Mark Blackwood Mark Blackwood graduated from the University of Georgia in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Criminal Justice. After interning for the United States Marshals Service in Washington DC, Mark was hired as an intelligence analyst for the newly created regional fugitive task force. Following several years as an analyst, Mark attended the USMS Academy and became a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Richmond, VA where he served in various capacities, ultimately gravitating back to fugitive investigations. Mark transferred to the Atlanta, GA office where he worked for the fugitive task force again, until being promoted to the Warrant Supervisor. Mark is currently a Senior Inspector and the USMS Regional Coordinator for the Homeland Security Task Force overseeing fugitive operations for the Southeast Region. Victoria Bowman Victoria Bowman has over 16 years of experience serving in Criminal Justice and Accountability Courts. Raised in a family and public housing community plagued by substance use and mental health instability, she witnessed firsthand the negative impacts of addiction and instability. Driven to serve those in need, Vickie started her career as a Compliance Officer with the Georgia Department of Community Supervision in 2007, exposing her to the new criminal justice reform initiative of accountability courts in the Western Judicial Circuit. She served on the hard-working Drug Court, TAC, and Veterans Court teams as a DCS representative on the Accountability Court teams for over eight years. In February 2016, Vickie joined the Piedmont Judicial Circuit Specialty Courts as a Coordinator. She currently serves as the Director of Specialty Courts (2018) and has a Master's in Public Administration (UGA Dec 2023). Vickie, an experienced public speaker, sits on community advisory boards and has been honored to present at high schools, the University of Georgia, leadership conferences, and other community institutions regarding the positive impacts of accountability courts - in individual lives, the economy, the criminal justice system, and local communities. In addition to speaking engagements, Vickie passionately serves her community in various roles - mentor to middle, high, and college-aged students, a middle school basketball & track-n-field coach, and an ordained minister. Her favorite role is "Auntie" to three nieces and ten nephews! She lives with her family in Franklin County, GA, and hopes to inspire others through her compassion and acts of service. Honorable Tracie Cason Tracie Cason is a Superior Court Judge for Gwinnett County, having been elected in May of 2018 and re-elected in 2022. Tracie graduated Cum Laude with honors from the University of Georgia in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. She attended and received her Juris Doctorate Degree from Baylor University School of Law in 1997. Before joining the bench, Tracie was a career prosecutor. She began her legal career in the Dublin Judicial Circuit in 1997 before serving in the Gwinnett District Attorney's Office for 18 years until her election to the bench. In her free time, Tracie is an avid Dawg fan. She and her husband, David, regularly attend UGA sporting events, traveling all over the country to see the Dawgs play! They have a standard dachshund named Erskine Russell (Erk) and a chocolate lab named Emma Mae. Kaylee Craven Kaylee graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. She began her career with DCS in 2019, first serving as an intern and then as an officer in the Western Judicial Circuit. As the Criminal Intelligence Analyst, Kaylee shares intelligence between DCS and federal, state, and local partners, assists in external operations, and coordinates internal operations with our Immediate Response Team and local field offices. She serves as a Task Force Officer on FBI Atlanta’s Metropolitan Major Offender TF and the DCS liaison for the Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis Center. Eric Crawford In the two decades following his graduation from the CJ program and then UGA Law, Eric has been involved in the criminal justice system, first as an assistant district attorney, then as a criminal attorney. He has tried several dozen cases to a jury, has handled over one hundred appeals, and won two of his three cases actually argued in front of and decided by the Georgia Supreme Court. A past president of the Walton County Bar Association, Eric now represents the Alcovy Judicial Circuit on the Georgia Bar Board of Governors. His firm has twice made the "Bulldog 100," and he has been named to the prestigious Super Lawyers for the past few years. Go dawgs! Jeff Hammock Jeff Hammock is currently the Deputy Chief of Community Engagement and Professional Standards at the University of Georgia Police Department. He earned BA degrees in Political Science and Criminal Justice from the University of Georgia in December of 2005, a Master's in Public Safety Administration from Columbus State University in 2017 and completed the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command also in 2017. He has worked with the University of Georgia Police Department for 19 years, joining the department in 2006 shortly after graduating from UGA. During his time at the UGA Police Department, Jeff has held a multitude of roles to include patrol officer, detective corporal, detective sergeant, detective lieutenant, detective captain, patrol captain, deputy chief of operations (patrol and detectives), and his current role as deputy chief over community engagement. He has also been a member of the crisis negations team, mobile field force team, participated in the planning of numerous large-scale events on and around campus. John Heinen John Heinen has served as both a local and state law enforcement officer beginning in 1989. He was employed as a Special Agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation with over 25 years of creditable service, retiring from his position on the Investigative Division Command Staff at GBI Headquarters in 2014. Immediately after, he joined the Georgia Lottery Corporation where he is a Senior Vice President. In addition to his work for the lottery, John currently reviews unsolved homicides (“cold cases”) for the GBI, and he consults the Georgia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals on security matters. John received his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice Studies from the University of Georgia. He earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and attended the 230th Session of the FBI National Academy. Allison Mauldin Allison Mauldin is the Chief Assistant District Attorney of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit. She is responsible for assisting the DA in managing an 8 county circuit. She has been the Lead Prosecutor for multiple serious violent felonies and most recently having tried 2 death penalty cases to verdict. Previous experience includes 10 years in the Piedmont Judicial Circuit where she was responsible for managing the Barrow County office. She became the Acting District Attorney upon the resignation of the sitting DA. Allison graduated from UGA with a degree in Criminal