Board
| PRESIDENT Boone served as an administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Office of Administrative Hearings of the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles in Las Vegas from 2003 until her recent retirement. She received certification from the National Association of Hearing Officials (CALJ) in 2008. Prior to her work in Nevada, she was an administrative adjudicator for the state of Arkansas from 1985 to 2003. In 2014, Boone was elected Western Region Representative to the NAHO Board of Directors. She subsequently was elected Vice President, becoming involved in curriculum development and teaching for NAHO conferences and webinars. She now serves as NAHO President. Beginning in 1995, Boone was sought as an instructor for continuing legal and judicial education courses for county bar associations, state judicial conferences, the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary (NAALJ), and at regional meetings of traffic court judges from the ABA’s judicial member groups. She has provided instruction on commercial motor vehicle law, administrative law, and administrative adjudication at workshops and conferences across the U.S. Boone is an alumna of The National Judicial College (NJC) and has been awarded Certificates of Judicial Development in both Administrative Adjudication Skills and Alternative Dispute Resolution. She was selected to join the faculty of the National Judicial College in 2000, serving as regular faculty in the NJC’s flagship administrative law course, Administrative Law: Fair Hearing. She was an instructor for and co-creator of The National Judicial College’s web-based course Evidence Challenges for Administrative Law Judges. Over the years she has taught in well over 100 NJC courses, on the Reno campus, virtually, in twenty different states and in the District of Columbia. She served two terms on NJC’s Faculty Council representing Administrative Law Judiciary and is a past Chair of the Faculty Council. She was the 2019 recipient of the NJC’s Payant award for Excellence in Teaching. Boone is an alumna of the University of Arkansas where she was a Truman Scholar. Her undergraduate degrees were in Criminal Justice and Social Work, with minors in Spanish and Minority Studies. |
| VICE PRESIDENT Judge Halbach has a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and a JD from the William Mitchell College of Law. Judge Halbach worked for the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office for five years, before entering private practice in North Dakota in 1988. His commitment to public service continued while in private practice, as a part-time assistant state’s attorney and an adjunct instructor at Lake Regional State College in the legal assistant and peace officer training programs. He became the Municipal Judge for Devils Lake North Dakota in 2002 and a Hearing Officer for the North Dakota Department of Transportation in 2003. He was designated the Chief Hearing Officer for the Department of Transportation in 2015. Judge Halbach joined NAHO in 2006 and became a NAHO Certified Hearing Official (CHO) in 2011. He also served on the NAHO Board for four years as the Mountain Region Representative after filling a vacancy in the position for two years while the alternative representative. He is currently serving as Vice President of NAHO. |
| SECRETARY Colleen Ulrich is an Assistant Director of Student Discipline and Behavioral Intervention and a Hearing Officer for Gwinnett County (Georgia) School District. She is a former classroom teacher and middle school Assistant Principal. She has served as an educational disciplinary Hearing Officer for the past ten years for Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia. As the Assistant Director of the Office of Student Discipline and Behavioral Intervention, she assists in training new hearing officers and school administrators. Ms. Ulrich holds education and leadership degrees earned from Georgia State and Brenau University. Additionally, she earned her Educational Specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial University. |
| TREASURER Cindy Antrim currently the Assistant Director of Student Discipline and Behavioral Intervention as well as Hearing Officer for Gwinnett County (Georgia) School District. She is a former elementary, middle, and high school teacher. She has served as a Principal for twenty-seven years and as a Hearing Officer for over thirty years with Gwinnett County Public Schools. She retired from the school system but continues to work as a Hearing Officer and Principal Mentor with Gwinnett. Ms. Antrim is also an adjunct professor for two universities in leadership development. Additionally, she has earned her Educational Specialist degree from Georgia State University. |
| IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT As Director of the Office of Adjudications at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection since 1999, Deshais conducts hearings and manages a diverse office docket that includes hearings on permits, appeals of enforcement orders, and mediations. She also trains agency staff on hearings practice and advises the agency on matters impacting administrative hearings. Jan has a BA in History and Political Science and an MA in Public Policy Studies. She received her JD from Western New England University School of Law and is admitted to the Connecticut and Massachusetts state and federal bars. Jan has lectured at the University of Connecticut, School of Law and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut. Jan has long been an active member of NAHO, serving as a regional representative, as Vice-President, and as President. She remains on the Executive Committee of the NAHO Board of Directors as Immediate Past President. She received NAHO certification in 2014. |
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| AT-LARGE MEMBER Jimmy Stokes is a former college chemistry professor and high school principal. He has been the education disciplinary hearing officer for a number of school districts in Georgia for more than ten years. He recently retired from his position as the Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL). Through GAEL he has helped train hearing officers and tribunal members across the State of Georgia. Dr. Stokes still assists GAEL as Policy Analyst. Jimmy holds three degrees in chemistry and education from the University of Georgia and a MPA from the University of West Georgia. He is also a registered lobbyist for the Georgia General Assembly. He currently serves NAHO as Chair of the Certification Committee. |
| Central REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin Caroline A. Stephens Ryker (IN) Caroline A. Stephens Ryker currently serves as an Administrative Law Judge for the Indiana Office of Administrative Law Proceedings. Although she primarily presides over civil rights cases filed before the Indiana Civil Rights Commission in the protected areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and credit, she also hears cases brought before a variety of other state agencies, including the Indiana Grain Buyers and Warehouse Licensing Agency, the Indiana Gaming Commission, the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Indiana Department of Transportation. Ms. Stephens Ryker began her career as an Administrative Law Judge in October of 2018 as an agency embedded Administrative Law Judge with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, and she moved to the Indiana Office of Administrative Law Proceedings when Indiana transitioned to a central panel in July of 2020. Ms. Stephens Ryker graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, Indiana. She obtained her BA in English and her BA in Communications from Indiana University, Bloomington, along with a certificate in Political and Civil Engagement. Ms. Stephens Ryker attended her first NAHO conference in September of 2018, after which she became a NAHO member, and in August of 2021, she completed NAHO’s certification program. |
