Haley Jensen
Haley Jensen (Board Chair) is the President of Membership.com, a market leading sales agency connecting individuals to value added services. She has experience in varied industries including insurance and financial services, business process outsourcing and call centers, membership based and affinity organizations, healthcare services, and technology and telecommunications services. She serves on multiple boards of private companies and charitable foundations.
Haley was born and raised in Texas. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Applied Economics from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.
Caroline Kim
Caroline Kim is a proven strategist with over 10 years of experience translating insights into actionable business strategies and a trusted advisor for senior executive Fortune 50 clients. As a senior leader at Booz Allen Hamilton, she built a reputation as a creative leader with experience overseeing cross-functional teams that use data to solve complex business problems. Caroline brings a unique blend of strategy and organizational experience including: strategic planning, corporate social responsibility, public private partnerships, and change management. She has worked across all sectors including private corporations, nonprofit and government in over 10 countries across 4 continents. Caroline received her MPP at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy and her BA at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Ashley Pettus
Ashley is a freelance writer, philanthropist, and passionate advocate for criminal justice reform. She joined LSJA’s board while living in Houston from 2017-2020. During that time, she served as a court-appointed advocate on the criminal side of the Harris County 315th Juvenile court, working primarily with gang involved boys. She also served as Chair of the Joint Committee for Juvenile Justice and Education for Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton’s Transition Team.
Now back in the Boston-area, she has been helping incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men tell their stories through her work with a number of nonprofits, including the Transformational Prison Project and the Massachusetts Parole Preparation Partnership. She continues to look for ways to support innovative organizations across the country focused on ending mass incarceration and strengthening communities affected by poverty, violence, over policing, and underinvestment.
Prior to her work in criminal justice, she founded and directed the Global HearthWorks Foundation, a US-based 501c3, that invests in renewable energy enterprises and other climate solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. She was a long-time features writer for Harvard Magazine and worked as a science writer for the Clean Air Task Force. She earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from UC Berkeley and an AB in Social Studies from Harvard College.
She currently lives in Belmont, MA.
Courtney B. Perez
Courtney Barksdale Perez is a partner at Carter Arnett. Courtney has a vast array of civil litigation experience having tried cases to jury in state and federal court. She has represented plaintiffs and defendants in employment-related claims, civil disputes involving allegations of fraud, negligence, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of covenants not to compete, tortious interference with contracts, civil conspiracy, antitrust and in intellectual property disputes alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, trademark infringement, and patent infringement.
Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law, Courtney has specialized knowledge representing individuals, corporations, and government entities in all phases of commercial and employment-related litigation from the risk-management phase through trial and on appeal. Courtney regularly advises clients concerning compliance with employment-related statutes and has served as lead counsel in cases involving claims asserted under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Family Medical Leave Act, Federal Labor Standards Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Texas Whistleblower Act, the Texas Payday Act, the Texas Labor Code and employment agreements. She also conducts internal investigations, reviews and prepares policies and procedures, and provides training for employers. Courtney also has experience advising government contractors concerning their obligations under federal contract compliance laws, developing compliance programs, drafting Affirmative Action plans and representing government contractors in administrative proceedings.
In addition, Courtney is a trained mediator and uses her dispute resolution training and experience to assist litigants in resolving employment, business, commercial, consumer, personal injury and civil rights disputes.
Prior to joining Carter Arnett, Courtney was an associate at an international law firm and served as Law Clerk to the Honorable James A. Beaty, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Doug Deason
Doug Deason is a conservative activist and donor from Dallas, Texas . He has been the president of the Deason Foundation since 2009. The Deason Foundation works with charities and directly with politicians at the state and federal levels on initiatives to empower the poor to lift themselves from poverty through criminal justice reform, education reform and free enterprise programs.
