Steve Mentrek, MA

Steve Mentrek is a Program Director for Bittersweet Farms, Inc. He has his Master’s in Recreation Therapy and Leisure Administration and 15 years of experience in the DD field. Steve is involved in assisting victims of trafficking to feel safe, remove barriers, and identifies limitations.

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Pat Stephens, MEd

Pat Stephens is a Director at the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities. She has her Master’s in Education, has mental health experience, and has 22 years in the DD field. Pat is a member of the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition and involved with PATH Project through the HTSJI at the University of Toledo.

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Alinka Gearon, PhD, MRes, BSc

Alinka Gearon is an Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Bath, specializing in child trafficking and child protection social work. She holds a PhD Social Work with considerable front-line practice experience working with children, abuse and exploitation. Her research explores children’s worlds, child protection and children’s rights.

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Sheila Tallon, MSW, RSW

Sheila Tallon brings over 25 years of clinical experience as a bilingual licensed Social Worker and Psychotherapist. Her areas of expertise include: Addictions and Mental Health, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Grief/Bereavement/Loss, Crisis Intervention, PTSD and Critical Stress Debriefing, Transgender, Gender-related, Sexual and Diversity Issues, Compassion Fatigue, Vicarious Trauma, and Peer Supervision/ Consultation.

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Lambia Karitsiotis, BSc

Lambia Karitsiotis has been working in community corrections for 15 years where she is also a Critical Incident and Stress Management Peer Member. She is a certified mental health educator, Director of Training Information for the Global Resource Epicenter Against Human Trafficking and an Early Field Traumatologist.

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Fabio Leonardi, JD, LLM

Fabio Leonardi is an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University and an attorney with the law firm Pillsbury in Washington, DC. He spearheaded the firm’s corporate anti-human trafficking group, one of the country’s first practices dedicated to advising companies on corporate liability and compliance for forced labor and sex trafficking.

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Chris Fike, MS, MSW

Chris Fike is an Assistant Professor at Saginaw Valley State University. His scholarly interests focus on participatory action research and community practice strategies, with a focus on community organizing and capacity building within underserved communities. He is also interested in the application of critical pedagogy within social work.

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Joseph Chidiebere Osuigwe, BEd

Joseph Osuigwe has been at the forefront of combating human trafficking in Nigeria and engaging over 300 volunteers on anti-human trafficking advocacy. In 2018, he was invited by U.S Government to participate in the Anti-Human Trafficking International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) during which he interacted with different agencies and examined their approach in tackling human trafficking. He is the initiator of TALKAM, a human rights reporting mobile app.

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Celia Williamson, PhD, MSW

Dr. Celia Williamson is the Director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo and host of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference. Dr. Williamson has experience working with victims and organizing anti-trafficking coalitions and commissions. She received ten years of federal funding from the NIH and DOJ and five years of state and foundation funding to conduct prostitution and trafficking research.

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Vernon Murray, PhD

Vernon Murray has authored over a dozen human trafficking conference presentations and academic journal articles on the subject. His research focuses on human trafficking marketing distribution channels and their related analytics.

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Keith Scott, CASAC-T, MPP

Keith Scott is the Director of Education at The Safe Center, supervising the staff that provides seminars throughout Nassau County on Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Human Trafficking. Keith is one of the lead presenters for New York State on synthetic opioids and established the first “on-demand” Narcan program on Long Island.

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Emily Waters, LCSW, MPA, PhDc

Emily Marie Waters has been involved in various anti trafficking efforts for over 11 years, and is a survivor of sex trafficking perpetrated by organized crime. She is a published author and researcher, keynote speaker, and visiting lecturer at several universities throughout the Northeast US, and serves on various US and international board of directors for anti-trafficking organizations.

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Wesley D. Jones

Detective Wesley Jones has worked for the Houston Police Department for eleven years. For the previous six years, Detective Jones has worked in an undercover and investigative capacity with Vice Division. Recently, he was selected as the Undercover Investigator of the Year for the Houston Police Department. The last three years he has been exclusively investigating Human Trafficking.

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Vanessa L. Tynes-Jass, BA, LLB

At 17 years old, Vanessa Jass was homeless and a victim of domestic human trafficking. After close calls on her life, Vanessa escaped and eventually became a lawyer. In addition to practicing law, Vanessa founded Survivors Unleashed International with a mission to raise awareness and save lives of survivors with scholarships.

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Logan Dee

Logan Dee is a Denver-based sex work and activist. She is the co-founder of We Are Dancers USA and operates a local harm reduction outreach in her community. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, hiking in the mountains, and binge-watching documentaries.

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Codi Schei

Codi Schei is a Chicago-based sex worker and activist, currently presenting for her third time at the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference. She serves on the leadership board for SWOP-Chicago and is the co-founder of We Are Dancers USA. She also facilitates harm reduction trainings during weekly outreach.

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Kate Keown, MSN-Ed, RN

Kate Keown is a Neuroscience Disease Coordinator who is just starting her research career through the Dignity Health Nursing Research Fellowship. She has a Masters in Nursing Education and her clinical background is critical care. She lives in Phoenix, AZ with her husband and animals.

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