Officers
Kathryn Griffin
PRESIDENT
45th Circuit Court, St. Joseph County
P.O. Box 189
Centreville, MI 49032
Kathryn Griffin is the Court Administrator for the Circuit and Probate Courts in St. Joseph County, Michigan. She has been Circuit Court Administrator since 2005 and added the role of Probate Court Administrator in 2013. Prior to becoming Administrator she was employed as the Circuit Court Judicial Assistant beginning in 1997. She is responsible for maintaining judges trial docket, caseflow management, reporting requirements to the State Administrative Office as well as all human resources for the courts.
Ms. Griffin is the immediate past president of the Michigan Association of Circuit Court Administrators and served as president from 2011-2017. Prior to becoming president of the association, she was vice president from 2009-2011.
Ms. Griffin attended Kellogg Community College and Glen Oaks Community College. She is a graduate of the National Center For State Courts Court Manager Program. She graduated from the Michigan State Judicial Administration Program in 2013. She currently serves as chair of NACM's Core Committee and vice chair of the Communications Committee. She also serves on the State Association Committee, Conference Development Committee, and Membership Committee.
Jeffrey Tsunekawa
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Texas Office of Court Administration
205 W. 14th Street, Ste. 600
Austin, TX 78701
Jeffrey Tsunekawa is currently the Director of Research and Court Services at the Texas Office of Court Administration, where he oversees a unit that prepares statistical and data reports, responds to proposed legislation and provides administrative and technical support to courts across the State of Texas. Prior to that, he was the Judicial Operations Manager for Seattle Municipal Court in Washington State, overseeing jury operations, courtroom judicial operations and responsibility for both the digital and paper records of the court. Prior to becoming the Judicial Operations Manager, he was the Senior Executive Assistant to the seven elected Judges and six Magistrates for the Seattle Municipal Court. He previously held positions of similar responsibility at King County Superior Court before joining the Seattle Municipal Court.
Mr. Tsunekawa received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from Washington State University in 2007, and a Master’s of Public Administration from Seattle University in 2016. Mr. Tsunekawa was a member of the Washington State District and Municipal Court Management Association, from 2011 to 2018. In 2016, Mr. Tsunekawa became a Fellow of the Institute of Court Management with the National Center for State Courts. He has been a member of the National Association for Court Management since 2007 and has served on multiple committees, including: Ethics, Communications, Nominations, and Membership. He served as a Director for the NACM Board of Directors from 2016-2019, and was elected Secretary/Treasurer in 2019. In addition, he is fulfilling a three-year term on the Joint Technology Committee (JTC).
Rick Pierce
VICE PRESIDENT
Administrative Office of the Courts
601 Commonwealth Ave., Ste. 1500
Harrisburg, PA 17106-1260
Rick Pierce, Judicial Programs Administrator of the Judicial District Operations and Programs Department, has served in the field of court administration for the past twenty-nine years. Prior to his appointment at the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, Pierce was the district court administrator for Cumberland County. Prior to his 4 ½ year tenure as court administrator, Pierce was the assistant administrator for the 9th judicial district from 1988-1997.
As judicial programs administrator, he is responsible for implementation of programs and education in court administration at the general and limited jurisdiction court levels.
Pierce served as the President for the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management for 2005-2006. Previously he has served on the MAACM advisory board from 1997-2005.
A graduate from Washington and Lee University, Pierce received his Masters in Public Administration from Shippensburg University in 1995. He has been an active member of the Pennsylvania Association of Court Management, (PACM) since its inception in 1989. He has served as a board member from 1994-2001, culminating in his presidency in 2000-2001.
Tina Mattison
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Pima County Superior Court
2225 E. Ajo Way
Tucson, AZ 85713
Tina Mattison is the Deputy Court Administrator for the Pima County Juvenile Court, assuming this role in February of 2015. In her position, Ms. Mattison oversees Juvenile Probation, Detention, Children and Family Services, Information Technology Services, Facilities and Security, as well as the budget of $23 million. Pima County Juvenile Court is a general jurisdiction court located in Arizona, with over 425 employees.
