of Finance and Administration for the ARRS (American Roentgen Ray Society – association serving radiologists worldwide). Previously, Montesa served as a Director of Finance for the NSA (National Society of Accountants), ASBO International, and SCORE. A member of the Virginia Society of CPAs and the ASAE (American Society of Association Executive), he served on the Ethics Committee of the Virginia State Board of Accountancy for five years. Montesa holds a Master in Accountancy from Strayer University and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in Virginia. 
 

Certified Financial Planning

Ben Abitz
Ben Abitz is the Director of Wealth Planning at TMRW Wealth. TMRW is a Greensboro, NC based wealth planning firm focused on serving business owners, corporate executives, wealthy families, and foundations.

Ben graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Ursinus College in Economics. Taking a less than traditional route, Ben coached college football at various levels early in his professional life. While coaching, Ben did make one trip to Charlottesville, suffering a loss at the hands of the Cavaliers. Upon transitioning careers, Ben knew financial planning was the best way to use his coach skills to guide people to long term success.

Ben is a proud financial nerd and closely follows legislative changes, and shifts in the tax, estate, and investment landscape. He has experience at various levels of the industry, beginning at a large Wirehouse/Investment Bank, with a focus on investment management. He then transitioned to a Family Office managing nearly $2 billion, where they specialized in advanced tax and estate planning techniques, including the alphabet soup of trusts, GRATs, CRUTs, ILITs, IDGTs etc. He now leads TMRW’s wealth planning that aims to go deeper and manage the intersection of all the financial planning areas for complex clients and client families.

Ben aims to meet students where they are, understanding that they come from various backgrounds. Some have been running their own RIA for years and have extensive planning experience, while others are career changers experiencing this material for the first time. Some are here simply for personal knowledge and growth. Ben works with each student to help them reach their goals and push them beyond.

Jesse Carlucci, Ph.D, CFP®
Jesse is a CFP® professional and the current Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for Arrow Investment Management in Oklahoma City, where he specializes in family financial planning and custom portfolio solutions. Building a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) company that puts people and families first has been a long-term goal of his varied career, and Arrow has been the culmination of those efforts. Jesse is a strong supporter of fee-only practices in his firm and is a member of both NAPFA and the XY Planning Network.

Prior to completing his CFP® designation, Jesse was a tenured professor in energy and geoscience at Midwestern State University in north Texas, where he authored more than ten technical papers. Jesse enjoys applying his experience as an educator and researcher to help his clients solve financial problems and is active in the personal finance community on his blog "Arrow Investment Education" and on twitter (@CarlucciPh). His book "Money Milestones: A twelve-month personal finance journey" has been critically well received and represents his efforts to help younger people navigate their finances.

Jesse received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 2012, an M.S. from the University at Buffalo in 2008, and a B.A. from SUNY Binghamton in 2005. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife, where they enjoy hiking the national parks and telling other people what to do with their money!

Trent Colledge
Trent Colledge began his career in the financial industry in 2014. He loves the financial planning process and always enjoyed learning about finance and making things more efficient. Financial planning gives him an opportunity to take a situation that may not be optimal and improve it. One area for improvement he often sees is the Investment section of a financial plan. Trent believes that when creating a financial plan, it is important to understand the technical aspects as well as the emotional and behavioral side of financial planning. He believes this profession requires him to be a lifelong learner, which is often how he spends his free time. Outside of the financial world, he enjoys reading, spending time outdoors with his growing family, and making the most of every day. Trent earned his B.S in Personal Financial Planning from one of the top CFP® Board-Registered Programs in the country at Utah Valley University. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional and an Accredited Financial Counselor® (AFC®). Trent received his Master's degree (M.S.) from the University of Alabama and is focused on Family Financial Planning and Counseling. He has also passed the Series 65 exam. He uses his knowledge and expertise to counsel with clients and advisors to make decisions in a fiduciary capacity.

Yvonne Hampton, Ph.D.
Dr. Yvonne Hampton holds a Ph.D. in personal financial planning from The University of Missouri. Additionally, she holds a B.S. in Economics, a Master’s in Business Administration, a Master of Arts in Economics, Master of Science in Personal Financial Planning, and a graduate certificate in Housing and Financial Counseling. With over 15 years of experience in teaching personal financial planning, and economics, financial counseling, financial coaching, and financial therapy.

Dr. Hampton has amassed an impressive body of work inclusive of research, facilitating seminars classes and workshops in the university, community, and corporate settings. Dr. Hampton’s research has focused on the intersectionality of mental health disorders and financial planning. She has utilized this research to inform a variety of practitioners on ways to effectively support and counsel their own clients for more positive financial outcomes.

Harvey Hutchinson, J.D., MBA, LL.M, CFP
For over twenty years, Harvey Hutchinson has served high-net-worth individuals and families as a trust & estates lawyer, senior wealth strategist, and senior financial planner. Mr. Hutchinson developed, implemented, and monitored comprehensive wealth plans that covered many areas of law, including tax law, estate and trust planning & administration, business law, and family wealth strategies. Prior to serving as a wealth strategist, Mr. Hutchinson practiced law with an emphasis in estate planning, estate and trust administration, business planning, tax planning, and retirement planning. Mr. Hutchinson's extensive formal education consists of three business degrees [B.S.B.A. (Finance), M.B.A., M.Acc.] and two law degrees [J.D. (Estate Planning & Business Planning), and LL.M. (Taxation)]. Furthermore, Mr. Hutchinson holds the following certifications: Certified Financial Planner®, Certified Employee Benefit Specialist™, Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor™, and Accredited Estate Planner®. Mr. Hutchinson has held adjunct faculty positions with universities and has presented several seminars to attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisers. Mr. Hutchinson has held law licenses in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and New York.

Gary Roseman, Ph.D., CFP
Gary Roseman works as an economist in Washington, D.C., and teaches the insurance planning and capstone courses. Previously, he taught economics in the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia. He was a Fulbright research scholar in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, a Rotary Foundation grantee in Irkutsk, Russia, and worked in research projects in Central Asia. Roseman holds a Ph.D. from Emory University, a CPA license (Alabama), and is a CFP certificant. 

Eric Wiegand, CFP
Eric Wiegand is the Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Lehigh Valley Market Director for River Wealth Advisors, an independent RIA with over $1B in assets under management and administration. He has spent 15 years helping high-net worth clients identify their financial objectives and needs, then building personalized plans that align with their financial goals. Additionally, recognizing the complexities associated with estate planning, Wiegand developed a one-page, revolutionary visualization tool, called Legacy Mapping™, which simplifies the complex flow of a client’s assets. He brings this passion for serving his clients and helping them plan for, and achieve, their financial objectives to the classroom as a lecturer in NCPR 500 (Personal Financial Planning), NCPR 505 (Estate Planning) and NCPR 506 (Capstone). Wiegand is a graduate of The George Washington University and earned his Certified Financial Planning accreditation from the University of Virginia. He also holds a Series 66 license. 

Cloud Computing

Kiran Chittargi, Program Coordinator
Kiran Chittargi serves as the Program Coordinator for UVA’s Cloud Computing Certificate. He has more than 20 years of experience in the software engineering arena, specializing in large scale enterprise systems with a particular focus on Big Data (Hadoop, MapReduce, Pig, Hive, Spark, etc.), Java, Ruby/Rails, Angular JS, and a wide variety of web and open source technologies. He has extensive experience in both Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS). He currently serves as a Senior Manager at Microsoft.

