New Faces at APRI

Three top-level staff appointments have been announced by NDAA Executive Director Newman Flanagan.

In his capacity as president of APRI, Flanagan has appointed Steven D. Dillingham chief administrator. Debra Whitcomb has been appointed APRI director of grant programs and development.

Diana M. Riveira has been named training specialist and curriculum administrator for the NDAA National Advocacy Center.

Dillingham comes to APRI with an extensive criminal justice-related background in government. His most recent position was special counsel to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Reform. His previous positions included acting assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Director of DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), acting deputy director of DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), deputy director for Policy and Special Programs in DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and inspector in the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Energy. He has also served as special counsel on Criminal Law with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and visiting assistant professor of public and international affairs at George Mason University.

Whitcomb comes from Massachusetts, where for the last 13 years she served in several leadership capacities with the Education Development Center in Newton. From 1987 to 1990 she was project director, from 1990 to 1993 she was senior research associate and since 1993 she had been senior scientist. She directed numerous research, training and technical assistance projects with special expertise in child maltreatment and the response of justice, child protection, health and social service systems. She also directed grant-writing activities in her area of expertise and was responsible for creating project activities, developing and monitoring budgets, writing major sections of proposals and assembling final submissions.

Riveira has been a member of the APRI senior staff since 1997, serving as senior attorney and manager of the Violence Against Women program. In this position her responsibilities have included development of a core training curriculum in the areas of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault; lecturing on these subjects; organizing conferences and devising a training manual and administrative guide on training workshops. Prior to joining APRI, she was an appellate attorney with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) after three years as an assistant state attorney in the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida (Miami).