Staff

Mary Ann Scali serves as the Executive Director of The...

Mary Ann Scali

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ebony Howard is the Deputy Director for The Gault Center,...

Ebony Howard

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Jimmonique is the Director of Operations for The Gault Center....

Jimmonique Rodgers

Director of Operations

Maria Bardo-Colon is the Youth Defense Fellow for the Gault...

Maria Bardo-Colon

Youth Defense Fellow

Amy Borror is the Senior Youth Policy Strategist at The...

Amy Borror

Sr. Youth Policy Strategist

Stephen Goldmeier is the Justice Systems Manager at the Gault...

Stephen Goldmeier

Justice Systems Manager

Sarah Johnson is Senior Defense Counsel for The Gault Center,...

Sarah Johnson

Sr. Youth Defense Counsel

HyeJi Kim is a Senior Youth Defense Counsel at the...

HyeJi Kim

SENIOR YOUTH DEFENSE COUNSEL

Alana S. Meyer is Youth Defense Counsel at The Gault...

Alana Meyer

Youth Defense Counsel

Jen Mossgraber is the Justice Systems Assistant at the Gault...

Jen Mossgraber

Justice Systems Assistant

Gavriella Roisman is Project Counsel at the Gault Center. She...

Gavriella Roisman

Project Counsel

Mary Ann Scali

Position: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Categories: Staff
Pronouns: (she, her)

Mary Ann Scali serves as the Executive Director of The Gault Center, where she works with youth defenders and advocates dedicated to promoting justice for all children by ensuring excellence in youth defense. After working as a summer law clerk for the National Juvenile Defender Center in 1996, Mary Ann became the deputy director in 2000 and the executive director in 2017.

In partnership with The Gault Center team and youth defense leaders, Mary Ann delivers youth defense training and technical assistance, conducts state-level youth defense assessments, and facilitates cross-disciplinary reform efforts aimed at developing resources and policies to strengthen youth defense and access to justice for all youth.

Prior to joining The Gault Center, Mary Ann defended youth in the juvenile division of the Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore City, MD; spent two years teaching high school in Pohnpei, Micronesia; served in the Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome, Italy; and taught Baltimore City boys at the Baraka School in Nanyuki, Kenya. Mary Ann holds a JD and MSW from Loyola University Chicago, where she was a CIVITAS Childlaw Fellow.

Mary Ann lives in Baltimore with her husband, their children, and their rescue puppy, Cosmo.

Ebony Howard

Position: DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Categories: Staff
: (she, her)

Ebony Howard is the Deputy Director for The Gault Center, where she works to serve youth defenders and advocates so that they may seek justice for children and adolescents and provide excellence in youth defense.

Prior to joining The Gault Center, Ebony was a Senior Supervising Attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she developed, implemented, and managed litigation and policy campaigns to combat injustice and systemic racism in the criminal and juvenile legal systems. She also defended individuals charged with federal crimes in District Court as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Northern District of Alabama. Ebony serves on the boards for Redemption Earned, an Alabama-based organization that assists incarcerated people seeking parole, and Youth Towers, a Birmingham, Alabama-based organization dedicated to supporting homeless youth ages 19 to 26.

Ebony graduated from Howard University and Georgetown Law. While at Georgetown, Ebony was a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic, where she represented young people before the District of Columbia Superior Court.

Ebony lives with her husband and two sons in Birmingham, Alabama, where she spends her days listening to Beyoncé and convincing her children to attend Howard University.

Jimmonique Rodgers

Position: Director of Operations
Categories: Staff

Jimmonique is the Director of Operations for The Gault Center. In this role, she manages the organization’s operations, including all remote operations, finance, and human resources, to ensure The Gault Center maintains effective and efficient financial and operational systems.

Before joining The Gault Center, Jimmonique served as interim director and deputy director for the State of Georgia’s indigent defense agency, the Georgia Public Defender Council (GPDC). The agency has more than 900 state employees and contracted private attorneys representing clients in 43 of the state’s 49 judicial circuits.  Prior to working at the agency executive level, Jimmonique led its statewide appellate division, working with staff and contract appellate attorneys to zealously represent both adult and youth clients in post-conviction proceedings.