Kiran holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and an M.S. in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. He is also certified by the Project Management Institute as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a PMI Certified Agile Practitioner (PMI-ACP). In addition to serving as a Lecturer at the UVA School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Kiran is also an Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University and was a recipient of the prestigious "Excellency in Teaching" award in 2011. He is an active member of the developer community and speaks regularly at various conferences and seminars.

Jimmy Ardiansyah, M.S.
Jimmy Ardiansyah, pronounced "r-d-an-sa," is an experienced solutions architect and technical leader. He has over 18 years of experience in various roles, including big data, database administrator, data engineer, high-performance computing architect, big data and analytics platform architect, and multi/hybrid cloud solutions architect. He is a certified cloud architect for Google Cloud, Microsoft Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and IBM Cloud at the professional level. He is also a senior management consultant at IBM and has advised customers in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, government agencies, and energy and utilities.

He has a Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) in information technology from Middle Georgia State University with a focus on cloud computing and a Master of Science (M.S) in information technology from Arkansas Tech University. His research focuses on multi/hybrid cloud computing architecture, large-scale cloud adoption, and cloud security. In his leisure time, he likes reading about science and technology, pushing himself beyond his comfort zone, and traveling to national state parks with his family. He believes in continuous learning and practicing new skills in the IT business, which is always changing and changing rapidly. Finally, and most significantly, he welcomes opportunities for learning and growth, motivated to broaden his knowledge through the experiences of others.

Laura Malavé, M.S.
Laura Malavé has over 19 years of experience teaching computer and information technology at the college level. Laura currently works at St. Petersburg College as Academic Chair for the College of Computer & Information Technology, leading the Certificate and Associates Degree in Cybersecurity. She has a Master of Science in Computer Science and B.S. in Computer Science from the University of South Florida. In addition to these degrees, Laura has numerous industry certifications including: GIAC GSEC, CompTIA CySA+, Security+, Network+, A+, EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker, MOS, and MTAs and is a member of the SANS Advisory Board. 

Laura is an active member of ISC2 Tampa Bay and a volunteer and committee team lead for the BSides Tampa Conference. Laura received the 2016 League of Innovation Excellence Awards in Teaching and Learning in the category of: Innovation in the Use of Technology. She has been awarded three grants: NSF-ATE Grant Application Co-PI, Biomedical Engineering & Cybersecurity, SPC Innovation Grant 2016, Digital Forensics & Cybersecurity Lab, and SPC Titan Achievement Grant 2020, TitanSec Cybersecurity Escape Room. She led the initiative to have the SPC Associates Degree in Cybersecurity be designated as an NSA Cybersecurity Center of Academic Excellence in Two-Year Education (October 2019). She has served as a Cybersecurity subject matter expert for regional newspaper articles and television news. She has given conference talks on Cybersecurity at local and national conferences including: BSides Tampa 2020, WiCyS (Women in Cybersecurity) 2020, and HITEC 2019 (High Impact Technology Exchange Conference). She is also a member of the HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, 2018 Citizens Academy, and the FBI Fall 2019 Citizens Academy. Laura is also an active Quality Matters Peer Reviewer for Higher Education, Publisher, and K-12 Materials and has completed more than 20 Peer Reviews.

Douglas Mujeye, Ph.D
Dr. Douglas Mujeye’s background is in software engineering, with over 20 years of experience. He has been in his current with Staffmark Inc. since 2007. Prior to this role, Douglas was a consultant, which gave him experience across a variety of technologies and industries. His areas of specialization include software application solutions for manufacturing, education, construction, healthcare and banking.
 
Douglas has worked in higher education since 2007 and has taught a variety of courses including Object Oriented Programming – Java, Database Systems, Programming in C++, Introduction to Computing, Excel, Access, Word, and PowerPoint, Cloud Computing, Data Structures, Database Systems, VB.NET, C#, HTML, ASP.NET, Security, IT Capstone, Python, MEAN stack, Software Engineering, Mobile Platform Software Development(JAVA), Game Programming(XBOX – Microsoft), Computer Graphics, Practical Game Development.
 
As an educator, his objective is to be a motivator to all his students to see them develop their personal learning and research interests as well as critical thinking skills. It is his objective to establish and always maintain a student-centric atmosphere while in the classroom. Douglas has a Doctor of Computer Science from Colorado Technical University, a Ph.D. (ABD) in Computer Information Systems from Nova Southeastern University, and Master of Science in Information Systems from Northern Kentucky University. His research interests are in Software Requirements Engineering and Decision Support Systems.

Roger O’Farril, MISA
Roger O’Farril is an information technology professional with 20 years of experience in a wide variety of IT areas with a specific focus on Cloud and Information Security. Currently, Roger serves as an Information Security Manager in the financial sector, where he has worked since 2014. He is heavily involved with the cloud security aspects of the move of workloads to public cloud and leads a blue team responsible for incident response, forensics, security analytics, and other disciplines. His areas of expertise include cloud security, threat hunting, vulnerability management, digital forensics, and more. 

Roger holds a B.S. in Telecommunications and Networking from Fort Hays State University, as well as a Masters in Information Security and Assurance from Western Governors University. In addition to these degrees, he had obtained the following certifications: Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate, AWS Security Specialty, AWS Solutions Architect – Associate, Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), GIAC Cloud Security Essentials (GCLD), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE), GIAC Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership (GSTRT) , GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner (GCFE), GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH).

Roger started in higher education as an adjunct professor in 2018, fueled by his passion to help shape new professionals in the cybersecurity space. He also gives back to the community by giving public talks on different cyber and cloud security topics.

Eric Rzeszut, M.S
Eric J. Rzeszut, CISSP is an information technology and information security professional with over twenty years of industry experience. He is the Director of IT Product Management at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce. Eric has extensive experience managing IT operations and has provided leadership for dozens of cloud-focused migrations and transformations. He is an experienced presenter on technology and security concepts, and the co-author of "10 Don'ts on Your Digital Devices," a guide to data security and privacy for non-technical users. Eric holds an M.S. in Management of Information Technology from the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce and a B.A. in Communications Studies from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Arts and Humanities.

Criminal Justice

Jonathan Kosarin, JD
Jonathan Kosarin serves as Associate Counsel, Special Projects Division, assigned to the Department of Defense Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office. He has over 30 years of experience in acquisition, government contracting, and fiscal law. Previously, he served as Assistant General Counsel at the National Reconnaissance Office; Deputy Counsel, Special Projects Division; and Associate Counsel, Naval Supply Systems Command.  While on active duty as a JAG with the Army, he served as European Trial Attorney and Attorney Advisor at the U.S. Army Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, and as Trial Attorney, U.S. Army Contract Appeals Division. Kosarin earned a Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School and a Master of Laws in Government Procurement Law from the George Washington National Law Center. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army War College.

John Lord, MPA
John Lord is the Managing Director of Lord/Thompson Associates, a training and consulting group specializing in leadership and organizational development.  Lord’s management experience is distinguished by 15 years as the University of Virginia’s Director of Organizational Development and Training and 5 years as the founding Director of the University’s Leadership Development Center. He received his MPA from the University of Connecticut.  He has been an active member and officer in various professional organizations, including the American Society for Training and Development.

