Our Staff

Chalachew Alemu, M.S.

Senior Grant Accountant

Chalachew Alemu joined JIRN staff in January 2019 as a Senior Grant Accountant. He is responsible for all activities related to the management of Federal-funded grants. He received his Master’s of Science in Accounting & Finance from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Before joining JIRN, Chalachew was a manager at a nonprofit accounting consulting firm that dealt with federal government contracts and business organizations. Chalechew has over 15 years of experience in Accounting & Finance. His experience includes serving as a board of directors member for a credit association and a commercial bank and as an instructor for undergraduate accounting and financial management courses.

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Devorah Braswell

Accounting Specialist

Devorah Braswell joined the JIRN staff in January 2019 as an Accounting Specialist. She is responsible for processing payroll, bank reconciliation, accounts receivable, and payables. Devorah is completing studies for Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Prior to joining JIRN, she worked at Global Express Financial Services as a Staff Accountant and came to JIRN with over 15 years of experience in Accounting.

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Audrey Fleming

Director of Finance

Audrey Fleming joined the JIRN staff in October 2016. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business with an Accounting Concentration from Strayer University. She is responsible for managing all aspects of the financial and administrative operations of the JIRN. She supports JIRN’s Executive Director in strategizing a path for the Association’s Financial health. Prior to joining JIRN, Audrey worked as an Accounting Manager at the Alliance for Academic and Internal Medicine (AAIM), a non-profit association.

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Diba Rouzbahani, M.A.

Research Analyst

Diba Rouzbahani joined JIRN in May 2023 as Research Analyst. She holds a Master’s of Arts from Rutgers University and is pursuing her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at the John Jay College-Graduate Center (CUNY). Before her role at JIRN, Diba held research positions in diverse sectors, including nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, and academia. Most Recently, she worked as a graduate research associate at Arnold Ventures.

Methodologies: Time series analysis, discourse analysis, spatial analysis, mixed methods, and storytelling through visualization.

Research areas: Pretrial justice, punishment and inequality, policy and program evaluation, and jail trends.

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Jeffrey Sedgwick, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Jeffrey Sedgwick joined JIRN as Executive Director in January 2015, previously serving as Director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Dr. Sedgwick is responsible for the overall management of JIRN, including administrative functions, program development and implementation, and liaison to other national criminal justice organizations. He provides staff support to JIRN’s Executive Committee and the Association’s members.

Dr. Sedgwick received his MAPA in Public Administration and Public Policy and his Ph.D. in Government and Public Affairs from the University of Virginia. He is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he taught multiple courses, including Policy Analysis and Evaluation and Public Policy. Dr. Sedgwick also co-founded the consulting firm Keswick Advisors, which aids in developing program outcomes and performance measures for various projects, including evaluating youth crime prevention programs funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

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Alexa Singer, Ph.D.

Research Associate

Alexa Singer joined JIRN in June 2023 as a Research Associate. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminology Justice from Florida State University in 2019. Prior to joining JIRN, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Western Carolina University. Her research focuses on local jail related issues, including jail reentry and behavioral health concerns faced by jail detainees including mental health conditions and substance use disorders. In addition to jails, her work has focused on public opinion about criminal justice institutions and policies in a cross-national context.

Methodologies: Program evaluation, data collection, qualitative methods, quantitative methods, mixed methods

Research areas: Local jails, jail reentry, prisons, prisoner reentry, behavioral health conditions, public opinion; cross-national research

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Nicole (Nikki) Thomas

Administrative Coordinator

Nicole Thomas joined the JIRN staff in September 2017 as an Administrative Coordinator. Nicole is responsible for monitoring and managing sub-award agreements and audits, conference and in-house meeting logistics, and maintaining membership data. She is currently enrolled at the University of the District of Columbia, pursuing an AA Degree in Business Management. She has over 25 years in the Administrative field. Prior to joining JIRN, she worked at the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) as a Staff Associate. She is a member of the Martha’s Table Child Development Center Healthy Start Program.

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Jason Trask, M.S.

Strategic Communication Associate

Jason Trask is a Strategic Communication Associate who joined the Justice Research and Statistics Association in October 2000. In that time, he has worked in several positions on a variety of data collection, program evaluation, and training and technical assistance (TTA) projects, including the Weed and Seed Data Center Project and the Bureau of Justice Assistance Center for Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement Project. Currently, Jason works on the Center for Victim Research, Incident-Based Reporting Resource Center, and the State Justice Statistics project, providing technical expertise in a variety of areas. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Administration of Justice from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master’s of Science in Justice, Law, and Society from American University.

Expertise: Data collection, program evaluation, technology for training & technical assistance, training & technical assistance, strategic communication

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Leah Valenti, M.S.

Knowledge Base Administrator