Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

Maria Odom, Executive Director

Maria Odom is an experienced and dedicated immigration attorney, having for many years represented a myriad of immigrants, from asylum seekers, detained individuals, religious workers, juveniles, victims of domestic violence, and corporations seeking to bring and keep talented and essential workers in the U.S.  She has worked tirelessly to keep immigrants and their families together as well as to reunify those who have suffered the consequences of deportation and stricter immigration laws.

Ms. Odom’s legal career began in the late 1990’s at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she initially served as an Honors Program Judicial Law Clerk and later as an Assistant District Counsel for the legacy U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.  After her government service, Ms. Odom established and developed a successful private practice with a focus on removal defense and immigration litigation.  She had the privilege of partnering with some of the most outstanding immigration practitioners in the Southeast, including serving as Partner at Antonini, Odom & Sullivan, LLC, a boutique law firm specializing in complex removal defense, and at Kuck Casablanca & Odom, LLC, a multi-state firm serving immigrants in Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte.  Most recently, Ms. Odom served as the Principal Attorney of the Odom Immigration Law Group in Atlanta, Georgia.

Throughout her tenure in private practice, Ms. Odom represented clients in proceedings before various U.S. Immigration Courts across the nation, before the Board of Immigration Appeals, as well as various Federal District and Appellate Courts. She also represented foreign nationals and their families before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Department of State. 

Ms. Odom holds a Juris Doctorate from Mercer University and a BS in Criminology from The Florida State University.  She has been a long-standing member and mentor of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and a Faculty Member for continued legal education seminars in Georgia and nationwide. She was named Georgia’s 2008 Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year by the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and served as a board member of the Georgia Council for International Visitors.  As CLINIC’s Executive Director, Ms. Odom is a board member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Migration.  She also serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Catholic Schools Consortium.  Ms. Odom is a native of Puerto Rico and lives in Washington DC with her husband, Doug, and her two children, Thomas and Emilia.

Maura Collins, Board Liaison and Communications Coordinator

Ms. Collins has an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago and a B.A., magna cum laude, in Anthropology from Brandeis University, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. As Communications Coordinator for the agency, she leads the agency’s planning and communications, assists the Executive Director in research and writing, and serves as liaison to Catholic Charities CLINIC member agencies and CLINIC’s board of directors. Prior to coming to CLINIC, she worked as an English as a Second Language instructor. She is fluent in Spanish.

Regina Brantley, IT and Operations Officer

Emilynda Clomera, Controller

Jessie Dagdag, Accountant

Abeba Fesuh, Staff Assistant

Juakeita Norman, Human Resources Manager

Pat Maloof, Ph.D., Grants Development Officer

Dr. Maloof is an anthropologist who has worked with refugees and immigrants in the U.S. for more than twenty years. She was formerly the Director of the Office of Refugee Programs with USCCB/Migration Refugee Services, Project Director for Refugee Health with the Washington Kurdish Institute, and the Program Coordinator for the Trafficked Children Initiative with Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service. Dr. Maloof advocates, publishes, and conducts research on barriers to health care access and the provision of services to refugees and immigrants. Two of her publications can be read on-line: Muslim Refugees in the United States and Mind/Body/Spirit: Toward a Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model of Health. Dr. Maloof is also trained as a trainer for medical interpreters and is a part-time faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the Catholic University of America. She serves as a volunteer on the Program Services Committee of the March of Dimes, Maryland-National Capital Area Chapter. She has a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the Catholic University of America and a B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology from George Washington University.

Manuela Parsons, Resource Development Officer

Manuela Parsons is a graduate of the Johannes-Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. Ms. Parsons also attended the University of South Florida for training as an internal auditor. Ms. Parsons joined CLINIC in April of 2007and is responsible for coordination of grants and appeals in the Office of Organizational Development and Support. Prior to joining CLINIC she was active in the non-profit world since 2001 holding a community relations position with the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore. James Porter, Project Assistant Mr. Porter has an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations with a Specialization in Global Health and Human Rights from the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University. He also holds a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola University, Maryland. Prior to joining CLINIC, Mr. Porter was the program and communications associate for FilmAid International in New York. In addition, he worked with Lutheran Social Services at the Baltimore Resettlement Center as an employment specialist. He joined CLINIC in June 2009.

