Our Team

Our team is built on individuals with various backgrounds in the criminal justice field.

Holly Ziemer

Director of Communications

Holly Ziemer is a Director of Communications for CEPP, working primarily on its national Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research (APPR) initiative. She oversees APPR’s broad communications scope of work, including strategies to build a broader, more engaged network of community members and criminal justice system partners who support pretrial advancement. Ms. Ziemer consults and provides technical assistance to criminal justice system professionals to help them communicate more clearly with community members and local media about their pretrial systems and to build knowledge and support for pretrial improvements that are effective and equitable.

Ms. Ziemer has served as Director of Communications at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, at the Center for Victims of Torture, at the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition, and for Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey III. She has a background in journalism, having worked as an Associate Producer for several PBS Frontline documentaries produced at the Center for Investigative Reporting, and has written for the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. Ms. Ziemer holds a BA in speech communication and rhetoric from the University of Minnesota and an MA in print journalism from the University of Southern California.

Our Team

Alison Shames

Director

Anke Mann

Associate Director

Cherrie Smith-Raines

Operations Manager

Cynthia Mausser

Senior Manager

Denise Symdon

Senior Manager

Dr. Kelvin L. Banks

Associate Director

Edith Han

Digital Manager

Elizabeth Hidalgo

Program Assistant

Erica King

Senior Manager

Holly Ziemer

Director of Communications

Jenna Mackey

Program Manager

Jessica Ireland

Senior Manager

Keilah Joyner

Program Associate

Kristen Persaud

Operations Assistant

Lakisha Fisher

Program Manager

Leilah Gilligan

Director

Marilyn Van Dieten

Senior Advisor

Matt Alsdorf

Associate Director

Melanie Breault Kursun

Communications Manager

Orleny Rojas

Senior Manager, Racial Equity

Richard Stroker

Director

Samuel Steed

Operations Assistant

Spike Bradford

Communications Manager

Tanya Anderson

Associate Director

Tara Boh Blair

Senior Manager

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