John Whitlow, Ph.D.
With more than 25 years of experience in senior management and executive roles, John Whitlow has provided consulting and leadership training for organizations in both the public and private sectors. Currently, he serves as President for JHW Consulting Services, an organizational consulting and training firm. From 1992-2003, Whitlow served as Vice President and on the senior executive staff of Plow & Hearth, a national consumer catalog company. He also served as Director of Employee Assistance for BellSouth Corporation. Whitlow completed a Ph.D. in Organizational Development in 2001 from Fielding Graduate University. He has held faculty appointments at several of the nation’s most prestigious leadership training centers, including The Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina and The Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Cybersecurity

Jim Lantzy, D.A.H.
Jim Lantzy leverages tools, and instructional innovation and open thought to deliver curriculum that is real-time, agile, and relevant with today’s ever-changing cyber environment.  Building upon his relationships across academia and industry, Lantzy works to provide opportunities to enhance and develop leaders at every level.  His passion comes from enabling others to work toward their strengths and provide them with the resources needed to achieve their goals.  He is a proponent that true continuous learning occurs outside of classrooms and that [the act of doing] through experiential learning opportunities allow a unique avenue where students can realize their full potential. With varying leadership experiences over a 26-year career in the federal government, he uses opportunities to leverage his diverse educational background in accounting, industrial relations and personnel management. Lantzy holds a Doctorate in Arts and Humanities. 

Michael Wojcik, Ph.D.
Michael Wojcik has been supporting the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) since 2009 and has over 34 years of combined experience in program management, information technology, and cybersecurity engineering, planning, definition, design, architecture and implementation, testing and verification, and operational implementation and execution. Dr. Wojcik presently serves as the Directorate of Acquisition Information Systems Security and holds a Ph.D. in Information Technology with a specialization in Cybersecurity. Dr. Wojcik holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Certified Ethical Hacker certifications and his published work includes “Network Cybersecurity Indicators: Determining Cybersecurity Indicators that Accurately Reflect the State of Cybersecurity of a Network”. Dr. Wojcik has been a faculty member at the University of Virginia since 2017.

Health Sciences Management

Maria Kronenburg, Ph.D, MBA
Maria Kronenburg is an assistant professor of health sciences management. She has a diverse background in health care including administration, program management, cost-management, health care information systems, business analysis, and decision support. She has taught courses in health care management and planning, health economics, health policy and administration, health informatics, healthcare finance, statistics and research, managed care, and health care legal and social issues at several universities. Previously, she worked as a Senior Policy Analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington, DC, a Director of Cost Management and Quality Improvement for Amerigroup-Anthem Corporation, and was a Decision Support Manager at Children’s Health System in Norfolk, VA. Kronenburg holds a Ph.D. in Urban Services-Health Services and an MBA from Old Dominion University. She received her undergraduate degree in math from the College of William and Mary. She is a board member for Healthcare Administrators of Tidewater, a local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives. 

Human Resources Management

Ron Beckwith, Ph.D.
Ron Beckwith enjoys over 35 years of organization leadership experience as practitioner, coach, organization development consultant, and teacher. His experience spans a range of corporate, government, non-profit, and higher education organizational sectors.  Ron has successfully led a range of organization initiatives around talent management and human capital development and is widely regarded for developing progressive organization strategies and transferring this experience to the classroom. He has held a number of leadership positions across a range of management roles including Director – Workforce Planning, Development and Diversity, District Manager, Director – Business Development, Director – Professional & Leadership Development, and Senior Consultant. Ron holds a Ph.D. in Human Resources Leadership Development.

Roderick French, Ph.D.
With over two decades of experience in the U.S. Marine Corps, Roderick French has acquired insight into the important interplay of psychology, leadership, and management. His experiences, as well as his desire to learn, inspired him to pursue, upon retiring from the Marine Corps, a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in management. His desire for academic excellence and managerial efficiency made him, in May 2001, a logical choice for the Presidential Management Fellow (PMF). During his tenure as a PMF, French was not only employed in a managerial position with the Navy but also taught Organizational Behavior at the Naval Postgraduate School. In his current capacity as Director of Total Force Manpower for the Office of Naval Research, French purposefully leverages and manages resources and people to efficiently reach desired objectives.

Stephen W. Oliver, Ed.D., M.A.
Dr. Stephen Oliver teaches Leadership and Management courses, Human Resources Management, Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace, and Personality Psychology courses at the University of Virginia Continuing Studies program (SCPS). He teaches leadership and Human Resources Management courses at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Nursing – both to MSN – Masters of Nursing and DNP – Doctorate of Nursing Practice students, and Widener University (School of Business and School of Nursing).  Additionally, he teaches the SHRM CP/SCP test preparation course to Human Resources Management professionals.

Dr. Oliver is also a Human Resources Management and Leadership Development Consultant. His management consultancy HRCVision has led him to work with health care organizations and other industries in the Philadelphia area, New Jersey, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Florida, and other regions of the U.S.A. He has coached and trained their leaders and staff in the areas of emotional intelligence, talent management, leadership development, critical thinking, strategic planning, employee engagement, performance management, customer service, diversity in the workplace including generations at work, employee training, and organizational development.

Dr. Oliver holds a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Arts degree in Human Resources Development from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.  He also has a bachelor’s degree in English from West Virginia University. He has studied in the Distance Education programs at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Nicole Runyon, Ph.D.
Nicole Runyon has had a diverse professional career which includes serving as a deck officer aboard Great Lakes commercial ships, a fleet supervisor for ships owned by a steel manufacturer; and a human resources director for a startup dot com and a horticultural distributor. She has been teaching online since 1998. She is a subject matter expert in online learning and has taught a diverse platform that includes hundreds of graduate and undergraduate classes in management, human resources, education, marketing, and related fields. Runyon earned a Ph.D. in Education and an MS in Administration, and is certified as a SPHR and SHRM-SCP.

Information Technology

Mary Smith, MS, Ed.D.
Mary Smith has over 20 years of IT experience. Currently, she is a consultant/instructor with Computrain where she provides business and individual clients with customized technology solutions. She leverages her extensive technical expertise to deliver advice on the appropriate, most cost-efficient use of technology. Smith has a Master of Science in Information Systems from Hawaii Pacific University and an Ed. D. in Education from Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

Mike Vito, MS
n addition to teaching Information Technology at several universities, Mike Vito has a wide range of technical and leadership-based skills.  He is experienced with standard, object based, and object-oriented programming languages; relational database management systems; modern n-tier internet-based computing systems as well as systems engineering and software development. He has also worked as an agile coach, helping teams create better products through collaboration. Mike has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Penn State University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Virginia Technical Institute.

Lisa Wentzel, MS
With 20 years of experience, Lisa Wentzel is skilled in: NT System/LAN/Network Administration, Programming (Visual Basic, HTML, JavaScript), Lotus Notes, MVS/VTAM Mainframe Systems Program, Network Security and EDP Audit.  She has been with the Federal Reserve since 1992 where she has received multiple awards including one for establishing a division computer lab for the development and testing on non-invasive review procedures for different operating and hardware systems, security products, and configurations. She holds a Master of Information Technology – Business Technologies from George Mason University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Villanova University.

Interdisciplinary Studies

Dozens of instructors teach in the School's Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) program. Individuals who serve as full or part-time assistant or associate professors are listed here.  

Stephen Levine, Ph.D.
Stephen Levine has been teaching courses on U.S. cultural history for the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) since 2006. Leaving a tenured position at the University of Maine to come to Charlottesville, Levine found BIS students a revelation. “They bring a mix of personal and professional experiences to discussions that you just don’t encounter in the traditional classroom." In 2014, he was appointed the program’s first full-time faculty member and is currently associate dean for academic programs and associate professor. When not in the classroom or directing BIS, Stephen can be found performing blues music or farming. Learn more about Stephen Levine in the classroom. 

