ICPA Board of Directors
Peter Severin
Peter has been the Commissioner, Corrective Services New South Wales, Australia since September 2012 and retired in August 2021. Prior to this appointment Peter was the Chief Executive of the Department for Correctional Services in South Australia from July 2003 and worked with the Department of Corrective Services in Queensland, Australia for almost 15 years, his last position was Deputy Director-General. Peter started his corrections career in Germany in 1980.
New South Wales is one of eight States and Territories in Australia and Corrective Services New South Wales has responsibility for prisons and community corrections. It is the largest Australian corrections jurisdiction.
Peter has a strong background in corrections operation, in particular offender management and intervention. He has extensive experience in prison management and policy formulation. Peter also presided over significant prison infrastructure design, construction and commissioning and has particular expertise in the development of service standards for the delivery of correctional services by the private sector and contract management.
Peter holds a Masters of Public Administration and Bachelor of Social Work degree.
Hans Meurisse
Hans Meurisse holds a master degree in Criminology from the Ghent University and also participated in several post-graduate courses, which allowed him to gain profound knowledge of public, financial and penitentiary management, forensic matters, Business Process Reengineering, and organised international fraud.
He started his professional career in 1986 with the Judicial Police, where he eventually was appointed Chief Investigator. In 1999, Hans became the Prison Governor of the Ghent prison. His work was mainly focused on managing the detention of convicts, remand prisoners, and mentally ill prisoners on an operational level. In September 2006, he was appointed as the Director General of the Belgian Prison Service.
Hans Meurisse was the Director General of the Belgian Prison Service for more than 11 years, from 2006 until 2017. During that time, he also served as President of the European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services (EuroPris) for 6 years after being appointed in 2011. He was also a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) from 2009 until 2011 (2nd International Vice-President) and from 2014 until 2017 (Ordinary Board Member). During his previous tenures with the Association, Hans hosted the ICPA Annual Conference in 2010 and provided support to ICPA through staffing, logistical and administrative services including the appointment of the Tineke De Waele as Executive Director.
Following his Presidency of the organisation, Hans served as a Senior Advisor and International Expert with EuroPris. Today he serves as Vice President of ICPA since 2019 and plays a key role on the Board of Directors. He is also involved in ICPA’s various initiatives and events, where he brings his expertise in technology, planning and design, and statistics. In his manifesto for serving as Vice-President, Mr Meurisse remains committed to enhancing the collaboration between ICPA and others internationally, with a key focus on building relations in Europe and Africa.
Diane Williams
Diane was President and CEO of the Safer Foundation for almost 20 years. Annually, Diane and her team assisted 8000+ people with criminal records in their efforts to reconnect with family, community and work. Under her leadership Safer built strong partnerships with correctional agencies throughout the United States. Safer remains the only NGO to manage work release centers in Illinois. Diane also served on the Board of Safer for 10 years prior to joining the staff.
Diane has served and is serving on other boards of criminal justice organizations including, the National Institute of Corrections a U.S. Department of Justice agency providing training, development and technical assistance to state, county, and municipal Corrections and Pre-trial agencies throughout the United States, The Hire Network – a division of the Legal Center which assists public and not for profit organizations in developing and implementing polices supportive of justice-involved individuals securing employment, the International Association of Correctional and Forensic Psychology which is an association committed to “helping the helper” in correctional settings, the Illinois Facilities Fund which provides funding for community and program development targeting under resourced communities, and others. In conjunction with other professionals Diane has reviewed community corrections functions in multiple U.S. States and in other countries.
Prior to working at Safer Diane worked in the telecommunications industry in marketing and training. She served as Director of Marketing for the small and mid-sized businesses in the Great Lakes Region for AT&T. The skills she acquired in that setting will serve her in building partnerships, negotiating agreements, managing budgets to meet Association goals, and supporting accountability in finance.
Diane has an undergraduate degree in Secondary Education – English and Masters in Business Administration. Diane received the Champion of Change Award from President Barack Obama, an ICPA Offender Management and Treatment Award (granted prior to being elected to the board), and numerous other acknowledgements for her hard work in community corrections/re-entry work.
David Brown
David Brown graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts, double major in Government in 1992. In January 1993 he joined the Queensland Corrective Services Commission as a Custodial Correctional Officer. Mr Brown has enjoyed a wide and varied career in corrections with experience across three jurisdictions. He has worked in both the private and public sector in a range of senior management roles.
