2023 Legacy Award Winner: Kathleen Kenney

AWEC President Leann Bertsch and the Executive Committee are pleased to announce that the 2023 Legacy Award is presented to Kathleen Kenney.

AWEC annually presents the Legacy Award to an outstanding professional who has supported the development and contributions of senior and executive women in corrections. Kathy works tirelessly for AWEC. She currently serves as Treasurer and will assume the position of Vice President in 2023-2025.

Kathy joined the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Office of General Counsel (OGC) in 1992 as an honors attorney in the Legislative and Correctional Issues (LCI) Branch. She served as the attorney at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Talladega, AL, from July 1993-1996. Ms. Kenney received the Assistant Director’s Award for Exceptional Performance by an Attorney and the Director’s Award (Office of Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys) for her assistance and work on prosecutions of inmates involved in the 1995 disturbance at FCI Talladega.

Kathy returned to OGC as an assistant general counsel in LCI in 1996. She held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility until she was appointed as an Assistant Director/General Counsel in June 2004. She served in that role until her retirement in May 2017.

Kathy had the honor of serving as the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Corrections in 2019 and was recently appointed as a federal court Monitor for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Kathy received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Catholic University of America in 1988 and her Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame in 1992.

Kathy has been committed to the growth of AWEC through her many years of outstanding commitment to the success of AWEC. She is very deserving of this Legacy Award.

Please join us in congratulating Kathy Kenney on being the 2023 Legacy Awardee.