Shunkea Brown joined the MIDC in May 2021 as a Grant Analyst. Prior to her employment with the MIDC, Shunkea worked for the state Department of Treasury as a Customer Service Representative, providing assistance and guidance for tax-related issues as well as Financial Aid Manager for several years ensuring policies and procedures were in place for federal compliance. Shunkea has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Davenport University.
Ms. Mitchell has worked in a variety of positions over the years since graduating from Central Michigan University. She started her career in the field of social work in Chicago working with homeless youth, from there she moved to the east side of Detroit working with homeless mothers and children. After that she spent six years with the Michigan Department of Corrections, working her way up the ranks and landing at Assistant Housing Unit Supervisor at the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, MI. After that she stepped into the field of administrative work assisting up to 40 real estate agents at Coldwell Banker Hubbell Briarwood in Okemos, then at the School Community Health Alliance of Michigan and finally moving on to Michigan Association of Retired School Personnel before coming to the MIDC.
Phone: 616-490-7567
Susan Prentice-Sao is based in Allegan County and has worked at MIDC since 2019. Susan is currently the Program Manager for the OJJDP Grant awarded to the MIDC to enhance youth defense and will serve as the principal trainer for the program. Susan previously served as the Regional Manager for Western Michigan. She is a trial skills trainer as well as a presenter and moderator at conferences. Prior to joining MIDC, she represented indigent adults and youths for 15 years.
Rebecca Mack has been with the MIDC as the Grant Director since the summer of 2017. Prior to working with the MIDC, Rebecca was employed by the Michigan Supreme Court for 23 years working in variety of capacities involving trial court funding and fiscal legislative analysis. She administered the Court Equity Fund, Juror Compensation Fund and other funding streams within the Judiciary budget. She was instrumental in a number of court structure and funding initiatives including the Judicial Crossroads project and the appointment of a Special Master team for the 36th District Court and City of Detroit bankruptcy proceedings. Ms. Mack provided direction for the budget and grant aspects of the Problem Solving Court programs within the Michigan Judiciary from their inception and expansion from Drug and Sobriety Courts to Mental Health, Veteran’s Treatment and Swift and Sure Programs today.
Phone: 231-492-2427
WanglerM@michigan.gov
Senior Regional Manager
Melissa Wangler joined the MIDC staff in November 2018 as the Regional Manager for Northern Michigan and was then promoted to Senior Regional Manager in October 2023, overseeing the Regional Manager team. Prior to working for the Commission, Melissa was an attorney in private practice in West Branch where she accepted assigned cases in Ogemaw and neighboring counties.
Dr. Siegel is a researcher who has worked on issues related to the criminal legal system for more than fifteen years. He approaches his work through an anti-racist, abolitionist lens with the goal of eradicating the systemic and racialized harms of the carceral state while building pathways for restorative and transformative justice. He completed his doctoral research at the University of Michigan on the prevalence and implications of parole revocation among technical violators in the state of Michigan, and has conducted research for a wide range of institutions including the Vera Institute of Justice, Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office, and the State of Michigan. At the MIDC, Dr. Siegel is responsible for identifying institutional research priorities, overseeing data collection and analysis, and translating research findings into best practices and policy reform.
As Executive Director of the Michigan Campaign for Justice, Marcela led the successful effort to reform Michigan’s public defense system resulting in the MIDC’s creation. Marcela managed the Campaign’s coalition of more than 70 organizations and worked with members of the media to bring attention to the problems plaguing the state’s indigent defense system. She is an attorney with a wealth of legislative knowledge and experience. Marcela served as legal counsel in the Michigan House of Representatives and advised Democratic members on judiciary and corrections issues.
Marla McCowan is the Deputy Director and Training Director with the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission. Marla works with trial court funding units to facilitate implementation of new continuing legal education requirements for nearly 1,800 attorneys accepting assigned criminal cases in Michigan. Marla also oversees day-to-day operations for the MIDC Staff which includes: statewide Regional Managers who provide ongoing assistance to court systems to comply with the MIDC’s standards for indigent defense; the Research Department, collecting data and analyzing impact of the MIDC’s work; and the Grants Department, responsible for distributing hundreds of millions of state dollars to local funding units for compliance with MIDC standards. Prior to joining the MIDC, Marla served as a public defender at the appellate level for over sixteen years at the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office, nearly four of which included overseeing training for indigent defense practitioners around Michigan in her capacity as the Manager of SADO’s Criminal Defense Resource Center and Training Director at SADO. While at SADO, Marla represented clients in cases in a variety of stages of appeals and post-conviction proceedings in Michigan and federal courts, including an argument in the United States Supreme Court. Marla graduated from Eastern Michigan University (B.S. ’94) and University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (J.D. ’97). She is a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, a member of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, a member of the National Association for Public Defense, and a member of the Michigan Women Lawyers Association. Marla was nominated to be part of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2018 class of Women in the Law and was voted “Woman of the Year” by her peers that year and received the State Bar of Michigan’s “Champion of Justice” award (Sept 2019). In 2023, Marla was appointed as the MIDC’s designee to the Michigan Commission on Well-Being in the Law.
Kristen Staley is the Executive Director of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, where she leads a dedicated staff responsible for aiding the Commission in development and implementation of minimum standards for public defense statewide. Kristen has also served the MIDC as its South-Central Michigan Regional Manager, where she oversaw the compliance of MIDC standards and development of best practices in public defense among twelve counties. Prior to joining the MIDC, Kristen was the Deputy Director of the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing effective policies and practices within the adult and youth justice systems. During her tenure she helped increase resources and technical assistance for evidence-based programming among Michigan’s courts; led public policy initiatives to limit the adultification of youth in Michigan’s justice system; and spearheaded legislative and grassroots campaigns to safely reduce reliance on incarceration. Kristen is Co-Director of the Midwest Juvenile Defender Center and a member of the National Juvenile Defender Center’s national advisory board. She also worked as a legal advocate in the Vermont Legal Aid’s Health Care Ombudsman Office, was an appellate clerk with the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy’s Juvenile Post-Disposition Unit and is an experienced facilitator of restorative justice panels. Kristen received her B.A. from American University and J.D. from the University of Louisville.