Speakers

“The time has come for the law to impose the full legal consequences that abusers and their enablers deserve.” - Sarah Klein

Sarah Klein is a preeminent civil and trial attorney at Manly, Stewart & Finaldi with offices in California & NY who specializes in representing sexual abuse survivors and a nationally renowned advocate for legal, cultural, and political change for the support for the victims of sexual abuse. She is also actively spearheading the fight to extend the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims across all 50 states.

A former competitive gymnast, Klein is also the first known victim of former Olympic women’s gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. At the July 2018 ESPY Awards, Klein accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award on behalf of herself and the hundreds of other survivors who spoke out and testified about Nassar’s abuse.

Sarah is an alumna of Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Global Entrepreneurship program. She sits on the Board of Directors of CHILD USAdvocacy, a national organization committed to protecting children’s civil liberties and keeping children safe from abuse. She also sits on the Board of Yale University’s Sports Equity Lab, pursuing research that can inform policies around safe sporting environments and help fight abuse, in all forms, for all athletes.

Through her significant experience in lawyering some of the country’s highest profile cases, Klein has become a leading voice on sexual abuse and other legal issues on television, radio, and in print media including ESPN, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. She regularly appears as a legal analyst on Court TV.

Amy Boney serves as the Director for the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Response Team of Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia (CACGA). She provides oversight and direction to the development, planning and management for the statewide initiative aimed at serving child victims and combatting CSEC. She also serves on the Board of Georgia Coalition to Combat Human Trafficking as well as Chair of the Victims Service Subcommittee. She is a liaison to law enforcement for the CSEC Response Team. Amy graduated from the University of Georgia and Valdosta State University with her Bachelors and Masters of Social Work degrees respectively. Prior to coming to the CSEC Response Team of CACGA, she found her passion for working with Georgia’s victims of child abuse. She was a 21 year veteran founding Director and Forensic Interviewer in Children’s Advocacy Centers in the Dougherty and Southwestern Judicial Circuits. Amy completed thousands of forensic interviews, co-facilitated MDT Case Reviews, chaired the Child Abuse Protocol and Child Fatality Review Committees, was deemed an expert witness in eight judicial circuits of Georgia, and served as a Board Chair of Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia.

Judge Roxanne E. Formey obtained her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and L.L.M in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law with a concentration in human trafficking from American University Washington College of Law. Judge Formey served as a Staff Attorney with Georgia Legal Services Program and as the Legal Director for Womenslaw.org before being appointed as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, NY assigned to the Crimes against Children Division. She then served in Chatham County as a Chief Deputy Assistant District Attorney, supervising the State Court Division, before being selected as the Criminal Staff Attorney for the State Court Judiciary. Judge Formey was later appointed as Judge/Court Administrator and Clerk of Court in the Magistrate Court of Chatham County. Most recently, she was appointed as a Juvenile Court Judge in the Juvenile Court of Chatham County. Judge Formey presides over H.O.P.E. Court, a treatment court designed to address the specialized needs of our court-involved trafficked youth.

Debbie Garner is currently the Special Agent in Charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s (GBI) Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit (CEACC). She has been in this assignment since October of 2013. In that capacity she manages a work unit of approximately 30 GBI employees including Special Agents, Digital Forensic Investigators, Investigative Assistants, a Criminal Intelligence Analyst and a Cybertip Program Specialist and Cybertip Processor. The CEACC Unit has the responsibility of managing and operating the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (GA ICAC TF) and SAC Garner is the Commander of the GA ICAC TF. The CEACC Unit also investigates child sex trafficking cases and online enticement cases and is the digital evidence processing branch of the GBI.

Naeshia McDowell serves as the Statewide Child and Youth Care Coordinator for the CSEC Response Team with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia. She is the central point of contact for agencies and victims for a more coordinated and effective system response and facilitates training and outreach to help build infrastructure and community capacity. Ms. McDowell graduated from Georgia State University where she completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Epidemiology. Prior to coming to CACGA, Ms. McDowell served as the Training and Helpline Coordinator at Prevent Child Abuse Georgia.

Erica Mortonson is the Statewide Human Trafficking Unit Supervisor with Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. At CJCC, she oversees the statewide project that includes the Human Trafficking Task Force. The Task Force coordinates and facilitates communication and collaboration amongst Georgia’s anti-trafficking stakeholders. She provides guidance in the development of resources, such as training curricula for law enforcement, prosecutors, service providers and students.

Erica has over 7 years’ experience in human trafficking, sexual assault and child sexual abuse services. Previously, she was the Sexual Assault Program Director of The Cottage, Sexual Assault Center and Children’s Advocacy Center. There, she supervised the agency’s team of advocates and clinicians and worked collaboratively with law enforcement and prosecutors in sexual assault cases in the Athens-Clarke County area. She also oversaw the mental health support groups for victims of sexual assault and child sexual abuse. She serves on the Georgia Sexual Assault Response Team State Expert Committee and has been recognized as a leader in the development of innovative training resources for law enforcement in their response to victims of crime.

Erica holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Anthropology and Gender Studies. She is also a licensed clinician (LCSW) having earned her master’s degree in Social Work, graduating with honors from the University of Georgia.