James Porter, Communications Officer

Mr. Porter has an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations with a Specialization in Global Health and Human Rights from the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University. He also holds a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola University, Maryland. Prior to joining CLINIC, Mr. Porter was the program and communications associate for FilmAid International in New York. In addition, he worked with Lutheran Social Services at the Baltimore Resettlement Center as an employment specialist. He joined CLINIC in June 2009.

Melissa Williams, Public Affairs Officer

Ms. Williams has a M.A. in Public Administration and a Certificate in Women’s Studies from Howard University. She is a graduate of Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees, magma cum laude, in political science and journalism. She has been a practicing journalist for the past six years, most recently as a general beat reporter for the Richmond Free Press, the majority weekly in Richmond, Virginia. Ms. Williams joined CLINIC in September of 2007 as its Media Relations Coordinator. In this capacity, she is responsible for organizing and implementing CLINIC’s media relations and press work, overseeing internal and external publications, and responding to inquiries from the media as well as CLINIC’s affiliate agencies.

Jeff Chenoweth, Director

Mr. Chenoweth holds a Master’s Degree in social work with an emphasis on administration and family/child welfare. At CLINIC, Mr. Chenoweth is focused on the expansion of services to low-income and at-risk immigrants through the management of high-impact, national programs that its member agencies cannot undertake on their own. Mr. Chenoweth oversees staff and projects that provide direct or programmatic supportive services to refugees, asylees, survivors of torture and violence, persons in detention, and citizenship applicants. Previously, he has managed refugee resettlement projects in the United States and in Saudi Arabia for Immigration and Refugee Services of America. He also served as a refugee resettlement case worker/manager for Jewish Family Services and Lutheran Social Services.

Helen Chen, Field Support Coordinator

Ms. Chen is a graduate of City University of New York School of Law. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Boston University. She serves as VAWA attorney in the Center for Citizenship and Immigrant Communities and works on issues related to immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes. She provides training and technical assistance to CLINIC affiliates/members, domestic violence organizations and other social and legal services agencies on these issues. She also provides training and consultation to organizations on program management and capacity building. Previously, Ms. Chen was an immigration attorney with Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence and Catholic Charities of Boston. She spearheaded the VAWA project at both agencies and provided direct services to immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes.

Jack Holmgren, Field Support Coordinator

Mr. Holmgren is a graduate of the Monterey College of Law and has practiced immigration law exclusively since 1987. He has run a direct service program, supervised CLINIC’s national training and technical support staff and worked to help start and expand Catholic immigration legal services programs. He teaches, writes and consults on program management, Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recognition and accreditation and other aspects of immigration law and practice. In addition to his work with CLINIC affiliates, Mr. Holmgren has assisted other faith-based and ethnic groups, such as the Muslims, Arabs and South Asian organizations to launch and grow local immigration law programs. Mr. Holmgren also assists programs in the Domestic Violence Survivor network. He works out of the CLINIC San Francisco, California office and is a member of the California State Bar.

Leya Speasmaker, Field Support Coordinator

Ms. Speasmaker works as an Immigration Specialist for CLINIC. In this position, she helps grow the capacity of the national network of charitable immigration service providers. She also manages national programs aimed at increasing levels of naturalization around the country. Ms. Speasmaker is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she earned a B.A. in English and a Master of Teaching degree. She is also a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Master of Public Affairs and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies. While at UT-Austin, she designed and co-taught a class on Immigration Policy, worked with various leading experts in Immigration Policy, helped create a national database for language access policies, and published original work on employer sanctions. Prior to working at CLINIC, she taught English as a Second language in Virginia, Ecuador, and Texas. She is fluent in Spanish.

Jennie Guilfoyle, Director

Ms. Guilfoyle oversees CLINIC's special projects to vulnerable populations. Prior to this role, Ms. Guilfoyle served as a staff attorney in CLINIC’s New York office. In that capacity, she provided training and technical support on immigration law and program management to members of CLINIC’s network. Prior to joining CLINIC, Ms. Guilfoyle provided training and technical support to Church World Service’s nationwide network of refugee resettlement and immigration legal service providers for four years. Before that, she worked as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the New York Association for New Americans, where she represented asylum and VAWA applicants. She has a JD from New York University School of Law and an AB from Harvard College.