In summary, his experience includes:
- Chief Executive, DCS, South Australia
- Executive Director Custodial Services, DCS, South Australia
- Director, Detention Services for GSL (Australia) Pty Ltd
- General Manager, Maryborough Correctional Centre, DCS, Queensland
- Assistant General Manager, Acacia Prison, Perth for AIMS Corporation
His academic qualifications include:
- Bachelor of Arts, double major in Government and a major in Australian History, University of Queensland, 1992; and
- Master of Public Administration, University of Queensland, 2001.
Appointed as Chief Executive of the Department for Correctional Services in South Australia in September 2012, he has overseen a critical period of growth and reform across the Department. He has played a key role in strengthening security and emergency management standards across the system; placing a renewed focus on offender rehabilitation, education and vocation training; and building community partnerships to improve reintegration of offender back into society once they leave prison. Mr Brown is passionate about creating an integrated approach to offender management that involves meaningful activity combined with targeted rehabilitation.
The South Australian Department for Correctional Services is pursuing the ambitious goal of reducing re-offending by 10% by 2020. David Brown is focused on implementing strategies that drive down the rate of re-offending including increased investment in rehabilitation programs, strengthening alternatives to custody such as Home Detention and building better prison services. Leadership development and succession planning has been a key focus during his time in South Australia and he believes the Department for Correctional Services is well positioned with an experienced Executive and Senior Management group.
Emiliano Blanco
Mr Blanco, born in Buenos Aires in 1981, graduated in Law in Argentina, specializing in Criminal Law. He was National Director of the Federal Prison Service of Argentina, and Director of the Institute of Criminology of the Federal Prison Service, in the period 2014-2020.
He has vast experience in prison management and administration, having previously worked as the Head of the Advisory Team to the SPF’s National Director and the Undersecretary of Prison Management. He has also provided services as a legal advisor to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights on different programmes. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant in different countries (Uruguay, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, etc) on matters relating to treatment, reducing reoffending, protecting the public, and managing prison services.
Under his leadership, the Argentine Federal Prison Service developed:
– Anti-corruption policies;
– A new theoretic criminological overview;
– Violence Reduction Service: (lowest death rate in SPF´s history 30,09%);
– Natural Disaster Management Policy;
– Staff programs and salary policies.
He teaches and researches in applied criminology and comparative prison law. He has published several papers:
– as author and co-author different works, such as Reducing Deaths in Custody; Comparative Prison Systems; In our Way to an Initial Risk Classification and Risk- and Need-Based Assessment System; Transnational Organized Crime in the Prison Setting; Management Models, and Work Environment in the Prison Setting, Reducing Disaster Risks in the Prison Setting, among others.
Katy Perry
In 2002, she was appointed an intelligence officer. She completed an inter-service course for intelligence, and in 2006 was appointed deputy commander of the Hadarim detention center. In 2007 she was appointed an intelligence officer in the Central District, and in 2008 she was appointed head of the prisoner's department, and in 2010 she was appointed head of the Hadarim Detention Center. Perry then served as head of the Human Resources Administration and deputy commander of the Central District.
Kim Ekhaugen
Kim Ekhaugen has held the position as Head of International Cooperation in the Directorate of Norwegian Correctional Service since 2014. This includes managing the EEA/Norway Grants for prison and probation service projects with a total value of 150 million EUR in 6 European countries – Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. He is responsible for a bilateral programme with Russia, and a KDI project office in Ukraine. In addition to the abovementioned, Mr. Ekhaugen has the responsibility for the cooperation with USA through the joint programme with Amend, as well as overall international cooperation outside the given bilateral and multilateral agreements.
Mr. Ekhaugen has more than 30 years of experience from the Norwegian Correctional Service. His career includes working on all levels, starting as a prison officer, advancing to various management positions, including being a prison governor in Oslo prison (at that time the largest prison in Norway). Mr. Ekhaugen was also responsible for conducting a pilot project in a halfway house, focusing on interdisciplinary action between prison staff, probation staff and social workers. This model was introduced in year 2000 and became a model for all halfway houses in Norway. Mr. Ekhaugen has also held the position as lecturer at the University College of the Norwegian Correctional Service.
During the last 10 years, Mr. Ekhaugen has had an international career, which has included being seconded by the Norwegian MFA as Head of Mission to the Norwegian Rule of Law Mission to Moldova (Norlam) from 2010-2013. In Moldova, Mr. Ekhaugen was responsible for projects in the correctional field related to management and organizational structure, dynamic/organizational/static security, the role of prison officers and probation officers. Enhancing cooperation between prison and probation services were keywords, and establishing a pilot prison for minors with emphasis on European standards and values was his focus.
Mr. Ekhaugen likes to emphasize the principle of normality in the Norwegian Correctional Service, and is genuinely interested in making a difference to the better for people.