Jimmonique is a proud graduate of Fayetteville State University and North Carolina Central School of Law. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University, focusing on youth justice, correlates of delinquency, and justice system policy.

Maria Bardo-Colon

Position: Youth Defense Fellow
Categories: Staff

Maria Bardo-Colon is the Youth Defense Fellow for the Gault Center.

Prior to joining The Gault Center, Maria was an Assistant Public Defender in the Juvenile Division of the Public Defender’s Office (Jacksonville, FL). She handled cases in delinquency and crossover (youth who have both open delinquency and dependency cases). During her time at the PD’s office she was also assigned to Girls Court and Mental Health Court. She also served on Disability Rights Florida’s PAIMI Advisory Council. She participated in the 2019 Summer Academy and is a 2023 Ambassador for Racial Justice.

Maria graduated from Boston College and The University of Alabama School of Law. While at Bama Law, she worked at Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP) and was a student in the Children’s Rights and Criminal Defense Clinics.

Maria lives in Colorado, but was born and raised in Florida.

Amy Borror

Position: Sr. Youth Policy Strategist
Categories: Staff
: (she, her)

Amy Borror is the Senior Youth Policy Strategist at The Gault Center, where she manages the organization’s policy and communications portfolios.

Prior to joining The Gault Center, Amy worked as a youth defense consultant; spent 13 years at the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, where she led the agency’s Policy & Outreach Division and managed its legislative and media efforts; and worked at the Ohio State Bar Association and the Ohio General Assembly. Amy earned her BA magna cum laude with college and departmental honors from the University of Toledo.

Amy, her wife, and their numerous rescue dogs and cats recently moved to Athens County in Southeast Ohio.

Stephen Goldmeier

Position: Justice Systems Manager
Categories: Staff

Stephen Goldmeier is the Justice Systems Manager at the Gault Center, where he works on implementing and improving processes, technology, and systems to serve the Center’s staff and our national network of youth defenders.

Before joining the Gault Center, Stephen worked both as a public defender and as a technology and systems expert. He spent five years as an appellate public defender at the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, where he litigated cases involving both adults and youth in courts ranging from local municipal courts to the Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He then worked in the Policy and Outreach department of that office, leading the design and deployment of a unified state-wide data-collection and case-management system. After that, he worked for the Bronx Defenders and the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at Southern Methodist University, managing many aspects of large-scale research, process-improvement, and technology projects.

Stephen has taught nationally about a wide variety of subjects, including legal writing, storytelling, systems design, data collection, and forensic science. He also serves in a leadership role in the Indigent Defense Research Association and works with many local activism and organizing groups in Columbus, Ohio.

Stephen received his bachelor’s degree in secondary education, with minors in chemistry and physics, from Otterbein University, and he graduated from DePaul University’s College of Law with a certificate in intellectual property law.

Stephen lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his cat, Lucky. He spends most of his time riding his bike around town, trying new restaurants, and visiting various local parks to look at birds.

Sarah Johnson

Position: Sr. Youth Defense Counsel
Categories: Staff

Sarah Johnson is Senior Defense Counsel for The Gault Center, where she manages the provision of training and technical assistance to the youth defender community.

Prior to joining The Gault Center, Sarah was the Director of Specialty Practices, Director of Youth Defense, and head of the Children’s Defense Team for the Missouri State Public Defender System. Sarah began her work as a public defender in 2009 in St. Louis, representing both children and adults in the St. Louis Area. In 2017, Sarah became the Director of Youth Defense and Policy, and in 2019, the Children’s Defense Team (CDT) opened its doors. The CDT is a specialized group of attorneys, mitigation specialists and support staff that represent children in delinquency proceedings in the St. Louis and Kansas City Area. Sarah has served on several statewide workgroups across her career as a public defender, looking at ways to raise the level and practice of youth defense and advocacy in Missouri.

Sarah graduated from Saint Louis University as an undergraduate and law student. While at Saint Louis University, Sarah played for the women’s soccer team, where she was a member of the first women’s team at the university to make it to the NCAA tournament! In law school, Sarah participated on the moot court team, trial team, and criminal defense clinic, where her dreams of advocating for individuals was realized.

Sarah lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her husband, two children and silver lab. In her free time, Sarah loves to be outdoors: running, hiking, and camping with her family and friends.

