Whitney Tymas came to Vera in June 2011 from the National District Attorneys Association, where she ran two national projects—the Gun and Gang Violence Prosecution Program and the Southwest Border Crime Initiative—delivering training support and technical assistance to prosecutors, law enforcement officers and others on innovative approaches to public safety.

Previously, she practiced law for approximately 20 years, beginning as a public defender with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a Vera spin-off, and continuing at the Office of the Appellate Defender, also in New York. She then served as a prosecutor for eight years in Richmond, Virginia, handling every type of criminal offense, and eventually becoming chief deputy prosecutor, overseeing the daily operations of the office.

Whitney received her BA from Barnard and her JD from NYU, where she was a Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar.