Mark L. Earley, President and Chief Executive Officer, Prison Fellowship
Mark Earley, former State Senator and Attorney General of Virginia, became president of Prison Fellowship on February 1, 2002.
As President and CEO of Prison Fellowship, Earley oversees the national ministry founded by Charles Colson in 1976, which has since spread to 113 countries in addition to the United States.
Earley, an attorney, practiced law for fifteen years in Norfolk, Virginia, and then served in the Virginia State Senate for ten years before being elected Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Earley also served on the staff of the Navigators, an international evangelical ministry active on college campuses, military bases, and other settings. He worked in campus ministry at the University of the Philippines in Manila and in the U.S. at West Chester University in Pennsylvania and at the College of William and Mary in Virginia.
He is a graduate of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he received a B.A. in Religion. He earned a juris doctor degree from the William & Mary School of Law. He resides in Lansdowne, Virginia, with his wife, the former Cynthia Breithaupt. They have six children (Rachel, Justin, Mark Jr., Mary Catherine, Franklin, and Anne Harris).
Garland Hunt, Board Member, Georgia Pardons and Parole Board
Garland Hunt was appointed to the Parole Board in January 2004 and one month later, Board Members elected Mr. Hunt Vice-Chairman of the Parole Board. Mr. Hunt served as Board Chairman from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008.
After attending undergraduate and law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Mr. Hunt served as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. Prior to becoming a Member of the Parole Board, he owned a consulting company and served as General Counsel and Executive Vice-President of the Fellowship of International Churches.
Mr. Hunt was President of the 2004 Class of the Coverdell Leadership Institute, a 2006 graduate of Leadership Georgia and named to Who's Who in Black Atlanta. He was appointed in 2004, as a member of the Governor's Commission on Family Violence. Mr. Hunt is currently the Vice President of the Association of Paroling Authorities International; he previously served as their Chairman of the Constitution and By-Laws Committee. He has been a guest speaker for various organizations and presented the key to the city of Dalton, Georgia in 2008. In 2008, he received the Presidents Award from the Association of Paroling Authorities International.
An ordained minister, Mr. Hunt is the co-pastor of The Father’s House in Norcross, Georgia. His background of ministry and law brings a unique set of skills to the Parole Board. His focus on involving the faith-based community in the offender reentry process is invaluable.
Mr. Hunt is married to Eileen and they have three children, Garland, Jr., Christa, and Jeremy.
James “Jim” R. Lientz, Jr., State of Georgia, First Chief Operating Officer
Jim Lientz retired in 2000 as President of the Mid-South Division of Bank of America. Following his retirement he became a partner and Chairman of the TriVeritas Group, a financial services firm he helped co-found. He served as Chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in 1998 and as Chair of the Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber in 2000. In 1999, Mr. Lientz served as Chair of the Woodruff Arts Center Corporate Campaign.
Currently, Mr. Lientz is the state of Georgia’s first Chief Operating Officer. Governor Sonny Perdue appointed him to this position in January 2003. In this role, he has responsibility for all operating units of Georgia state government. He received his undergraduate degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, and obtained his master’s degree from Georgia State University. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He and his wife Peggy have three daughters and eight grandchildren.
Brian Owens, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Corrections
Brian Owens was unanimously approved, on the Governor’s recommendation, on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 by the Board of Corrections as new Corrections Commissioner. Owens was subsequently sworn in on January 8th by Governor Perdue at the Capitol. Owens began his career in criminal justice as a Parole Officer, and served as Assistant Chief Parole Officer and Chief Parole Officer in Fulton County. In 1999, Owens led the Department of Corrections’ Office of Planning and Analysis before accepting the position of Executive Assistant to former Commissioner Jim Wetherington in 2002. Owens has held his most recent position serving as Assistant Commissioner under James E. Donald since 2005. Owens is a graduate of the University of Georgia. He is married with two children and resides in Monroe County, Georgia.
Michael Leo Owens, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, Emory University
Michael Leo Owens (Ph.D. State University of New York-Albany, 2001) is Associate Professor of Political Science and Religion and a partner for the Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative at Emory University. He is the co-organizer of the Atlanta Reentry Mapping Network, a research partnership among the Urban Institute, Emory University, and the Georgia Department of Corrections and Board of Pardons and Paroles studying the spatial distribution and social dynamics of ex-prisoner reentry in metropolitan Atlanta. The author of God & Government in the Ghetto: The Politics of Church-State Collaboration in Black America (University of Chicago Press, 2007), Dr. Owens’s current projects include Prisoners of Democracy, a multi-method study of punitive public policies and attitudes in the United States that impede the reintegration of ex-felons as democratic citizens. In recognition of his past research, Dr. Owens was awarded a 2006-2007 Visiting Fellowship to the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; a 2004 Norton Long Young Scholar Award from the Urban Politics Section of the American Political Science Association; and the 2000 Young Scholar Award from the Urban Affairs Association and Sage Publications.
Danny Wuerffel, Director, Desire Street Ministries
Danny Wuerffel was born May 27, 1974 in Pensacola, Florida. He grew up as the son of an Air-force Chaplin, living all over the country as well as three years in Spain. Danny graduated as valedictorian of Fort Walton Beach High School in Florida, where he led his football team to the state championship.
For higher education, he chose the University of Florida. While at the University of Florida, Danny led the Gators to four SEC championships and a National title. He won the 1996 Heisman trophy, the William V. Campbell Award, (formerly known as the Draddy award for the Nation’s top student-athlete), and set 17 NCAA and University of Florida records. He graduated with High Honors and earned his bachelor’s degree in Public Relations.
The New Orleans Saints drafted Danny in 1997. After three years with the Saints, Danny played with the NFL’s European league, winning the World Bowl Championship and was selected the league’s MVP by the European media. Danny played one season with each of the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, and Washington Redskins.
In 2004, Danny decided to retire from professional football to work full time with Desire Street Ministries (www.desirestreet.org), which was started to transform one of America’s impoverished neighborhoods in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans into a desirable place to live. In 2008, the Desire Street Ministries headquarters moved to Atlanta in order to increase the vision set years ago in New Orleans of encouraging and empowering local leaders across the country to transform their neighborhoods through spiritual and community development.
Danny is a popular speaker, sharing how his experiences playing football have helped shape his life, and has written one book, “Danny Wuerffel’s Tales from the Gator Swamp: Reflections of Faith and Football.”
His wife, Jessica, is his best friend. They have two sons, Jonah and Joshua, and a daughter, Macy.
|