Dr. Claire Bolton is the Program Manager of APRIES. As a full-time staff member, she manages APRIES’ day-to-day operations. Claire comes to APRIES from the University of Georgia Office of Research, where she managed large, complex research proposals with an emphasis on the social sciences. Her interests broadly include political economy, urbanization, migration, and critical race studies in both U.S. and international contexts. She also specializes in the study of religious belief and how it intersects with these topics. In addition to the APRIES project, Claire teaches World Regional Geography at the University of North Georgia. Her peer-reviewed work can be found in Urban Geography and Political Geography in addition to several forthcoming venues. She also serves on the Athens-Clarke County Vision Committee, which assists local government with decision-making processes related to community development, and participates in community-based research projects.

The Hon. Mr. Justice Fisher, was educated at the Prince of Wales, Freetown from where he proceeded to the United Kingdom to study law. He read law at the University of Hertfordshire, UK where he graduated with a degree in Law with honours. He was then appointed a Magistrate in Sierra Leone in 2004 and served in Freetown and Bo. He was appointed a lecturer in law at the University of Sierra Leone and a legal member of the independent procurement Review Panel, charged with the responsibility of adjudicating on procurement complaints.

He then proceeded to the UK and obtained a masters degree in e-commerce and telecommunication law, making him the first Sierra Leonean to do so. He was appointed a state prosecutor in 2017 and was also appointed as co chair of the anti human trafficking task force, charged with the responsibility of advising the Government of Sierra Leone n human trafficking matters. As a prosecutor, he secured the first conviction in Sierra Leone for human trafficking, as well as drafting the proposed amendment to the Anti human trafficking Bill. He was appointed a Justice of the Superior courts of judicature in December 2020.

Dr. David Okech conducts research on human trafficking – the exploitation of men, women, and children for the purposes of labor or sex. He focuses on designing evidence-based interventions to inform programs and policies that improve the well-being and increase economic empowerment for survivors of trafficking. Dr. Okech is the founding director of the Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach and the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES). He serves on the International Steering Group of the Antislavery Knowledge Network at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, among other global anti-trafficking organizations. He was director of the MSW Program (2013-19) and director of Global Engagement (2014-17) at the UGA School of Social Work. Dr. Okech was inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research in 2017.

Camila Zolfaghari serves as the Executive Director of Street Grace, bringing ten years expertise and experience prosecuting human trafficking cases and spearheading legislative changes. During her time at Street Grace she has overseen the passage of some of the most historic legislative victories in the history of the human trafficking movement.

Prior to this position she was the head of the Human Trafficking Unit for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office where she was responsible for the prosecution of all human trafficking cases. She prosecuted the first case of human trafficking against a buyer in the State of Georgia and prosecuted many traffickers who were sentenced to life without parole. She worked closely with the FBI, GBI, ICE, local law enforcement agencies and other nonprofit and community partners to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases.

Mike Griffin is a native Georgian from Thomasville. He graduated from Thomas County Central High School in 1978 and earned his undergraduate degree at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville in 1984. Mike has been a Southern Baptist pastor for over 35 years. In 2019, Mike completed serving 22 years as the founder and senior pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Ga. After a 2006 run for state office, Mike represented Georgia Right to Life at the State Capitol and served as the organization's State Field Director for eight years. Mike has also served in the past as Vice President of Georgia Right to Life.

In January 2014, Mike accepted a position with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board as their Public Affairs Representative. In January 2020, he began working full-time for the GBMB. His duties include lobbying at the state Capitol and speaking on moral and religious liberty issues around the state.

In 2020 and 2021, the editors of Atlanta magazine chose Mike to be one of Atlanta’s most powerful leaders and included him in the publication, “The Atlanta 500.” This annual guide celebrates the metro area’s top executives and influencers.

Kathryn Robb is a lawyer, legislative advocate, and law instructor who has been fighting to pass meaningful child sex abuse legislation across the country for 16 years. As an outspoken survivor of child sexual abuse, Kathryn continues to use her voice to implement common-sense legislative change to end child abuse and neglect and to enact victim friendly legislation. The initiatives of CHILD USAdvocacy included reforming SOLs for child abuse and neglect, ending FGM, ending conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, ending exemptions for childhood vaccinations, ending child marriage and family court reform. She regularly testifies before legislative committees, writes opinions for local and national press and appears on news outlets at the local and national level. Kathryn is a lawyer by trade specializing in legislative advocacy, sexual abuse laws and SOL reform. Kathryn has spent over 25 years as a law instructor preparing law students for writing component the bar exam, she specializes in non-traditional learners and ESL populations. Kathryn is a board member and legislative advocate for the nonprofit Massachusetts Citizens for Children, and she was instrumental in the SOL change to MA General Laws in 2014. She is a member of the Massachusetts bar. Kathryn is also a certified trainer for the MassKids Enough Abuse campaign, training the trainer program.

Emma M. Hetherington is an assistant clinical professor and the director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law. She has represented hundreds of children in juvenile court dependency proceedings who have experienced child abuse and neglect, with a specialized focus on youth ages 14 and up, most of whom have been sexually abused or exploited. Hetherington has served as faculty in several national and statewide conferences on child welfare. She has served as an expert for the Georgia General Assembly, providing testimony on proposed legislation directly affecting survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation and has appeared in local, state and national media, including USA Today. Hetherington serves on the executive committee for the Athens Sex Trafficking Response and Awareness (STAR) Task Force and is a member of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s Georgia Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force, where she serves on the Keeping At-Risk Youth Safe work group.