Leadership through Change -

Who Gets Funded, Who Advances - and How Leaders Shape the Outcome 

Change is inevitable—leadership is the differentiator.
In an era of relentless disruption, today’s employees, officers, directors, and professionals in transition must do more than adapt—they must lead with confidence. This expert panel explores how effective leaders navigate uncertainty, build trust, and inspire confidence during periods of profound change. Attendees will gain actionable strategies for demonstrating leadership that secures funding, drives budget growth, and creates new opportunities—even as markets fluctuate and regulations evolve. In a world shaped by rapid technological, global, and domestic transformation, those who embrace change don’t just survive—they succeed.

The speakers would be Dean Williams, Sarena Townsend and Adele Hogan.

Dean Williams: Dean Williams has more than 35 years of leadership experience in corrections and public safety, serving in executive roles across multiple jurisdictions and system types. As Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, Dean Williams led a department-wide shift toward a more humane, results-driven correctional system. Servant leadership was the foundation of his work. He advanced reforms that improved conditions for the men and women in custody while also creating safer, more supportive working environments for staff. These efforts strengthened institutional safety and advanced public safety outcomes.

Dean Williams also led Alaska’s unified correctional system, overseeing community jails, large prisons, probation, parole, and a pretrial enforcement division. He was recruited to drive significant reform and led major operational and cultural changes to improve safety, accountability, and performance across the system. A central focus of his leadership was addressing Alaska’s high recidivism rate through the implementation of evidence-based practices and coordinated reentry strategies.

Earlier in his career, Dean Williams held senior leadership roles in juvenile corrections, where he initiated reforms to address the school-to-prison pipeline. He led the development of an expulsion and suspension school and expanded rehabilitative and educational programming to better support youth and reduce justice system involvement.

Throughout his career, Dean Williams has been recognized as a change agent with a proven ability to build cohesive, high-performing leadership teams. He is known for aligning people around a shared mission, navigating complex political and operational environments, and leading large-scale reform efforts that deliver sustainable improvements in safety, staff engagement, and public trust.

Sarena Townsend

Sarena Townsend is the Founding Partner of criminal defense and litigation firm Townsend Law,PLLC. In this capacity, Ms. Townsend is an advocate for justice; she represents individualscharged with crimes as well as law enforcement personnel charged with discipline at work. Ms.

Townsend is also a victim advocate, having represented victims of Harvey Weinstein andNechemya Weberman. She was awarded the 2025 Distinguished Leader award by the NewYork Law Journal for her instrumental role in convincing Southern District of New York judge Laura Swain to place the New York City Department of Correction into federal receivership.From 2016 - 2022, Ms. Townsend was the Deputy Commissioner of the Intelligence,Investigation & Trials Division at the New York City Department of Correction (“DOC”). There,she oversaw thousands of internal DOC investigations and imposed discipline. Ms. Townsend led internal affairs during tumultuous times, under a federal consent decree that required enhanced discipline against staff who employed excessive use of force against detainees, while staff union leaders vehemently resisted necessary reforms and led a campaign to remove Ms. Townsend from her position simply for following the law. Despite serious barriers to change, Ms.Townsend brought DOC into compliance with Prison Rape Elimination Act investigations for the first time in DOC’s history, developed and implemented new Use of Force disciplinary guidelines, and devised an entirely new workflow for Use of Force investigations that allowed for fairer and speedier disciplinary outcomes.

Prior to her position with DOC, Ms. Townsend was a Deputy Bureau Chief at the Kings County District Attorney's Office (“KCDA”) in Brooklyn, NY. Over the course of her 10 years there, Ms.Townsend prosecuted high-profile, complex cases. Ms. Townsend specialized in sex crimes

prosecutions, but achieved top count convictions in all areas of criminal prosecution, including homicide, rape, assault, robbery, kidnapping, DWI, narcotics, and gun possession. She also trained and supervised KCDA new prosecutors.

Ms. Townsend is a frequent legal commentator for Law & Crime and has been profiled, featured

in and/or quoted in all news mediums including on Dateline, NBC News, CNN, NY1, The NewYork Times, The London Times, the New York Law Journal, New York Magazine, Forbes, TheNew York Daily News, The New York Post, Gothamist, The City, 1010WINS, WNYC, andvarious podcasts.

Ms. Townsend received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2006 and

graduated, with honors, from New York University in 2003, with a B.A. in Psychology.

Adele Hogan: Law firm partner with $200B+ in contracts and transactions closed across global markets. Proven driver of revenue, strategy, and risk management, leading organizations of up to 60 professionals within multi-billion-dollar enterprises and top-tier firms. Consistently delivers client growth, operational excellence, and regulatory certainty while exceeding commercial objectives. Leads complex regulatory and technology transformations with disciplined project management; fluent in data and technology, including SQL, to enable scalable, informed decision-making. Recognized by NY Best Lawyers and Chambers.

Partner and Counsel with deep experience leading high-stakes mergers, capital markets, IPOs, SPACs and de-SPACs, corporate restructurings and bankruptcies, securities, and derivatives transactions. Serves as a strategic advisor to boards and senior executives, translating legal and regulatory complexity into actionable business outcomes. Renowned for driving cross-functional initiatives to completion—on time, on budget, and with measurable enterprise impact. Subject matter authority in risk management, corporate governance, data strategy, knowledge management, and data privacy.

Committed leader, educator, and industry voice dedicated to developing the next generation of legal and financial professionals. Regularly teaches, chairs, and speaks at PLI, board associations, and Fordham University, and serves as a judge for Transactional Law Competitions at Cornell Law School—reinforcing a career-long commitment to excellence, mentorship, and thought leadership.