2210 Hancock Drive, Austin, Texas fax FACULTY BIOGRAP HIES MICHAEL ACUNA

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1 2210 Hancock Drive, Austin, Texas fax MICHAEL ACUNA FACULTY BIOGRAP HIES Michael Acuña has been a full-time judge for the City of Dallas Municipal Court since August He received his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and was admitted to the Bar in He began his legal career at the City of Houston in 1993 as a municipal court prosecutor. In April 1997, Judge Acuña moved to the Land Use Division where he litigated nuisance abatement and sexually oriented business cases in state and federal courts. In November 1999, he was recruited by the City of Dallas which created the position of Assistant Chief Prosecutor for him. He served in that capacity until he was first appointed to the bench. Since then, Judge Acuña has presided over various dockets including traffic, penal code, animal control, bond forfeitures, environmental pollution, substandard buildings, and gambling machine cases. Judge Acuña represents the City of Dallas on the Dallas County Bail Bond Board. Judge Acuña was the region III representative on TMCEC/TMCA board of directors from the Fall of 2013 to September He is the chair for the board s Education Committees. He also serves on the Budget & Finance Committee. He has been a regular speaker for TMCEC and other entities on many subjects since 1994 including municipal court complaints, bail bond forfeitures, pretrial hearings, court interpreters, cross-examination, Chapter 54 and 125 cases, attorney general opinions, sexting, bullying, online impersonation, jury charges and legislative updates. In July of 2016, Judge Acuña was elected President-elect of the TMCA. ROBBY CHAPMAN Robby Chapman is Director of Clerk Education and Program Attorney for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. Prior to working for the Center, Mr. Chapman served as an Assistant District Attorney for Nueces County, the Municipal Court Prosecutor for the City of Cedar Park, and as an attorney in private practice. Mr. Chapman is an ICM Certified Court Manager and has been past presenter for organizations including the National Center for State Courts Institute for Court Management, Texas Court Clerks Association, and Texas Municipal Courts Association. He has also received Merit Certification in Municipal Prosecution from the Texas City Attorneys Association and the Board of Director s Award from the Texas Court Clerks Association. Mr. Chapman earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence from St. Mary s University School of Law and Bachelor of Arts in History from The University of Texas at Austin. HILDA CUTHBERTSON Hilda Cuthbertson grew up in Pearsall, Texas and graduated from Pearsall High School. A College degree was pursued and graduated from Sul Ross State University (Alpine, Texas) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Ms. Cuthbertson taught High School Science classes for five and half years at three different Texas school districts. She taught at Pecos High School in Pecos, Texas, Yates High School in Houston, and Dublin High School, Dublin, Texas. She worked at the University of Houston, Mexican American Studies Program as the secretary to the Program Director from While working with the Mexican American Studies Program she assisted Dr. Margarita B. Melville with co-editing the, Reflections of the Mexican Experience in Texas, proceedings of a Symposium by the Texas Committee for the Humanities and Mexican American Studies, April She also assisted Dr. Margarita B. Melville with huge undertaking of the coordination and

2 contact with sixteen widely contributors to the book, Twice A Minority, Mexican American Women. During the summers of 1980 and 1981 she worked at the University of Houston, Executive Development Center. Ms. Cuthbertson joined the City of Bryan in March of 1983 as an employee of the City Secretary s office and was promoted to Court Administrator in July She was presented the City of Bryan Division Employee of the Year Award in 1989 and again in She was also honored with the City of Bryan Employee of the Year award in Ms. Cuthbertson served as Vice President, 1989 through 1992, and President of the Texas Court Clerks Association from 1992 to She was also the Texas Municipal League affiliate representative from Since 1985, she has been very involved with the Gulf Coast Chapter of TML and held the position of President twice, and again Ms. Cuthbertson outstanding achievements include The Texas Court Clerks Association s Distinguished Service Award (1995), Extraordinary Achievement Award (1996 & 2004), and Award of Excellence (1997). The Texas Municipal Courts Association also recognized her as the Clerk of the Year. At the 2013 TCCA annual conference she was awarded the Texas Court Clerks Association Board of Directors Award for her contributions to the administration of Texas municipal courts. Ms. Cuthbertson has been a valued staff member of the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center since 1991 by contributing her skills and talents by teaching various subjects. She is a past member of the TCCA Education Committee, which oversees the statewide court clerk certification program. She currently serves as the Secretary for the Texas Municipal Courts Association. She is a Level I and Level II certified court clerk and has also been a certified study session facilitator for Level I and Level II. She is also a State of Texas Licensed Court Interpreter in Spanish. In February 2010, she successfully completed the National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management Program and achieved the status of Certified Court Manager. In June 2012 she earned the Court Executive certification which is a step towards earning the designation of a Fellow. In May of 2013, she graduated at the United States Supreme Court as a Fellow of the National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management, a prestigious national certification program equivalent to a master s degree program. Ms. Cuthbertson has been active within her community. She was named Woman of Distinction by the Bluebonnet Girl Scout Council in In 2009, she was a Bryan Prenatal Clinic Your Tops honoree. She has been a presenter, English and Spanish, for the Bryan Police Department Citizens Police Academy twice a year. She is a past volunteer at the Dispute Resolution Center as a bilingual certified mediator for family law and other types of mediation. She is past volunteer with Habitat working with the Family Selection Committee. She is a Past President of the local Habitat for Humanity Affiliate Board of Directors. She is a current Bryan Rotary member and has served on their Board of Directors. Ms. Cuthbertson retired from the City of Bryan with over 31 years of service. Over 28 years of her service was as the Court Administrator. She has written a couple of articles for the TCCA, The Scribe. She has joined the Alan Bojorquez Law Firm as known as Texas Municipal Lawyers and is the Court Program Director. Ms. Cuthbertson and her attorney partner provide educational seminars/training, auditing/validations and court consulting.

