TEXAS MUNICIPAL COURTS EDUCATION CENTER FACULTY ROSTER

Transcription

1 Jaime Brew Sugar Land P.O. Box 110 Sugar Land, TX TEXAS MUNICIPAL COURTS EDUCATION CENTER FACULTY ROSTER Regional Clerks Seminar Austin November 8 10, 2015 Peter DeLeef Associate Judge El Lago 98 Lakeshore Drive El Lago, TX peter@deleeflaw.com Sandra Mabbett Judicial Information Analyst Office of Court Administration P205 W. 14th St. Austin, TX sandra.mabbett@txcourts.gov Elaine Brown Retired City of Katy epbrown214@yahoo.com Robby Chapman Director of Clerk Education and Program Attorney Austin, TX chapman@tmcec.com Michelle Chewning Court Services Coordinator Irving P.O. Box Irving, TX mchewnin@cityofirving.org April Christiansen Cedar Park 911 Quest Pkwy Cedar Park, TX april.christiansen@cedarparktexas.gov Mike Davis mdavis@aacog.com Elizabeth De La Garza TxDOT Grant Administrator Austin, TX elizabeth@tmcec.com Fred Garcia Clerk of the Court San Antonio 401 S Frio St San Antonio, TX fred.garcia@sanantonio.gov Mark Goodner Deputy Counsel & Director of Judicial Education Austin, TX UNITED STATES goodner@tmcec.com Andrew Hagen Judge Uvalde P.O. Box 799 Uvalde, TX ahagen@uvaldetx.com Leah Huff Former Court Admin City of Southlake 4120 Broken Bend Blvd. Keller, TX southlake_princess@live.com Brian Leija Administrative Specialist Houston 1400 Lubbock St Houston, TX brian.leija@houstontx.gov Ronald McPherson Protective Security Advisor U.S. Dept of Homeland Security, South Texas District Ron.mcpherson@dhs.gov Ned Minevitz TxDOT Grant Administrator & Program Attorney Austin, TX ned@tmcec.com Luevada Posey Killeen 200 E. Avenue D Killen, TX lposey@killeentexas.gov Eric Ransleben Associate Judge Trophy Club 100 Municipal Drive Trophy Club, TX eransl@aol.com Pat Riffel Friendswood 1600 Whitaker Dr Friendswood, TX priffel@ci.friendswood.tx.us Landra Solansky Hudson Seguin 660 S State Highway 46 Seguin, TX lsolansky@seguintexas.gov

2 , Austin, Texas fax JAIME BREW FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES Jaime Brew is the Municipal for the Sugar Land Municipal Court. She has worked in municipal courts for over eight years. Prior to working for the Sugar Land Municipal Court, Mrs. Brew was employed by the Killeen Municipal Court of Record. During her tenure at City of Killeen she held the positions of Clerk of the Court and the Compliance/Collections Manager. Jaime has a very diverse work history. She has previously worked in the areas of mortgage lending, finance, and banking. Mrs. Brew received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She also received her Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas. Jaime participated in the Texas Court Clerks Certification Program and became a Certified Municipal Court Clerk (CMCC) in Mrs. Brew is a member of the Texas Court Clerks Association (TCCA) and serves as a Director at Large on the TCCA Board of Directors. She also serves as the Certification Program Financial Manager for the TCCA Education Committee. Jaime participates in several TCCA State committees such as the Certification and Education, Membership, Public Relations, Publications, and Website. ELAINE BROWN Elaine Brown is a former Municipal Court Clerk/Administrator for the City of Katy, a position she has held since Ms. Brown achieved her Level I Certification in 2002, her Level II in 2003, and in 2005, she became the 20th clerk to achieve her Certified Municipal Court Clerk status. Elaine Brown was the Gulf Coast Chapter Secretary from She held the position of Gulf Coast Chapter Treasurer from In 2006 she was the Gulf Coast Chapter Clerk of the Year. She is currently the Gulf Coast Chapter President and the 2012 TCCA Conference Chair that will be held in Galveston, October, Elaine Brown has been on the TCCA Board of Directors since She has held the position of TCCA Certification Program Financial Manager and a member of the Education Committee since Ms. Brown was the Committee Chair for the TCCA Nomination Committee in and again in She has held the Committee Chair for the TCCA Vendor/Sponsor Committee in 2006, 2008, and and Co-Chair that committee in Ms. Brown is a Committee Member on the Conference Committee for TCCA. In 2009, Elaine's peers awarded her with the 2009 Excellence Award at TCCA Annual Conference in Abilene for her selfless and outstanding contributions to her profession and her colleagues. Ms. Brown has been the Level I & Level II Facilitator since 2004 and has served as a class instructor for. ROBBY CHAPMAN Robby Chapman is Director of Clerk Education and Program Attorney for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. Mr. Chapman has served as an Assistant District Attorney for Nueces County and the Municipal Court Prosecutor for the City of Cedar Park. While prosecuting for Cedar Park, Mr. Chapman received the Merit Certification in Municipal Court Prosecution from the Texas City Attorneys Association. Mr. Chapman manages the court clerk education program for the Center, including development of nine annual statewide seminars, the new clerks conferences, and the court administrator