Julia Alanen, Project Coordinator, Violence Against Women Project

Julia Alanen joined the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) as Project Coordinator (VAWA) in March 2009. She previously practiced family law and immigration law as a Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), representing immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, parental kidnapping and human trafficking. She subsequently relocated to the Washington D.C. area to practice private international law at The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) where she served as Policy Counsel, and as Director of NCMEC’s International Division. Alanen has lectured at the FBI Academy, U.S. Foreign Service Institute, Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Dallas Crimes Against Children conference, American Bar Association, Federación de Abogados Interamericanos (Inter-American Bar Association), and at judicial colleges across the U.S. and abroad. And, she has testified as an expert before courts and U.S. and foreign legislative committees. Alanen is an active member of both the California Bar and the Washington D.C. Bar. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law, and a Legum Magistra (LL.M.) degree with a dual specialization in International Human Rights and Gender and the Law from the Washington College of Law.

Tanisha Bowens, Senior Project Coordinator, National Pro Bono Project for Children

Ms. Bowens is a graduate of Florida State University College of Law and earned a B.A. in Spanish from the University of North Florida. Ms. Bowens coordinates CLINIC's pro bono project that matches unaccompanied minors with free legal representation. She joined CLINIC in 2007 and has worked as a Legalization Attorney in CLINIC’s Division of Legalization where she helped to prepare the Catholic Church, faith based groups, and pro-immigrant organizations to implement legalization programs for the undocumented. Previously, Ms. Bowens was a practicing immigration attorney for over five years and worked with the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (Lucha Project) and Catholic Charities Legal Services in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Ms. Bowens is a member of the Florida Bar.

Laura Burdick, Project Coordinator

Ms. Burdick holds a Master’s Degree in social work administration, policy, and planning from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.A. from Smith College. She manages CLINIC’s citizenship assistance projects and its asylee information and referral line. She also attends meetings with officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on behalf of CLINIC member agencies to advocate on issues such as citizenship for people with disabilities and the redesign of the citizenship test. Since coming to CLINIC in 1997, she has managed various projects, including a national immigrant organizing project in 15 cities; a national, federally-funded project for outreach and naturalization assistance to refugees in ten cities; two statewide projects for naturalization assistance and asylee outreach in Florida; and a national project for technical assistance training and information to over 130 agencies serving elderly refugees in 27 states. Prior to CLINIC, she worked for refugee resettlement agencies in Texas and Virginia.

Lauren Graham Sullivan, Project Attorney, National Pro Bono Project for Children

Ms. Sullivan joined CLINIC as project attorney for the National Pro Bono Project for Children in January 2010. She conducts the legal screening of unaccompanied minors for placement with a pro bono attorney. Born in Washington, DC, Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Foreign Languages at James Madison University. In 2003, Lauren served as an immigration consultant through the Jesuit Volunteer Corp at the Catholic Charities in San Antonio, Texas. She is a graduate of Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island where she was a Feinstein Public Interest Fellow. Lauren’s most recent experience has been at South Coastal Counties Legal Services where she started their immigration legal services program for Cape Cod and the Islands. Lauren managed U Visa, VAWA and family reunification cases both affirmatively and defensively. She served as a board member and legal advisor for the Cape Cod Immigrant Center. Lauren is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.

Rommel Calderwood, Legal Assistant

Mr. Calderwood is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a concentration in political science, constitutional law, and international relations, and was a public policy fellow at Princeton University where he researched policy reforms concerning juveniles in detention centers. Prior to joining CLINIC in 2010, Mr. Calderwood worked and interned for the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement in Washington, Amnesty International in Bangkok, Thailand and the International Children’s Center and the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Adult Detention Project of Heartland Alliance in Chicago. He also taught English to newly arrived immigrants in Dupont Circle and to high school students in Vietnam. Mr. Calderwood joins CLINIC as the legal assistant for the National Pro Bono Project for Children.

