Michael P. Jacobson
President & Director, Vera Institute of Justice
e-mail: mjacobson@vera.org
tel: (212) 376-3163

Michael P. Jacobson joined Vera as its fourth director in January 2005. Before then he was a professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. A PhD in sociology, he was the New York City correction commissioner from 1995 to 1998 and the city's probation commissioner from 1992 to 1996. Prior to that, he worked in the New York City Office of Management and Budget from 1984 to 1992 where he was the deputy budget director. He is the author of Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration (New York University Press 2005). He serves as chair of the New York City Criminal Justice Agency.

Karen Goldstein
Vice President & General Counsel, Legal Department
e-mail: kgoldstein@vera.org
tel: (212) 376-3144

Karen Goldstein joined Vera in 2000. In addition to supervising Vera's legal department, she advises the directors of Vera's demonstration projects and guides them through the spin-off process that makes them independent organizations. Previously, she served as general counsel for the New York City Department of Homeless Services and as general counsel to Miracle Makers, Inc., a community-based nonprofit corporation in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She has also assisted the Hon. Kathryn McDonald in the administration of the Family Courts; served as deputy general counsel to the New York City Human Resources Administration; worked as a trial attorney for the Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Division; and served as a senior supervising attorney for the Society's Criminal Appeals Bureau. Karen is the lead author of the The Vera Institute of Justice Spin-off Tool Kit and is a member of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee's Government Relations Committee. She has a JD from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Daniel F. Wilhelm
Vice President & Chief Program Officer, Vera Institute of Justice
e-mail: dwilhelm@vera.org
tel: (212) 376-3073

As chief program officer, Daniel F. Wilhelm supervises all of Vera's centers and programs. He also oversees the Institute's communications and development efforts. Formerly as director of technical assistance, Dan guided how Vera worked with local, state, and national government officials and oversaw the Institute's federal relations. From 2002 to early 2006, Dan directed Vera's State Sentencing and Corrections Program; he joined the Institute in 2001 as that program's associate director. Previously Dan practiced as a litigator in the New York office of Sidley & Austin and served as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Frederic Block in Brooklyn, NY. Dan has testified before commissions and legislative committees in some 20 states on criminal justice matters. He is co-author of the Vera publication Is the Budget Crisis Changing the Way We Look at Sentencing and Incarceration? and has written on justice issues for the Federal Sentencing Reporter, Corrections Today, the American Bar Association, and the American Journal of International Law. Dan is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, Harvard Divinity School, and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

Ernest Duncan
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Vera Institute of Justice
e-mail: eduncan@vera.org
tel: (212) 376-3054

As chief operating officer and chief financial officer, Ernest provides practical, hands-on management to the organization. Over the past 15 years, Ernest has helped nonprofit organizations focus on the particular issues of governance, fiscal infrastructure, and human resources that directly impact organizations’ continuing success. His experience encompasses internal control reviews, risk assessments, and organizational development. Past organizations Ernest has worked with include Wildcat Service Corporation, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Museum of African American History, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Ernest serves on the board of directors of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and is past treasurer of Family Justice, Inc. Other memberships include the American Institute of CPAs and New York State Society of CPAs and its Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee. Ernest is a life member of the National Black MBA Association and is past president of the Nashville chapter. Ernest earned a BS in accounting from the Culverhouse of Accountancy at the University of Alabama, an MBA in strategic management and public policy from George Washington University, and a DBA in management and leadership from the University of Phoenix. 

Tina Chiu
Director, Technical Assistance
e-mail: tchiu@vera.org
tel: (212) 376-3038

Tina Chiu serves as director of technical assistance, guiding Vera’s centers and programs in providing support to local, state, and national government officials. She was previously the deputy director of technical assistance. Tina joined Vera in 1999 as a senior program associate and has worked with jurisdictions and policymakers on a variety of issues, including police-immigrant relations, prison conditions, juvenile justice and youth development, adult sentencing and corrections, and responses to domestic violence. Before coming to Vera, Tina was a research associate at Columbia University, specializing in community economic development and geographic information systems analysis. She has a BA in liberal arts from St. John's College, an MA in history and philosophy of science from the University of Chicago, and an MS in urban planning from Columbia University.

Joel Levy
Director of Development
e-mail: jlevy@vera.org
tel: (212) 376-3003

Joel J. Levy joined Vera in August 2009. For the previous eight years he was the New York regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. Prior to that, Joel was the chairman for Germany of The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation; in that capacity he built the first yeshiva in Germany since the Holocaust. Simultaneously, he was co-managing director of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Berlin.

For more than 20 years Joel was a United States Foreign Service Officer, with assignments in Romania, Tanzania, Malta, Washington, DC, and Berlin, where he was the head of the American Embassy Office. He was the founding president of the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. Before joining the Foreign Service, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Seoul, Korea, where he taught at a Jesuit university. He also taught social studies at Port Chester High School.

He holds a BA from Franklin and Marshall College and an MA from Columbia University, and he studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Christine M. Leonard
Director, Washington DC Office
e-mail: cleonard@vera.org
tel: (202) 347-6776, x 753

Christine Leonard joined Vera as the director of the Washington DC Office in July 2011. Prior to joining Vera, she was the associate director of legislative affairs for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for the Obama administration. In that capacity, Christine developed and implemented strategies to advance key legislative priorities with relevant congressional committees. She also led and oversaw all communications with members of Congress, as well as hearing participation and confirmation of agency nominees. 
 
Previously, Christine served as senior counsel to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. In this role, she worked on a range of criminal justice issues, including legislation relating to juvenile justice, sentencing reform, prison conditions, and national security. She also advised Senator Kennedy on these and other matters within the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Prior to her work in the Senate, Christine served as a counsel to Rep. William D. Delahunt, working on matters pending before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Previously, she worked in the Boston office of Holland & Knight LLP. Earlier in her career, Christine also served on the staff of Rep. James P. McGovern during his first term in Congress.

Christine holds a BA in international studies from Boston College and a JD from the college’s Law School.