08/26/2026
Representing Travis County Judge Andy Brown ex-officio on our Board of Directors, we welcome Cherise Burdeen!
After earning a bachelor’s in public administration from Miami University (Ohio) and a master’s in criminal justice from Indiana University, she began her career with the DOJ's National Institute of Justice. After fieldwork that included time with the Safer Foundation in Chicago and post-9/11 federal service with the Department of Homeland Security, Cherise spent fifteen years with the Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI), an organization responsible for putting pretrial injustice on system leaders' agenda.
Cherise has been recognized for her innovative strategies to raise awareness, amass a broad constituency of stakeholder groups, provide technical assistance and training on policy reforms, and engage in communications efforts. She has extensive experience with strategic planning, initiative management, and designing change efforts.
Late in her tenure at PJI, she began investigating bias in the data used to create pretrial risk assessment instruments and community supervision matrices. This led to a shift in long-held policy positions and, ultimately, a decision to leave PJI to allow it to advance its own future. Cherise then served as Vice President for Operations at the National Legal Aid and Defender Association while attending National Louis University to pursue a PhD in Community Psychology.
Her research focused on the relationship between social-emotional functioning, cultural competence, and client-centeredness in public defense. Her commitments are advancing laws and policies that center equity, belonging, and well-being; operationalizing the vision of those closest to the problems; and unlearning our othering culture. She began serving as the County Executive for Innovative Justice and Program Analysis with Travis County (TX) in the summer of 2026.