Ann Marie Plunkett, Ph.D.
Since the inception of the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) in the Fall of 1999, Ann Marie Plunkett has taught courses in Nationalism and National Identity, the Great War, the Second World War, and Issues in the Social Sciences.  She has been very involved with the Capstone process, teaching the Proseminar courses and mentoring students on topics in history and interdisciplinary social sciences, including women and international development and poverty, immigration, and post-conflict societies.  Her research interests are Irish nationalism and national identity and political and social movements. Plunkett holds a B.A.  degree in history from Brown University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from the University of Virginia with emphasis on Britain, Ireland, and modern Europe. 

Charlotte Matthews, MFA
Charlotte Matthews is author of two poetry books: Still Enough to Be Dreaming and Green Stars (both Iris Press). Recently, her work has appeared in such journals as American Poetry Review, The Mississippi Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and Story South. Her honors include fellowships from The Chautauqua Institute, The Sewanee Writers Conference, The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, and The Virginia Center for Creative Arts.  In the spring of 2014, Matthews was appointed Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Missouri University of Science and Technology. As an associate professor, Matthews teaches writing classes and directs the Writing Center for SCPS.

Julia May, Ph.D.
Julia (Julie) May holds both a master’s and Ph.D. in art history from Virginia Commonwealth University. While her doctoral dissertation focused on the art of small-scale indigenous cultures in the Four Corner’s region of the U.S., her recent research, curatorial work, and teaching reach across time and cultures.  She has delivered papers on her work on 19th Century Quaker artist Marcus Mote, recently contributed an introductory essay on 19th Century Indiana landscape painting to the book, (Indiana University Press), developed a host of exhibitions including those on African art, Chinese and Japanese scroll paintings, and indigenous Australian art. In addition, she has published a number of book reviews and has served as a judge for art exhibitions and shows. Learn more about Julie May in the classroom.

Leadership

Ed Kropp, Ed.D.
With significant experience in private industry and government agencies, Ed Kropp founded E.H. Kropp & Associates.  He specializes in the design and implementation of dynamic leadership training and development programs, strengthened by his range of experience from military leadership to senior executive positions in industry.  Kropp earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Virginia, where he focused his research on cognitive-moral development of prison inmates in correctional settings. This initial research has led to follow-on studies and volunteer work focused on inmate rehabilitation at several correctional facilities throughout the northeast United States.  Kropp teaches graduate-level courses in project management, leadership development, organizational change, and risk management. He is also currently a leadership development coach in the Excellence for Government Fellow’s Program for senior government mangers in Washington, DC.

John McCarthy, Ph.D., MBA
John McCarthy is the Program and Operational Resource Officer with the U.S. Navy’s only Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and Improvised Ordnance/Weapons Technical Exploitation command. McCarthy was recruited in 2006 by the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division and was subsequently mobilized as a reserve Naval Officer to initiate infrastructure and organizational development for the newly established Technical Support Detachment (TSD), which was to specialize in investigating, exploiting, and attacking the IED manufacturing network during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before returning to active duty military and now federal service, McCarthy held a leadership position supporting business and financial operations at a non-profit healthcare organization and was a technical business development executive for a global specialty chemical manufacturer serving the industrial sector, for over 16 years. In addition, he has served as an adjunct professor of leadership and management for a number of universities for the past 12 years. McCarthy earned an MBA as well as a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Organization and Management with a specialization in Leadership studies. Learn more about John McCarthy in the classroom. 

Peter Ronayne, Ph.D.
Pete Ronayne has been serving as an adjunct faculty member with the University of Virginia for over 15 years, offering a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses in leadership and organizational development as well as in international relations and foreign policy.  Currently, he serves as a  Senior Faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), where he works with the full range of CCL’s client organizations—from the Fortune 500 and the world’s largest public sector organizations to NGOs and educational institutions.  A skilled presenter and facilitator, Ronayne speaks widely on issues of leading change, neuroleadership, resilience, innovation, engagement and motivation, and navigating generational differences.  Before joining CCL, Ronayne spent 15 years as a dean and senior faculty member at the Federal Executive Institute (FEI) in Charlottesville, Virginia – the Federal sector’s premier center for leadership development.  While at the Institute, he directed the flagship Leadership for a Democratic Society program, launched FEI’s Center for Global Leadership, and co-founded the institute’s “NeuroFed” program on neuroscience and leadership. Ronayne has a wide range of leadership assessment certifications including FIRO-B, MBTI, The Challenge of Change, Workplace Big 5, Change Style Indicator, Influence Style Indicator, Hogan Assessments, Kirkpatrick Bronze, and CCL’s 360 Assessment portfolio. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.

Pre-Health Sciences

Charles M. Grisham, Ph.D.
Charlie Grisham is a Professor and Associate Chair in the University of Virginia Department of Chemistry where he has taught biochemistry, introductory chemistry, and physical chemistry for more than 40 years. In addition to teaching a post bacc only section of biochemistry each spring semester, Professor Grisham is taking on the Academic Director role where he will host regular office hours throughout the academic year in order to support each student’s academic success. He is the author of several university-level textbooks and a developer of computer software devoted to teaching and learning biochemistry. 

Robert D. Powers, M.D., M.P.H.
A professor in the University of Virginia Departments of Medicine and Emergency Medicine, Robert Powers has spent more than 25 years in academic practice. He sees patients and teaches in the Emergency Department, inpatient internal medicine wards, palliative care, and outpatient adult clinics. As Medical Director for the Post Bacc Pre-Med Program, Powers serves on the admissions committee and contributes to program administration and student advising. He teaches a seminar on the structure, function, financing, and challenges of American health care. Powers also supervises and coordinates clinical orientation and shadowing experiences, enabling students to get exposure to patient care and medical practice. 

Procurement & Contracts Management

Tom Bersson, Ph.D.
Dr. Tom Bersson is a highly-experienced engineer, university instructor, researcher and contracts professional.  He has extensive experience in the Government (US Navy), industry (Fortune 500 Company) and as a small business owner.

Tom received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute, his M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College and his PhD in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University.  He is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of California and Virginia, a LEED Accredited Professional, a certified Professional Engineering Manager and a Fellow in the Society of American Military Engineers.  He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Business School Executive Program and the Armed Forces Staff College.  He is an active or recent member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Society of American Military Engineers, the Hampton Roads Green Building Council, the International Council on Systems Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Management, the National Contract Management Association, and the Geothermal Resources Council.  

Sheila Brooks, CPCM, PMP, JD
Sheila Brooks is the Senior Director of Compliance and Contracts for Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC (“Grant Thornton”). She started her career interning at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Acquisition and Procurement. She then went on to work in Commercial, International, State and Local and Federal Government Contracting in the Private Sector for Commercial, Information Technology, and Non-Profit organizations. She obtained a Bachelors of Arts (BA) in History at James Madison University and a Juris Doctor (JD) at the College of William & Mary. Sheila is a member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and the Project Management Institute (PMI) and holds both the Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) and the Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications from those organizations respectively as well as being a licensed attorney in the District of Columbia.  Sheila is an adjunct Professor at the University of Virginia teaching Federal Government Acquisition. 

Thomas, Eller, Ph.D
Dr. Eller has over 35 years of Active Duty and Civil Service experience with the United States Air Force.  Dr. Eller has served as a contract specialist, procurement contracting officer with an unlimited warrant, branch chief, and division chief.  His other experience includes roles as Competition Advocate, Ombudsman, Technical Director, and Policy and Pricing Chief.  His technical experience includes fixed and cost price contracts, commercial and noncommercial, source selections (LPTA to Color-Coded), incentive contracting, letter contracts, and foreign military sales contracting.