3 ELIZABETH DE LA GARZA Elizabeth De La Garza joined the TMCEC 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. ESMERALDA GARCIA Judge Esmeralda Essie Peña Garcia is currently in her 30 th year on the bench. In 1987, Judge Garcia was appointed as an Associate Judge with the Houston Municipal Courts, and in 2000 was appointed as a full-time Judge. During the last 8 years, Judge Garcia has presided over one of Houston s Jury Courts. She received her BA from the University of Houston and Doctorate in Jurisprudence from the University of Houston Law Center. During 16 years in private practice, Judge Garcia specialized in Criminal and Juvenile defense. Prior to law school, Judge Garcia worked as an investigative social worker on the Abuse Team for Harris County Children s Protective Services. Judge Garcia has served on the TMCA and TMCEC Board of Directors since 2012, and currently serves on the Boards as First Vice-President. Judge Garcia is involved with many professional and community organizations. She has been a member and volunteered with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for 17 years and earned Lifetime Committeeman in Judge Essie Garcia is a native Houstonian and proud mother of three children. TRACIE GLAESER Ms. Glaeser began her career in municipal court at the City of Round Rock and remained there as Court Administrator for 21 years. In 2007, she moved to the Dallas area and joined the Municipal Court team at the city of Lewisville as the Court Manager. Tracie retired from Lewisville in March 2012 to move back to the Austin area to be closer to her family. Ms. Glaeser completed her Certified Court Manager s certificate with the National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management in February 2010 and was the 11 th clerk in the state of Texas to become a Certified Municipal Court Clerk. Ms. Glaeser achieved her level I certification in 1998, level II certification in 2002 and achieved Level III certification (CMCC) in Additionally, she completed Leading, Educating and Developing (LEAD), a 40 hour program sponsored by Weldon Cooper and held at the University of Virginia Leadership Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. During her career, Ms. Glaeser has been active in the Texas Court Clerk s Association and the Texas Municipal Courts Association serving in a variety of positions ranging from Chapter President to serving the membership on the Board of Directors as Vice President. She has served the Texas Municipal Courts Association (TMCA) as a member of the TMCEC Education Committee and Texas Court Clerks Association (TCCA) as the Chair of the Certification Program Education Committee from 2006 to Ms. Glaeser is a certified instructor for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center for more than 15 years and has continued to serve as faculty for the New Judges and Clerks, Court Administrators, Level III Assessment Clinic and the ICM program. Additionally, she has been active as an instructor for Citizens Police Academy, a variety of leadership and management classes and has been a regular panel member for software and imaging instruction with MCCI-Laserfiche. Ms. Glaeser is an approved

