Jeffrey R. Dion Chief Executive Officer
Jeff Dion is an attorney, survivor, and nationally recognized victim advocate. He comes to the Zero Abuse Project after more than twenty years with the National Center for Victims of Crime, where he served as Director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association. He has led efforts to reform civil statutes of limitation to expand access to justice for victims of child sex abuse.
From 2002 to 2010, Jeff served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Virginia Criminal Justice Services Board, where he chaired the Victim Services Advisory Committee. He has received numerous awards including the 2006 Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award presented by the U.S. Department of Justice for outstanding innovation and commitment to crime victim legislation. He earned his undergraduate and law degree from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University.
Ann Ratnayake Macy Board Member
Ann Ratnayake Macy JD/BBA is the Executive Director at the National Center for Child Abuse Statistics and Policy. Ann began her career working on children’s issues at the National District Attorney’s Association’s Child Abuse Unit. As a Senior Staff Attorney, she worked strategically as a liaison between state prosecutors and federally funded child abuse initiatives. Ann assisted front-line prosecutors on functioning as a subject matter expert. She has drafted legislation, reports and memorandums on child abuse, neglect and other criminal justice issues. Ann supervised attorneys, communicated with stakeholders and configured grant applications to meet the needs of the field. She also managed and tracked deliverables, and wrote the final, progress, and semiannual reports for 5.9 million dollars of Department of Justice grant funding. She managed complex trial advocacy trainings, conferences, and wrote for NDAA’s publications. Her primary area of research focuses on addressing family and domestic violence within the in the framework of the criminal justice system. Her articles include: U.S. v. Jones: Signaling Change to Search and Seizure under the Fourth Amendment, Juvenile Sex Offenses: Finding Justice, and Berghuis v. Thompkins: Invocation and Waiver of the Miranda Right to Remain Silent, The Confrontation Clause After Ohio v. Clark: The Path to Reinvigorating Evidenced-Based Prosecution in Intimate Partner Violence Cases was co-published by NDAA and the George Washington Law Review, and a Precarious Gap in U.S. Criminal Codes for Cases of Child Torture published in the Journal of Child and Youth Review. She has also written three chapters for the American Bar Association’s State of Criminal Justice Book Series.
For the 2018, Ann co-chairs the victim’s committee for the American Bar Association, serves on the criminal justice section council, and is a member of the Commission on Youth at Risk. Ann was also honored to be accepted into the class of 2018 for the prestigious Presidential Leadership Scholars Program as an agent of change.
Ann has also worked on Capitol Hill for the Texas 17 District, at the International Trade Administration, and for the Western District of Texas – Waco Division, Federal Court. She is licensed to practice law in both Texas and the District of Columbia Bar. She graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M University Mays School of Business in 2005 where she received the Ford Foundation Scholar Award, and from Baylor University Law School in 2009 where she was awarded the Alice Gist Dunaway Foundation Professional Responsibility Award and the Dean’s Academic Excellence Award. Ann is an advocate for policies that eradicate family violence.
Joelle Casteix Board Member
Joelle Casteix is one of the leading global advocates and spokespeople for survivors of child sexual assault and cover-up. No one else has her depth of knowledge on the scope and scale of the problem worldwide and the effects of this crime on victims and communities in the areas of health, governance, and trauma.
A founding member of the board of directors of the Zero Abuse Project, she has helped launch ZeroAbuse.ai, an innovative AI tool that evaluates the risk factors that suggest potential predatory individuals within an organization and those associated with cover-up.
Her expertise includes how institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church, public schools, and other organizations cover up and enable child sexual assault; the role parents play in prevention; and how to eradicate and end the cycle through emerging technology and strong victim-friendly legislation.
Joelle is the award-winning author of the bestsellers The Well-Armored Child: A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Child Sexual Abuse (RiverGrove Books) and The Power of Responsibility. Joelle is also a former member of the adjunct faculty of the UCI School of Law.
Joelle works with numerous organizations dedicated to stopping child sexual assault, child sex trafficking, and sexual assault within institutions. She speaks across the globe to groups such as schools, universities, governmental organizations, corporations, parents, NGOs, conventions, and civic groups on all aspects of child sexual abuse prevention, healing, and the exposure of the cover-up. Her TEDx talk is being used by therapists in the clinic setting to help survivors of abuse and assault.
Joelle’s other books include: The Compassionate Response: How to help and empower the adult victim of child sexual abuse, and Scram! A Parent’s Quick-Start Guide to Preventing, Identifying, and Ending Bullying.
Honorable Sen. Joseph L. Dunn (ret.) Founding Chair
Senator Dunn is the founding Chair, Board of Directors, of the Zero Abuse Project.
Senator Dunn is also currently the Assistant Dean of External Relations as well as a Lecturer at the UCI School of Law. He serves as the primary point person for the launch of the UCI Cybersecurity Policy and Research Institute, the Civil Justice Research Institute, and the UCI Institute on Policing in Society.
Senator Dunn was a member of the California State Senate from 1998-2006. While serving in the Legislature, he chaired key committees such as the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Housing and Transportation Committee. He received international acclaim as Chair of the Senate Investigation Committee into the 2001 California Energy Crisis. California Lawyer Magazine labeled Senator Dunn as “the Man Who Cracked Enron.”
Between 2006-2014, Sen. Dunn served as CEO of both the State Bar of California, the judicial branch regulatory body overseeing all aspects of the profession of law, and the California Medical Association, the most influential state medical organization in the nation, representing more than 30,000 California doctors.
Prior to entering the Senate, Senator Dunn practiced law, handling cases involving the sexual exploitation of children, products liability litigation relating to defective medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and environmental cases.
He received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Minnesota School of Law (1983) and his B.A magna cum laude from The College of St. Thomas (1980).
Noah Kroloff Board Member
Noah Kroloff is a Principal and Co-Founder of GSIS, a strategic security consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He supports clients on a broad range of matters including homeland and national security policy, crisis and consequence management, government relations and market entrance.
Prior to founding GSIS, Mr. Kroloff spent nearly two decades in public service, serving in leadership positions in state and federal government, including more than four as Chief of Staff of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2009-2013. In that capacity, he oversaw 240,000 employees, a $60 billion budget and 22 federal agencies. He was the principal advisor to the Secretary on all operational and policy functions of the Department, supervised external affairs, managed DHS’s global footprint and was responsible for coordination between the agency and the White House and National Security Council. Mr. Kroloff also advised the Homeland Security nominee on the Obama-Biden transition team.
In state government, Mr. Kroloff served as Chief Policy Assistant and Deputy Chief of Staff to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano during her first and second terms in office. He left government to manage Governor Napolitano’s successful reelection effort in 2006, establishing new historical benchmarks by leading the first gubernatorial campaign in Arizona history to win every county and legislative district in the state.
Mr. Kroloff was also a speechwriter and Assistant to Arizona Attorney General Napolitano, served as an Aide to the New York State Assembly Speaker and taught junior-high school in the South Bronx as a Teach for America Corps member.
Mr. Kroloff is a Senior Fellow and Lecturer at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Truman National Security Project and Progressive Policy Institute. He holds a BA from St. John’s College and a JD from Arizona State University College of Law and resides in Washington, DC with his wife and two children.
