NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION
Management
Scott Burns Executive Director
sburns@ndaa.org
Scott Burns was selected by the NDAA Board of Directors on March 21, 2009, to serve as executive director of the association. While a number of challenges face America’s 39,000 prosecutors, Mr. Burns’s priority is making certain that prosecutors’ voices are heard on every issue involving the criminal justice system. In addition, Mr. Burns oversees NDAA’s internal programs (Child Abuse,
Violence Against Women, Gangs and Guns, Traffic Safety, Homicide, Elder Abuse), which are
federally funded to provide prosecutors with current state-of-the-art training.
Mr. Burns was nominated twice by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed both times by the United States Senate. Mr. Burns served from 2002 to 2009 first as the deputy director for State, Local and Tribal Affairs, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and later as the deputy director of the entire agency.
As the deputy director of National Drug Control Policy, Mr. Burns was responsible for coordination and implementation of the President’s National Drug Control Strategy. This comprehensive and balanced strategy included policies and programs directed toward prevention and education, treatment and law enforcement. Mr. Burns led the federal government’s efforts to reduce methamphetamine and prescription drug abuse, enhance drug courts and student drug testing programs, expand drug treatment capabilities, eradicate marijuana on public lands, and reduce drug abuse in Indian Country. In addition, Mr. Burns was on the front lines of the Administration’s efforts in Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan and around the world.
Mr. Burns was also appointed by the White House to serve as the United States’ representative to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an international organization charged with eliminating doping and drug use in sport. In his role as the U.S. sports minister, Mr. Burns was subsequently chosen to represent the 40-nation Americas region on WADA’s Executive Committee and further honored by his selection to chair the 180-nations’ Ministers of Sport Conference in Athens, Greece. He was selected to chair the Independent Observers Team at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Prior to his confirmation, Mr. Burns served for 16 years as the elected county attorney and chief prosecutor in Iron County, Utah. He also routinely provided pro bono legal service to the indigent. As an adjunct professor, Mr. Burns taught constitutional law, search and seizure, race relations, and the civil liability of peace officers.
Mr. Burns attended college in Cedar City, Utah where he was inducted into the Southern Utah University Sports Hall of Fame (football), and law school in San Diego, California.
Jan Scully President
NDAA President 2011–2012
scullyj@sacda.org
Sacramento County District Attorney
Jan Scully has spent her entire life living in Sacramento. She attended Loretto High School, graduated from CSU-Sacramento and attended Lincoln Law School while working full-time for the State of California.
After graduating from Lincoln Jan began working as a deputy district attorney in the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. Five years later, Jan became a supervising attorney, supervising various prosecution teams including Adult Sexual Assault, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse, Felony Trials, and Research and Training.
Jan was first elected District Attorney in November 1994 and has run unopposed since that time. She began serving her fourth term as District Attorney in January 2007.
From the beginning, Jan has been interested in serving victims. She established an office policy requiring notice to victims before a felony case is resolved. She has also served as the chair of the California District Attorney Association’s Victim Rights Committee.
Under Jan's leadership, the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office established the County’s Domestic Violence Multidisciplinary Death Review Team and the Elder Death Interdisciplinary Review Team. The Elder Death Review Team reviews suspicious deaths of elder adults and is a first-of-its kind committee in the nation.
Jan has also been very interested in getting citizens involved in the criminal justice system. In 1995, she established a Citizens Cabinet, a group of community leaders who advised Jan on matters of policies and programs. In 2001, she established the District Attorney Multi-Cultural Community Council, with community leaders from the area’s diverse ethnic, racial, and cultural communities, to help bridge the gap between their communities and the criminal justice system. In 2002, she started the Citizens Academy, a 10-week program for community members who wish to learn more about the District Attorney’s Office and the criminal justice system.
Jan's Community Prosecution Unit, prosecutors who do their work in the community rather than in the courtroom, has received national attention for working successfully with community coalitions to solve quality-of-life issues in Sacramento. In 2005 Jan was the first woman elected to serve as President of the California District Attorneys Association and in 2006 was President of the Institute for the Advancement of Criminal Justice. She chairs the California Council of Criminal Justice, Sacramento County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, co-chairs the Greater Sacramento Area Task Force on Hate Crimes, and serves on a number of other criminal justice, public safety and community advisory boards. Jan is the new President-Elect of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) and will begin her term in July 2011. She currently serves as NDAA's Vice President and has served as a board member since 2005.
Among other recognitions, Jan has received the following awards: the “Women Who Mean Business” award from the Sacramento Business Journal, the “Woman of the Year” award from the California Legislature, the “Touching Lives” award from the YWCA, the “Distinguished Service” award from California State University Alumnae Association and the “Outstanding Leadership” award from Cities in Schools.
Rick Hanes Chief of Staff
rhanes@ndaa.org
Richard T. (Rick) Hanes joined NDAA as executive office administrator on February 23, 2009.
A native Hoosier, he was born in Evansville, Indiana, in 1954. Hanes received his B.A. in psychology from Indiana University in Bloomington in 1976 and a paralegal certificate from The George Washington University in 1977. He worked as a paralegal for firms in Washington, DC, Silver Spring, MD, and Phoenix, Arizona, for three years.
Hanes worked as a legal administrator for private law firms in Vienna, Virginia, Phoenix and Washington, DC for 20 years. He was responsible for managing budgets, accounting, human resources, information technology, facilities, and the law libraries.
In 2000, he started working as an administrative executive for non-profit organizations funded by government grants and contracts. He has seven years experience supervising grant portfolios ranging in size from $2-$45 million per year and has experience in reviewing and bringing organizations into compliance with grant regulations.
Hanes is a former president of the Arizona Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators and has served 14 years as a Scout leader and volunteer in the Boy Scouts of America. Hanes has been married for 32 years to Catherine Elizabeth Hanes, who is a legislative aide to Catherine Hudgins, county supervisor for the Hunter Mill District of Fairfax County, Virginia. The Hanes have two sons and one daughter.
