Trenton - New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells will be the featured speaker at the Office of the Public Defender’s annual Black History Month celebration on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007, at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex at 11:45 a.m., Public Defender Yvonne Smith Segars announced.
In observance of Black History Month, Secretary Wells will provide a historical overview of three significant milestone events, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Newark riots; the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s Anti-Vietnam War Speech at New York City’s famed Riverside Church; and the 50th anniversary of the political independence of Ghana. Secretary Wells will explore how these momentous events shaped and changed the political landscape of the United States and Ghana, the first African country to gain independence from British Colonial rule.
| WHO: |
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Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells
Public Defender Yvonne Smith Segars |
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| WHERE: |
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Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, 25 Market St., Trenton, in the 4th floor conference room. |
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| WHEN: |
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Wednesday, February 28th 2007
11:45 a.m. |
Nina Mitchell Wells was sworn in as New Jersey's 32nd Secretary of State on January 17th, 2006. Since taking office, Secretary Wells has focused on promoting arts education, bolstering cultural participation and raising awareness about the Department of State’s wealth of diverse programs and services. She is aggressively working to expand outreach efforts to the public, improve customer service to the department’s constituents, empower the state’s youth, and develop programs to celebrate New Jersey’s rich diversity and history. Secretary Wells has pledged to utilize her extensive background and expertise as a lawyer, public servant, educator and philanthropist to build broad based coalitions, public-private partnerships and creative programs, necessary to advance New Jersey’s vast cultural resources and strengthen its economic development.
Prior to Secretary Wells’ appointment, she was President of the Schering-Plough Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Schering Plough Corporation and the Vice-President of Public Affairs at Schering-Plough Corporation. Her career began as a lawyer and public servant, serving as Assistant Corporation Counsel in the City of Newark’s Law Department specializing in chancery law and serving as the legal advisor to the Newark Central Planning Board and the Newark Real Estate Commission. Secretary Wells’ was tapped by Governor Jim Florio, to head the Division of Rate Counsel for the Department of the Public Advocate. She also has practiced corporate law for many years with several major corporations including New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, Bell Communications Research, Inc. and The CIT Group.
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New Jersey’s Public Defender since 2002, Yvonne Smith Segars oversees an agency of 1,300 employees, including over 500 staff attorneys and the services of over 500 outside counsel. A defense attorney for 20 years, Ms. Segars previously served as the Chief Managing Attorney in Essex, the largest OPD region in NJ, where she tried cases from simple assault to multiple homicides.
A drug court leader, PD Segars has lectured nationally on drug courts and related policies. She created the first Statewide Drug Court Unit in the agency and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, and is a core faculty member for the Justice Management Institute and the National Drug Court Institute. A peer reviewer and consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, she participates in and advocates for Drug Courts nationally.
Ms. Segars is a member of the Chief Defender Policy Group for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA), Vice-Chair of the NJ State Sentencing Commission, which is charged with the review and reform of NJ’s sentencing scheme and underlying policies; a member of the New Jersey State Criminal Disposition Commission and the NJ Domestic Violence Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board. She also served on the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of New Jersey’s Mental Health Task Force.
Yvonne Segars has been a member of the Governor's Cabinet for Children since its creation in 2003 and sits on the Board of Advisors for the Office of the Child Advocate, the Division of Youth and Family Services Staffing and Outcome Review Panel, and is Chairwoman of that group's Subcommittee on Juveniles in Detention.
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