Linda S. Spears, MSW, was appointed President and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) in October 2023. CWLA is a powerful coalition of hundreds of private and public agencies that, since 1920, has championed better lives for millions of children and families who are vulnerable. Linda is currently leading a comprehensive strategic planning initiative that will chart a new course for CWLA focused on improving child welfare practice and policies, and addressing inequities that compromise the well-being of children, families, and communities.

Linda began her career in child welfare as a social caseworker for the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families. She is a veteran social worker and policy expert who returned to CWLA after serving as the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families Commissioner for over eight years. There, she led some 4,200 social workers and staff who served approximately 45,000 children with a budget of $1.2 billion. Shortly into her tenure, the administration entered an unprecedented partnership with social workers to initiate a system-wide transformation based on a 2014 quality improvement review conducted by Linda’s CWLA team. This reform supported comprehensive policy reforms and included the addition of 600+ new social workers and managers; a restructured foster parent and kinship family recruitment, licensing, and support operation; the Department’s first medical director, and medical social workers for all DCF offices; and expansions of clinical specialty services in domestic violence, substance use, and mental health. The work also included new policies on services to children and families who are LGBTQIA+ and those dealing with disabilities.

Linda also led the development of new user-friendly technology tools that included new mobile interfaces for social workers and foster parents, use of natural language processing tools to mine case records, and streamlined business processes that also supported the agency transformation.

Linda Spears attended the University of Rhode Island and holds a BA in psychology. She received her MSW from the University of Southern California and is pursuing a PhD in social work at Simmons University.

Dr. Brian S. Gannon has been a board-certified general pediatrician since 1998, practicing in Tennessee and Kentucky before relocating to Tuscaloosa. He relocated to Alabama with his family in 2013 to join the Pediatrics faculty at University Medical Center (UMC) and the College of Community Health Sciences of the University of Alabama. He is also the Ambulatory Patient Safety Officer for University Medical Center.

As an adoptive parent of several special-needs children, he has both professional and personal experience dealing with special education, early intervention, and mental health resources. He and his wife were certified as a foster home for medically complex children when living in Kentucky from 2008-2013. During that time, Dr. Gannon was a frequent contributor to continuing certification courses for foster parents in Kentucky. He currently serves as the Alabama Chapter AAP Liaison to the Council on Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Care.

On July 1, 2016, he founded the FRESH Start Clinic, serving children in state custody across West Alabama. This clinic is a patient-centered clinic within the Pediatrics Department at UMC, with on-site support from social work and consultation from child psychiatry and psychology available as needed through the Betty Shirley Clinic. He has received extra training in managing the emotional trauma related to child maltreatment and prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol. These experiences have given him insight into issues around health literacy and disparities, as well as the profound impact social determinants of health can have on families of infants and young children.

Dr. Gannon has a long track record of advocating for underserved populations, conducting clinical research into quality of care, particularly for children in foster care, those who have been adopted, children with special health care needs, and recent immigrants. At CCHS, he teaches medical students and family medicine residents about trauma-responsive care and its intersection with implicit bias in medical settings.

Dr. Lindamarie Olson’s research focuses on intervening with at-risk youth to reduce their initial contact with the justice system and to limit their ongoing involvement in the system. Dr. Olson has conducted research examining the effectiveness of neurofeedback in treating trauma symptomatology among justice-involved adolescents in residential care. She was a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Graduate Research Fellow and recipient of the Phi Kappa Phi Dissertation Fellowship. Dr. Olson has presented her research at national and international conferences and has helped write multiple state, federal, and international grants regarding mental health, child welfare, and juvenile diversion programs. Her intervention research will explore and examine the effects of trauma and neuroscience on cognitive, mental health, and behavioral change within this population. Research objectives include 1) building and expanding the state of knowledge in this field to address the interconnection of neuroscience, adolescent development, trauma, and juvenile offending, and 2) bridging the gap between research and practice to facilitate a more effective and responsive justice system for youth. Dr. Olson’s research is informed by her clinical experience working with at-risk children and adolescents in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

The Honorable Vernetta R. Perkins Walker is the District Judge in Dallas County, Alabama. She is the first female judge on the county bench in Dallas County history. Before becoming a judge, Mrs. Perkins Walker was a licensed attorney, practicing in Alabama for over 22 years, specializing in criminal law, education law, non-profit management, and project management.

Judge Perkins Walker formerly served as General Counsel for Montgomery Public Schools in Montgomery, Alabama. As General Counsel, she was responsible for all legal affairs of the board of education and the school district, while also serving as advisor to the superintendent and senior staff on strategic planning, public policy, community engagement, general compliance issues, and fiscal issues affecting the district.

Before coming on staff as the attorney for MPS, Judge Perkins Walker served as a full-time prosecutor for the Office of Ellen Brooks, District Attorney (15th Judicial Circuit), part-time homicide prosecutor for the Office of Michael Jackson, District Attorney (4th Judicial Circuit), and was a solo practitioner. In her solo practice, she handled juvenile court, family law, and general civil cases. She was also formerly an associate attorney with the Montgomery law firm, Davis & Hatcher, LLC.

Judge Perkins Walker is very active in her community and has served as a consultant on project management and strategic planning projects for various nonprofit organizations and community initiatives. She is also the founder of the Selma-Dallas County Education Foundation, a nonprofit created to organize alumni in raising funds for the local public schools.

Judge Perkins Walker is a product of Selma City Schools, graduating from Selma High School in May of 1993. She is also a graduate of Spelman College and the University of Alabama School of Law.