Pelicia Hall
Pelicia Hall currently serves as the Senior-Vice President for Global Tel-Link (GTL), an innovation leader in correctional technology. In this role, Pelicia heads up the corporation’s Government Affairs Division with responsibility to lead GTL’s legislative, regulatory, and policy goals and priorities by working with state, local and federal governments as well as key internal and external stakeholders.
Pelicia, who was honored in 2017 as a Legal Trailblazer in Metro Jackson, was Mississippi’s first female Commissioner of Corrections having been appointed by then Gov. Phil Bryant in March 2017. She served Mississippi in that role until January 2020.
Hall served in numerous government positions as legal counsel to include, Chief of Staff at the Mississippi Department of Corrections two years prior to her appointment as Commissioner, Lead Counsel for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, and Special Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Mississippi Attorney General.
Hall has nearly 20 years of legal experience in both government and private sectors in a wide variety of disciplines and is admitted to practice in both state and federal courts.
Hall is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the Magnolia Bar Association, Capital Area Bar Association, the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, the American Correctional Association, the Correctional Leaders Association, and the Association of Women Executives in Corrections, where she serves as Vice-President. Hall also serves as the Chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee for the Alcorn National Alumni Association and is also a member of the Rotary Club of Jackson.
Hall earned a Juris Doctor degree from Mississippi College School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Alcorn State University, where she majored in political science/pre-law.
She is a proud native of Shubuta, MS in Wayne County.
Dr. Wendy D. Williams
Dr. Wendy Williams retired from the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) in September 2024. She served as the Deputy Commissioner of Operations from January 2022 thru her retirement, with executive and operational oversight of all male correctional facilities in the state. Prior to this position she served as Deputy Commissioner of Women Services. Appointed to this position in April 2014, she provided executive and operational oversight of the management of women’s facilities throughout the state. Under Dr. Williams’ leadership, micro and macro level changes were implemented to build and sustain gender-responsive and trauma-informed practices in the ADOC facilities.
As a direct result of her work with ADOC women’s facilities, Dr. Williams was honored to speak before the United States Commission on Civil Rights in February 2019, as a panelist in the briefing, “Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars.” Dr. Williams provided oral and written testimony describing the many reform initiatives that have been implemented and the impact those changes have had on the staff and justice-involved persons.
Prior to her appointment as Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Williams served as the Director of Training for the agency for nearly 12 years. She was directly responsible for administering all professional development and training programs for agency personnel. During her tenure as the Director of Training, Dr. Williams served as a Regional Field Coordinator for the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), co-facilitating professional development courses to criminal justice agencies across the country.
Dr. Williams had the privilege to begin her career as a correctional officer in 1987, at the state’s largest male facility, Limestone Correctional Facility. She later received numerous promotions to multiple security-level positions within the agency.
Dr. Williams was humbled when asked to serve in an executive leadership position for the Association of Women Executives in Corrections (AWEC) in 2021. Dr. Williams served on the Board of Directors for AWEC from 2017 to 2021, at which time she assumed the responsibility as Vice-President.
Dr. Williams holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Athens State University and a Master of Science degree from Auburn University Montgomery, and she was conferred with a Doctor of Education degree from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Williams resides in Athens, Alabama where she is active in the community and enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
Kathleen Kenney
Kathleen M. Kenney has worked in corrections for over 26 years and is honored to work alongside corrections professionals who often do not receive the recognition they deserve. She was appointed Interim Commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Corrections on June 1, 2019. Prior to that appointment, Ms. Kenney served as a Consultant with The Moss Group where she assisted state and local Department of Corrections with achieving organizational excellence. She served in the Federal Bureau of Prisons from 1992 through 2017.
Ms. Kenney was the Assistant Director/General Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons for thirteen years. She received her Bachelor’s degree from The Catholic University of America in 1988 and her Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame in 1992.
Heidi Steward
Heidi Steward has served as the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) Deputy Director since April 1, 2019.
Ms. Steward is a 23-year DOC veteran, beginning her career in 1996. During her tenure, Ms. Steward redesigned the department’s cognitive interventions toward evidence-based programs created specifically for criminal justice-involved adults. She implemented a new case management model allowing counselors to serve as change agents.
