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Leadership & Staff

Todd Schulte is the President of FWD.us and the FWD.us Education Fund, having been part of the organization since its founding in 2013. Under his leadership, FWD.us has driven impactful work on immigration and criminal justice reform through federal and state policy campaigns, ballot initiatives, strategic litigation, and large-scale public engagement efforts. Together with Executive Director Zoë Towns, Todd helps shape the strategic direction of the organization. 
Over the past decade at FWD.us, Todd has directed successful efforts to make the case that immigrants and immigration power the U.S. economy, help us win the global race for talent, and strengthen the American workforce. He has overseen winning campaigns that resulted in new and expanded protections for millions of individuals and families due to national and state policy changes. This has included defending DACA recipients and Dreamers, national legislative campaigns, securing and renewing temporary protections and work authorizations for millions of people, access to work authorization, access to education and more. He has played a critical role in decisive wins at the Supreme Court, including defending the DACA program and ending the Remain in Mexico program. 
Todd is regularly called upon as a national expert on immigration policy, the political dynamics around these issues, and is a resource for policymakers at the highest levels and business and civic leaders across the country. He regularly works with major companies and business leaders, higher education and research institutions, and faith and community advocates across the country to advance commonsense immigration and criminal justice policies that strengthen the United States. He and his work is regularly featured in national media.
Todd brings extensive experience in political and electoral strategy and policy across nearly every level of government. Before joining FWD.us, he served as Chief of Staff at Priorities USA Action, the super PAC that supported President Obama’s successful reelection. From 2009 to 2010, he was Chief of Staff to Congressman Scott Murphy (NY-20). Earlier in his career, Todd spent two election cycles at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, helping Democrats regain and grow their House majority in 2006 and 2008. He remains in close contact and a resource to candidates across the country.
In addition to his work on immigration and criminal justice, Todd has engaged in policy efforts related to healthcare and financial regulatory reform. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Lindsey, their daughters, Sylvia and Serena, and their two labs, Pippa and Penny. He loves the band Phish and misses playing water polo.

President

Todd Schulte

Zoë Towns serves as the Executive Director of FWD.us. She launched the organization&#8217;s criminal justice reform portfolio in 2017, establishing and leading its advocacy, policy, research, and philanthropic strategies. Since then, Zoë has directed a wide range of criminal justice reform efforts—administrative, ballot-based, electoral, and legislative—at both the state and federal levels across the United States.
Prior to her role at FWD.us, Zoë served as the Criminal Justice Project Director at the Pew Charitable Trusts. There, she partnered with state officials, system administrators, practitioners, and advocates to advance legislative reforms aimed at reducing prison populations in states including Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, and Louisiana. Earlier in her career, she was the founding director of The Bronx Freedom Fund, which operated a pioneering bail fund in the South Bronx to support individuals facing criminal charges, as well as a bond fund assisting immigrants in deportation proceedings.
Zoë holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies and Creative Writing from Columbia University, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellow. She earned a Master’s in Criminal Justice Policy from King’s College London as a Fulbright Scholar. Most recently, she was a Distinguished Teaching Fellow in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.
She currently serves on the advisory boards of One for Justice, Recidiviz, and the Center for Just Journalism, and is a member of the board of directors for Civil Rights Corps.

Executive Director

Zoë Towns

Mark Delich is the Vice President of Government Relations at FWD.us. Mark leads the development of the organization’s federal immigration policy priorities and congressional outreach efforts.
Mark joined FWD.us in 2016 with more than a decade of public policy experience, most recently as a senior advisor to Senator John McCain, where he was on the forefront of issues involving homeland security and immigration. There, he served as a lead staffer on a number of high-profile legislative initiatives, including the comprehensive immigration reform bill S. 744, which passed in the Senate with an overwhelming majority in December 2013. Prior to advising Sen. McCain, Mark was the director of policy at the Reform Institute, where he set the strategic direction for the Institute&#8217;s policy work on immigration and homeland security issues.

