Lisa Monet Wayne was appointed Executive Director of NACDL and the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice by the Board of Directors and assumed the role full-time in February of 2022. Prior, Wayne had been an attorney in private practice in both state and federal courts around the country since 1985. She has represented hundreds of individuals and corporations in both the investigation phase and criminally accused capacity. Previously, Wayne was a Colorado State Public Defender for 13 years where she served as office head, training director, and senior trial attorney. She lectures nationally with NACDL, National Criminal Defense College, National Institute of Trial Advocates, American Bar Association, numerous State Bar Associations, Public Defender Organizations, and many other legal organizations. Wayne has served as an adjunct law professor at the University of Colorado where she taught trial advocacy for 22 years, she serves on faculty at the Trial Practice Institute at Harvard Law School, The National Criminal Defense College, and Cardoza Law School.

Ms. Wayne has been an advocate in all venues of the media addressing important issues confronting the criminally accused. She has been a legal analyst for numerous media outlets including, ABC, CBS, CNN, Al Jazeera, World Radio and Fox regarding high profile cases around the country. She is frequently quoted in print media such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Detroit Free Press, and the AP wire. Ms. Wayne testified before the United States Sentencing Commission in 2012 against the implementation of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines as mandatory. In 2005, Wayne was honored with the Robert J. Heeney Award, NACDL’s most prestigious recognition. Wayne is the Past President of NACDL, Past President of the National Foundation of Criminal Justice, and serves on numerous committees’ around criminal justice issues. Wayne is a member of the Colorado Supreme Court Standing Committee on Ethics. She is also a member of The Colorado Sentencing Reform Task Force. Wayne is a law graduate of Pepperdine University Law School, and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado.

LaToya Simone Williams began her quest for excellence at an early age. She graduated as Valedictorian of the 2005 senior class of George Washington Carver High School in Columbus, GA. LaToya then continued her tedious journey through education at Albany State University, where she graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She then went on to matriculate at Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law where she obtained her Juris Doctor and then an LL.M. (Master of Laws) in Federal Criminal Practice and Procedure.

LaToya is a servant leader who believes in providing her clients with zealous advocacy and compassionate service. LaToya is currently a Public Defender with the Georgia Public Defender Council. Prior to this role, she was the Senior Assistant Public Defender in the Houston Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office in Warner Robins, GA. She is also an adjunct professor of paralegal studies and business technologies at Central Georgia Technical College and adjunct professor of criminal justice and business law Miller-Motte Technical College. She is a member of Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers where she has served as a faculty member of the Bill Daniel trial advocacy program. She is also a faculty member of the National Criminal Defense College, Past-President of the Houston County Bar Association, Past-president of the Houston County Young Lawyers Division, member of the Macon Reentry Coalition, member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and many more civic and social organizations.

LaToya believes that a curve in the road doesn’t mean the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.

Kathryn (Katie) Wozencroft is an Assistant Federal Defender at the Eastern District of New York FPD (Brooklyn).Prior to this role, she was the Deputy Managing Director of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Bronx Defenders. She was previously the first ever Training Director of the office where she was responsible for developing and implementing substantive and skills trainings for over one hundred practicing attorneys.  She has guest lectured and taught at the Holistic Defense Clinic at Columbia Law School, the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, the National Criminal Defense College and the New Jersey Public Defender. Prior to her work as a public defender, she clerked for the Hon. Eldon Fallon in Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2009.

Lorinda Youngcourt represented Indiana and Illinois capital and non-capital clients in trial, direct appeal, state post-conviction, and federal habeas corpus as a public defender and in private practice. She was the first Lawrence County Indiana Public Defender from 2010-2014, creating an agency to replace a contract public defender system overseen by the judiciary. She served on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Public Defender Council from 2001-2014. Lorinda was the first King County (Seattle, WA) Public Defender from 2015-2018 overseeing the unification of four non-profit agencies into a single county department. In late 2018, Lorinda returned to her roots as a trial lawyer and now works for the Federal Defenders Office of Eastern Washington and Idaho in Spokane, Washington. She is Chair of the Education Committee for the National Association for Public Defense and she serves as faculty at various programs around the country.