Doug serves in board or leadership positions for the Dallas County Republican Party, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), Lone Star Justice Alliance and Texans for Free Enterprise, he has demonstrated leadership in conservative politics, including the issue of criminal justice reform. Mr. Deason is a supporting member of the Texas Smart on Crime Coalition, the largest statewide effort working to make Texas' criminal justice system smarter, safer, and more cost effective. He is also a signatory to Right on Crime’s Statement of Principles on conservative criminal justice reform. Right on Crime is a project of TPPF in cooperation with Prison Fellowship and the American Conservative Union Foundation. Doug was an advisor to the White House on CJR issues from May of 2017 to January of 2021 and was recently appointed to the Florida Foundation of Correctional Excellence by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Larry Robinson
Larry Robinson is a retired First Sergeant in the United States Army. Twenty-two years ago, his 16-year-old son, Jason Robinson, was convicted of being an accessory to the crime of killing a man and given a mandatory life sentence. Larry has become a passionate advocate for Jason and other children like him, testifying before the Texas Legislature and engaging in frequent media appearances. He is a member of Epicenter, a group of family members of juveniles sentenced in the Texas adult criminal justice system.
Maureen Milligan
Maureen Milligan, is the Field Director - Central Team at National Development Council. Maureen formerly served as the Chief of the Community Prosecution and Community Courts Section at the City of Dallas and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. Maureen received her law degree from American University, her master's degree in education from the University of Virginia and her undergraduate degree from Duke University. Maureen is a member of the North Texas Crime Commission, the Dallas Rotary Club and the Junior League of Dallas. She is a graduate of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Leadership Program, the T. Boone Pickens Leadership Institute and the Caruth Police Institute's Executive Leadership Series.
Phillip J. Yates
Phillip J. Yates is an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Texas. He is currently working at the Nelson M. Jones Law Firm where he focuses on criminal, commercial and civil litigation issues. Prior to attending law school at Texas Southern University – Thurgood Marshall School of Law, he received both his bachelor and master's degree in business administration from Stephen F. Austin State University. Phillip is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., PHA Masonic Lodge True Square #108, and a former NCAA Division-I basketball player. He's also an alum of Leadership Houston - Class XXXIII, volunteers with the Alief I.S.D. Leadership Advisory Council, mentors at Chinquapin Preparatory, and serves on the Stephen F. Austin State University General Business Advisory Board. In 2017, Phillip was named a Rising Star by the League of Women Voters in the Houston Area. Phillip is currently a consultant at the Houston Area Urban League, where he is credited with implementing the economic development and entrepreneurship program, Small Business Development University. Since 2011, this entrepreneurial program has helped over several thousand minority entrepreneurs start businesses, create jobs, grow and scale their businesses. Phillip has working experience that includes being a professional in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, as well as an entrepreneur. In 2015, Phillip participated in Commissioner Ellis’s Texas Legislative Internship Program (TLIP) during the 84th Texas Legislature, where he served as a policy advisor for Speaker Joe Straus in the Texas House of Representatives. Phillip now has the pleasure of conducting policy advocacy work at the Houston Area Urban League, a local nonprofit organization in the Greater Houston Area. Phillip takes pride in his commitment to serve others and advocate for those without a voice in his community. As a Board of Director for the LoneStar Justice Alliance, Phillip looks forward to the opportunity to work with leadership and community stakeholders in tackling criminal justice issues and overhauling the legal justice system in the State of Texas.