VP, Government Relations

Mark Delich

Elissa Johnson is the Vice President of Criminal Justice Campaigns at FWD.us, where she leads the team developing advocacy and campaign tactics to reduce incarceration in some of the country’s highest incarcerating jurisdictions.
Prior to joining FWD.us, Elissa was an attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), for eight years. While based in the Jackson, Mississippi SPLC offices, Elissa brought class action litigation related to prison conditions, juvenile justice, education, and other civil rights issues. She also helped drive successful legislative campaigns to reduce youth and adult incarceration in Mississippi. Later in her career at SPLC in Atlanta, GA, Elissa brought litigation related to access to counsel and worked with a small team of attorneys to develop a nationwide lawsuit on conditions in immigration detention facilities across the country. She clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Carlton W. Reeves in the Southern District of Mississippi. Elissa received her undergraduate degree in English and Sociology from Fisk University and a Master’s in Social Work and law degree from Loyola University Chicago. Elissa lives in Washington D.C.

VP, Criminal Justice Campaigns

Elissa Johnson

Prior to working as the Vice President of National Initiatives at FWD.us, Rena organized women with incarcerated loved ones across the country towards transformative policy campaigns. Rena began her career as a juvenile justice attorney and public defender working primarily with New York City youth locked on Rikers Island. Rena has worked closely to pass historic bail reform legislation in New York State, written testimony for the United State Commission on Human Rights and co-authored the <a href="https://livesontheline.org/report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lives on the Line: Women with Incarcerated Loved Ones and the Impact of COVID-19 Behind Bars</a> report. Her analysis on the American criminal legal system has been featured in NPR, Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, The Intercept and The Appeal.
Rena received her undergraduate degree in African-American Studies from Yale University and her JD from Harvard Law School. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

VP, National Initiatives

Rena Karefa-Johnson

Tiffany Lawrence is the Vice President; Chief Human Resources Officer for FWD.us.
Tiffany is a transformation expert with deep experience in change management, culture advancement, talent/leadership development, succession and retention planning, onboarding, career-path development, training, performance management, analytics, benefits administration and acquisition due diligence/integration. She brings a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, and a passion for creating environments where people feel valued, safe, respected and are given opportunities. Tiffany serves as a trusted advisor to and partner of C-Suite, valued for high levels of integrity and ability to think outside the box, defining and connecting all moving parts of complex organizations. She is a collaborative, resourceful, innovative problem-solver who orchestrates elegant solutions to complex problems and remains calm in chaotic situations. As an adept talent management strategist, she cultivates environments where all can thrive and ensures the best people are in the appropriate positions. Lastly, she is a candid and transparent communicator who promotes diversity of thought and builds consensus. Tiffany has an MBA from the University of Maryland and holds a SHRM-SCP (Senior Certified HR Professional) designation. Tiffany lives in the Washington D.C. area.

VP, Chief Human Resources Officer

Tiffany Lawrence

Felicity Rose serves as the Vice President of Criminal Justice Research &amp; Policy at FWD.us, where she fights for data-driven policy change in some of the nation&#8217;s highest-incarcerating states.
Ms. Rose spearheaded the research behind FWD.us&#8217;s reports Every Second, which provided the first rigorous estimate of how many adults in the United States have experienced family incarceration, People First, which explored the impact of dehumanizing language on public opinion, and Turning the Page, a comprehensive look at Oklahoma&#8217;s work to safely reduce incarceration and the many problems the state has yet to tackle.
Ms. Rose has worked in the field of criminal justice reform for more than 15 years, including leading analysis of sentencing and corrections data to inform comprehensive policy reform efforts in states across the country. She received her master&#8217;s degree in public policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley and her undergraduate degree from Brown University. Felicity lives in Oakland, CA.

VP, Criminal Justice Research & Policy

Felicity Rose

Bina Surgeon is the Chief Operating Officer at FWD.us. Previously she was Director of Finance and Operations at the Everybody Votes Campaign (EVC), a national nonprofit that partners with local organizations to help all eligible people register to vote. At EVC, she led the organization&#8217;s financial strategy and the development of internal policies and processes, with a focus on creating systems that promote organizational culture, values and vision centered around equity. Prior to EVC, Bina worked for Speaker Nancy Pelosi for 11 years as Special Assistant and Deputy Director for Protocol and Special Events. She previously worked for Grow New Mexico, where she advised communities on economic development projects and funding. Bina was born in Honduras and grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She attended the University of New Mexico, where she fostered her passion for learning new languages and for politics. She lives in Washington, DC and loves to travel, and spend time with family and friends.

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