| MOUNTAIN REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming Dwain Fagerlund has been an Administrative Hearing Officer with the North Dakota Department of Transportation for over 14 years. His cases typically involve driver's license suspensions and revocations. Before that, he worked in private practice for 15 years in civil litigation and general practice. He also provided law practice management consulting services. He is a qualified civil mediator and arbitrator in both Minnesota and North Dakota. He graduated from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1989, with distinction. He is licensed in Minnesota and North Dakota. Dwain serves on the Advisory Council to the North Dakota Office of Administrative Hearings. He has been a member of NAHO since 2011. |
| NORTHEAST REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virgin Islands Judge Long serves Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission as an administrative law judge, presiding over matters involving Pennsylvania public utilities, including electric, gas, water, wastewater, transportation, telephone and railroad crossings. Disputes include both consumer complaints against utilities as well as hearings on proposed rate increases, merger and reorganization petitions and applications to begin or cease public utility service. Before her appointment to the PUC, Judge Long was a counsel to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board primarily advising the Board Chairman, the Honorable George J. Miller. Matters before the EHB included the resolution of water, air, and land permitting disputes as well as the review of enforcement actions by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. In 1993, Judge Long graduated magna cum laude from the Widener University School of Law, now known as the Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After graduation she clerked for the Honorable Joseph T. Doyle of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, an intermediate appellate court with jurisdiction over cases by and against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Before attending law school, Judge Long received a dual degree in Political Science and Business from the University of Pittsburgh. Judge Long became a member of NAHO after attending her first conference in 2018. She has been certified as an Administrative Law Judge by NAHO. Judge Long currently serves on the Board of NAHO as the Membership Representative for the Northeast and as the Continuing Education Committee Chair. |
| SOUTHEAST REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia Judge Murrell received his Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from Harding University in 1975 and his Doctor of Jurisprudence from University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, in December of 1982. He was licensed to practice law by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1983. He was admitted to practice at every level of Tennessee State Court, in the Western and Middle Districts of Tennessee Federal Court as well as the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Murrell engaged in private practice for eighteen years before he began public service. In 2003, he joined the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General, serving as Assistant Attorney with the General Civil Division. In 2005, Judge Murrell joined the Division of Workers’ Compensation (now the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation) where he served in several capacities including Director of Quality Assurance. He was first appointed as an Administrative Judge for workers’ compensation civil penalty reviews in 2006. As a member of the National Association of Hearing Officials (NAHO), Judge Murrell earned the designation of Certified Administrative Law Judge in 2013. Judge Murrell was appointed as an Administrative Judge with the Office of the Secretary of State Administrative Procedures Division in 2018. Judge Murrell has been trained as a Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 General Civil and Family Law Mediator. He has studied Administrative Fair Hearings at the National Judicial College and received training in IDEA and Title IX Education Law as well as course work with the International Association of Appraising Officials regarding property tax assessment issues. He is a former President and Board of Directors Member of the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators, a former Board Member of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and a former Board Member of the Columbia Mediation Center. He serves on the NAHO Board of Directors and its Certification Committee and is a member of the NAHO faculty for the Annual Professional Development Conference where he presents on various topics to administrative law judges and hearing officers from across the country. |
| SOUTHWEST REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas Bobbie Marshall is the Assistant Director of Fair and Fraud Hearings for Texas Health and Human Services Commission. She has served as a Hearings Manager for two years, Lead Hearings Officer for two years, a Hearings Officer for four years, and has worked for the State of Texas for 15 years. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree from Texas Tech University. Mrs. Marshall became a member of NAHO in September 2015, and began assisting NAHO with updating NAHO’s Facebook and Twitter accounts in 2017. Since then, she created NAHO's Instagram and LinkedIn, manages all of NAHO's social media accounts and content, and regularly updates the NAHO website. She previously served on the NAHO Board of Directors as the Member-At-Large. Mrs. Marshall is passionate about NAHO’s mission to improve the fairness and effectiveness of the administrative hearings process and currently serves as the Southwest Region Representative. |
| WESTERN REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, American Samoa Marilyn Slifman is a part-time independent contract Administrative Hearing Officer appointed in Orange County, California since 2015 and hears cases for Orange County Animal Care. She has been an attorney in California for 41 years and practiced full-time for 37 years in southern California. She has a B.S.L. and a Juris Doctorate from Western State University, and is admitted to practice law in California, the U.S. Central District, and the United States Supreme Court. She joined NAHO in 2017 and received NAHO Certification in 2018. She was elected to the Board in 2020 and serves as the Western Regional Representative and Chair of the Membership Committee. |
