​The Office of the Chief of Staff, headed by Marc Schindler​, oversees the following departments:​

• Office of Research and Evaluation​ ​(Director - John Irvine)
• Office of Communications (Director - Michael Sharp)
• Office of Equity and Inclusion (Executive Director - ​Tiana Davis)
• Office of Fair Practices (Director - Sherrie Howell)
• Office of the Inspector General (Acting Inspector General - Sheri Sanford​)
• Office of Professional Training and Education (Director - Denise Victory)

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Marc Schindler​
Assistant Secretary and Chief of Staff​​

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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.​​

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.

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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.​​​

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Michael Sharp​
Director of Communications

Michael Sharp serves as the Director of Communications and the official spokesperson for the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS). Michael 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.

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Tiana Davis
Executive Director, Office of Equity & Inclusion

Tiana Davis serves as Executive Director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS). Her 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.

Tiana is a proud native of Baltimore and comes to us after serving as Policy Director of Equity and Diversion at the Center for Children’s Law and Policy (CCLP). In this capacity, Tiana worked with national, state, and local leaders to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in the youth justice system. Prior to joining CCLP, Tiana served as the Director of Community Programming for the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice in Baltimore City, Maryland. Prior to her time with the Mayor’s Office, Tiana served as the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Coordinator for Baltimore County, where she worked intensively with a group of local stakeholders to address racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. Tiana earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Visit the Office of Equity and Inclusion​ for more in​formation.

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Sherrie Howell​
Director, Offic​e of Fair Practices

Sherrie T. Howell is the Director of the Office of Fair Practices and Equal Employment Opportunity. This office provides oversight and coordination of all federal and state equal employment opportunity regulations, practices, and policies. Sherrie has more than 25 years of EEO experience. She came to her current position as Director of the Office of Fair Practices after serving for two and a half years as the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer under the previous Director of Fair Practices.​​

Sherrie​ is a 1992 graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she also obtained her Master's Degree in Legal and Ethical Studies in 1985. She completed her undergraduate studies at Frostburg State University in 1983. She came to DJS after a diverse and varied career in law ranging from operating a solo law practice for twenty years to teaching law-related classes at the Community College and High School levels.​

Sheri Sanford
Acting Inspector General​

Acting Inspector General Sheri Sanford monitors all DJS-operated facilities and DJS-licensed programs both in-state and out-of-state as well as DJS's internal operations. The Office of the Inspector General is charged with investigating all incidents that occur in any pr​ogram with DJS youth. The Inspector General directly supervises the Office of Internal Auditing, Office of Quality Assurance, Investigative Unit, Gang Intelligence and the Office of Child Advocacy.​​​​

Denise Victory​
Director, Office of Professional Training and Education

The Professional Training and Education Unit (PTEU) is responsible for the supervision, coordination, and delivery of entry level and in-service training programs for the Department of Juvenile Services. The unit is also responsible for providing staff development and process enhancements in accordance with the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions' regulations and departmental policies by providing efficient and effective programs and services.