• Brendan F. Kelly, Chairperson

Brendan F. Kelly was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker and confirmed unanimously by the Illinois Senate to serve as the eighth Director of the Illinois State Police in 2019. As Director, Kelly leads a public safety agency of nearly 3,000 employees and seven unique divisions including the Divisions of Criminal Investigation, Patrol, Forensic Services, Justice Services, Academy and Training, Statewide 911, and Internal Investigation.

Director Kelly oversees the operations and policy of statewide criminal investigations of violent crime, drug and gun trafficking, public corruption, and child exploitation; special operations including SWAT, air operations, federal task force officers and Illinois’ homeland security fusion center, STIC (Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center); criminal interdiction and traffic patrol functions; statewide crime scene investigations and forensic laboratories providing forensic services to all law enforcement agencies including Chicago PD for all forensic disciplines; 22 drug enforcement task forces; Illinois’ central repository for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and CJIS; training of state police cadets and local law enforcement recruits; implementation of Next Generation 911; and internal investigations of criminal misconduct by all Illinois executive branch employees. Director Kelly also serves on the Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, the board of Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), the Illinois Drug Enforcement Officers Association, the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, and the Joint Analysis Center.

As Director, Kelly has focused on rebuilding the Illinois State Police and has sworn in more than 500 new troopers. Director Kelly has initiated changes to the firearms background process and enforcement of firearms safety after the Henry Pratt shooting in Aurora and the Independence Day shooting in Highland Park, expanded the ISP’s officer wellness and support services with a federal grant from the Department of Justice, established a special investigative unit (SIU) focused on public corruption, and begun the massive effort to improve turn-around-time of forensic testing resulting in a 60% reduction in total backlog so far. Under Director Kelly, use-of-force policies, training, technology, and resources have been brought into the 21st century. With the strong bi-partisan support of the Governor and the General Assembly, $120 Million is being invested in state police infrastructure over the next five years. Along with investing in digital forensics and improvements to recruitment and diversity, Kelly is an instructor at the Illinois State Police Academy and Special Agent School, as well as a proud graduate of the ISP DCI Special Agent School.

Working with federal, state and local law enforcement and homeland security partners, Director Kelly has led the statewide law enforcement response to COVID-19, 2020 civil unrest, and 2020 election-related security. Kelly is also a member of the First Responder Suicide Task Force, chair of Illinois’ Move Over Task Force and the Governor’s Forensic Sciences Commission, and oversees the state law enforcement role in cannabis regulation.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Louis University School of Law, Kelly has had a wide range of experience with law enforcement and public safety. As a young man, Kelly volunteered with a non-profit group that worked with law enforcement, combating child prostitution in Calgary, Alberta. During his military service as an officer in the United States Navy, Kelly conducted research on Israeli-Palestinian joint police patrols and was awarded two Navy Achievement Medals and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Kelly was a prosecutor and an elected State’s Attorney for eight years prosecuting every level of crime from gun crimes and drug trafficking to crimes against children and heinous murders, serving as president of the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Association as a member of the National District Attorneys Association Board of Governors. Kelly was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission, was appointed by Governor Bruce Rauner to the Illinois Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform Commission, and was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker to the Illinois Hate Crimes Commission. He and the Attorney General of Illinois co-chaired the Illinois Sexual Assault Law Enforcement Working Group. Kelly also served as a non-governmental observer for the National District Attorney’s Association at the Guantanamo military tribunal prosecutions of terrorism.

Kelly received an Illinois Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hero Award and received an award from the Southern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission and Southern Illinois Police Chief's Association for his efforts at fighting crime. Kelly comes from a family of law enforcement and military service. Kelly is a member of the Illinois State Police Command Officers Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the IACP Homeland Security Committee. Kelly was also selected to be part of FBI NEI 44. He is married to an oncology nurse and has two sons.

• Claire Dragovich, Vice-Chairperson

Claire Dragovich serves as the Laboratory Director and Quality Manager of the DuPage County Forensic Science Center (Wheaton, IL). The laboratory provides forensic services in seized drugs, latent prints, and forensic biology/DNA to over 30 law enforcement agencies within DuPage County, Illinois. She previously worked in the laboratory as a forensic drug chemist and as Supervisor of the Chemistry & Microscopy Section.

Ms. Dragovich is responsible for day-to-day operations of the laboratory such as personnel, purchasing, grant management, accreditation conformance and quality issues. Additionally, Ms. Dragovich has participated with the seized drug subcommittee of OSAC since its inception in 2014.

Ms. Dragovich holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Benedictine University (Lisle, Illinois) and completed the Certificate Program in Forensic Drug Chemistry from the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy. She holds certificant status in drug analysis from the American Board of Criminalistics (ABC), is a member of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD), ASTM, an associate member of the Clandestine Laboratory Investigating Chemists Association (CLIC) and a member of the Midwestern Association of Forensic Scientists (MAFS).

• Dr. Ponni Arunkumar

Dr. Ponni Arunkumar is the Chief Medical Examiner at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Dr. Arunkumar has 21 years of forensic pathology experience. She has conducted over 8,000 postmortem examinations and testified in court and depositions more than 200 times. She was appointed to her current post in June 2016. From 2012 to 2016, she served as the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for Cook County. Prior to that, she was an Assistant Medical Examiner in Cook County.

Dr. Arunkumar is a board certified anatomic and clinical pathologist with specialization in forensic pathology. She is on staff at RUSH university, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University. She has presented at various national conferences and published articles in the field of forensic pathology. Dr. Arunkumar is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the National Association of Medical Examiners, the American Medical Association, the College of American Pathologists and the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

• Jillian Baker

Jillian Baker began her career in forensic science in 2005 after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science from Eastern Kentucky University. She worked as a forensic scientist for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Forensic Laboratory, which has since closed, and the Indianapolis Marion County Forensic Services Agency before joining the DuPage County Forensic Science Center (Wheaton, IL) in 2007. She now serves as their Chemistry Section Supervisor and Drug Technical Leader. In addition to conducting analysis on seized drug casework to identify the presence of controlled substances, Ms. Baker is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the chemistry section to include case management, quality assurance, and adherence to laboratory policy. As Technical Leader, Ms. Baker drafts section policies, advises staff on technical questions, and trains new hires.

Ms. Baker is an active member of the Midwestern Association of Forensic Scientists (MAFS), having served as Chemistry Section Coordinator, Training & Education Committee Chair, Member-at-Large for the Board of Directors, and most recently as President for the 2022-2023 term. She is a Drug Analysis certificant with the American Board of Criminalistics (ABC), a member of the American Society of Crime laboratory Directors (ASCLD), is an associate member of the Clandestine Laboratory Investigating Chemists Association (CLIC).

• Jeffrey Buford

Jeff Buford has been with the Illinois State Police (ISP), Forensic Sciences Command for nearly 29 years. He now serves as the Bureau Chief of the Northern Region within ISP’s Forensic Sciences Command operations. He is responsible for oversight of the Forensic Science Center at Chicago, Joliet Forensic Science Laboratory and Rockford Forensic Science Laboratory. Mr. Buford began his career with the former Chicago Police Department Crime Laboratory, classically trained as a Drug Chemist. After transitioning to ISP as a Forensic Scientist, he has served in various capacities as a Quality Review Coordinator, Group Supervisor, Acting Assistant Director of Quality Assurance, Acting Section Chief, Deputy Laboratory Director, and Interim Laboratory Director of the Forensic Science Center at Chicago. He is a member of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) and has served on the Advisory Board for the Forensic Science Program at Loyola University Chicago.

• Katherine Drummond

Katherine A. Drummond was admitted to the Florida bar in 2007, Illinois Bar in 2008 and Iowa Bar in 2013. She is licensed to practice in the states of Illinois, Iowa and Florida, and the U.S. District Court of the Central District of Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Knox College and her Juris Doctor from the Dwayne O. Andrews School of Law, Barry University. Prior to joining Drummond Law, LLC, Katherine was an Assistant Orange County Assistant State's Attorney in Orlando, Florida and a partner at Winstein, Kavensky and Cunningham, LLC in Rock Island, IL. She is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Katherine was the President of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for the 2024-2025 term and is currently serving as the immediate past president for the 2025-2026 term.

Katherine is also the first-assistant public defender for Macoupin County.

• John Hanlon

BIO FORTHCOMING

• Judge Arthur F. Hill, Jr. (Ret.)

Arthur F. Hill, Jr. was an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. He had been an Associate Judge since April, 2003. His assignments have included Traffic Court, Juvenile Justice and the Criminal Court. He presided over a felony trial courtroom at 26th and California –the main criminal court of the Circuit Court of Cook County. He also served as a Supervising Judge and participated in various judicial committees.

A former Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Judge Hill served the People of the State of Illinois as Chief Deputy State’s Attorney (1996-2000), and then First Assistant State’s Attorney (2000-2003), under State’s Attorney Richard Devine.

From 1988 to 1996, Judge Hill was a partner in the private practice of law at the firm of Haggerty, Koenig & Hill, Chtd. The law firm specialized in general civil and criminal law. The firm also handled cases representing teachers and teachers’ unions.

While in private practice, Judge Hill was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley to the Board of Directors of the Chicago Transit Authority, where Judge Hill served as Chairman of its Human Resources Committee and as co-Chairman of its Finance, Audit and Budget Committee. Judge Hill was also appointed Commissioner of the Northeast Illinois Planning Commission, becoming its President from 1994 to 1996.

Judge Hill first joined the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in 1978 and, for the following 10 years, had various assignments, including the Gang Prosecution Unit, Supervisor of the Juvenile Division, Supervisor of the Preliminary Hearings Unit and Wing Supervisor in the Felony Trial Division at 26th and California. Judge Hill was a founding member of the National Black Prosecutors Association, an organization dedicated to the recruitment and retention of African American Prosecutors.

Judge Hill received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975 from Western Michigan University and his Juris Doctor in 1978 from Northwestern University School of Law. A graduate of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s Teacher Training Program, Judge Hill is a former Adjunct Professor of Clinical Trial Advocacy at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and has taught trial advocacy at University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.

Judge Hill is currently a Trial Advocacy Instructor with the Illinois State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutors Office, teaching both their Basic and Advanced Trial Advocacy Courses.

Judge Hill is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Judge Hill retired from the bench in November 2021.

• Jodi Hoos

In 2019 the Peoria County Board unanimously appointed Jodi Hoos as Peoria County State’s Attorney. She was then elected to the position in 2020 and re-elected in 2024. She is the first woman to ever hold this position. Prior to becoming State’s Attorney, Jodi was a Peoria County Resident Circuit Judge for five years. During her time on the bench she handled a variety of civil cases ranging from personal injury to multimillion-dollar medical malpractice claims.

Before her 2014 Supreme Court appointment to the bench, Jodi was an Assistant State’s Attorney for nearly 15 years in the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office. Throughout her career with the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office, she worked in every criminal courtroom covering Traffic, Juvenile, Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence and Felony cases. As a Judge and Prosecutor Jodi tried more than 175 Jury Trials, including 50 Murder cases.

Jodi was born and raised in a small farm community in central Nebraska. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Nebraska Kearney in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in political science. In college she was a four-year starter at third base for the softball team. During those four seasons, the softball team won three Conference titles and reached the Division II National Championships in 1996 and 1997. She went to law school at the University of Nebraska Lincoln and received her juris doctor in 2000.

• Dr. Cris Hughes

Dr. Cris Hughes is a Clinical Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where she also serves as director of the recently developed Investigative Technology Exchange, housed on campus at the Institute for Genomic Biology. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2010 focusing on human skeletal variation and its application in forensic anthropology. She then went on to complete two postdoctoral positions, including a fellowship with the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner as a forensic anthropologist specializing in unidentified persons investigations from the U.S.-Mexico border, followed by three years as a postdoctoral researcher at UIUC with degraded and modern DNA. Since 2014, Dr. Hughes has been faculty at UIUC’s Department of Anthropology.

Dr. Hughes is a board-certified forensic anthropologist, assisting unidentified persons investigations in Illinois since 2013 through consultation with coroners’ offices and the state police. Her research program includes critically examining forensic tools, including ancestry estimations from skeletal and genetic data, and the performance of forensic anthropological methods across the U.S. Additionally, Dr. Hughes studies decedent demographic trends in forensic anthropology casework, as well as how investigative leads contribute to overall identification success in unidentified persons cases.

Beyond casework, research, and teaching at UIUC, Dr. Hughes is committed to community engagement and dissemination of best practices around novel forensic tools. She is an associate member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and has served on their Standards Board for forensic anthropology for the past six years. As director of the Investigative Technology Exchange at UIUC, Dr. Hughes partners with the Illinois State Police to develop collaborations for enhancing forensic science and investigations in Illinois.

• Jeanne Richeal

Jeanne Richeal is the DNA Technical Leader for the Illinois State Police. This includes the DNA technical oversight for the following laboratories with the Illinois State Police: Rockford Forensic Science Laboratory, Forensic Science Center at Chicago, Joliet Forensic Science Laboratory, Springfield Forensic Science Laboratory, Metro-East Forensic Science Laboratory and the Training & Applications Laboratory. Ms. Richeal received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Biological Sciences from Northern Illinois University in 1992 and 1994 respectively. Ms. Richeal began her career in forensic science in 1995 and then assumed her current role in 2004.

• Caryn Tucker

Ms. Tucker has over twenty-five years of experience in forensic science. She received her B.S. in Biology from Quincy University in 1995 and her M.S. in Forensic Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2003. She is the Training Coordinator in Firearms and Toolmarks with the Illinois State Police, where she is responsible for training new forensic scientists in her discipline. She began her career in forensic science as an evidence technician, progressed to a forensic scientist in the Firearms & Toolmarks section, and became a Group Supervisor before transitioning into her current role. She has completed numerous training programs, including firearms & tool mark identification, serial number restorations, distance determinations, subclass workshops, ethics and confirmation bias. Ms. Tucker is an active member of the forensic science community, having previously served as the chair of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) Standards and Controls Committee. Ms. Tucker is a NIBIN Authorized Trainer. Ms. Tucker is also an Instructor at Loyola University in the Forensic Science Program.

• Carrie Ward

Carrie Ward, M.A., is the Chief Executive Officer of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA). Carrie joined ICASA as Program Developer in 1996 and was promoted to Grants Director in 2004 and Executive Director/CEO in 2019. For many years, Carrie conducted programmatic site visits at ICASA centers and provided technical assistance and training for centers on a wide range of program areas, assisted new and current centers to navigate ICASA’s funding and certification processes and oversaw the allocation of funds to ICASA centers. As CEO, Carrie works with ICASA to assist with strategic planning, governance, and oversight, serves as ICASA’s primary spokesperson and conducts policy work to further ICASA’s legislative agenda. Carrie represents ICASA on numerous task forces and statewide committees including appointments to the Forensic Science Task Force (2021) and the Missing and Murdered Women in Chicago Task Force (2023). Carrie serves as Board Treasurer for the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV) representing ICASA and rape crisis organizations across the nation. Carrie is the proud mother of two amazing daughters, Jessie and Macy.