Dr. Eller completed his Doctor of Business Administration degree in June 2014 through Walden University. He has a Level III DAWIA Certification in Contract Management and Level I DAWIA certification in Program Management.

Dr. Eller is a graduate of the Air Force Air Command and Staff College and Air War College; the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Executive Development courses Enterprise Leadership Seminar and Understanding the Defense Industry; and the National and International Leadership Seminar.

Ronald Falcone, MBA, CPCM
Ronald Falcone is co-founder and Executive Vice President at Distributed Solutions, Inc., (DSI) where he oversees all aspects of Contracts Management. DSI provides software and solutions to federal contracting and program offices in order to automate and accomplish their business processes more effectively. As an active member of the National Contracts Management Association (NCMA), Falcone currently serves on the National Board of Directors and has served as the Tysons Corner Chapter President, as well as numerous volunteer and chapter office positions. Nationally, he has presented at leadership conferences and has been published in Contract Management magazine. Falcone is a Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) and was awarded the NCMA Fellow designation in 2011. He earned an MBA.

Michael P. Fischetti, JD
Michael P. Fischetti is a consultant, instructor, researcher, experienced acquisition leader and subject matter expert in contract management.  He currently is a Professor of Program and Contract Management for the Defense Acquisition University, private training firms and the University of Virginia.  Michael has over 35 years of acquisition experience in management, policy, and contracting officer positions in all facets of government and agency policy development and implementation, oversight, program management, and procurement operations for services, weapon systems, and information technology for a variety of government and civilian organizations.  

Michael’s formal education includes a Juris Doctor degree, an MS in national resource strategy from the National Defense University (NDU), an MA in business management from Central Michigan University, and a BA in economics and political science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is an American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Certified Association Executive (CAE), a Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) and holds contracting and program management certifications from the Department of Defense.

John R. McCarthy, Ph.D
John R. McCarthy is currently the Senior Program and Policy Advisor with the US Navy’s only explosives, weapons, and foreign materiel Technical Exploitation command.  In 2006, John was recruited from the private sector by Naval Surface Warfare Center, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division and subsequently mobilized as a naval reserve officer to initiate programmatic, infrastructure and organizational development for the newly established Technical Support Detachment (TSD), which was to specialize in investigating, exploiting, and attacking the improvised explosive device (IED) manufacturing network on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.  

Prior to his return to active-duty military and current federal service, John held a senior leadership position supporting business and financial operations at a non-profit healthcare organization and was a technical business development executive for a global specialty chemical manufacturer serving the industrial sector, for over 16 years.  In addition, he has served as an adjunct professor of leadership & management and other business and national intelligence disciplines for a number of universities, since 2004.  

Educationally, Dr. McCarthy holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, a Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence (MSSI) degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) In Organization and Management with a specialization in Leadership studies.

James Rich, Ph.D.
James Rich has 35 years of contracting expertise with the Army Corp of Engineers where he held numerous leadership positions. DAWIA certified in both contracting and project management, Rich has extensive experience in large dollar federal source selection to include serving as Contracting Officer for the Army Residential Communities Initiative, a largescale privatization initiative designed to improve family housing across the Army.  In his position with the USACE he served as Chief of Workforce Development managing workforce development and training strategies for civilian contracting specialists and non-contracting USACE personnel. Rich holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies, Public Policy Analysis from Portland State University.

Project Management

Susan Parente, MS, PMP
Professor Susan Parente is a Principal Consultant at S3 Technologies, LLC, the Project Management Certificate Program Coordinator, and an instructor at the University of Virginia. She is also a project engineer, speaker, author, and mentor who leads large complex IT software implementation projects, and the establishment of Enterprise PMOs. She has 25+ years of experience leading software and business development projects in the private and public sectors supporting small to large organizations in many sectors, including: pharma/ healthcare, environmental, heath/ well-being, engineering, IT software development & services, cybersecurity, education, business management, food industry, finance, automotive, construction, telecommunications, sports, business, and over a decade of experience implementing IT projects for the DoD and several other Federal government agencies. Mrs. Parente has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester in NY and a MS in Engineering Management from George Washington University in DC. She has numerous project management, Agile, risk management, and IT Security certifications, including: PMP, PMI-RMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, CSPO, PSM I, SFC, SDC, SMC, SPOC, SAMC, SCT, CISSP, RESILIA, CRISC, ITIL, GLCP, and she is a practitioner of CMMI and ISO 9001.

Mrs. Parente trains and mentors project managers in the areas of traditional and Agile project management, and risk management. Mrs. Parente has co-authored books in her areas of expertise, risk management and agile project management: “Global Hot Spots: How Project and Enterprise Risk Management Practices Drive Business Results Around the World” and recently, “Hybrid Project Management: Using Agile with Traditional PM Methodologies to Succeed on Modern Projects”.

Edward H. Kropp, Ed.D,
With significant experience in private industry and government agencies, Ed Kropp founded E.H. Kropp & Associates.  He specializes in the design and implementation of dynamic leadership training and development programs, strengthened by his range of experience from military leadership to senior executive positions in industry.  Kropp earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Virginia, where he focused his research on cognitive-moral development of prison inmates in correctional settings. This initial research has led to follow-on studies and volunteer work focused on inmate rehabilitation at several correctional facilities throughout the northeast U.S.  Kropp teaches graduate-level courses in project management, leadership development, organizational change, and risk management. He is also a leadership development coach in the Excellence for Government Fellow’s Program for senior government mangers in Washington, DC.

Michael Powers, D.M.
Michael Powers, DM, MS Michael Powers has been a successful project manager for over two decades. His project management background has been focused in the IT, environmental, and commercial construction industries. Much of his project management work has dealt in the environmental realm through his work in developing and implementing global software platforms which measure chemicals released in coal and natural gas fired power plants. This role afforded him the opportunity to lead many globally diverse teams. A highlight of this position was instructing an industry course at MIT. He currently serves as a Project Manager and Procurement Agent with the State of Colorado.

Dr. Powers earned a Master of Science in Administration and Business from The University of South Dakota and a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Leadership from The University of Phoenix. He is also part of the Delta Mu Delta business honor society faculty advising committee.

Douglass Smith 
Earlier his career, Dr. Douglass Smith served as a manager for non-profit services FERS Business Services, Inc., a Chicago accounting firm serving clients such as the American Library Association and the Uniform Code Council. He has also worked as the director of operations for the American Massage Therapy Association in Evanston, Ill. and as an IT project manager for Fortis, Inc., in Milwaukee, Wis. He has spent several years as an entrepreneur (with Smith Consulting Enterprises and later Savant Technology Partners), engaging clients like the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, and the Federal Government. His more recent professional experiences include serving as a project manager at Propylon, Inc, a Dublin, Ireland based software services firm and before that the first chief information officer for the Kansas Dept. of Agriculture for three years until 2005. Lately, he has returned to his entrepreneurial roots with SMADERS LLC and 1906 Partners LLC. However, over the last several years, Dr. Smith has turned his talents to teaching others. He has taught technology and business courses including project management for several institutions of higher learning.

Dr. Smith completed a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences, with a concentration in Information Systems and Knowledge Management at Walden University. He earned Master’s Degrees in Business Administration and in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of General Studies in Business Administration, Computer Science and Liberal Arts from the University of Michigan.