HyeJi Kim

Position: SENIOR YOUTH DEFENSE COUNSEL
Categories: Staff
: (she, her)

HyeJi Kim is a Senior Youth Defense Counsel at the Gault Center, where she works to strengthen children’s rights by ensuring that every child facing juvenile court stands with a zealous attorney fighting on behalf of the child. HyeJi focuses on developing policy and legal strategies to fight against the effects of structural racism in juvenile court systems and on transforming probation conditions to uphold positive youth development and racial justice. To that end, HyeJi engages in training, technical assistance, and policy advocacy for youth defenders to heighten a child’s right to counsel across the country.

Prior to joining the Gault Center, HyeJi worked as an Attorney for the Child (AFC) in child welfare and juvenile delinquency proceedings at the Legal Aid Society in New York City. As an AFC, HyeJi worked on an interdisciplinary team to directly advocate for the expressed wishes of young people, including those who are caught between the intersection of the family regulation and juvenile delinquency systems. Before working at the Legal Aid Society, HyeJi worked as a fellow at the Gault Center, where she focused on national reform efforts around supervision fees and youth probation orders.

HyeJi graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and summa cum laude from the George Washington University.

HyeJi grew up in Oregon and now lives in Brooklyn and is an avid fan of vegan ice cream and Korean cooking.

Alana Meyer

Position: Youth Defense Counsel
Categories: Staff

Alana S. Meyer is Youth Defense Counsel at The Gault Center, where she ensures youth defenders have the tools and resources they need to provide zealous advocacy for all children.

Prior to joining The Gault Center, Alana was the George Barrett Social Justice Fellow Attorney at The Children’s Law Center. In this position, she created and implemented a strategic plan to identify and provide education advocacy to children with disabilities in Kentucky’s detention centers and alternative schools. Following her fellowship, Alana was a public defender specializing in youth defense at the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy. She occupied several positions including front-line defender for kids in juvenile and adult court, appellate attorney for juvenile appeals, and civil litigator on conditions of confinement for youth in long-term facilities and detention centers. Alana was also a part of the youth defense training team where she developed and presented training for all new and existing public defenders throughout Kentucky.

Alana graduated from Vanderbilt Law School, where she was the Garrison Social Justice Scholar for her class and was awarded the Damali K. Booker Award for her keen dedication to legal activism. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in Sociology.

Alana grew up in South Florida and now lives in Lexington, KY with her husband, daughter, and bulldog. She enjoys traveling, yoga, and running after her toddler.

Jen Mossgraber

Position: Justice Systems Assistant
Categories: Staff

Jen Mossgraber is the Justice Systems Assistant at the Gault Center, where she works to improve and strengthen systems across the Center’s work in order to serve the Center’s staff and our national network of youth defenders.

Before joining the Gault Center, Jen worked at the Missouri State Public Defender System (MSPD) as the Coordinator for Specialty Practices where she provided administration and mitigation support to the specialty teams. Jen was instrumental in creating systems for the St. Louis Children’s Defense Team and served as a liaison for other offices across the state.

Jen is a graduate of the University of Missouri, St. Louis, where she studied political science and public policy. While at UMSL, Jen completed fellowships with two national organizations focused on voter registration and civic engagement.

Jen lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her partner and is currently studying front and back-end web development with LaunchCode, an organization focused on diversifying the tech field. Jen also enjoys hiking, cooking, and painting.

Gavriella Roisman

Position: Project Counsel
Categories: Staff

Gavriella Roisman is Project Counsel at the Gault Center. She comes to us most recently as a Staff Attorney at Lone Star Justice Alliance for the Survivors’ Project advocating for child survivors of human trafficking; adult survivors of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and trafficking; and youth who were tried in the adult criminal legal system and given draconian prison sentences. Gavriella has a background in education, special needs, and advocacy and has worked in multiple community organizations within Austin, Houston, and Los Angeles, with a focus on engagement and outreach. She previously served as Deputy Legal Program Director and Legal Clinical Supervisor at the Juvenile and Children’s Advocacy Project, as well as Adjunct Professor of the Street Law course, and helming the Education Rights Clinic at the University of Houston Law Center. Gavriella provided pro-bono legal services for youth in Fifth Ward in collaboration with the Center for Urban Transformation and Joel Androphy of Berg & Androphy, as well as working as a guardian ad litem and educational surrogate for youth with dual system status in Harris County.