Ms. Steward served as a representative on two trips to Norway to learn the principles of humanity and normality applied throughout Norway’s corrections system. She has applied those best-practices and innovations to Oregon’s corrections system – both in employee wellness and bettering the environment of those in custody. Ms. Steward’s focus is on the professional environment, family well-being, and the culture inside and outside Oregon institutions. This has yielded notable improvements to the health and well-being of ODOC staff and adults in custody.
Maria Shirey
Maria Shirey was named an Assistant Deputy Executive Director of UDC in December 2022, after serving as the Director of Utah Correctional Industries since February 2020.
A former broadcast journalist, Shirey began her corrections career in 2007 as a Communications Consultant with Washington Department of Corrections. While there, she served as the agency’s first Internal Communications Manager, developing innovative internal communication strategies, messages and tactics to engage the department’s 8,000 employees.
Shirey moved to Utah to serve as Utah Department of Corrections’ Public Information Officer in 2016, assuming responsibility for all media relations, constituent responses, community relations and offender family member communication. In 2018, she was appointed Deputy Director of UCI.
Shirey also serves as the Vice President of Marketing for the National Correctional Industries Association and on the Board of Directors for the Association of Women Executives in Corrections.
Judith Lambert
Judy Lambert began her career with the State of Tennessee, Comptroller of the Treasury in September 1973 as an auditor specializing in the field of corrections. After spending four years with this department, she transferred to the Tennessee Department of Correction, Fiscal Services Section in December 1977. While holding numerous positions within this section, she was promoted to the Judicial Cost Accountant position in September 2000 where she was responsible for a budget of $195,000,000. Judy held this position until her retirement on June 30, 2014 after serving 40 plus years with the State of Tennessee.
During her career she was very active in the Tennessee Correctional Association where she was awarded the prestigious Charles Traughber Award. She is currently on the finance committee of the Southern States Correctional Association and has been appointed the chief financial officer for the 2016 conferences to be held in Tennessee. She began her membership in AWEC in 2003 and has served on the Executive Board since 2006. In February 2015, she resigned her position on the AWEC Executive Board as Treasurer and was appointed as the first AWEC Chief Financial Officer.
Francine Perretta
Francine Perretta began her career in St. Lawrence County Probation in Canton, NY as a Probation Officer. She held the titles of Probation Officer, Senior Probation Officer and Probation Supervisor. She served as their Director from 1987-2010. During her career with the department, Francine began many innovative programs and was known on the national level as a rural model for many programs.
Francine Perretta became the Deputy Commissioner for the Westchester County Probation Department in 2010. In February of 2017 after 40 years in Community Corrections, Francine retired. Francine has been an active member of APPA and currently serves on the Executive Committee as the Affiliate Representative for AWEC. She is also an active member of NAPE and currently serves as Secretary of the organization. In 2016, Francine was awarded the George Keiser Award for excellence in leadership by NAPE.
Francine became the Executive Director of AWEC May 1, 2017. She has been a founding member of AWEC, past president and a member of various committees. Francine brings many years of community corrections experience to the position.
Leann Bertsch
Leann K. Bertsch is the Sr. Vice President, Corrections for MTC. Ms. Bertsch has over 25 years of experience in the criminal justice field and has worked in both juvenile and adult corrections. As Senior Vice President, Corrections, Ms. Bertsch has direct oversight of all MTC corrections operation and management contracts. Ms. Bertsch was the Director of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (ND DOCR) for 15 years before joining MTC. As Director of the ND DOCR, she was responsible for all state prisons, parole and probation supervision, community corrections, oversight and regulation of county jails, and the Division of Juvenile Services. As Director, Ms. Bertsch worked to reform the North Dakota corrections system from one that was focused on punishment, monitoring and compliance to a system that focused on repairing the harm crime causes for individuals, families and communities.
Ms. Bertsch started her career in criminal justice as a state court prosecutor where she prosecuted major crimes and worked in juvenile justice. While in that role, Bertsch served on the Governor’s task force for violent and dangerous offenders.
Ms. Bertsch serves on the Board of International Corrections and Prison Association, the Advisory Board of the Prison Fellowship Warden Exchange, and is President-elect of the Association of Women Executives in Corrections. Ms. Bertsch served as the President of the Association of State Correctional Administrators from 2014 through 2018. Ms. Bertsch was awarded the Tom Clements Award for Innovation in Corrections by her peers in 2016.