William Yates, Ed.D., MS, PMP
William Yates has been associated with the graduate Certificate in Project Management for over a decade, teaching in the classroom and online.  He has a senior project management, operations, and professional education background, with experience driving efficiencies into operations, streamlining product and service delivery, and achieving superior customer care satisfaction. Yates’s research has focused on adult learning and development, and chaos and complexity theory. He is particularly interested in human dynamics in project management. He received his Doctorate in Human Resource Development and his Master Degree (Project Management) from The George Washington University.  

Public Administration

Corey Beckett, Ph.D., MPA
Dr. Corey Beckett is a “prac-academician,” having a dual career as a practitioner and academician. Dr. Beckett's research interest includes Public Budget and Finance, Program Evaluation, Leadership, Diversity, Organizational Behavior and Social Equity. For over 30 years, Dr. Beckett has held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility in which he was responsible for planning, programming, justifying and executing multi-billion dollar programs and budgets within the Federal Government. Currently, he is a Senior Executive with a United States Federal Agency. In courses Dr. Beckett teaches, his goal is for each student to gain a deeper understanding of the foundational concepts in the field of public administration, exhibit enhanced critical thinking skills, develop an ability to prepare and present concise, well-supported arguments and establish the skills and aspirations to link public policy theory to implementation.

Sara McClellan, Ph.D., MPA
Sara McClellan is assistant professor of professional studies and coordinator for the University of Virginia Public Administration Certificate Program. Her approach draws on her cross-disciplinary academic background in Organizational Communication and Public Policy & Administration as well as her 20-plus years of experience as a practitioner and consultant. Before coming to UVA, McClellan served as the Hazel Cramer Endowed Chair in the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Sacramento State University, where she taught and conducted applied research on organizational communication, planning, leadership, and stakeholder engagement. McClellan enjoys teaching and consulting with individuals and organizations to navigate unprecedented levels of change and uncertainty with curiosity, courage, and mental and emotional agility. She has more than a decade of experience in designing and delivering online classes.

Sheila Toppin, DPA, MPA
Sheila Toppin is a "prac-academician," having a dual career as a practitioner and academician. For 20 years, she served in community corrections as a parole officer and a U.S. probation officer/supervisor. For 15 years, she has taught public administration and criminal justice, and currently is an assistant professor in the public administration department at Clark Atlanta University. Toppin holds a MPA from Clark Atlanta University, and Doctorate of Public Administration from Valdosta State University. Her conference presentations include the American Society of Public Administration, Southeastern Conference of Public Administrators, the National Forum for Black Public Administrators Executive Leadership Institute, and the Association of Caribbean Higher Education Administrators. Toppin’s work has appeared in the Justice Policy Journal, Public Administration Times, Georgia Journal of Public Policy and the Education and Information Technology Journal. 

Public Safety

Bryon G. Gustafson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Program Director
Bryon G. Gustafson, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor and Director of the Master of Public Safety program at the University of Virginia. He works closely with the FBI National Academy (NA) to build on and extend from NA curriculum to deliver a robust educational experience that empowers today's law enforcement leaders for tomorrow's challenges.

Previously Dr. Gustafson served in a variety of public service roles. He was Dean of Public Safety at American River College and an Adjunct Professor of Criminology in the Sociology Department at Sacramento State University. He was unanimously elected as the 50th Chief Sergeant-at-Arms by the California State Assembly for its 2017-2018 session. Prior to that he was Chief of Police at the Stockton Unified School District Police Department and Chief of Standards, Evaluation, and Research at the California Department of Justice, Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). Dr. Gustafson also served as an Affiliated Faculty Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Colorado Denver where his work focused on training and policy interventions relative to the causes of fatal and career-ending law enforcement traffic collisions.

Dr. Gustafson is a graduate of the 218th FBI National Academy and was the 113th President of the Delinquency Control Institute at the University of Southern California (USC). He holds a Ph.D. in Public Affairs from the University of Colorado Denver, is a Pi Alpha Alpha MPA graduate of USC, and also holds a Magna Cum Laude BS in Psychology from Excelsior College. He is married to Dr. Sara E. McClellan, a public policy and administration professor. They have two cats--“Sedona” and "Theo"--and make their home in West Sacramento, CA.​

M. Jay Farr, AA, BS, MA
Murray “Jay” Farr was appointed Chief of Police in May 2015 and retired on September 4th, 2020. Before his appointment, Jay served in the Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) for 27 years. He served in various positions, including assignments as Acting Police Chief, Deputy Chief of Police for Systems Management, Operations, and Criminal Investigations. He has also served as Arlington County Acting Deputy County Manager.

Before joining the ACPD in 1990, Jay worked with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, where he conducted complex criminal investigations concerning fraud against the United States government. Jay is also a U.S. Marine veteran, where he served with the Presidential helicopter unit.

Jay earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from George Mason University, and he has undertaken study in several educational programs, including the Naval Post Graduate School CDHS, FBI National Academy, Leadership Arlington, and Senior Institute for Police Management – Boston College in conjunction with John F. Kennedy School of Business Management, Harvard University.

In addition to his law enforcement duties, Jay was a sitting member of the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Advisory Committee, the Washington Council of Governments, the Homeland Security Advisory Committee, and the Chair of the Police Chief’s Sub-Committee. Jay also served as Adjunct Professor, George Mason University, Department of Criminology, Law, and Society, 2004 – 2020.

Chief Farr has received several professional awards throughout his career, including the Arlington County Merit Award in 1998, the Arlington County Principles of Government Service Award in 1999, and the Meritorious Lifesaving Award in 2001.

Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye, BA, JD
Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye is the 28th Chief Justice of the State of California. She was sworn into office on January 3, 2011, and is the first Asian-Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice.

Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye was nominated to office in July 2010, unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments in August 2010, and overwhelmingly approved by voters in the November 2010 general election. At the time she was nominated as Chief Justice, she had served more than 20 years on California trial and appellate courts, including 6 years on the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, in Sacramento.

Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated her as Chief Justice on July 22, 2010, and the California State Bar Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission rated her as exceptionally well qualified for the position. At a public hearing on August 25, 2010, she was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, and in a general election on November 2, 2010, an overwhelming majority of voters elected her to that position. As Chief Justice she also chairs the Judicial Council of California, the administrative policymaking body of state courts, and the Commission on Judicial Appointments. Before her elevation to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye served for more than 20 years on California appellate and trial courts. In 1990, Governor George Deukmejian appointed her to the Sacramento Municipal Court and in 1997; Governor Pete Wilson elevated her to the Superior Court of Sacramento County, where she presided over both criminal and civil cases. In 1997, she established and presided over the first court in Sacramento dedicated solely to domestic violence issues. In addition, then-Judge Cantil-Sakauye chaired the court’s criminal law committee and was a member of the presiding judge’s task force on domestic violence and the Home Court committee. In 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger nominated her to the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.

Chief Justice Ronald M. George appointed her to the Judicial Council of California in September 2008. She has also served as chair of the council’s Advisory Committee on Financial Accountability and Efficiency for the Judicial Branch, a member of the Domestic Violence Practice and Procedure Task Force and chaired its Best Practices Domestic Violence subcommittee, vice-chair of the Executive and Planning Committee, vice-chair of the Rules and Projects Committee, co-chair of the Judicial Recruitment and Retention Working Group, and as a member of the Commission for Impartial Courts Implementation Committee.

The Chief Justice was a Special Master, selected by the Supreme Court of California to hear disciplinary proceedings before the Commission on Judicial Performance. She was president of the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court, an organization dedicated to promoting civility, ethics, and professionalism in the practice of law. And was a member of the national Conference of Chief Justices Board of Directors.

