Vera Institute of Justice Names Two New Trustees to Its Board
New York, NY– The Vera Institute of Justice announced today the appointment of Khalil Gibran Muhammad and E. Danya Perry to its board of trustees, both of whom bring a wealth of valuable experience, knowledge, and leadership that will advance Vera’s mission to build and improve justice systems that ensure fairness, promote safety, and strengthen communities.
Laurie O. Robinson, the Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law, and Society at George Mason University, is becoming an honorary trustee after 13 years of active service.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome our new trustees, who will help shape and guide our work at a time that requires doubling down on our commitment to advancing justice,” said Vera President Nicholas Turner. “Khalil and Danya are deeply committed to equality and justice. Respectively, they bring a wealth of knowledge in the historic roots of our justice system’s challenges and in its fair administration. I am certain they will make Vera even stronger.”
“These new trustees will bring a welcome perspective to our board as we urgently work to sustain and grow the momentum for justice reform,” said Board Chair John F. Savarese. “I look forward to collaborating with them to enhance Vera’s ability to drive change within the criminal justice system.” With regard to retiring member Laurie O. Robinson, Savarese added, “On behalf of the rest of the board and the Vera staff, I thank Laurie for her many years of active service during which she made unparalleled contributions to Vera’s work, including serving as board chair. From her tenures at the Department of Justice to co-chairing the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Laurie has long been a fierce advocate for policy that is informed by evidence, and we look forward to continuing to work with her in the pursuit of justice.”
Khalil Gibran Muhammad is professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. He is the former director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library and the world’s leading library and archive of global black history. Before leading the Schomburg Center, Khalil was an associate professor at Indiana University. A native of Chicago’s South Side, Khalil graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in economics in 1993, and earned his PhD in US history from Rutgers University. After earning his PhD, he was the Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow at Vera. His scholarship and teaching examines the broad intersections of race, democracy, inequality, and criminal justice in modern US history. Khalil is the author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, which won the 2011 John Hope Franklin Best Book award in American Studies. He has served on the New York City Council's Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, the United States National Research Council's Committee on the Causes and Consequences of High Rates of Incarceration, and serves on the boards of The Barnes Foundation, The Nation magazine, and The Museum of Modern Art.
Danya Perry is deputy general counsel and chief of litigation at MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated. Previously, Ms. Perry served as deputy attorney general for the state of New York and chief of investigations for the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption. Ms. Perry was an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2002 to 2013, where she was appointed as senior trial counsel and deputy chief of the criminal division. Ms. Perry was also an adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law, where she taught a prosecution and trial advocacy clinic. Early in her career, Ms. Perry worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and clerked for a federal district judge in the Southern District of New York. Ms. Perry is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School. Ms. Perry is currently serving on the committee for Vera’s 11th annual gala, to be held April 20.
Full biographies for each member of Vera’s Board of Trustees can be found on Vera’s website.