4 instructor for the Clerk Certification Program for continuing education hours provided by the TCCA chapters. Ms. Glaeser joined the TMCEC team in September of 2016 as Program Coordinator. MARK GOODNER Mark Goodner is the Deputy Counsel and Director of Judicial Education for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center (TMCEC). Annually, Mark plans, develops, and oversees ten Regional Judges Seminars per year each offering 16 hours of judicial education along with two 32-hour New Judges Seminars. In addition to his work at TMCEC, Mark serves as the Presiding Judge for the City of Woodcreek and as an Associate Judge for the cities of Bee Cave and Leander. Mark is a Certified Court Manager, having completed the Court Management Program of the Institute for Court Management in August Mr. Goodner graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1997 with a B.A. in Theatre and 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 JACKIE HABERSHAM Edward Spillane is the Presiding Municipal Judge for College Station since May Prior to taking that position, he served as an Assistant District Attorney for Brazos County for eight years and as an associate for the law firm Fulbright and Jaworski for two years. Judge Spillane received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his law degree from the University of Chicago. He is the current President of the Texas Municipal Courts Association and represents Texas Municipal Courts on the Judicial Conduct Commission. BRIAN HOLMAN Judge Brian Holman was born and raised in San Diego, California and attended Brigham Young University where he received a B.A. in Political Science. Judge Holman went on to earn his Law degree from the University of Arkansas. While living in Spain, Judge Holman developed a fluency in the Spanish language which he continues to use in his current position as presiding judge for the Lewisville Municipal Court. He serves as alternate judge for the City of Aubrey and is the prosecutor for the Cities of Justin and Pilot Point. Prior to taking the bench full-time, Judge Holman had a private law practice for 10 years in Denton, Texas, where he still resides with his wife of more than 30 years. Judge Holman has served as President of the Texas Municipal Courts Association and currently sits of the Board of Directors representing Region 3. He also has served as a member of the TMCEC faculty since WILLIAM BILL KENDALL Bill Kendall serves as the Presiding Judge in Brenham. Judge Kendall also serves as the Justice of the Peace for Precinct Four in Washington County. Judge Kendall has been an attorney since He attended the University of Texas, followed by the South Texas College of Law. CASEY KENNEDY Casey Kennedy joined OCA as the Director of Information Services in His team provides direct IT support for the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, the 14 intermediate appellate courts and several judicial branch state agencies. Additionally, Casey manages the largest volume efiling system in the known universe.

5 Casey is also the lead OCA staff for the Judicial Committee on Information Technology or JCIT. The committee is appointed by the Supreme Court and makes recommendations and sets standards for court technology in Texas. Casey is currently the vice-chair of the Court Information Technology Officer Consortium, a national organization of Court IT professionals. He holds a BA in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin. MIKE LOZITO Mike began his career with Bexar County in June 2010, as the Judicial Support Services Manager responsible for the Pretrial Services Office and Indigent Defense Attorney Appointments. In August of 2011, he was named as the interim Director of Judicial Services and was appointed as the Director of Judicial Services in November He administers activities of the Pretrial Services Office, Jail Population Impact Control Unit, Medical Examiner s Office, Crime Investigation Laboratory, Court Collections, Reentry Programs, Problem Solving Courts, Mental Health Department, Central Magistrate s Facility, the Dispute Resolution Center, and facilitates the recently formed Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Mike has over 30 years Criminal Justice experience as a Pretrial Technician, Youth Services Officer, Parole Officer, Parole Supervisor, Director of Programs and Regional Director. A large portion of his career was with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were he retired as the Region Director overseeing South Texas Parole Operations. Mike has also worked in the private sector as an Account Executive and Business Development Manager. He is known for his expertise in Day Reporting Centers, Sex Offender Programming and Electronic Monitoring Technologies. He was acknowledged by the Texas Corrections Association as the Outstanding Adult Corrections Administrator for Mike has been involved in the Pretrial Assessment and Improvement Project, conducted by the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Through this project, Bexar County has been designated a National Demonstration Site by the Bureau of Justice Programs to improve services for those individuals with Mental Health Illness and behavioral disorders. Mike Graduated from St. Edward s University, Austin, Texas. STEWART MILNER Stewart Milner is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and the Oklahoma City University School of Law. He began his employment with the City of Arlington in 1992 as an Assistant City Attorney and became Chief Prosecutor for the City of Arlington in From 1997 to the present, he has served as the Chief Judge for the City of Arlington Municipal Court. Judge Milner has taught classes for the North Texas Council of Governments, City of Arlington Police Academy, Texas Court Clerks Association, the Building Professional Institute, The National Judicial College and the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. He is a current board member and past president of the Texas Municipal Courts Association.

