The Secretary of the Department of Juvenile Services oversees and manages the functions of the Department of Juvenile Services.
Vincent Schiraldi
Secretary
Since 2023, Vincent Schiraldi has been Secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.
Vincent Schiraldi is a national leader in criminal/juvenile justice and mass incarceration reform, a field he has worked in for more than four decades. He previously served as Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, and before that Columbia University, where he served as Senior Research Scientist at the Columbia School of Social Work and co-Director of the Columbia Justice Lab, working to reduce the footprint and negative impact of community corrections, eliminate youth prisons, and create a developmentally appropriate response to offending by young adults. Mr. Schiraldi went to Columbia from the Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice where he was a Senior Researcher. Mr. Schiraldi also has extensive government experience in criminal and juvenile justice. While Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, he attempted to close Riker’s Island and end the practice of solitary confinement. Mr. Schiraldi also served as director of juvenile corrections in Washington DC, as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation, and as Senior Policy Adviser to the NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. He also pioneered efforts at community-based alternatives to incarceration in NYC and Washington DC as founder and executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice and Justice Policy Institute, respectively. Schiraldi has lectured at the Columbia University School of Social Work, Harvard Law School, NYU School of Social Work, San Francisco University, and the Georgetown University Center for Juvenile Justice Reform. Schiraldi received a Master’s in Social Work from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Binghamton University.
Office of the Secretary
Marc Schindler
Assistant Secretary and Chief of Staff
Marc Schindler is the Assistant Secretary and Chief of Staff. In this capacity, he works directly with the Secretary of DJS to advise on and implement initiatives, reforms and policies that are designed to improve the lives of youth in Maryland and move the agency forward. Marc comes to DJS with extensive and varied experience in the youth justice field, including as an attorney, public administrator, grant maker, advocate, and researcher. He comes to DJS after serving 10 years as the Executive Director of the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), a national research and policy organization with expertise in juvenile and criminal justice issues. JPI has worked extensively in Maryland, issuing more than 20 reports on various justice issues in the state, including documenting the state’s extreme racial disparities in young people incarcerated in the state’s prisons. Marc also worked from 2005-2010 at the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) where he served as General Counsel, Chief of Staff, and Interim Director, helping to lead the agency’s reform efforts. In addition, he worked for almost a decade as a staff attorney with the Youth Law Center, a national civil rights law firm advocating on behalf of children and youth in juvenile justice and child welfare systems across the country. Marc began his legal career in Maryland, serving as a public defender representing children in Baltimore’s juvenile court in the 1990s.
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Office of the Chief of Staff page for more information.
Antonia Reason
Deputy Secretary of Residential Services
Antonia Reason serves as the Deputy Secretary for Residential Services. She is responsible for directing the operations of six community detention centers, three residential treatment facilities, and oversees the coordination of somatic health care, substance abuse, mental health, behavioral health, dietary, educational, security, recreational and rehabilitation services, Foster Grandparent Program, and the transportation department. Antonia began her career in youth services at the age of 22. She diligently earned promotions and rose through the ranks of many leadership positions. In these positions, she has developed a multitude of short- and long-term objectives and programs for detained youth in conjunction with other stakeholders like judges and the senior management teams.
Antonia is actively involved in various civil and charitable organizations. She currently serves on the Disproportionate Minority Contact Council Board and has been certified by The Virginia Commonwealth University for Executive Leadership. She is an active volunteer member of The Howard County Public Schools, NAACP, and ALPFA (Association of Latino Professional for America). Her specialty working with the delinquent female population has afforded her the chance to become certified as a Human Trafficking Trainer.
Antonia has appeared on Viacom television (VH1) and has been featured in Black Enterprise magazine. Antonia was selected as one of the “40 under Forty Achievers” for 2019 and awarded in 2020 as one of Maryland's "Top 100 Women.”
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Residential Services Division page for more information.
Lisa Garry
Deputy Secretary of Community Services
Lisa M. Garry serves as Deputy Secretary of Community Services for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), which oversees Pre-Adjudication Services, Community Supervision, and the Resource Office.
Lisa has an extensive work portfolio that combines public sector, community, and independent consulting experience. Prior to joining DJS, Lisa served as a Policy Director with the Center for Children’s Law and Policy (CCLP) in Washington, DC. Her work on racial disparities in the juvenile justice system has been recognized by both the MacArthur Foundation and Annie E. Casey Foundation with the 2012 DMC Champion of Change Award and the 2017 JDAI Distinguished System Leadership Award respectively.
Lisa earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Baltimore, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
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Community Services page for more information.