Previously she spent 27 years working for the California Superior Court system, in both Orange County and Riverside County. Ms. Mattison was the division manager for Riverside Superior Court where she oversaw the clerk’s office and courtrooms for the Family Law bench. Prior to working in Riverside, Ms. Mattison worked for Orange County Superior Court. She began her career in Juvenile Court, but spent years supervising and managing in the following divisions: Juvenile Courtrooms, Court Reporter and Interpreter Services, and Criminal Courtrooms. Ms. Mattison also worked on national, statewide, and local case management projects. She managed a wide array of special courts, including Drug Court, Co-occurring Disorders Court, Homeless Outreach Court, DUI Court and Domestic Violence Court.
Ms. Mattison earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Masters of Public Administration from California State University Fullerton, and she is a 2012 graduate fellow from the Institute for Court Management. She has published an article on vicarious trauma for court staff entitled “Vicarious Trauma: The Silent Stressor.” Ms. Mattison has been a member of the National Association for Court Management since 1998. She is a member of the Arizona Association for Superior Court Administrators and currently serves on the National Association for Court Management’s Conference Committee. From 2015 to 2018, she previously served on the Supreme Court of Arizona’s Court Security Standards Committee.
Tracy J. BeMent
PAST PRESIDENT
10th Judicial District
P.O. Box 1392
Athens, GA 30603
Tracy "T.J." BeMent is the District Court Administrator for the 10th Judicial Administrative District of Georgia. The 10th JAD covers the general jurisdiction superior courts in six circuits in 21 counties. He was previously the Court Administrator for the Athens-Clarke County Courts in Athens, Georgia, where he worked with all six levels of trial courts in the county. He acts as the primary liaison to the state and county governments and serves as a resource for the judges and judicial staff on many issues. Mr. BeMent administers nearly $2 million in state and federal grants and is a federal grant peer reviewer. He has been working in the courts for more than 15 years. Prior to coming to Georgia, he was the Assistant Court Administrator for the Las Vegas Justice Court and previously the Clerk of Court and Chief Administrative Officer of the District of Columbia's Office of Administrative Hearings. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and completed his ICM Fellowship in spring 2015.
Directors
Jeff Chapple
2019-22
O'Fallon Municipal Court
1019 Bryan Road
O'Fallon, MO 63366
Jeff Chapple is the Court Administrator for the O’Fallon Missouri Municipal Court a Division of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Missouri. He has been in this position since 2004 and has grown the Court to become a leader within the state. He acts as a primary liaison to the state government and serves as a resource for the judges and judicial staff on many issues. Jeff received his Certified Court Administrator (CCA) certificate through Missouri Training Institute in 2007. Jeff earned his Certified Court Manager (CCM) through the National Center for State Courts institute for Court Management in 2016. He also achieved his Advanced Certified Court Administrators (ACCA) certificate through Missouri Court Management Institute in 2017
Mr. Chapple served as a director 2015-2018 on the National Association for Court Management (NACM) Board serving as Membership Chair. He served on the Board of the Missouri Association for Court Administrators 2009-2017 from regional director to President. He has and continues to serve on many local and regional associations staying connected within the communities he lives and works within.
Mr. Chapple received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri and Master’s degree from Lindenwold University.
Dorothy Howell
2019-2022
New Jersey Superior Court, Probation Division
60 Evergreen Place
East Orange, NJ 07018 > Read Biography
Dorothy A. Howell is a 27-year veteran in the State of New Jersey Judiciary. She began her career in 1992 as an investigator in the Probation Division, Child Support unit in Passaic County, NJ. She swiftly ascended through the ranks with an uninterrupted succession to probation officer, senior probation officer and a Court Service Supervisor II. While working in those titles, she was instrumental in the implementation and the execution of several community programs; many of which are still operational.