Leann Bertsch
Leann K. Bertsch joined Management and Training Corporation as Senior Vice President – Corrections in July 2020. Bertsch served as the Director of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from July 2005 to July 2020. Prior to serving as Director, Bertsch served as the Commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Labor. Prior to entering state government, Bertsch worked as a state court prosecutor and as a legal aid attorney. As Director of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Bertsch worked to reform the North Dakota corrections system from one that was focused on punishment, monitoring and compliance to a system that is focused on repairing the harm that crime causes for individuals, families and communities. Bertsch serves on the Board of International Corrections and Prison Association, the Advisory Board of the Prison Fellowship Warden’s Exchange, and is President-elect of the Association of Women Executives in Corrections. Bertsch served as the President of the Association of State Correctional Administrator from 2014 through 2018. Bertsch was awarded the Tom Clements Award for Innovation in Corrections by her peers in 2016. Bertsch was also awarded the Legacy award in 2018 from the Association of Women Executives in Corrections.
Marayca Lopez
Dr. Marayca Lopez i Ferrer devoted her entire career, both academic and professional, to the philosophy and practice of prison reform. She holds three advanced degrees in the field of Criminal Justice.
Marayca started her career in academia, completing her practical training as “jurist criminologist” at Can Brians Correctional Facility (Barcelona, Spain). After attaining her PhD, she moved to the USA in 2004, graduating from Rutgers University with a M.A. in Criminal Justice. As the granddaughter of a formerly incarcerated person, she always felt that, to some extent, there was a gap between the “teachings inside the classroom” and the “real field work”. As such, Marayca left academia and moved to the private sector where she has been providing services as justice planner since 2006, working for two architectural firms: CGL (Steve Carter/Bob Goble) and DLR Group (present job). In this capacity she has helped to plan and program juvenile and adult facilities that are holistic in their approach, preserve human rights, are safe and humane, promote rehabilitation, and are focused on innovative operational and programmatic initiatives for positive outcomes and successful re-entry.
Marayca’s experience is international in scope. She has visited facilities in Africa, America, Australia, and Europe, and has worked on justice reform projects and prison studies both domestically (USA) and abroad (e.g., Australia, Canada, Europe, Central and South America), resulting in a deep understanding of correctional best practices, operations, and prison management models worldwide.
Marayca is actively involved with different international organizations that share the common goal of advancing the field of corrections and elevating the rehabilitative ideal and have an on-going collaboration with the Correctional Association of New York, the UN Friends of Corrections, the Inter-American Development Bank, and Penal Reform International on issues related to restorative justice and the humanization of correctional facilities through right-sized, dignifying, and trauma-informed prison infrastructure.
Paul Geurts
Paul Geurts started working for the Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI) in 1989 as middle manager. From 1995 he served as Prison Director working with juveniles, male and females inmates. From 2007 until 2012 Paul was responsible for international cooperation of DJI. In this role Paul developed and implemented bilateral programs with a.o. the Turkish-, the Bulgarian- and the Croatian Prison Systems and with PRAWA in Nigeria, focussing on juvenile and female prisoners, on planning and control systems and on influencing public opinion on detention. During these years Paul stood at the cradle of EUROPRIS and developed his network with International Organisations. Contacts with ACSA and PRAWA developed during these years.
In 2012/13 Paul worked with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan as Prison Advisor. From 2013 until the beginning of 2020 Paul Worked as Regional Prison Systems Advisor for the International Committee of the Red Cross, both in Southern and Eastern Africa and in Asia. In this position Paul (co) developed and delivered capacity building programs in different countries in the southern hemisphere.
Starting 2020 Paul has his own consultancy firm (Prison Systems Support).
Paul holds a Bachelor in Social Work, is an experienced prison manager and a certified coach.
Pedro das Neves
Pedro das Neves is CEO of IPS Innovative Prison Systems, a research and consulting firm specialized on justice and correctional service. Board of the BSAFE LAB Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Lab of Beira Interior University and vice-president of APROXIMAR (NGO) & founder of EASI the European Association for Social Innovation.
Holds a Sociology degree and an MA from the College of Europe in Bruges. Works on public administration reform for 20 years, and on Criminal Justice Innovation since 2002 in Europe and Latin America. Has been involved in the design and implementation of innovative pilot projects lately awarded and recognized as best practices and had the opportunity to visit and learn about the operation of 39 jurisdictions and more than 400 prisons and juvenile centres.
Pedro has extensive experience as policy and programme advisor for several prison administrations, government and multilateral organisations. Guest at meetings and frequently a speaker in international events organized by the European Commission, Council of Europe, EUROPRIS, ICPA, EPEA, COMJIB (Conference of Ministers of the Justice of the Ibero-American countries), the IADB Inter-American Development Bank, IDC HERZLIYA International Institute for Counter Terrorism, UNODC, etc.
Pedro is the founder and editor of JUSTICE TRENDS, a magazine on innovation and best practices in prison and probation systems distributed in 120 countries.
In 2017 has been recognized with the 2017 ICPA Correctional Excellence Award (Management and Staff Training).
Raphael Hamunyela
Commissioner General Raphael Tuhafeni Hamunyela was born on 06 April1969 In Eeshoke village, Ohangwena Region, Northern part of Namibia. He grew up in Eeshoke and attended primary school at Oshlkango Combined school until standard four. In 1985, he completed standard five at Engela and moved to llpumbu Secondary School for standards six, seven and eight. In 1988, while in standard eight, he left the country and joined the Namibian liberation Struggle in Angola. In 1990, after the country’s Independence, he returned to school and completed standard eight, nine and ten at St Mary’s Odibo High School at Onekwaya West.
He joined the Namibian Correctional Service on 01 September 1994 as a prison warder. He worked in many areas within the organisation, I.e., guarding, logistics and the section Head. In 1998, he was promoted to Senior Prison Officer, responsible for Personnel Office at Grootfonteln Prison. In 2001, he was promoted to the rank of Chief Prison Officer and transferred to Hardap Prison, the second largest Prison In the country, as a Staff Discipline Officer.
In 2006, he was transferred to the Correctional Service Headquarters in Windhoek In the legal office as he registered for law at the University of Namibia. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws Degree In 2008 and a Bachelor of Laws Honors Degree In 2010. He was promoted to the rank of Superintendent In the Legal office in 2009 and later to the rank of Assistant Commissioner, responsible for Staff Discipline Division In the same year. In 2012, he was promoted to a rank of Deputy Commissioner General, Corporate Management. In 2013, he obtained a Diploma in Public Administration and Management at Institute of Development Management in Gaborone, Botswana. On 01 February 2014, he was appointed as the Commissioner General of the Namibian Correctional Service. He has carried forward a commitment to developing the Namibian Correctional Service as the best performing correctional service in Africa, dedicated to a progressive reintegration-oriented philosophy.
Steven Van De Steene
Steven Van De Steene is an Enterprise Architect and Technology for Corrections Expert. He works as a consultant and researcher in the area of innovation and technology strategy for prisons and probation services and is the coordinator of the Technology Solutions Network for the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA).
Steven studied Pedagogical Sciences at the University of Ghent. After his graduation he started working as a probation officer. With the growth of the organisation came the need for a better national IT support. As a project manager, Steven took the opportunity to establish good working IT solutions by trying to understand real business needs and enlarging his knowledge in Information Technology. In 2009 he became a certified Enterprise IT Architect at the University of Antwerp Management School. Now he’s concentrating on implementing the principles of IT Governance and Enterprise Architecture within correctional organizations and promoting research in this field.
Until 2015 he was the IT Director of the Directorate General Penitentiary Institutions in Belgium where he managed an IT service with a strong focus on developing innovative solutions as an answer to the variety of business needs within the complex penitentiary context. Prior to this current position, he established a shared services direction at the central ICT department.
Since 2004 he has been actively involved in different European and international projects, promoting the opportunities to use technology in a way it improves security, efficiency and rehabilitation at the same time and enhances national and international collaboration.
Steven is actively promoting more research in this field and works closely together with Universities across the globe to enhance our knowledge on the opportunities as well as the risks related to the use of technology in corrections.
Yong Lee SHIE
Yong Lee joined Singapore Prison Service (SPS) in 1995 after graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 2004, she was awarded the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship under the Young Leaders’ Program for future national leaders. Yong Lee graduated in 2005 from the Japan National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies with a Masters in Public Policy and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Academic Performance. She completed her International Executive Programme with INSEAD in 2014, and MHA’s apex Phoenix Programme in 2019.
Yong Lee’s key appointments in SPS include operations and command stints in the prisons, leadership roles in research and planning, development of rehabilitation programmes, policy reviews and legislative changes to facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. Specifically, she has undertaken leadership roles as Head Operations of Changi Women’s Prison, Head Research & Planning, Head Programme, Deputy Director (Civil Defence & Rehabilitation) in Ministry of Home Affairs and Commander Cluster of five prisons. Yong Lee has been Deputy Commissioner since 2015 and was appointed as Commissioner of SPS on 28th September 2020.