A Sacramento native, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye attended C. K. McClatchy High School and Sacramento City College, before graduating with honors from the University of California, Davis. After taking a year off to visit her ancestral homeland, the Philippines, the Chief Justice began law school, receiving her JD from the UC Davis, Martin Luther King, Jr., School of Law. She worked as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, and then served on the senior staff of Governor Deukmejian, first as deputy legal affairs secretary and later as a deputy legislative secretary.

Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye is a former board member of several nonprofit organizations and has been active in numerous professional community organizations, including membership in the California Judges Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Sacramento Asian Bar Association, and received the Filipina of the Year Award. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Conference of Chief Justices, The American Law Institute, the Board of Visitors for UC Davis, an Advisory Board member of the Sacramento Federal Judicial Library and Learning Center Foundation, an honorary member of the Foundation for Democracy and Justice, a private nonprofit organization devoted to civics education. She is married to Mark Sakauye, a retired police lieutenant. They have two daughters.

Gordon Graham, BA, MS, JD
Gordon Graham is a retired 33-year veteran of California Law Enforcement. During his tenure as a police professional, he was awarded his Teaching Credential from California State University, Long Beach. He was later graduated from University of Southern California with a Master's Degree in Safety and Systems Management. Subsequent to this he was graduated from Western State University with a Juris Doctorate. He has taken this background as a street cop, supervisor and manager and coupled it with his formal education as a risk manager and his education and experiences as an attorney and is the Co-Founder of Lexipol – a company designed to standardize policies, procedures and training within law enforcement agencies around America. In 1995, Mr. Graham received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement Training, the highest tribute available in the critical mission of training police professionals. In 2005 he received the Presidential Award for Excellence from the IAFC for his lifelong work in improving firefighter safety and performance. In 2008 he received the lifetime achievement award from California POST. In 2015, Mr. Graham received the lifetime dedication award from the International Public Safety Leadership and Ethics Institute. In 2018 he received the James Oberstar Sentinel for Safety Award for his lifetime work in improving aviation safety internationally. In 2019 he received the Howard W. Rayon Distinguished Service Award. He and “Mrs. G” are the proud parents of two adult children. A resident of Southern California, he enjoys spending every possible moment with Mrs. G “cruising the coast” either in their vintage wooden boat or their wooden car and finding new adventures and new places to enjoy a great meal.

Gladis Griffith, J.D.
Gladis Camilien Griffith is an attorney who has served for over 25 years in various federal government Offices of Inspectors General (OIG). She helps her clients identify ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of federal contracts and operations. She is currently the Deputy Inspector General and General Counsel at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which partners with the private sector to implement U.S. strategic foreign policy goals. Her prior experience includes providing legal counsel to OIG management and staff at the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development Agency. She is a subject matter expert on federal contracts, audits, investigations, and on preventing and addressing fraud and misconduct involving government contracts and programs.

Gladis has been an Adjunct Professor since 2010 at the University of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional Studies. She has taught in the school's Procurement and Contracts Management Certificate Program, in addition to teaching in the MPS program.

Her credentials includes: Juris Doctor (J.D.), Boston College Law School and Boston College (BA); member of the federal Senior Executive Service; Member of the U.S. Supreme Court and Massachusetts Bar associations, as well as a member of the federal Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and the Council of Counsels to the Inspectors General (CCIG). She also taught for over 10 years as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus) where she developed and taught contracts, business, and ethics course.

What Gladis enjoys most about teaching is the symbiotic relationships she develops with her students as they explore the various theories and brainstorm solutions to consider in addressing the inevitable challenges that arise in real life application of the theories we explore in class.

Mark Hoover, AS, BS, MBA, MS, EDD Cand.
Mark Hoover currently serves as the head of regional safety & security for the U.S. Peace Corps in Eastern Africa, administering safety, security and crisis mitigation programs across seven countries. Mark previously served as Deputy Chief of law enforcement & homeland security for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services overseeing the statewide mutual aid system and as Deputy Chief Sergeant-at-Arms of the California State Assembly leading the Assembly’s dignitary protection, threat mitigation, emergency management, and capitol security programs. In the federal sector, Mark worked as a Special Agent for the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, overseeing investigative and protection programs at U.S. Embassies overseas, and protected high level officials such as the U.S. Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, members of Congress, cabinet officials and visiting foreign dignitaries. In the private sector Mark served as Director of Safety & Security for Concordia University – Irvine, California and as Assistant Director of Public Safety for California Baptist University. He has consulted for public and private organizations on security and emergency response programs and got his start in law enforcement by working as a police officer for the California State University and University of California Police Departments. Mark has authored articles on campus terrorism and is a graduate of the National Defense University’s Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS). He is a doctoral candidate at Liberty University, has a post-graduate degree in educational leadership, a MS in joint planning & strategy (national security) and a BS in Criminal Justice. Mark enjoys working with adult learners and helping them to meet their personal and professional goals.

Carolyn Johnson, BA, JD 
Carolyn Johnson has more than 20 years of experience as an attorney and educator. She currently serves as a professor and department chair at Stevenson University managing faculty and delivering courses in legal studies and criminal justice. She is also Attorney of Counsel for the Bank of Glen Burnie handling regulatory and fiduciary matters. Ms. Johnson began her career as a prosecutor. She first served as an Assistant State's Attorney for the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore and then as a Senior Assistant State Prosecutor for the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor. In these roles Ms. Johnson prosecuted the full range of misdemeanor and felony complaints through bench and jury trials, as well as post-conviction hearings. In her free time, Carolyn is an avid runner, animal rescuer (3 dogs and 4 cats) and mom to two teenagers. She is married to a police officer of 30 years and is a lifelong vegetarian (since birth).

James P. McElvain, Ph.D
With more than 35 years in law enforcement, James P. McElvain, Ph.D., has served as the Vancouver, WA, Police Chief since December 2013. The Vancouver Police Department serves a population of about 195,000 and is allocated 234 sworn officers and 65 professional staff. Prior to his time with the Vancouver Police Department, he spent 28 years in southern California law enforcement working for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Perris Police Department, and Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. During his tenure with Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, he commanded the Perris Station and served as Chief of Police for three contract cities (Perris, Menifee and Canyon Lake). In his last assignment, he oversaw the Ben Clark Training Center (BCTC). BCTC is a regional police training campus for the Basic Peace Officer Academy, Correctional Academy, Dispatch Certification courses, as well as dozens of Advanced Officer and Jail Training classes for law enforcement officers and agencies from the Southern California Region. Chief McElvain’s law enforcement tenure includes administering and enhancing public safety across organizations, jurisdictions, specialty teams and competing interests. He has demonstrated ability leading cooperative partnerships in community policing, building nonprofit partnerships, and enhancing productive relationships with diverse communities. This includes working with a Community Resource Team outlining a business case to address key performance gaps in policing in order to increase police resources through a five-year staffing plan. Following community concerns over a series of police shootings, Chief McElvain coordinated with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to review the department’s policies, training, and use of force incidents, which resulted in 84 recommendations made by PERF for improvement. Following the PERF analysis, City leadership and Chief McElvain commissioned a Community Task Force on Policing to address the recommendations. In one year, 74 of the recommendations were accomplished, and work continues to complete the others. Chief McElvain has a Ph.D. in sociology, with a specialization in criminology and race/class inequality, from the University of California, Riverside, and a master’s degree in criminal justice and a Bachelor of Arts degree in social science and criminal justice from California State University – San Bernardino. With his academic background, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Riverside Community College, Loma Linda University and Washington State University. In his spare time, Chief McElvain enjoys working out, a new-found interest in golf and reading.