Reed Macy, CFA
Reed Macy, CFA has over 10 years of professional experience in finance, including deep experience in both private equity, investment banking and portfolio management. Previously, Reed ran the E&P practice as a Managing Director at Headwaters MB, a middle-market investment bank. Before joining Headwaters, he managed the deal review, analytics and structuring for SourceRock an energy consulting and advisory firm, where he was a Partner. Reed was a former Vice President for Parallel Resource Partners, an energy private equity firm that specialized in distressed equity and debt investments in the oil and gas sector. Prior to joining Parallel Resource Partners, Reed was a Vice President at Carlson Capital and worked with the firm’s private equity, directional credit and long/short equity portfolio management team. Prior to joining Carlson Capital, Reed worked as an associate for TPH Partners in 2009. TPH Partners is a Houston-based energy private equity group affiliated with Tudor Pickering & Holt, which is a leading oil and gas focused investment banking firm. At Tudor Pickering, Reed held a joint role of coordinating and co-managing the fund’s capital raising process, as well as running investment analytics for potential deals across the small cap E&P midstream and service sectors. From 2007 through 2008, Reed worked at Goldman Sachs E&P Capital, the principal energy investment group within the firm, where he sourced, performed due diligence, analyzed and later monitored numerous energy investments, including debt, equity and convertible structures. Reed began his career in mid-2004 in the Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management division, where he managed and executed public security transactions and performed portfolio analytics for a team with over $2.5 billion in assets under management. Reed earned a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Rice University and is a CFA Charterholder. He is currently pursuing an MD at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.
Olivia Cole
Olivia spent the first 20 years of her professional career in the advertising and brand building business. In 2006, she co-founded the award-winning independent creative shop, GoDo Discovery Co. (formerly known as greenlight), and since then, has focused on identifying and interpreting insights that authentically connect brands to audiences through advertising, content and culture.
It was her personal passion for local philanthropy and brand experiences that cemented her desire to fully commit her work within the impact sector, leading both Olivia and her agency to Café Momentum, and in turn, Momentum Advisory Collective.
After several years establishing the pro bono and impact practice at GoDo, Olivia stepped away from her agency in late 2019 to pursue the opportunity of a lifetime with Momentum Advisory Collective as the organization’s founding Chief Marketing Officer where she led the creation and launch of the M.A.C brand; executive produced the Building Momentum documentary and spearheaded the formation of important advocacy initiatives that expand our programmatic support of justice-involved youth – Momentum Ambassadors and The Momentum Pledge.
Today, as CSO, Olivia advises and drives the creation and implementation of strategic initiatives that support the organization’s vision, as well as ensuring that planned initiatives are optimized to support Momentum’s growth and national conversation goals.
Olivia’s deeply committed to making real and equitable change for every young person in our country. Alongside her executive team, she is working to build brand partnerships and strategies that create national expansion opportunities for the Café Momentum model and position Momentum Advisory Collective as a key voice in national, state and local discussions on changing the system so that every young man and woman in this country has the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Deb Gore
Deb Gore has worked with incarcerated women and formerly incarcerated women for over a decade. She teaches financial literacy to women in Texas prisons who are about to be released. Her reentry curricula won the Governor's Criminal Justice Service Award in 2022. The four reentry programs have been taught in multiple prisons and transitional facilities in various states, and have been completed by thousands of women. Additionally, Deb founded the Incarcerated Women's Project, an advocacy effort to improve the lives of justice involved women in Texas. She has been married to her husband Rex for over 40 years.
Holly Kuzmich
Holly serves as a Managing Director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early-stage, high-impact social enterprises. She plays a lead role in sourcing new investments and working with the leadership of those organizations as an operating partner and board member as they grow to build capacity and achieve their maximum impact. Holly currently serves on the board of DRK grantees Child Poverty Action Lab, Texas Water Trade, Vida Water, the Oakland REACH, and Lone Star Justice Alliance.
Holly has over 25 years of public policy and leadership experience, serving in senior positions in the government, non-profit, and private sectors. She previously served as the Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute, a solution-oriented nonpartisan policy organization focused on ensuring opportunity, strengthening democracy, and advancing free societies. Holly led the team in developing and implementing major policy and programmatic initiatives on key issues of national and global importance.
She is a veteran of the White House, U.S. Department of Education, and Capitol Hill, where she developed her expertise in education policy. She served on the White House Domestic Policy Council staff and as Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, she worked for two United States Senators on domestic policy issues. She has also consulted on education and workforce issues with major foundations, companies, non-profits, and policymakers.
External to DRK, she serves on the boards of the Gates Policy Initiative and the Dallas Assembly. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.