The Council

The Council
Co-Chaired by Judge Douglas S. Lavine and Attorney Amy Lin Meyerson, the council is housed within the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.

Members

• Co-chair: Douglas S. Lavine, Judge Trial Referee
• Co-chair: Amy Lin Meyerson, Esq., Past President, Connecticut Bar Association
• Corrie Betts, NAACP
• Jason O. Chang, Asian American Studies Institute, UConn
• John Doyle, New Haven State's Attorney
• Rabbi Michael Farbman, Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven
• Andrew A. Feinstein, Feinstein Education Law Group, LLC
• Brian Foley, Tolland Town Manager
• Erene Hammond, UnitedHealth Group
• Steven Hernández, ConnCAN
• Rathanak M. Keo, #IAmNotAVirus
• Tamara K. Lanier, NAACP, Connecticut Racial Profiling Project, ACLU Connecticut
• Diana R. Lombardi
• Duane J. Lovello, Deputy Director of Public Safety, Yale University
• Gary M. MacNamara, Public Safety & Government Affairs, Sacred Heart University
• Robin P. McHaelen
• John P. Merz, Advancing Connecticut Together
• Aida Mansoor, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace 
• Fernando J. Muñiz, Community Solutions, Inc.
• MD Masudur Rahman, Marjars Sourcing, Inc.
• Precious Price, Middletown Racial Justice Coalition
• Sharad A. Samy, The Commonfund for Nonprofit Organizations
• Jonathan S. Slifka, Connecticut Department of Aging and Disability Services
• Stacey G. Sobel, Regional Director, ADL Connecticut
• Richard A. Wilson, UConn School of Law

Statutory Appointees (Ex-officio members, or their designees)

• Patrick Griffin, Chief State’s Attorney
• Deborah Sullivan (Chief Public Defender designee)
• Michael Bloom (Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection designee)
• Lt. Haley Russenberger (Connecticut Hate Crimes Investigative Unit)
• Hon. Cecil J. Thomas (Connecticut Bar Association designee) 
• Bryce Simmons (George W. Crawford Black Bar Association designee) 
• Riju Das (South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut designee) 
• Michelle Querijero (Connecticut Asian Pacific American Bar Association designee)
• vacant (Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association designee)
• Christopher D. Ferace (Connecticut Police Chiefs Association designee)

As required under state statutes, ten officials serve as ex-officio members and the governor is responsible for appointing the remainder of the members, as well as selecting two of them to serve as co-chairpersons.