Greg Murphy, BS, MS
Greg Murphy was appointed Chief of Police for California State University, Northridge, in January 2019. Prior to joining the CSU, he was in the UC system—most recently at UC San Diego, where he was Assistant Chief, and UC Davis, which he joined in 2003 as a lieutenant. His law enforcement career began in 1993 with the Los Angeles Police Department, where he held the ranks of a police officer and sergeant-2. Throughout his career, Greg has worked a variety of assignments from patrol officer, academy instructor, CRASH, to sergeant in charge of the department-wide use of force review section for LAPD. At UC San Diego PD, Greg served as the operations, administrative, and investigations manager, as well as the K-9, Range, Dispatch, Property/Evidence, and Information Technology manager. Greg worked for the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, where he was responsible for training and selection standards compliance for Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Imperial, Orange, and San Diego counties. In 2013, Greg was appointed by Governor Gerald Brown as a public member of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of Pharmacy. Greg has been an administration of justice adjunct instructor at Sierra Community College for over 12 years and has taught for National University, the University of Phoenix, and the University of Southern California both in criminal justice and computer information technology. Greg has a master’s degree in Information Technology, a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and an associate’s degree in Electronic-Engineering Technology. Greg is a graduate of the Commission on POST’s Master Instructor Development Program, and he oversaw the POST Law Enforcement Officer’s Killed and Assaulted Study from 2010 to 2012. Greg began his public service career in the United States Air Force. He served from 1985 to 1991 and was a Staff Sergeant specializing in missile electronics and communications.

Oscar Odom, Ph.D.
Dr. Oscar Odom III currently serves as the Vice President of Security for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. Dr. Odom has served as a Commissioner on the New York City Districting Commission of New York City. Dr. Odom is the former First Deputy Sheriff Commissioner and Four (4) Star Chief of the New York City Sheriff’s Office. Also, a Retired New York City Police Detective (20 years). Dr. Odom has served several New York City Mayor's David Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. Dr. Odom has held several assignments in the New York City Police Department, Patrol Officer, Police Academy Instructor, Intelligence Division, Career Criminal Investigation Unit and Juvenile Crime Squad (Fugitive Enforcement Division). Also, serve a news commentator on policing, criminal justice and terrorism issues. Additionally, Dr. Odom has an academic career that expands over twenty years and has served has as a professor in graduate and undergraduate colleges in criminal justice, law and emergency & disaster management. Dr. Odom is a member of the Oxford Roundtable in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Odom earned his B.S. degree in Correction Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Juris Doctorate degree from the City University of New York School of Law, where he served as Associate Editor of the Law Review, and earned his Doctorate of Education with a Specialization in Educational Leadership and Management with Distinction /4.00 Grade Point Average at Capella University. Dr. Odom is a Fulbright Scholar Criminal Justice Peer Reviewer.

Eric Plummer, Ph.D.
Eric Plummer, Ph.D. is the Chief of Police for Radford University providing leadership for the Office of Emergency Management and the University Police Department (UPD). He also serves as a national critical incident management instructor for the National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center (NERRTC) through Texas A&M University-TEEX and as an adjunct professor for the Master of Public Safety program at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Plummer came to Radford from the University of North Dakota where he served as the Associate Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police providing leadership for the emergency management, safety, risk management and insurance, as well as the University Police Department (UPD).  At UND, Dr. Plummer created the Behavioral Intervention Team, established the Continuity of Operations Planning Program, and founded the Enterprise Risk Management Program and Committee which provided yearly risk assessments to the executive cabinet.  Dr. Plummer also was the emergency management coordinator for the university’s response to COVID-19 and served as a co-chair of the large research institution section of the North Dakota University System response to the pandemic.  He has also served as a Chief of Police for Southern Arkansas University, as well as with the Florida Highway Patrol in numerous roles including state trooper, homicide detective, criminal and internal affairs investigator, and supervisor.

In his time in Florida, he served as an incident commander for tornado disaster areas, as well as an agency representative in the Emergency Operations Center during numerous hurricane disasters.  Dr. Plummer has served on numerous local and federal task forces and is currently the chair of the IACLEA Domestic Preparedness Committee and a member of the IACP Aviation Committee.

Dr. Plummer served as a combat signaler in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1993 to 1999, and as an intelligence analyst from 2004 to 2006.  Plummer holds law enforcement certifications in Virginia, North Dakota, Florida, and Arkansas, as well as earning the designation of senior chief of police within the state of Arkansas and the designation of Professional Emergency Manager (PEM) in Virginia.

Dr. Plummer holds a Ph.D. in Public Safety with a concentration in Emergency Management, a master’s degree in management, as well as a bachelor’s degree in sociology.  He is a graduate of Harvard University’s Executive Education Course in Crisis Leadership and the Southern Police Institute’s 50th Command Officer Development Course through the University of Louisville.

Ariel C. Triplett, BS, MPH
Ariel C. Triplett currently serves as the Director of Emergency Management & Safety for Howard University within the Department of Public Safety. She is responsible for promoting and executing Howard’s preparedness and safety strategy as well as, oversees crisis management and emergency response that details emergency planning; incident monitoring; emergency notification and warning with the Bison SAFE app; training & exercises; disaster preparedness education; special event planning, and continuity of operations planning. Over the past several years, Ariel has served in a variety of highly impactful leadership roles within the field of Emergency Management and Preparedness in large scale multi-agency exercises, environmental health and safety, and operational functions that effected facilities and public health. Most recently working with all levels of the government and providing executive level communications and preparedness briefings as a Director, she led critical work with the Department of Health and Human Services and training, resources, and specialized plans for safety to For Our Future Action Fund in Washington D.C. with hands-on oversight while interfacing with an extended team located in various parts of the country. Ariel has also served as a regional specialist for Kaiser Permanente where she oversaw 35 medical and administrative building’s emergency management, environmental, and operational functions in the Mid-Atlantic and developed response and disaster drill continuity plans throughout the region that are still in-place today. Her previous highly experienced work has ranged in projects and responsibilities with the City of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), the United States Department of Homeland Security Emergency Exercise Program (HSEEP), various agency’s bioterrorism and disease control initiates, Six Flags America Theme Parks Medical Services and Safety, advisement on site at the Pentagon Washington Headquarter Service Emergency Management Program, the Mark Center BRAC’s 133 facilities, and High Point University’s Department of Emergency Preparedness extending across the university and campus life to local city officials and personnel, Police, Fire, and external community partners. She has responded and served on the Pandemic Task Force for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Hurricane Irene, the 2011 East Coast Earthquake emergencies, and more, most recently on the COVID-19 Pandemic Task Force for several entities public and private. Ariel received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Howard University and her Master’s degree in Public Health with a concentration in Bioterrorism and Disease Control from Saint Louis University. She is a proud and accomplished Bison and lifelong supporter of HU. Professionally Ariel is a part of the National Fire Protection Agency, International Association of Emergency Managers, and the American Public Health Association with various professional certifications in the emergency management and response field. Beyond her role as a leader in emergency management, personally Ariel is a varsity swim coach at Northwestern High School in the Hyattsville neighborhood, and a dedicated member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, where she is active in a local Chapter serving Prince George’s County which is devoted to fulfilling its mission of service to all mankind through scholarship and community service. Ariel has completed several triathlons, loves to travel and shares all of her favorite things with her beautiful daughter, Arden