In 2000, Mrs. Howell was promoted to Assistant Chief Probation Officer as a result of her leadership and creative style of supervision. As an Assistant Chief, she resumed her involvement and enhancement of the Division’s innovative projects and is credited with developing the first Passaic County juvenile “girl’s group” designed specifically to address the unique issues facing female probationers. Additionally, Mrs. Howell helped facilitate the Passaic County Probation Division’s medical visitation program whereby doctors and nurses from St. Joseph’s Medical Center volunteered their time and serve to accompany probation officers on routine home visits.
In 2016, Mrs. Howell was re-assigned to the Probation Division as the Vicinage Chief Probation Officer. As the VCPO in the Essex vicinage, Chief Howell is responsible for over 230 employees in three separate locations. She continues to serve on several committees and enjoys returning to her first love, “Probation Services”.
Dorothy Howell earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, and obtained the Certified Court Manager certification and the Certified Court Executive certification from the National Center for State Courts. Dorothy Howell is also an instructor for the Judiciary Court Executive Continuing Education Program (JCECE) in partnership with (ICM) the Institute of Court Management . She currently serves as a Director on the National Association of Court Management’s Executive Board.
Kelly Hutton
2019-22
124 South 4th Street
Grand Forks, ND 58201 > Read Biography
Kelly Hutton has worked for the North Dakota Court System since January 2007 and is currently the Assistant Court Administrator for Unit 1 which is comprised of 13 counties and 11 judges. She has served on local committees and assisted in the implementation of many projects in North Dakota. Kelly currently works with the statewide Caseflow Management Committee, chairs the Digital Recording Workgroup, and the technology sub-group of the caseflow committee, which assisted in the creation of the judicial dashboard that is utilized across the state by judges and court administrators.
In 2015, Kelly completed the Court Management Program and in 2017 completed her ICM Fellowship through the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). Her fellowship paper entitled “Caseflow Management in North Dakota: From Measurement to Management” documented the recent changes in North Dakota rules and policies and discussed recommendations for the future of caseflow management in North Dakota.
Kelly holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from Hamline University, where she also had minors in Economics and Political Science. She is currently working on her Master’s in Public Administration at the University of North Dakota.
Brandon Kimura
2021-2024
Hawai'i State Judiciary
417 S King Street, Suite 206-A
Honolulu, HI 96813 > Read Biography
Brandon Kimura is the Deputy Administrative Director of the Courts for the Hawai'i State Judiciary. He previously served as Special Assistant to Hawai'i Administrative Director of the Courts Rod Maile, Special Assistant/Staff Attorney to Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald of the Hawai'i Supreme Court, an attorney in private practice in Hawai'i and Indiana, a judicial law clerk to Chief Judge Margret Robb of the Indiana Court of Appeals, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the University of Hawai'i Law Review.
Brandon is a graduate of Lewis & Clark College and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai'i, and is completing the Fellows Program of the National Center for State Courts' Institute for Court Management (ICM). He has led work groups to review and update several NACM CORE curricula, and is a certified faculty member for the following ICM courses: Visioning and Strategic Planning, Operations Management, Leadership, Public Relations, Educational Development, and Project Management.
Greg Lambard
2020-23
Superior Court of NJ - Middlesex Vicinage
56 Paterson St.
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-2691
Greg Lambard began his career with the State of New Jersey in 1991 after obtaining a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland and a MA in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University. He has served in the State Judiciary in various administrative roles and as a researcher/statistician. Additionally, he served two years in the New Jersey Governor’s Office, as Special Assistant to the State’s Chief Information Officer.
He has worked in the New Jersey Judiciary in the Essex County Criminal Division, AOC-Family Practice Division, in the Morris County Family, Operations, and Criminal Divisions (serving as Division Manager in each), in the Burlington County Probation Division as Chief Probation Officer, and currently serves as the Trial Court Administrator for the Middlesex County Superior Court. He is President of the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management and a Past Director on the Board of the National Association for Court Management. He has served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the National Center for State Courts’, Pretrial Justice and the State Courts Initiative, and a member of the National Judicial Opioid Task Force.