Gavriella sits on the Harris County Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Steering committee, Disability Rights Texas’ Reentry Committee, and the VOICES Advisory Counsel. She is also a member of the Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition, a division of United Against Human Trafficking. Gavriella has presented at the Harris County Juvenile Law Seminar, Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association, Texas Sunshines (University of Texas Austin), and Shared Hope International’s annual JuST conference; as well as led panel discussions on trauma-informed care for youth with dual-system status and clear concern youth within the foster care system. Gavriella was a contributor to professional and layperson advocacy publications through the Center for Children, Law & Policy. She continues to teach law and advocacy-based courses for high school students in both Houston and Austin.

Gavriella is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center where she served as an Irene Merker Rosenberg scholar. At UHLC, she was awarded the Marvin D Nathan Fellowship at the Anti-Defamation League and the UHLC Clinic Program Ward for her work in the Civil Clinic, as well as the Yale Rosenberg Memorial Prize for legal writing. She is trained in Trust Based Relational Intervention through the Karyn Purvis Institute, which she applies in her work directly.

 

Board

Michael Pinard is the Francis & Harriet Iglehart Professor of...

Michael Pinard

CHAIR

Antoinette Kavanaugh, Ph.D., ABPP is Board Certified in Forensic Psychology,...

Dr. Antoinette Kavanaugh

VICE-CHAIR

Ken Schmetterer is a partner in DLA Piper’s litigation group...

Kenneth Schmetterer

TREASURER

Anastacia F. Johnson is a versatile leader, known for her...

Anastacia Johnson

SECRETARY

Randy Hertz is the Vice Dean of the NYU School...

Randy Hertz

MEMBER AT-LARGE

Patti is a Deputy Public Defender and the managing attorney...

Patti Lee

MEMBER AT-LARGE

Michael Pinard

Position: CHAIR
Categories: Board
Pronouns: (he, his)

Michael Pinard is the Francis & Harriet Iglehart Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the Clinical Law Program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. He teaches the Youth, Education, and Justice Clinic; Criminal Procedure II; and the Policing, Communities, and Law seminar. Michael has published several law review articles and op-eds on the criminal process, criminal defense lawyering, race and criminal justice, and the interconnections between the reentry of individuals with criminal records and the collateral consequences of criminal convictions. He is co-editor-in-chief of the Clinical Law Review and served on the Clinical Skills Committee of the ABA’s Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Michael serves on the Leadership Council of the Public Justice Center (Baltimore) and on Maryland’s Access to Justice Commission. He has served as a board member of the Public Justice Center, an advisory committee member of the Maryland Reentry Partnership, and an advisory committee of the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Michael received his JD from the New York University School of Law. He was a staff attorney with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City, a Robert M. Cover Clinical Teaching Fellow at Yale Law School, an Assistant Professor at St. John’s University Law School, and a Visiting Associate Professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

I joined the Board because of The Gault Center’s mission to support the urgent work of youth defenders throughout the United States, as well at its unrelenting commitment to hold accountable the systems in which too many of our children find themselves.

Dr. Antoinette Kavanaugh

Position: VICE-CHAIR
Categories: Board
Pronouns: (she, her)

Antoinette Kavanaugh, Ph.D., ABPP is Board Certified in Forensic Psychology, is the former Clinical Director of the Juvenile Justice Division of the Cook County Juvenile Court Clinic, served as a clinical professor at Northwestern University’s School of Law for ten years, is a Lecturer at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, is an alumnus of the American Psychological Association’s Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology, and is a Fellow for APA’s Division 42, Psychologists in Independent Practice.

Dr. Kavanaugh has authored several peer-reviewed articles and routinely educates lawyers and psychologists on issues related to obtaining and conducting forensic evaluations, adolescent development, and the impact of racism and discrimination on mental health. In private practice since 1999, she evaluates youth and adults for civil and criminal state and federal cases. Dr. Kavanaugh and Dr. Thomas Grisso co-authored Sentencing Juveniles in Adult Court, which details a developmentally sensitive approach to conducting de facto life or Miller sentencing evaluations.

