National Association of Hearing Officials

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Board

The leadership of NAHO is its Board of Directors, comprised of the officers, the Immediate Past President of the association, one At-Large member appointed for a two-year term by the President upon the approval of a majority of the Board of Directors, and one Representative from each of the six regions elected by the regional membership. The composition, duties, and responsibilities of the Board are set forth in Article VI of the NAHO bylaws. The Board of Directors meets at least annually at the time of the annual meeting, and at other times by such other means as determined by the President.



PRESIDENT

Peter Halbach (ND)

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 was elected to serve as NAHO's Vice President for two terms, from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2023.

He is currently serving as President of NAHO.




VICE PRESIDENT

Bobbie Marshall (TX)

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 served as NAHO's Southwest Region Representative from 2020 through 2023. She now serves as NAHO's Vice President




SECRETARY

Mary Long (PA)

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 served on the Board of NAHO as the Membership Representative for the Northeast Region, as well as the Continuing Education Committee Chair, from 2020 through 2023. She now serves NAHO as Board Secretary.




TREASURER

Dustin Brandon (TN)

Dustin is a 2010 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and a 2014 graduate of the Nashville School of Law.  He has been employed as an attorney with the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) since 2015.  He began his career presiding over Driver Improvement and Financial Responsibility administrative hearings as well as prosecuting civil forfeiture cases throughout the state.  Throughout his many years of service, Dustin has also represented TDOSHS in employment cases, handgun carry permit cases, handgun carry permit instructor revocation cases, and driving school revocation cases.  Dustin continues to preside over these cases today.

Dustin also serves as the appointed Commissioner’s Designee, in charge of TDOSHS’s Appeals Division.  As Commissioner’s Designee, he reviews records and issues initial and final orders including straight forfeitures, voluntary dismissals, and reconsideration requests, He is also tasked with presiding over all Appellate matters before TDOSHS.

Dustin has extensive training in due process, procedure, evidence, legal writing, and administrative law.  He is a member of the National Association of Hearing Officials (NAHO), National Judicial College, Tennessee Bar Association, and American Bar Association.  He is also an active participant in the Tennessee Government Leadership Program.  Dustin has been an active member of NAHO since 2018 and has attended NAHO’s annual Professional Development Conferences since 2019.  He has also developed and taught courses to TDOSHS staff on Administrative Law, due process, and legal writing.

Dustin has been happily married to his wife, Casey, since 2018.  The Brandons have an amazing son, Neyland.  Dustin enjoys traveling with his family, going to sports events, coaching his son’s baseball teams, and creating family memories to last a lifetime.

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.



 



IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Toni Boone (OR) 

Toni 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. Prior to her work in Nevada, she was an administrative adjudicator for the State of Arkansas from 1985 to 2003.

Toni earned certification from the National Association of Hearing Officials (CALJ) in 2008. In 2014, Boone was elected Western Region Representative to the NAHO Board of Directors. She was subsequently elected Vice President, serving in that capacity from 2016 through 2019. As Vice-President, she became involved in curriculum development and teaching for NAHO conferences and webinars. She served two terms as President of NAHO, from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2023.

Boone began teach in 1995, when she 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 also 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.



CENTRAL REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, 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.



MID-ATLANTIC REGION REPRESENTATIVE - District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia

Charles Thomas (D.C.)

Charles has served as the District of Columbia’s first Administrative Law Judge since 2019. He currently presides over matters involving probable cause, detainee discipline, and employee grievances, terminations, and residency claims. He also hears matters before the Education Licensure Commission and disputes involving the Compulsory School Attendance Act. Charles also presides over administrative hearings relating to the revocation of juvenile parole rights, with the goal of providing a fair process for youth while balancing the need to ensure effective violence prevention. Before his current appointment, Charles served as a Hearing Officer for the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), where he developed the comprehensive strategy to protect and expand the rights of individuals facing revocation of their liberty interests and freedoms in the District of Columbia. Prior to his career at DYRS, Charles was a Policy Advisor for the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services providing technical assistance and recommendations on city-wide violence prevention, critical community responses, summer activity and funding planning, community-based grants, truancy, and various other matters. He began his career as a law clerk, then as an assistant general counsel with the District of Columbia’s Child and Family Services Agency, where he spent approximately eight years. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Carolina and his Juris Doctor from Western Michigan University Law School. 





SOUTHEAST REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, U.S. Virgin Islands

Lorri Bennett (SC)

Lorri Burns Bennett has worked for South Carolina Department of Corrections for twelve years, beginning her career in March 2011.

Lorri’s educational journey begin with obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Pheiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina, and a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from SC State University.

