Speakers

Jonathan H. Kurland is an Attorney Advisor with AEquitas. Prior to joining AEquitas, Jonathan worked in the District Attorney’s Office of Berks County, Pennsylvania where he started as a line Assistant District Attorney and prosecuted the range of cases typical for a jurisdiction with a combination of urban, suburban, and rural communities. However, over time, Jonathan’s focus increasingly trended to violent crime and cases involving the most vulnerable and exploited of victims. When Jonathan left after sixteen years in the District Attorney’s Office to join AEquitas, he was the Chief Deputy District Attorney and supervised, advised, and still prosecuted matters involving intimate partner violence and homicides, sexual violence, child abuse, and grand jury investigations. During his time in the Berks County District Attorney’s Office, Jonathan helped to develop collaboration between prosecutors, law enforcement, victim advocacy, medical professional, and other community stakeholders particularly through serving as the office lead for a variety of victim-focused multidisciplinary investigative teams and other community-based collaborative efforts focusing on intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child abuse, and human trafficking

In addition to his trial and supervisory experience, Jonathan served for two years in the appellate unit.  He was assigned as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for Berks County, where he served as liaison to multiple agencies to facilitate federal adoption of prosecutions involving complex criminal enterprises and violent career criminals. He also served as adjunct faculty at Alvernia University, where he taught courses in the Criminal Justice Department. Jonathan remains based in Berks County where he lives with his wife and son and spends his spare time running or feeling guilty for skipping running.

Chad Sniffen is a Senior Technology Safety Specialist for the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV)’s Safety Net project focused on technology and gender-based violence. Since 1999, he has worked or volunteered in the domestic and sexual violence movements as an educator, advocate, researcher, self-defense instructor, and board member for campus, community, state, and national organizations. He earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Arizona in 2007.

Cheryl Keeney currently serves as a Positive Behavior Support Mentor for the Positive Behavior Support Program at the WVU CED, and is a Triple P Accredited Provider.  Prior to coming to the CED, she worked in I/DD Waiver for 12 years, 7 of which were as a Behavior Support Professional.  Inspired by her passion for understanding human behavior and her desire to help others, Cheryl’s professional career has focused on assisting the individuals she serves, as well as their supports, with addressing and reducing the occurrences of serious challenging behaviors and improving their quality of life, enabling individuals to continue to live within the community setting. In her personal life, she is a mother of three, striving to raise confident and resilient children, powered by a love of hard rock and heavy metal, crafting, and coffee. Cheryl received her BA in Psychology and Sociology from Concord University.

Heather Merritt currently serves as the Curriculum Developer for the Positive Behavior Support Program at the WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities. She is also a Positive Behavior Support Specialist. For most of her career, Heather has worked with children and families in a variety of ways, including clinical, educational, crisis, and grief support. Her most critical role is being a mother of two teenage sons. After spending much of her career in Los Angeles, Heather relocated to Morgantown with the intent to bring her experience and passion for helping others back to her roots. Heather received her BS in Psychology and MS in Counseling Studies.

Jennifer is a nurse with 26 years of experience in critical care and emergency medicine, She currently works at United Hospital Center in Bridgeport, WV. As a sexual assault examiner with over six years of experience, Jennifer understands the difference a trained SANE can make in the life of victims of sexual assault, their families, and the community. She assists part-time as a SANE Specialist focusing on providing training to nurses and helping expand SANE services throughout WV. Jennifer received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Masters in Nursing Administration from Chamberlain University.

Karla Vierthaler is Advocacy and Resources Director for National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC). She supports the provision of technical assistance to the nation on a wide range of sexual violence prevention and intervention topics. She has been an advocate in the in the movement to end sexual violence for over twenty years. Ms. Vierthaler previously worked for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, where she developed resources and provided training on the impact of sexual violence in various communities, including adults in later life, people with disabilities, and others. When the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards were released in 2012, she worked extensively with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and local rape crisis programs on implementation efforts. She is also a certified Department of Justice PREA Auditor.

Louie Marven is a project coordinator at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. He develops training and resources on a variety of topics related preventing and responding to sexual assault, including working with male survivors, effective messaging, risk and protective factors, and sexual harassment at work. Prior to this role, Louie spent a decade in leadership in the LGBTQ movement, where he helped establish a community center and developed programs to meet the needs of LGBTQ people in central Pennsylvania.

Sherry is the Violence Against Women Resource Prosecutor for the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute in Charleston, West Virginia where she has been since April, 2015. She received a B.A. in Criminal Justice from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. In addition, she received her J.D. degree from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio in 1993.  Sherry worked in private practice and at Legal Aid of West Virginia prior to taking a position as an assistant prosecutor.  She began as an assistant prosecutor in 2004 working as the Cabell County VAWA Assistant Prosecutor.  She then worked in Mason County as an assistant prosecutor. Sherry has made appearances in other counties as a special prosecutor.  She has handled cases ranging from littering to sexual assault and murder. In her current position, she is a state-wide resource for county prosecutors and their assistants in all areas of intimate partner violence with an emphasis on sexual assault, stalking and domestic violence crimes and trains often in these areas as well as others.  In addition to prosecutors, Sherry trains first responders, judges, magistrates, court personnel, attorneys, victim advocates and law enforcement including students at the West Virginia State Police Academy.