Leighton Iles has over 29 years of experience in adult probation and is currently the Director of the Tarrant County Community Supervision and Corrections Department in Fort Worth, Texas. He oversees a staff of 350 that serves an offender population of 21,000, operating with an annual budget exceeding $26 million.

Iles currently serves as President of the National Association of Probation Executives. He is Past President of the Texas Corrections Association, has been an APPA Regional Representative since 2013, and is a member of the Texas Probation Association Legislative Committee. In October 2007, the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals appointed him a member of the Judicial Advisory Council to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and he continues to serve in this capacity.

Iles holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and a Master of Public Administration, both from Texas State University.

Marcus Hodges the immediate past-President of the National Association of Probation Executives, began a trajectory of impressive public service when he joined the Virginia Department of Corrections in 1992. Throughout his career he has worked to promote programs and processes that support the reintegration of released offenders to the community. Experienced in prisons, community corrections, and probation and parole, Hodges joined the National Institute of Corrections as a Correctional Program Specialist with the Community Corrections/Prisons Division. With a primary focus on community corrections, his tenure included work in the areas of transition from prison to community, evidence-based practices in corrections, and pretrial services. Other focus areas included programming on promoting a positive corrections culture and managing a multi-generational workforce.

As a Chief Probation and Parole Officer and as a Regional Administrator for the Virginia Department of Corrections, Hodges promoted strategic and innovative risk management, offender programming, and comprehensive and robust processes for reintegration success. In 2015, Hodges was named to Governor Terry McAuliffe's Committee for Parole Review and worked on associated sub-committees to develop an in-depth review of the efficacy of the parole system.

In 2017, he was named the Associate Director for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency in Washington, D.C. In recognition of his work, in 2018 he received the Middle Atlantic States President's award for Innovation in Corrections.

Cherie Townsend, who has received numerous awards for leadership during her nearly 40-year career in juvenile justice and community corrections, began working as a consultant and executive coach after her retirement from public service in 2012. Townsend's work as an executive coach focuses on both emerging and senior executive women who are seeking impact, balance, and joy both personally and professionally. In addition to her work as an executive coach, she currently serves as Executive Director of the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology and is the Chair of the Pretrial Justice Institute's Board of Directors.

Immediately prior to her retirement, Townsend served as the Executive Director of the Texas Department of Juvenile Justice. She has also served in executive leadership positions with the Texas Youth Commission, as director of juvenile justice services in Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas), and as director of juvenile court services in Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix).

Townsend continues to serve in her community on boards, professional committees, and groups that seek to improve policy and practice. She has a M.P.A. from Southern Methodist University and M.B.A. from the University of Texas. She is a certified coach through the International Coach Federation and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach.

Kathryn Liebers began her career in 1981 as a probation officer, first in Alliance, Nebraska, and then in Norfolk, on the eastern side of the state. In July 2004 she was appointed Chief Deputy for Probation District 2, which was comprised of 17 counties in northeast Nebraska. In April 2007 she began serving in the position of Chief Probation Officer of District 7, having been appointed by former Nebraska Probation Administrator and past NAPE President, Ellen Fabian-Brokofsky. For many years Liebers has been actively engaged in the transformation of probation services in Nebraska by supporting and locally implementing various administrative initiatives, and her efforts have helped move Nebraska probation practices to evidence-based supervision.

Liebers earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice (with a minor in English) from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and has finished considerable coursework in a master's degree program at Wayne State College. Liebers also completed the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Corrections Executive Orientation Program at Sam Houston State University and the Management Development Certification Program via the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

She currently serves as the chairperson of Nebraska Probation's Public Relations Committee and is a member of the Executive Policy Committee. Liebers has served on the Nebraska Probation Substance Abuse Committee, Personnel Committee and Community Corrections Programs Committee. Among her other contributions, she has previously been on the board of directors of the WELL women's halfway house, Animal Shelter of Northeast Nebraska, Healthy Communities Collaborative, and Madison County Extension Board.

Molly Gauntner is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor III in the State of Ohio, having received a Master of Education in Community Agency Counseling from Cleveland State University. During her over 20 years with the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Gauntner has served in various capacities, including cognitive skills facilitator, substance abuse case manager, probation officer, and supervisor of the specialized caseload units. She was also director of the court’s Community Corrections Act Prison Diversion Programs and co-coordinator of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Court.

In July of 2015, Gauntner became the Chief Probation Officer of Franklin County Municipal Court Department of Pretrial and Probation Services. Since her arrival at the Franklin County Municipal Court, Gauntner and her staff have developed and implemented a comprehensive Pretrial Services Program, have significantly, expanded their supervision and community programming responses, and have transitioned to becoming an evidence-based organization.

Gauntner has been instrumental in developing, implementing, and managing many innovative probation and court programs, such as the court’s evidence-based journal entry project, the department’s continuous quality improvement program, and the department’s restructuring to align with evidence-based practices in community corrections.

Gauntner currently serves as the President of the Ohio Chief Probation Officers Association. She is also the Second Vice President of the Ohio Justice Alliance for Community Corrections (OJACC), where she represents the Ohio Association of Pretrial Service Agencies and serves on the OJACC Adult Collaborative, representing Jail and Recidivism Reduction Municipal Court Programs.

J. Kristopher Steele has over 25 years of experience working in the judicial branch with the sole focus of improving outcomes for offenders in the justice system. Since 2003 he has worked as an Education Program Manager for the Supreme Court of Ohio Judicial College where he has developed over 800 continuing education programs for court personnel on topics ranging from managing mentally ill clients, family engagement, implicit bias, probation officer essential skills, supervisor/leadership skills, field and office safety, evidence-based practices, and trauma-informed care. Previously Mr. Steele has served as an intensive probation counselor, therapy group facilitator, court supervisor, program coordinator, and course faculty. Mr. Steele also presents locally and nationally on topics such as probation best practices, assessment and case management, purposes and responsibilities of courts and probation officer safety. He has worked as a consultant/faculty for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the National Center for State Courts. He has won multiple state awards for his efforts to improve the judicial branch and in 2016 received the Perkins Award from the National Association for Court Management. Mr. Steele earned the Certified Court Manager credential in 2012 from the National Center for State Courts Institute for Court Management. He holds a B.S. Psychology from The Ohio State University.