Her previous positions with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC include Program Assistance (2011-2012), Intensive Supervision Officer (2012-2014), Intensive Supervision Officer II (2014-2015), where she supervised staff in 6 counties, and Administrative Review Coordinator (Parole Hearing Official) (2015- 2023), where Lorri has led the development and implementation of the revocation process for youthful offenders who are supervised under the Division of Young Offender Parole & Reentry Services.

Lorri was promoted to Manager of Administrative Hearings in September 2023. In this position, she manages and directs staff responsible for governing parole violations and revocation

hearings for youthful offenders, completes pre-sentencing evaluations, makes sentencing recommendations for youthful offenders, and maintains the responsibility for issuing/approving

all Divisional warrants.

Lorri created history when she became President of South Carolina Probation and Parole Association, being the first person from South Carolina Department of Corrections to hold an executive position within the association and to become President. While serving as President of the South Carolina Probation and Parole Association, Lorri also volunteered to serve as the Secretary for South Carolina Correctional Association. She also serves on the Community Corrections Committee with American Correctional Association.

Lorri has been a member of the National Association of Hearing Officials for several years. She was awarded national certification as an Administrative Law Judge through NAHO in 2023. She now

serves as the Representative for NAHO’s Southeast Region. 

Her additional professional memberships include National Association of University Women, South Carolina Gang Investigation Association, South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association, Palmetto State Law Enforcement Officers Association, American Counseling Association, and Charlotte Women’s Leadership Association. 

Lorri is the mother of two daughters, Kermisha and Kimyada Jackson and the grandmother of one grandson, Levi.



NORTHEAST REGION REPRESENTATIVE - Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont

Shanon Levin (PA)


Shanon S. Levin currently serves as an Administrative Judge for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission where she adjudicates complaints of discrimination filed by federal employees. Prior to joining the EEOC, Judge Levin heard cases of discrimination in housing, employment, education, and public accommodations for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Before that, Judge Levin led the litigation program at Disability Rights Pennsylvania, a nonprofit organization that brings civil rights cases on behalf of people with disabilities. She was also a shareholder at the law firm of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller in Philadelphia.

Judge Levin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State and a law degree from Temple University School of Law. Following law school, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Berle M. Schiller of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Judge Levin is a volunteer CASA (court-appointed special advocate) for dependent children and adolescents.

When she’s not working, Judge Levin likes to rock climb and hike in the mountains. Judge Levin has hiked the 46 peaks higher than 4,000 feet in the Adirondacks and 35 peaks higher than 3,500 feet in the Catskills. She is working on the 48 4,000 peaks in New Hampshire.


SOUTH CENTRAL REGION Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas

Mark Weibel (TX)

Mark has been a NAHO member for over seven years and is a Certified Hearing Officer. He has served as a Hearing Officer for the City of Fort Worth for 13 years, beginning as the Red Light Camera Hearing Officer before joining the Municipal Court in 2016. In that position, he is responsible for conducting civil hearings related to parking citations, junked vehicles, solid waste fees, booted vehicles, game room permits, and multifamily dwelling complex registrations. Before Mark’s appointment as a hearing officer, he served as a police officer for over 20 years. He retired as a police lieutenant with the Arlington Police Department. A summa cum laude graduate from Sam Houston State University with a BS degree in Law Enforcement and Police Science, Mark also has a MA degree in Organizational Management from Dallas Baptist University. He is certified in court dispute resolution.


WESTERN REGION Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming 

Karl Seligman (CA)

Karl currently serves as an Administrative Law Judge at the California Department of Insurance. He was previously an ALJ at the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), a department of the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency, where he was the only ALJ with a statewide appointment. At the Department of Insurance, Karl is assigned settlement conferences, administrative trials and petitions to be decided on the papers. He is based in Oakland, but the agency also maintains courtroom and chamber facilities at the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles, and he travels there as necessary to hear in-person proceedings at that location.

Prior his 2019 appointment to the administrative bench, Karl was a Regional Attorney in PERB’s Office of the General Counsel. Before entering public service, he practiced in transactions and litigation, representing both individuals and organizations while working at boutique law firms, as in-house counsel and in his own practice. He earned his Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University, where he participated in the law school’s Pro Bono Project and at graduation was awarded the High Technology and Public Interest Law Scholar certificates. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Arts in Labor, both from San Francisco State University. Karl also completed mediation training at Golden Gate University and the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University.


AT-LARGE MEMBER

Marilyn Slifman (CA) 

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 served as the Western Regional Representative through 2023. She now serves the Board as an At-Large Board Member and continues in her role as Chair of the Membership Committee.




AT-LARGE MEMBER

Jimmy C. Stokes (GA)

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.


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