The NCJFCJ has a new Executive Director

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges announces the appointment of Mari Kay Bickett as its Executive Director.

Following a four-month nationwide search, NCJFCJ President Judge R. Michael Key, with the advice and consent of the NCJFCJ Board of Trustees, selected Ms. Bickett, who assumed her duties April 1, 2011. In making the announcement Judge Key said, “We had some very highly qualified candidates and we chose Mari Kay from among them for a reason. She has a stellar 23-year record in judicial education at the state and national level. Our goal from the beginning was to select someone that we would be excited to present to our membership and our partner agencies, and we have accomplished that goal.”

From 1994 until her recent retirement, Ms. Bickett served as CEO/Executive Director of the Texas Center for the Judiciary, the primary provider of specialized judicial education and training for trial and appellate judges in Texas. During her tenure, the organization received the 2006 ABA Judicial Education Award, the Excellence in Education Award from the Governor and Lt. Governor of Texas, as well as the State Bar of Texas President’s Recognition for outstanding contribution to the education of the Texas Judiciary. While in Texas, Ms. Bickett served on various committees of the Supreme Court of Texas Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth, and Families, and as an officer on the Texas CASA Board of Directors.

Prior to her work in Texas, Ms. Bickett was the academic director for The National Judicial College, based on the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) campus. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance and accounting from UNR and a law degree from Nevada School of Law at Old College.

Ms. Bickett is a long-time member of NCJFCJ, currently serving on the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence Advisory Committee, and previously having served on the NCJFCJ Family Violence Advisory Committee, the NCJFCJ Civil Protective Orders (Burgundy Book) Committee, and as a content advisor to the 2006 Firearms Surrender Conference held in Los Angeles, California.

The NCJFCJ, headquartered on the UNR campus since 1969, provides cutting-edge training, wide-ranging technical assistance, and research to help the nation’s courts, judges and staff in their important work. Each year, the NCJFCJ provides education or technical assistance services to an estimated 30,000 judges, court administrators, social and mental health workers, police, probation officers, and others working in the juvenile and family courts at its headquarters in Reno and throughout the country. In conjunction with UNR and the National Judicial College, the NCJFCJ participates in unique advanced degree programs for judges and other court professionals. The National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the research arm of NCJFCJ. NCJJ is the oldest juvenile justice research organization in the United States, having conducted national and sub-national studies on crime and delinquency since 1973. Since its inception, the Center has been a resource for independent and original research on topics related directly and indirectly to the field of juvenile justice.