| NEW YORK-Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and Chief Administrative
Judge Jonathan Lippman, in conjunction with Mary McCormick, President of
the Fund for the City of New York, today announced the appointment of Greg
Berman as Director of the Center for Court Innovation. The Center, a unique
public-private partnership of the state court system and the Fund for the
City of New York, acts as the judiciary's research and development arm
to identify new methods of improving the administration of justice. Mr.
Berman fills a position left vacant by the departure of the Center for
Court Innovation's founding director, John Feinblatt, who was named Criminal
Justice Coordinator for the City of New York by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Mr. Berman's appointment is the result of a nationwide search
conducted by a three-person committee, headed by Carey Dunne, a partner
at the New York City law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, and consisting
of Frank Hartmann of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
and Sharon King of the Heron Foundation. After interviews with scores of
candidates across the country, the committee issued its recommendations
to Chief Administrative Judge Lippman and Ms. McCormick, who conducted
the final interviews and, with the approval of Chief Judge Kaye, made the
selection of the new director.
"Since its inception, the Center for Court Innovation has been
an incubator of new ideas and fresh approaches for the courts' handling
of complex, persistent problems that plague a modern society," said Chief
Judge Kaye. "The result of the Center's inventiveness has been the creation
of problem-solving courts in New York that have garnered national praise
and attention, as well as new, smarter ways of delivering justice services.
I can think of no individual more capable than Greg Berman to carry on
this stellar organization's momentum of productivity and to lead it into
its next era of excellence."
Judge Kaye added, "I would like to thank John Feinblatt, the Center's
founding director, for his unwavering dedication to the Center and for
shepherding it from its initial creation to its now formidable reality."
In making the announcement, Judge Lippman stated, "Greg has been with
the Center for Court Innovation from its very beginning, playing an instrumental
role in crafting the organization's mission and structure and helping to
guide its creation from start-up to the present. For the past six years,
as the Center's deputy director and more recently as acting director, he
has become well acquainted with the position that he will now officially
occupy and the network of people and agencies with which he will be working.
I feel confident that Greg Berman is the ideal person to head this vital
organization and to continue its critical work."
The Fund of the City of New York President Mary McCormick said, "Greg
is the right person at the right time. He has the skills necessary to consolidate
the impressive accomplishments of the Center and to lead it into its next
phase of innovation."
Mr. Berman was Deputy Director of the Center for Court Innovation from
1996 to the early part of this year when he began serving as Acting Director.
From 1994 to 1996, he was the Red Hook Community Justice Center Project
Coordinator, where he coordinated the planning of New York's second community
court and managed an AmeriCorps community service program for 50 participants.
After graduating from Wesleyan University, he worked in various organizations
with interests in the areas of non-profit and community development. He
was granted a public affairs fellowship by the Coro Foundation to participate
in a public policy leadership training program, during which time he completed
assignments with the Midtown Community Court, the New York Foundation and
other agencies. Mr. Berman has written several articles on criminal justice
issues and is the co-author of a forthcoming book about the impact problem-solving
judges and attorneys are having on the nation's courts.
The appointment is effective immediately. |
