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President Patricia Caruso is the Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections. She joined the Department of Corrections in 1988 as assistant business manager of Kinross Correctional Facility. In 1991 she was named warden of the Chippewa Correctional Facility, a multi-level prison and the Straits Correctional Facility, a minimum-security prison. In 2000, she was appointed as one of three regional prison administrators for the Correctional Facilities Administration (CFA), overseeing 13 prisons and eight camps from Saginaw to the tip of the Upper Peninsula.  Prior to her appointment as Director Caruso held the post of CFA Deputy Director.  She is also the Vice President of ACA.


Vice President Ashbel T.  "A.T."  Wall, II is the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.  He began his career as probation counselor in Connecticut.  Working his way through law school at Yale University, he later served as Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, served as Director of the Manhattan Community Sentencing Project for the Vera Institute, and as Policy Analyst for the Rhode Island Governor's Office.  A.T. came to the Rhode Island Department of Corrections in 1987 as Assistant Director of Policy and Development, and was later promoted to the position of Assistant Director of Administration.  He was appointed Director in 2000.  A.T. is the third longest tenured Director in the country.  He is currently the Chair of ASCA's Clearinghouse Committee, and is a member of the Program and Training and Re-Entry Committees.   A.T. is the 2008 recipient of the Michael Francke Award, the highest honor bestowed by ASCA.


Treasurer Chris Epps has been Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections since August 2002.  He started his career with the MDOC in 1982 as a correctional officer and his experience includes Chief of Staff, Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Security.  Having served in the armed forces since 1984, Chris received an honorable discharge from the Mississippi Army National Guard at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  In 2008 he was elected as Treasurer of the American Correctional Association.  In May 2009, Chris was commended by the Mississippi House of Representatives for his dedicated and outstanding service as well as being the longest serving Commissioner in the history of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Chris was elected as President of ACA on May 25, 2010.

Past President Harold Clarke is the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Correction. Harold began his corrections career with the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services in 1974 as an institutional counselor and parole advisor.  He rose through the ranks and became the first employee promoted to Director in 1990 from within the Nebraska DOCS.  He held that position until 2005 when he left to become the Secretary of the Washington State Department of Corrections. In 2007 Harold became the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Correction. Harold currently serves as Co-Chair of ASCA's Racial Issues Committee and also serves on the Clearinghouse, Intelligence Sharing, Legal Issues, Re-Entry and Safety Committees. He also serves on the Executive Committee as Past President. Harold is the 1997 recipient of ASCA's Michael Francke Award. He is also the president of the American Correctional Association and has served on the ACA Board of Governors and as a commissioner of the Commission on Accreditation.


Roger Werholtz, Midwest Regional Representative, was confirmed as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections in 2003. Prior to his appointment, he served as Acting Secretary and as Deputy Secretary of Corrections. He has supervised all three divisions of the Kansas Department of Corrections. Roger came to the Department in 1982 after working as the first director of the Wyandotte County Community Corrections Program.  In addition to serving on the Executive Committee as the Representative of the Midwest Region, Roger is a member of the Correctional Research Committee, Corrections Industries Committee, Performance Measures Committee, and the Re-Entry Committee.

Brian Fischer , Northeast Regional Representative, was appointed Commissioner of the New York Department of Correctional Services on March 12, 2007. He began his career in Corrections in 1968 as a Parole Officer and has held the positions of Assistant Director, Deputy Superintendent, Director, Superintendent and Supervising Superintendent. Brian was also named Warden of the Year by the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents. He is a member of Correctional Intelligence, Correctional Safety, Executive Committee, Legal Issues, Racial Disparity, Re-Entry and Community Corrections and Substance Abuse committees.

Aristedes "Ari" Zavaras, Western Regional Representative, joined the Denver Police Department in 1966, rising through the ranks to Captain until 1987 when he was named Chief of Police.  He served as Chief until 1991.  He was named Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections in 1993 and held this post until 1998.  Ari also served as Executive Director of the Department of Public Safety in 1999 and in 2000 was named as Manager of Safety where he served until July 2002.  Colorado's Governor named Ari as Executive Director of the Department of Corrections for the second time on January 1, 2007.  Ari currently serves on the Executive Committee.

Gary Maynard , Southern Regional Representative, brings more than 30 years of extensive correctional administrative experience to the job of Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Since 1987 he has served as the Director of the corrections systems of three other states – Iowa, South Carolina, and Oklahoma. Gary also served as President of the American Correctional Association. He was a member for 32 years of the Army National Guard of the United States and served as the Adjutant General of the Oklahoma Army and Air National Guard. He retired in 1995 as a Brigadier General, U.S. Army.