Justice and received her JD from UGA School of Law. She began her prosecutorial career in the Gwinnett County Solicitor’s office where she tried over 150 cases. Appellate practice includes authoring multiple briefs and oral arguments in the Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court. In 2008, she was awarded the ADA of the Year from the District Attorney’s Association. She married Ken Mauldin in 1998, and they have 3 children: Grace (25), Nick (22) and Jake (21). Mike Parham Mike Parham is a Vice President for the Georgia Lottery Corporation, where he has served since 2017. He began his career with the Lottery in 1997 and has held multiple leadership roles in operations, gaming services, and regulatory compliance. Over more than 25 years with the organization, he has led key initiatives to modernize systems, enhance operational efficiency, and strengthen industry oversight statewide. Mike began his law enforcement career in 1987 as a Patrol Officer with the Clarke County Police Department before joining the Cobb County Police Department in 1989, where he served as a Field Training Officer and later as a Detective in the Crimes Against Children Division. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and later earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Kennesaw State University in 1993. Mike remains active in his community through volunteer service with the Judicial Citizen Review Panel in Cherokee County. Amelia Rushton Amelia Addison Rushton is the Director of the Victim Witness Program for the Solicitor-General’s Office in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, a position she has held since 2000. The Victim Witness Program serves all victims of misdemeanor crimes in Clarke County. The primary focus of her advocacy is working with victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. While working with the Solicitor General’s Office, she has assisted in implementing and coordinating a “Fast Track” program for high-risk domestic violence and stalking cases in which the first court appearance is accelerated. At the same time, victims have an opportunity to meet with local advocates who can provide shelter, counseling, and protective orders. The Solicitor’s Fast Track program has been recognized by the Georgia Fatality Review as a “best practices” recommendation. Amelia manages two federal grants from the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) STOP Violence Program and the Victim of Crimes Act (VOCA) and the special programs involved with those funding resources. She has been an active member of the Athens-Clarke and Oconee County Domestic Violence Task Force, serving on the Executive, Law Enforcement Training, and Fatality Review Committees. Additionally, Amelia participates in the Community Accountability Protocol for FVIP compliance and in the newly formed High-Risk Team Initiative. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia in Psychology and Criminal Justice. She has lived in the Athens area since leaving UGA and is married to fellow alumnus Lee Rushton, with whom she has two busy children. In her free time, Amelia is an avid reader and enjoys serving on the Friends of the Library Board and meeting with her Book Club. Derek Scott After leaving UGA, Derek started with ACCPD in October 1997. He began his career in Uniform Patrol. After several years on patrol, he was transferred to Downtown Operations (bike unit). In 2005, he was assigned to Criminal Investigations as a Detective in the Family Protection Center. He investigated crimes of domestic violence, sex crimes, and crimes against children. In 2006, he was promoted to sergeant and re-assigned to Downtown Operations for eight years. In 2014, he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to Uniform Patrol as a Watch Commander for two and a half years. In 2016, he was transferred to Criminal Investigations and returned to the Family Protection Center as the Commander of this unit. In the spring of 2020, he was promoted to Captain and has been the East Patrol Commander and currently the West Patrol Commander. During his career, he has been the Commander of the Crisis Negotiations Team and a member of several Taskforces including the Child Fatality Review, Domestic Violence Taskforce, Domestic Violence Fatality Review, Sexual Assault Response Team, and Sexual Assault Nurse Exam Advisory Board. Kelly Sullivan Kelly Sullivan is currently an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Western District of North Carolina and a career public defender. Kelly is a double dawg- she graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Criminal Justice in 2013 and then went on to earn her law degree in 2016. After graduating, she moved out to Denver and began her career in the Colorado State Public Defender System. Kelly moved back to Georgia in 2021, where she joined the Middle District of Georgia as a federal defender. She then went on to start a new conflict public defender office for the Georgia Public Defender Council that covered 12 counties in the Northeast in 2022. In 2024, Kelly joined her current office's trial unit in Charlotte, North Carolina. Eric Trehern Eric Trehern is a Senior Manager of Asset Protection Investigations at The Home Depot. He leads a team of highly trained investigators based at The Home Depot’s Store Support Center (SSC) supporting over 2,000 US Stores. His team is focused on the resolution of complex internal theft investigations impacting Stores, Supply Chain and Rental. Prior to his current role, Eric led Organized Retail Crime Investigations in Home Depot’s Southern Division. Eric comes from a background with almost a decade in law enforcement and over 11 years of retail Asset Protection experience, he has held several leadership roles in both store and headquarter environments. Eric is a graduate of the University of Georgia with his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, he also serves on the board for the Georgia Retailers Organized Crime Alliance (GROC). Erin Tucker Erin E. Tucker, MA graduated from Florida Southern College in 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Political Science. She continued to pursue her Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice at Loyola University Chicago where she studied offender rehabilitation and was awarded the “Thesis of the Year Award” for the Social Sciences Department. Officer Tucker began her term as a Federal Probation Officer in August 2015 in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago office). In 2018, she transferred to the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta to continue the same line of work. Officer Tucker has a research background and is responsible for training officers on how to reduce recidivism through evidenced-based practices. She is the district leader in STARR (Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Recidivism), a National Academy Trained Safety Officer, the founder of the District’s BOP Bridging the Gap Program, and is passionate about making positive change in the criminal justice system and educating the next generation of criminal justice practitioners Eric Trehern; Mark Blackwood, President; Derek Scott, Vice President