David Brown
Deputy Secretary of Support Services
David Brown is the Deputy Secretary for Support Services, which includes Human Resources, Information Technology, Capital Planning & Budget, Research & Evaluation, Budget & Accounting, Training, and General Services. David has had a distinguished career in youth work, serving as a non-profit executive, public administrator, policy analyst, grant maker, and advocate, with significant and varied experiences at the local, state, and national level in youth development, juvenile justice, workforce development, education, organizational development, and financial, budget, personnel, and contract management. David comes to us after serving for over 11 years as a Senior Fellow and Associate in the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. David’s prior experience includes serving as Deputy Director of the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). At DYRS, he was responsible for overseeing residential and community-based programs and services for nearly 1,000 committed and detained youth in the District’s care and custody. While with DYRS, he led the development of a new case-planning process and a comprehensive community-based continuum of care that included evidence-based practices and a menu of services, supports, and opportunities grounded in positive youth development, including a range of workforce development programs. Before joining DYRS, David worked at the national level as the executive director of the National Youth Employment Coalition and as a senior policy analyst with the National Governors’ Association (NGA), where he focused on youth policy issues,including youth employment, career education, juvenile justice, and national and community service. Prior to joining NGA, David served as a Government Relations Specialist for DJS from 1989–1992. David earned a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Baruch College in New York, which he attended as a National Urban Fellow, and a B.S. in Political Science and Urban Affairs from American University in Washington, DC.
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Support Division page for more information.
David Domenici
Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Director of Education
As Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Director of Education, David Domenici advises the Secretary and leadership team on education issues. He will also work in partnership with JSEP Superintendent Kim Pogue, to provide outstanding educational opportunities for all young people who come into contact with DJS, both within our facilities and in the community. The Education Transition Unit will also be under the Director of Education. Domenici has a wealth of experience in education for youth in the juvenile justice system, where he has become a nationally recognized leader on these issues. Domenici co-founded and served as the Executive Director of The Maya Angelou Schools, a network of alternative schools in Washington, D.C. He also served from 2007 to 2011 as the founding principal of the Maya Angelou Academy, the widely acclaimed school located inside the New Beginnings Youth Development Center, D.C.’s long-term, secure juvenile facility. Domenici left the Academy in 2011 to form BreakFree Education, a national non-profit organization created to radically improve education in the juvenile and criminal justice systems by investing in the potential and dignity of all of its students. BreakFree works with juvenile justice agencies and their education partners across the country, and operates the Travis Hill Schools, located inside of the juvenile detention center and adult jail in New Orleans.
Executive Director, Office of Equity & Inclusion
(vacant)
The Executive Director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) role is to operationalize principles of institutional fairness and equity in agency decision making, and to provide state-level oversight of equity initiatives statewide. The office includes family engagement, community and youth engagement, and victim services.
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Office of Equity and Inclusion for more information.
Kara Aanenson
Director of Legislation, Policy, and Reform
Kara Aanenson is the Director of Legislation, Policy, and Reform for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. In that role, she serves as part of the DJS executive leadership team and manages the Department's governmental relations, as well as assisting staff in meeting policy objectives consistent with state and federal law.
Prior to joining DJS, Kara served as the Director of the Just Kids Campaign at Community Law in Action, where she partnered with directly impacted young people to stop the automatic prosecution of youth as adults. She also was a social worker at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender where she worked in the legislative unit and developed alternative dispositions and sentencing plans for youth in adults.
Kara earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Work from Wartburg College located in Waverly, IA.
John Irvine
Director, Office of Research and Evaluation
John Irvine serves as Director of the Office of Research and Evaluation. The Office helps ensure that the Department’s policies, programs, strategic plans, assessment, and initiatives are well supported by timely and accurate data, analysis, and research. The Office creates management, evaluation, and outcome reports for DJS leadership and key stakeholders, and partners with university researchers on in-depth research and evaluation projects. The office produces the DJS Data Resource guide - a benchmark, all-encompassing annual report on DJS youth and programs.
John began his State career in 1997 at the Department of Human Services as a policy analyst specializing in strategic planning and performance measurement. He developed DHS DataStat, an early State agency-level executive performance review, and worked with local DSS offices in successfully applying for Malcolm Baldrige Quality Awards. John has been with DJS for twenty years, starting as Assistant Director, and has been Director of Research and Evaluation since 2005. He earned a BA in philosophy from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Eric Solomon
Director of Communications
Eric Solomon serves as the Director of Communications and the official spokesperson for the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS). Solomon develops and oversees all internal and external communications strategies, responds to the media, Public Information Act requests, crisis situations, and regularly coordinates messaging with the Governor’s Office and oversees the Special Projects and Website team. Solomon has spoken at many conferences about the importance of media relations in the juvenile justice field and in 2013, he was instrumental in receiving Best in Maryland honors from the Public Relations Society of America for DJS-TV.
Solomon has more than 30 years of Communications experience and has worked for DJS for more than seven years. Prior to his experience with the State, he worked for the Howard County Council and also for a national non-profit to keep youth under the age of 18 years old out of the adult criminal justice system. He was the recipient of two Golden Thinker Awards from the North American Precis Syndicate (NAPS), for 282 and 191 placements of juvenile justice TV stories. Solomon is a graduate from Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ.