6 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. LAURA MUELLER Laura Mueller is an attorney with the Bojorquez Law Firm, PC. Previously, she worked at the Texas Municipal League for nine years, serving the last six as Assistant General Counsel. She authored amicus curiae briefs on the following subjects: Billboard Regulation, Reserved Powers Doctrine, Civil Service, Elections, Unions, Takings, Open Meetings, Public Official Liability, Land Use, and Annexation. While with TML, Laura participated in over 100 speaking engagements including: Types of Texas Cities, Open Government Laws and Social Media, Ethics and Public Official Liability, Sign Regulation, Texas Tort Claims Act, Recent State Cases, Employment Law, and Legislative Update. KIMBERLY PIECHOWIAK Kimberly Piechowiak is the Domestic Violence Training Attorney for the Texas Office of Court Administration. She received her B.A. in Criminal Justice in 1989 from UTSA and her J.D. from St. Mary s University School of Law in Before coming to the OCA, Kimberly prosecuted domestic violence cases for 20 years, first with the Bexar County District Attorney and then the San Antonio City Attorney s Office. While with the City, Kimberly implemented and supervised the family violence prosecution program at San Antonio Municipal Court. She is a TCLEOSE Certified Police Instructor who has been training law enforcement officers, attorneys, and judges since 1997 on the issue of domestic violence for many local, state, and national agencies, including the San Antonio Police Training Academy, the National District Attorneys Association, the Texas Center for the Judiciary, Texas Municipal Courts Education Center, the Texas Council on Family Violence, and the Texas Victim Services Association. ROBIN RAMSAY Robin Ramsay is currently a licensed attorney and the Presiding Municipal Judge for the City of Denton. Judge Ramsay received his undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and his law degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Ramsay served as Students Attorney for the University of North Texas and as an Adjunct Professor of Business Law. After leaving the University of North Texas and prior to his current appointment, Judge Ramsay practiced law with the Hammerle Law Firm with offices in Lewisville and Denton. Judge Ramsay has received his accreditation for the American Academy of Attorney mediators and currently acts as a Mediator for both pre-litigation and litigated matters by assignment of court and at the request of the parties or their attorneys. Judge Ramsay also serves as alternate Mental Health Magistrate for Denton County at the assignment of the Denton County Probate Court. Judge Ramsay is a past-president of the Texas Municipal Courts Association and currently serves as the 2 nd Vice President.

7 EDWARD SPILLANE Edward Spillane is the Presiding Municipal Judge for College Station since May Prior to taking that position, he served as an Assistant District Attorney for Brazos County for eight years and as an associate for the law firm Fulbright and Jaworski for two years. Judge Spillane received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his law degree from the University of Chicago. He is the current President of the Texas Municipal Courts Association and represents Texas Municipal Courts on the Judicial Conduct Commission. RYAN KELLUS TURNER Ryan Kellus Turner is General Counsel and Director of Education for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. Prior to joining the Center in 1999, he served as Briefing Attorney for Judge Sharon Keller at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Mr. Turner obtained his juris doctorate from Southern Methodist University School of Law. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology with highest honors from St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, where he now teaches as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences. In 2004 and 2013, he was the recipient of the School s Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award and a finalist for the University Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award in Mr. Turner previously served as a Special Assistant County Attorney for Kendall County. He is currently Deputy City Attorney for the City of Dripping Springs and also serves as a Substitute Associate Judge on the Austin Municipal Court. In 2011, he was an advisory member on the Texas Judicial Council s Juvenile Justice Committee. In 2012, Mr. Turner was named Co-Chair of the Texas Judicial Council Legislative Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice. He is current an advisory member on the Texas Judicial Council s Pretrial Justice Committee. A native Texan, Mr. Turner was raised in the north Texas town of Vernon. He is the co-author of the books Lone Star Justice: A Comprehensive Overview of the Texas Criminal Justice System and The Municipal Judges Book. STEPHEN VIGORITO Judge Stephen Vigorito currently serves as an Associate Municipal Judge for the City of Austin. Judge Vigorito received his B.A. in political science from Louisiana State University in 1990 and his Jurisprudence Doctorate from the University of Texas School of Law in He practiced as a criminal defense attorney from in Travis County and surrounding counties. In addition, during that time, Judge Vigorito served as the legislative liaison and interim Director of Enforcement for the Texas Cosmetology Commission from and as the Legislative Director for former State Representative Dora Olivo (Missouri City, Sugarland, Richmond) during the 2009 Texas Legislative Session. From , Judge Vigorito served as a part-time municipal judge for the City of Austin and the City of Tomball, Texas. He was appointed as a fulltime judge for the City of Austin in December, 2013.