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Alf Barbalunga has been a chief probation officer with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Trial Court Probation Service since 2004. He currently supervises the Southern Berkshire District, which is the second-largest district jurisdiction along the Connecticut and New York state borders. Previous to being a chief, he was an acting chief, an officer-in-charge, a juvenile probation officer, an adult probation officer, and a courthouse intern. Barbalunga started his career in public safety at nineteen years of age as a correctional officer and deputy sheriff with the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Department in Pittsfield, MA. Additionally, he has been employed as a jail officer and case manager with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office in Boston, MA. Lastly, he has been employed as an investigator with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General in Boston. Alf is President of the Massachusetts Chief Probation Officers’ Association, Inc. In December of 2020, he was unanimously voted into his fourth consecutive two-year term. He is the youngest president ever to hold this leadership position, the only president west of Worcester County ever to hold this position, and he is now on track to be the longest-serving president. Previous to being elected president, he spent ten years as an executive committee member of this association. His most recent Commonwealth of Massachusetts Trial Court accolades include the Cultural Diversity Certificate of Appreciation, awarded in October 2020, where he was one of approximately 6,200 employees eligible for consideration of this prestigious honor. Additionally, he received the Excellent Attendance Badge, awarded in December of 2020. He graduated with a business degree and a philosophy concentration from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. During those four years he competed and excelled as an NCAA-I/II athlete, where he further learned to value education and teamwork. He is a proud alumnus of Pittsfield High School where he was a two-sport standout. He recently committed to being the Pittsfield High School Varsity Alpine Ski Coach. Alf has been a guest lecturer and presenter at various colleges, universities, conferences, and workshops throughout the United States. He is the former Chair of the City of Pittsfield School Committee and the former Vice-Chair of the City of Pittsfield Community Developme

Kelly Hamilton-Welzel has served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the Chief Probation Officer of the Taunton District Court since early 2016. The District serves seven cities and towns in the Southeastern section of Massachusetts, bordering Rhode Island. The journey to the Chief position began in 2001 when Hamilton-Welzel was appointed to an Associate Probation Officer position in the Fall River District Court. She moved on to become a Probation Officer at the Bristol Superior Court, and an Assistant Chief Probation Officer in the Juvenile, District and Superior Courts. Hamilton-Welzel is a life-long study of probation, raised in a household where her father served the Massachusetts Probation Service for thirty-five years, retiring as a Chief Probation Officer. On her fourth day as a Chief Probation Officer, Hamilton-Welzel was charged with starting a Drug Court in Taunton. With strong support from the community and almost eight months of research, training, and planning, the Taunton Drug Court Team conducted the first session in November of 2016. Now in its fifth year, the Taunton Drug Court has celebrated fifteen graduates, earned certification from the Massachusetts Center of Excellence for Specialty Courts, and was recognized by the Trial Court of the Commonwealth with a 2019 Excellence Award for the innovative delivery of integrated treatment services through collaboration with the Bristol Community Justice Support Center. Hamilton-Welzel ensures strong ties between the Taunton community and the Probation Department through collaboration with the Taunton Community Crisis Intervention Team, the Taunton Safe Neighborhood Initiative, the Taunton Opiate and Substance Use Task Force, HART, and the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Gang Network. Kelly earned her Master of Public Administration at Anna Maria College in 2012 while working full time and raising her two young girls. She is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University where she also competed as an NCAA Division I Track and Field athlete. She is a graduate Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School where she was also a three sport competitor. The love of sports and the outdoors led Hamilton-Welzel to learn to scuba dive at the age of nineteen. She has been a PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) instructor for over twenty-five years, w

Mark Prisco has been the Chief Probation Officer of the Norfolk County Juvenile Court for the past seven years. Additionally, he has been the Treasurer of the Massachusetts Chief Probation Officers’ Association, Inc. for the past 14 years. He was a Chief Probation Officer at the Office of Commissioner of Probation for three years. He was the Chief Probation Officer at the Boston Municipal Court, West Roxbury Division for six years. He was the Assistant Chief Probation Officer at the Norfolk Juvenile Court for seven years. He started his career with the Trial Court working ten years as a Probation Officer at the Dedham District Court. Mark has presented at APPA conferences in San Francisco, CA, Orlando, FL and New Orleans, LA regarding Gang Initiatives. He has presented in Baltimore, MD regarding Electronic Monitoring Programs. He has presented in Philadelphia, PA regarding Parenting Programs in the Juvenile Courts.