I joined The Gault Center Board because of their devotion to educating those in the legal system about how youth and adults are fundamentally different.

Kenneth Schmetterer

Position: TREASURER
Categories: Board
Pronouns: (he, his)

Ken Schmetterer is a partner in DLA Piper’s litigation group with extensive experience before administrative bodies, including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the American Arbitration Association. His commercial litigation experience includes the prosecution and defense of an array of fraud, breach of contract, insurance coverage, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and tortious interference claims, among others, on behalf of a wide spectrum of businesses cutting across many industries.

Ken has extensive experience in shareholder and director disputes, securities broker-dealer raiding cases, investor disputes against broker-dealers, insurance coverage claims, trade secret misappropriation claims, securities fraud and other claims brought under federal securities acts and consumer class action disputes.

Ken is extensively involved in pro bono work and serves as pro bono counsel, director, and volunteer for Umoja Student Development Corporation.

Anastacia Johnson

Position: SECRETARY
Categories: Board
Pronouns: (she, her)

Anastacia F. Johnson is a versatile leader, known for her strategic vision and commitment to catalyzing transformative change through policy advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and asset-based community development. With over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, Anastacia has seamlessly merged her roles as an advocate and leader, championing equitable educational policies and community-driven initiatives. Currently serving as Director of Youth Development at Boys and Girls Club of America, she has not only pioneered competency-based training but has also been a driving force in advocating for programs and policies that empower youth.

Anastacia’s journey began in the classroom, where her commitment to educational equity led her to innovate teaching methodologies that catered to diverse learners. Transitioning into leadership roles within Fulton County Schools, she directed talent development strategies while advocating for authentic diversity and inclusion. Her academic pursuits, including a Master’s in School Leadership from Mercer University, reflect her dedication to empowering communities through education. 

Beyond her professional endeavors, Anastacia is deeply involved in asset-based community development and advocacy, serving on boards, and actively participating in various coalitions like the Georgia Women’s Policy Institute, striving for pay equity.

Her active participation in nonprofit leadership, coupled with her commitment to educational equity, has made her a beacon of change in fostering whole communities. Anastacia F. Johnson stands as a testament to the power of faith, policy advocacy, and strategic leadership in effecting positive change, underscoring her unwavering commitment to empowering communities and nurturing leaders.

Randy Hertz

Position: MEMBER AT-LARGE
Categories: Board
Pronouns: (he, his)

Randy Hertz is the Vice Dean of the NYU School of Law and the director of the law school’s clinical program. He has been at the law school since 1985, and teaches the Juvenile Defender Clinic, first-year Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and a simulation course titled Criminal Litigation.

Randy writes in the areas of criminal and juvenile justice and is the co-author with Professor James Liebman of Columbia Law School of a two-volume treatise titled Federal Habeas Corpus Law and Practice, and with Professors Anthony G. Amsterdam and Martin Guggenheim of NYU Law School of a two-volume manual titled Trial Manual for Defense Attorneys in Juvenile Court. Randy is also an editor-in-chief of the Clinical Law Review.

In the many years in which I have worked in the juvenile and criminal legal systems, I have learned so much – and I continue to learn – from the creative and innovative work that defenders and other advocates for youth are doing. I am very glad to be part of an organization like The Gault Center that can serve as a resource for them and can enlist the entire defender community in building on their cutting-edge ideas and materials

Patti Lee

Position: MEMBER AT-LARGE
Categories: Board
Pronouns: (she, her)

Patti is a Deputy Public Defender and the managing attorney of the Juvenile Unit in San Francisco, where she has been practicing in the juvenile court since 1981. Patti served for 20 years as the President of the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center, a nonprofit established to preserve the integrity of the juvenile legal system by ensuring that each child in California receives a vigorous defense that affords all the statutory and constitutional protections guaranteed by state and federal law.

Patti is a member of San Francisco Mayor, London Breed’s, Blue Ribbon Task Force to reform the San Francisco juvenile legal system; she is the Chairperson for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Working Committee to Close Juvenile Hall; she formerly was on the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee of the Judicial Council, Center for Families, Children and the Courts; and she was a core member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice