Staff & Board of Directors

Robin M. Maher, Executive Director

Robin M. Maher has exten­sive expe­ri­ence in the death penal­ty field, both domes­ti­cal­ly and inter­na­tion­al­ly. She has worked in the fed­er­al defend­er sys­tem, at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University Law School since 2010. For thir­teen years she was Director of the American Bar Association (ABA) Death Penalty Representation Project, where she over­saw the cre­ation of the 2003 ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases. For more than twen­ty years, Ms. Maher has also spo­ken at inter­na­tion­al legal con­fer­ences and trained lawyers and judges around the world.

Full Bio for Robin M. Maher »
 

Anne Holsinger, Managing Director
Anne Holsinger’s work relat­ed to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment began in 2004, vol­un­teer­ing as part of efforts to reform Virginia’s use of the death penal­ty for juve­niles. As an under­grad­u­ate, she con­duct­ed inde­pen­dent research on the role of reli­gious rhetoric in death penal­ty argu­men­ta­tion. She came to DPI in 2010 as Special Projects Assistant and worked as an Information and Resource Specialist before becom­ing Managing Director in 2018. As Managing Director, she has imple­ment­ed a staff super­vi­sion struc­ture, over­seen DPI’s project to launch the Death Penalty Census, and worked to align DPI’s hir­ing and man­age­ment process­es with best prac­tices for diver­si­ty, equi­ty, and inclu­sion. Anne earned a B.A. in Linguistics from the College of William & Mary.

Dane Lindberg, Digital Director
Dane Lindberg joined DPI as Digital Director in August 2015. They led a mul­ti­year mod­ern­iza­tion project to rebuild and re-plat­form DPI’s 20-year-old web­site. This effort involved mov­ing thou­sands of con­tent pages and doc­u­ments and enlist­ing the sup­port of Foster Made to mod­ern­ize the design and man­age­ment work­flow of DPI’s web­site. Dane also led the devel­op­ment of DPI’s sen­tenc­ing data­base that even­tu­al­ly devel­oped into the Death Penalty Census, an ongo­ing project to doc­u­ment every death sen­tence in the United States since 1972. Additionally, they are respon­si­ble for edit­ing and pub­lish­ing DPI’s month­ly pod­cast, Discussions with DPIC.

Prior to join­ing DPI Dane spent over a decade work­ing as the Creative and Digital Director for a pub­lic rela­tions firm focused on sup­port­ing nation­al and local non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions. In this role they over­saw the devel­op­ment of var­i­ous adver­tis­ing cam­paigns, web­sites, pod­casts, social media strat­e­gy, and oth­er projects for a range of clients. Dane earned B.A. degrees in Political Sciences and Classics from the University of Southern California.

Tiana Herring, Data Storyteller
Tiana Herring is the project lead for DPI’s Racial Justice Storytelling project, which explores the racial his­to­ry of the death penal­ty in var­i­ous states through in-depth reports and visu­al­iza­tions. In addi­tion to research­ing and writ­ing each report, she works close­ly with a wide range of exter­nal stake­hold­ers to under­stand the death penal­ty land­scape in tar­get­ed states. She helps DPI ful­fill its mis­sion of edu­cat­ing the pub­lic by par­tic­i­pat­ing in media inter­views and pre­sent­ing at con­fer­ences and webi­na­rs. She also plans and cre­ates con­tent for DPI’s social media channels. 

Tiana has exper­tise in a wide range of crim­i­nal jus­tice issues. Her pre­vi­ous work often focused on the impor­tant dri­vers of mass incar­cer­a­tion includ­ing the war on drugs, felony theft thresh­olds, parole denials, and cash bail. Her work has been cit­ed by leg­is­la­tors and courts at the state and fed­er­al lev­els, and in numer­ous pub­li­ca­tions includ­ing The Guardian and The Atlantic. Tiana holds B.A. degrees in Political Science and Contemporary European Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Nina Motazedi, Program Specialist
Nina Motazedi stud­ied International Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Psychology at George Mason University. For her under­grad­u­ate hon­ors the­sis, she con­duct­ed an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary exper­i­ment exam­in­ing the effects of non-ver­bal mim­ic­ry on nego­ti­a­tion out­comes to bet­ter under­stand the poten­tial role of empa­thy in diplo­mat­ic con­texts. She has also assist­ed with research on deci­sion-mak­ing, trust, for­give­ness, and pun­ish­ment. Prior to join­ing DPI in September 2022, she worked with Afghan evac­uees as part of Operation Allies Welcome.

Hayley Bedard, Communications Associate
Joining the orga­ni­za­tion in September 2022, Hayley Bedard assumed the role of Administrative Assistant and tran­si­tioned to Communications Associate in June 2024. Hayley cre­ates and updates web­site con­tent, help­ing to main­tain DPI’s robust online resources. She coor­di­nates media and press rela­tion­ships and helps ampli­fy DPI’s impact, fos­ter­ing mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions with jour­nal­ists and stake­hold­ers, and build­ing under­stand­ing of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment issues with the gen­er­al pub­lic. Additionally, Hayley is respon­si­ble for co-man­ag­ing DPI’s interns, help­ing to fos­ter a col­lab­o­ra­tive envi­ron­ment with space for learn­ing and growth. 

Prior to join­ing DPI, Hayley was an Investigative Intern with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project. Hayley is a May 2022 grad­u­ate of The George Washington University, where she stud­ied Criminal Justice and Chemistry. For their senior sem­i­nar work, Hayley focused on wrong­ful con­vic­tions, specif­i­cal­ly research­ing the root caus­es and reper­cus­sions of these injus­tices, shed­ding light on the com­plex police cul­ture that ulti­mate­ly allows for false con­fes­sions to occur. 

Leah Roemer, Staff Attorney

Leah Roemer joined DPI as a Legal Fellow in August 2023 and became a Staff Attorney in September 2024. Leah devel­ops and pro­duces major research and writ­ing projects for DPI. She direct­ed research and served as a pri­ma­ry author for DPI’s Lethal Election report, which exposed the influ­ence of elec­toral pol­i­tics on cap­i­tal cas­es. Her work has been cov­ered in numer­ous exter­nal out­lets. Leah also man­ages legal interns and cre­ates visu­al­iza­tions on death penalty topics.

Leah grad­u­at­ed from Berkeley Law in 2023 with a cer­tifi­cate in Public Interest and Social Justice. She was a mem­ber of Berkeley’s Death Penalty Clinic, where she assist­ed in the defense of a client on death row in Alabama. She also interned at pub­lic defend­er offices in Albuquerque, Seattle, and the Bay Area, and served as a legal researcher for repro­duc­tive rights projects in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Berkeley’s School of Journalism. She received her under­grad­u­ate degrees in Sociology and French from the College of William & Mary in 2019, where she worked with incar­cer­at­ed youth and wrote her the­sis on post-colo­nial women’s rights in Senegal.

Łukasz Niparko, Data Fellow

Łukasz Niparko ensures the integri­ty and accu­ra­cy of data relat­ed to death sen­tences and con­tributes to the cre­ation of reports and dig­i­tal con­tent. He devel­ops sta­tis­ti­cal analy­sis and data visu­al­iza­tions using Tableau and R, mak­ing com­plex infor­ma­tion more acces­si­ble and facil­i­tat­ing data-dri­ven insights into death penalty cases.

He is com­plet­ing his Political Science and Human Rights doc­tor­ate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As a fel­low with the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center, Łukasz gained robust expe­ri­ence in data col­lec­tion, analy­sis, and visu­al­iza­tion. In addi­tion, he honed his research skills with the pri­vate sec­tor at Thomson Reuters and Cloud Software Group. Łukasz served with var­i­ous NGOs, includ­ing Humanity in Action, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Polish Humanitarian Action. He is an alum­nus of the United World College, St. Lawrence University, and the European University Viadrina. He also was a Pat Cox Fellow at the European Parliament.

Anumta Ali, Administrative Assistant

Anumta Ali grad­u­at­ed from the University of Maryland in 2023 after study­ing Information Science with emphases on data sci­ence and research. After work­ing on vot­er reg­is­tra­tion efforts with the Florida Democratic Party in 2020, she devel­oped a pas­sion for mak­ing per­ti­nent civic and leg­isla­tive infor­ma­tion more acces­si­ble to wider audi­ences. She has been assist­ing UMD’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab with var­i­ous stud­ies for over two years through imple­ment­ing her Social and Behavioral Research cer­ti­fi­ca­tion from the CITI Program.

These expe­ri­ences, along­side her course­work, inspired her to pur­sue research inquiries into sys­tem­at­ic inequities through the uti­liza­tion of mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary meth­ods such as data analy­sis and user inter­view­ing. Prior to join­ing DPI, she has also con­tributed as an Elections Researcher for a civic edu­ca­tion plat­form and assist­ed sev­er­al oth­er orga­ni­za­tions with their nuanced com­mu­ni­ty-based needs. She joined DPI in June 2024 as an Administrative Assistant to pro­vide sup­port with the dis­sem­i­na­tion of infor­ma­tion regard­ing sys­temic inequities, pol­i­cy issues, and more.

Board of Directors

The Center’s Board of Directors includes many renowned experts on the sub­ject of capital punishment:

Anthony G. Amsterdam (Board mem­ber emer­i­tus), Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law at New York University Law School. Mr. Amsterdam argued Furman v. Georgia before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972, result­ing in the over­turn­ing of the death penal­ty and the spar­ing of more than 600 lives.

David J. Bradford, Partner at Jenner and Block in Chicago. Mr. Bradford serves as Counsel to the MacArthur Justice Center. He has lec­tured on the death penal­ty at the University of Chicago Law School, been active in death penal­ty lit­i­ga­tion, and spo­ken exten­sive­ly on this sub­ject. Mr. Bradford was recent­ly elect­ed a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is a for­mer President of DPI’s Board.

David Bruck, Director of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse at Washington & Lee School of Law and Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel. One of the coun­try’s lead­ing experts on the death penal­ty, Mr. Bruck has argued sev­en death penal­ty cas­es in the U.S. Supreme Court. Among oth­er high pro­file cas­es, Mr. Bruck rep­re­sent­ed Susan Smith in her cap­i­tal tri­al in South Carolina.

Deborah W. Denno, the Arthur A. McGivney Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law. Ms. Denno is a nation­al­ly rec­og­nized expert on many aspects of the death penal­ty and crim­i­nal jus­tice. The National Law Journal select­ed her as one of its ​“Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America” in 2007.

Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Frank Murphy Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. A for­mer pro­fes­sor at Yale and Stanford, Ms. Ellsworth spe­cial­izes in law and psy­chol­o­gy. She is a research expert on emo­tions and has writ­ten exten­sive­ly on Americans’ views on the death penal­ty. She is President of DPI’s Board.

Alexis Hoag-Fordjour, Assistant Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where she teach­es and writes about racism and the crim­i­nal legal sys­tem. Professor Hoag-Fordjour pre­vi­ous­ly rep­re­sent­ed cap­i­tal­ly con­vict­ed clients in fed­er­al post-con­vic­tion pro­ceed­ings with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and the Office of the Federal Public Defender. She serves as a legal con­trib­u­tor to var­i­ous media out­lets and co-chairs the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment com­mit­tee of the New York City Bar Association.

George Kendall, Director, Public Service Initiative at Squire Patton Boggs in New York. He for­mer­ly served as Death Penalty Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Mr. Kendall has defend­ed death penal­ty defen­dants nation­wide, includ­ing in the U.S. Supreme Court, par­tic­u­lar­ly where racism has been a fac­tor in the pros­e­cu­tion. He is a nation­al­ly rec­og­nized spokesman on the injus­tices of the death penal­ty. He is a for­mer President of DPI’s Board.

John R. MacArthur, President and Publisher of Harper​’s Magazine. Mr. MacArthur is the inspi­ra­tion behind the Death Penalty Information Center. He has writ­ten on a wide vari­ety of social justice issues.

Mark Olive is one of the nation’s lead­ing experts and train­ers in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment law and habeas cor­pus prac­tice. He is the for­mer direc­tor of death penal­ty resource cen­ters in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia, and is now in pri­vate prac­tice. He has lit­i­gat­ed cap­i­tal cas­es in state and fed­er­al courts through­out the coun­try, includ­ing in the U.S. Supreme Court, where he most recent­ly argued Wilson v. Sellers.

Sia Sanneh is a Senior Attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, where she rep­re­sents peo­ple on death row and oth­er indi­gent defen­dants who have been wrong­ly con­vict­ed, unfair­ly sen­tenced, or denied effec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion. Sia also helps devel­op and man­age EJI’s racial jus­tice projects. She has taught cours­es on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and pub­lic inter­est law at Yale Law School since 2011.

Cassandra Stubbs, Director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. Ms. Stubbs is a lead­ing advo­cate against the death penal­ty. She has rep­re­sent­ed cap­i­tal defen­dants in tri­al, post-con­vic­tion, and appeals across the coun­try. Her clients include Levon Jones, a North Carolina for­mer death row inmate exon­er­at­ed in 2007, and Marcus Robinson, the first defen­dant to win a life sen­tence based on a show­ing of statewide racial bias in jury selection.

Ronald J. Tabak, Special Counsel and pro bono coor­di­na­tor at the Law Firm of Skadden, Arps in New York City. Mr. Tabak is a vet­er­an of cap­i­tal lit­i­ga­tion, and has been instru­men­tal in draft­ing American Bar Association posi­tions on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. He cur­rent­ly serves as co-chair of the Death Penalty Committee of the ABA’s Section of Civil Rights & Social Justice.