Allison Posner, Director

Ms Posner is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and American University Washington College of Law. Prior to joining CLINIC in 2004, Ms. Posner worked as an associate with the general practice firm of Geary & Associates in Massachusetts and in the immigration practice Law Office of Paul Zoltan in Dallas, TX. She also gained valuable experience as an intern with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and as a research assistant for the War Crimes Research Office of the Washington College of Law. Ms. Posner is a member of the New York State Bar and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Ann Atalla, Advocacy Attorney (BIA Pro Bono)

Ms. Atalla joined CLINIC in 2008 as the BIA Pro Bono Project Coordinator. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has a Masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies from New York University. Prior to law school, Ms. Atalla worked in financial, book, and magazine publishing in Cairo, Egypt, Boston, and Washington, DC. She graduated from American University Washington College of Law in 2006. After law school, she was selected into the Department of Justice Attorney General's Honor's program and worked as the Arlington Immigration Court's Judicial Law Clerk and Attorney Advisor from 2006 to 2008.

Karen Herrling, Advocacy Attorney (State & Local Enforcement)

Charles Wheeler, Director

Mr. Wheeler is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, and has practiced and taught immigration law for two decades. Mr. Wheeler oversees CLINIC’s National Legal Center for Immigrants. He manages support and advocacy work on immigration law and related issues affecting immigrants. Mr. Wheeler directed the National Immigration Law Center for more than ten years. He has served on boards of the National Immigration Forum, American Immigration Lawyers Association, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and other leading organizations. He is a member of the State Bars of California, Colorado and Maryland.

Sarah Bronstein, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Bronstein is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and is CLINIC’s leading expert on immigration legal issues specific to children. Ms. Bronstein provides trainings to staff and pro bono lawyers on a range of immigration issues. She handles the majority of calls related to minors that come in to CLINIC’s Attorney of the Day hotline, and provides ongoing training and technical assistance to affiliates on issues related to children in detention. Ms. Bronstein served as a detention fellow in CLINIC's Los Angeles office from 2000-2002, and ran CLINIC's San Francisco detained children's representation project from 2002-2004. She is a member of the California State Bar.

Peggy Gleason, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Gleason is a graduate of Antioch School of Law. A specialist in family reunification and methods of obtaining legal status, Ms. Gleason is familiar with the Washington region’s immigrant communities and the legal and social service organizations that serve them. In addition to training staff of community-based immigration legal programs in the mid-Atlantic for CLINIC, she also practices immigration law in the District of Columbia for Catholic Charities.

Kristina Karpinski, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Karpinski is a graduate of Washington School of Law of The American University. She currently provides direct immigration legal services to low-income clients in the Boston area and trainings in immigration law to CLINIC’s member agencies including Catholic Charities of Boston and other community-based organizations. Since 1999, Ms. Karpinski has expanded her role as a local and national trainer. In 2004, she gave 15 trainings in 9 sites on topics such as citizenship and naturalization and immigration program management. Previously, she worked as an associate with Wildes and Weinberg and as a staff attorney with the Catholic Migration Office of Brooklyn, New York. She is a member of the New York State and Connecticut State Bars.

Christina Ozaki, Staff Assistant

Susan Schreiber, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Schreiber is a senior attorney in CLINIC’s Chicago office. She provides technical assistance and training to member agencies in the Midwest region. Ms. Schreiber graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School in 1980 and worked for the Legal Assistance Foundation (LAF) of Metropolitan Chicago for eight years. Since 1982, Ms. Schreiber’s practice has focused on immigration law. After working at LAF, Ms. Schreiber was the managing attorney at Midwest Immigrant Rights Center from 1988 to 1998 and then worked at DePaul Law School Legal Clinic as a supervisor of law students representing asylum applicants and providing technical assistance to community-based organizations. Ms. Schreiber has worked for CLINIC since 2001. She is a member of the Illinois State Bar.

Natalie Sullivan, Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) Director

Natalie Sullivan is the Director of the Immigration Advocates Network. Prior to working with IAN, Natalie spent 12 years in both the non-profit and private sectors as an immigration attorney representing immigrants in family matters, naturalization, asylum, VAWA, deportation/removal defense and BIA appeals. She previously worked for Catholic Social Services, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia and Church World Service in New York City. She also spent several years in a successful private practice. Natalie is a graduate of the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1998. She is currently admitted to practice in Georgia and New York. Natalie speaks French and Dutch and lives in New York City with her husband.

Dinah Suncin, Administrative Officer