3 conference. In addition, Mr. Chapman oversees and edits publications such as the Fine-Only Misdemeanors Green Book and the Clerk Certification Study Guides. Mr. Chapman has a Doctor of Jurisprudence from St. Mary s University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in History from The University of Texas at Austin. MICHELLE CHEWNING Michelle Chewning has been employed with the City of Irving Municipal Court for the last 25 years. She has always worked in the court and started as the telephone operator. She currently is the Court Services Coordinator and oversee our data entry and downloading citations, scanning, docketing, correspondence, our community service program, jail desk and attorney correspondence. Mrs. Chewning is currently Level 2 certified and working her way towards Level III. She believes that the certification program is highly important to our chosen profession and would love to help other clerks attain this goal. APRIL CHRISTIANSEN April Christiansen is the for the City of Cedar Park. Prior to coming to Cedar Park in 2007, April worked for 5 years as a Court Supervisor with the El Paso County District and County Courts in Colorado Springs, Colorado. April has a Bachelor s Degree in Political Science-Administration of Justice from Colorado Mesa University, and a Master s Degree in Justice Administration from Norwich University. She is a Certified Municipal Court Clerk, and serves as a Director At Large, and Chair of the Publications Committee for the Texas Court Clerks Association. MIKE DAVIS ELIZABETH DE LA GARZA Elizabeth De La Garza joined the team as a TxDOT Grant Administrator for Driving on the Right Side of the Road in June Ms. De La Garza has spent the last 32 years as a public school teacher in the Round Rock Independent School District, spending most of these years at Chisholm Trail Middle School teaching music and social studies. She has her BME from Baylor University in Waco, and completed her MME at The University of Texas at Austin. Ms. De La Garza is a native of San Antonio. PETER DE LEEF Mr. de Leef is a municipal judge with the city of El Lago and also has been practicing criminal law exclusively for the past 16 years. After graduating from law school, he spent more than four years as a Prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney s Office working under Johnny Holmes and Chuck Rosenthal. While at the Harris County District Attorney s Office, he spent time in the felony, Misdemeanor, and JP courts of Harris County. Mr. de Leef has considerable experience in the juvenile division, family violence division, and justice of the peace division. He also has extensive experience in the trial bureau BRIAN LEIJA Brian Leija serves as an Administrative Specialist for the City of Houston Municipal Courts. Starting as a Senior Courts Cashier in 1997 he has held many positions and many duties within the last 16 years. He

4 has achieved Level II certification from and currently working to become a Trainer for and TCCA to help the other Court Clerks. He works on keeping the court system error free and establishing changes to better meet the Court and Legislative standards. FRED GARCIA Frederick P. Garcia Jr. is currently the municipal court clerk for San Antonio. Mr. Garcia graduated from St. Mary s University with a degree in business administration and later Texas Tech University with his juris doctorate. Mr. Garcia has previously worked as a municipal court prosecutor, and bank auditor, as he has also served as an attorney in a private practice that concentrated on criminal defense and family law. MARK GOODNER Mark Goodner serves as the Presiding Judge for the City of Woodcreek and is the Deputy Counsel and Director of Judicial Education for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. Prior to joining the Center, he worked in civil litigation in Austin. Mr. Goodner graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a juris doctorate and certification in the Graduate Portfolio Program in Dispute Resolution in May of While in law school, he worked in the mediation clinic, was a finalist in the Thad T. Hutcheson Moot Court Competition, and served on the executive board of Assault & Flattery. ANDREW HAGEN Andrew Hagen is the municipal judges for the City of Uvalde, where he has been presiding since Mr. Hagen received his juris doctorate from the Rutgers University School of Law, Camden. Mr. Hagen previously served the City of Uvalde as an IT administrator. LEAH HUFF Ms. Huff began her 15 year career with the Fort Worth/Dallas based, municipal law firm of Taylor, Olson, Adkins, Sralla and Elam, L.L.P. as a paralegal, and promoted to Law Office Administrator. In 2006, she joined the City of Southlake as the Municipal for five years, with major accomplishments including the development of a high-level technological court process with her team through implementation of paper-light, audio/visual court recording, online / kiosk payments and warrant interface with remote dispatch center, while building a quality team through the World Famous Seattle FISH! Program. Tyler Technologies offered her the opportunity to assist other courts through implementation of the paper-light and legal court processes across nine states, and soon afterwards a precious granddaughter was born (The Princess). Ms. Huff achieved her Texas Court Clerk's Certification, Level I certification in 2007, Level II certification in 2008 and began her Level III certification (CMCC) assessment clinic in Currently, she is pursuing completion of her Certified Court Manager s certificate with the National Center for State Courts Institute for Court Management. Additionally, she graduated from Strategic Government Resources Fourth Dimension Leadership Model Academy in 2009 and from nationwide trainer Coach Rick Kolster's Leadership Academy in 2007, as well as numerous paralegal and law office administrative certification and CLE courses. During her career, Ms. Huff has been active in the Texas Court Clerk s Association, North Texas Court Clerk's Association, and the Texas Municipal Courts Association serving in a variety of positions ranging from Director at Large to Conference Committee Chair & Committee Member, as well as on the Education Committee. Ms. Huff is a certified instructor for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center