Kenneth Pankey
2020-23
Supreme Court of Virginia
100 North 9th St, 3rd Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
Kent Pankey is the senior planner in the Department of Judicial Planning, Office of the Executive Secretary, Supreme Court of Virginia (Virginia’s AOC), where he has worked since 2005. His current duties relate primarily to comprehensive projects involving strategic planning and performance measurement and management. He also staffs commissions and study groups, writes and edits reports and newsletters, and supports educational and technical assistance programs.
Admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 1988, Kent began his career at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) where he held a variety of positions including staff attorney, departmental director, senior analyst, and head of the institutional review board. He advised judges, court administrators, legislative officials, media representatives. and others on a wide range of issues related to courts and their operation. Kent staffed or directed federally-funded, national-scope research projects on subjects including alternative dispute resolution, court coordination of family cases, the management of budget cutbacks, habeas corpus in state and federal courts, and futures studies and strategic planning in state courts. He was a contributing writer and for several years the managing editor for the annual Report on Trends in the State Courts and also the director of the Survey of Judicial Salaries.
Kent received a B.A. in Political Science from Hampden-Sydney College and a J.D. from the College of William and Mary. He is an ICM Fellow (Class of 1999) and a certified ICM instructor for the courses Accountability and Court Performance, Executive Decision Making, Leadership, Modern Court Governance, and Visioning and Strategic Planning. He has been a member of NACM since 1994 and has been an active member of the Education, Communication, and Membership Committees. Recently, he has been an editor for NACM’s new Media Guide and has authored or coauthored several articles for The Court Manager.
Roger Rand
2021-2024
Multnomah Circuit Court
1200 SW 1st Avenue, Room 01407
Portland, OR 97204
Cheryl Stone
2021-2024
Eugene Municipal Court
1102 Lincoln St.
Eugene, OR 97401
Cheryl Stone is currently the Court Administrator at the Eugene Municipal Court, in Eugene, Oregon. Eugene Municipal Court is the largest limited jurisdiction court in Oregon. Prior justice system positions include, Court Administrator for the City of Salem Municipal Court in Salem, Oregon, and several different leadership roles at the Office of the State Court Administrator’s Office in Salem, Oregon
The Eugene Municipal Court is a high-volume court with multiple specialty dockets including a Community Court, and several Mental Health dockets. The court utilizes restorative justice principles in all court activities, looking for best outcomes to reduce recidivism and enhance community wellness.
Mrs. Stone received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Northwest Nazarene University, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Court Management (2012) with the National Center for State Courts. Cheryl is a member of the Oregon Association for Court Administration. She has been a member of the National Association for Court Management since 2008. Mrs. Stone has appeared on the Center for Court Innovation’s New Thinking Podcast in February 2018. Her Fellows research was featured in the 2013 Spring edition of the Court Manager.
Angie VanSchoick
2020-23
Town of Breckenridge
150 Ski Hill Rd, P.O. Box 168
Breckenridge, CO 80424
Angie VanSchoick is the Court Administrator with the Town of Breckenridge Municipal Court, a position she has held since 2013. In this role, she is responsible for all court operations, including the implementation of policies and procedures, general administration, and jury management. Over the past eight years, she has expanded her court presence by serving on the Board of the Colorado Association for Municipal Court Administration (CAMCA). She currently serves as Immediate Past President and Co-Treasurer of CAMCA, in addition to maintaining their website, serving as a trainer, and providing general oversight.
Ms. VanSchoick is a licensed macro level social worker in the State of Colorado and Michigan, receiving her MSW from the University of Michigan in 2007. Her focus was on Policy, Evaluation, Community Organization, and Community Social Systems, which has provided her with a solid background to assist her Court and CAMCA. As a lifelong learner, she welcomes opportunities to expand her knowledge and knows that serving as a NACM Director will assist in that expansion.