5 since 2007 and has continued to serve as faculty for the Court Clerk's School, New Judges and Clerks Boot Camp, and s. Additionally, she has been active as an instructor for a variety of leadership and management courses across the United States, sharing her passion for court and the law, and has been an active trainer for software and imaging instruction with Tyler Technologies and Laserfiche. Ms. Huff is an approved instructor for the Clerk Certification Program for continuing education hours provided by the TCCA chapters and regularly facilitates training opportunities across the State of Texas to share court and technology knowledge, as well as build court "share communities" to encourage court clerks to support each other in the municipal court profession. Soon after the Princess was born, Ms. Huff joined the Business Development Team at Municipal Services Bureau d/b/a Gila, L.L.C., fulfilling her passion for court and the law by training on court procedures, technological processes and facilitating court collection and cash handling best practices with Municipal Court clients, cities, counties & state agencies across 38 states. SANDRA MABBETT Ms. Mabbett is the Judicial Information Analyst for the Office of Court Administration s Research and Court Services Division. The Judicial Information Staff are responsible for collecting, analyzing, and publishing court activity statistics and other judicial data. She has served in this position since Prior to her employment with OCA, she was employed by the federal government for 25 years. Ms. Mabbett is a native of upstate New York who moved to Austin in RONALD MCPHERSON Ron McPherson has 38 years as a highly successful soldier, business owner, and security professional. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1995 as an Infantry Officer. He ran a Personal Financial Advisory business for eight years from He then joined the Governor s Division of Emergency Management as a Homeland Security Specialist in 2004 and in 2006 he began serving with the Department of Homeland Security as a Protective Security Advisor for the South Texas District. Mr. McPherson is an expert in counter-surveillance operations, vulnerability analysis, and risk management. He has trained in counterterrorism operations, emergency operations, incident command systems and radiological, biological, and chemical operations. He sits on the South Texas Area Maritime Security Committee in Corpus Christi. Ron has a Master s degree in Public Administration from Ball State University. NED MINEVITZ Ned Minevitz, a Massachusetts native, has served as TxDOT Grant Administrator and Program Attorney at the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center since November, Mr. Minevitz also serves as General Counsel for Everthin, LLC, a startup company based in Massachusetts. He received his B.A. from Connecticut College in New London, CT where he majored in East Asian Studies. Spending extensive time in China after college, Mr. Minevitz is proficient in Mandarin Chinese. In 2013, Mr. Minevitz earned his J.D. from the Sandra Day O Connor College of Law in Tempe, AZ. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, golf, and squash. LUEVADA POSEY Luevada Posey is the court operations supervisor for the City of Cedar Park. Posey has previously spent 11 years with the Copperas Cove Municipal Court, one year with the court system in Killeen, and four years with the U.S. Army s Provost Marshal s Office in Dormstadt, Germany. She started working on her

6 court clerk certification in 1999 and obtained Level III certification in June She expresses particular excitement in being able to assist clerks endeavoring to obtain their certification. ERIC RANSLEBEN Eric G. Ransleben is an Associate Municipal Judge for the Town of Trophy Club and the Town of Westlake. He is also the City Prosecutor for the City of North Richland Hills. Judge Ransleben has been in private practice since 1996, and specializes in criminal and juvenile defense, and education law. He has been representing school age children in the public school system for over 10 years, with particular interest in special education law. PAT RIFFEL Pat Riffel, CMCC, is the for the City of Friendswood. She has a Bachelor s Degree in Political Science and is a Licensed Social Worker. She joined the court clerk profession in December She is a Level III, Certified Municipal Court Clerk. She has also achieved status as a Certified Court Manager through the National Institute of Court Management. She currently serves as faculty for both the Texas Municipal Court Education Center and National Center for State Courts. Pat is a member of the Texas Court Clerk s Association and serves as Co-Chair of the Education Committee, and Chair of the Ethics Committee. LANDRA HUDSON SOLANKSY Landra Hudson Solanksy has been formally recognized in her community for establishing a good working relationship with county law enforcement officials, developing formal magistrate procedures for City cases and implementing new policies and procedures within the Seguin Municipal Court. Landra is a Level III Municipal Court Clerk and President of the Freedom Trail Chapter of the Texas Court Clerks Association. Landra has been employed with the City of Seguin since September 2008 and currently holds the position of Municipal.