OUR TEAM
Stephanie Agnew, Co-Executive Director
Stephanie Agnew (she/her) is Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts’ Co-Executive Director. Stephanie is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW), having completed her Bachelor’s in Social Work (BSW) at Loyola University Chicago and her Master’s (AM) from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Stephanie was previously the organization’s Director of Communications and she continues to oversee all internal and external communications, development, and operations, and works with the program staff to successfully implement our advocacy strategies. Before joining Chicago Appleseed, Stephanie worked as a Legal Advocate in the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse and as a Civil Rights Fellow at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, focusing on issues of biased policing in Delaware and prosecutorial discretion in Mississippi. Follow Stephanie on our blog.
Contact Stephanie: stephanie@chicagoappleseed.org
Naomi Johnson, Co-Executive Director
Naomi Johnson (she/they) is Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts’ Co-Executive Director. Naomi graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Anthropology and received their Master’s (AM) from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Before joining Chicago Appleseed, they worked as the principal researcher and project manager for a community-based participatory research project. Naomi is passionate about issues of racial and economic justice and believes that research is a critical step towards creating more equitable systems. Previously, Naomi was the organizations’ Director of Research & Program Management and continues to oversee all research and policy projects – centering community voices alongside evidence-driven approaches. Follow Naomi on our blog.
Contact Naomi: njohnson@chicagoappleseed.org
Elizabeth Monkus, Senior Attorney & Project Director
Elizabeth Monkus (she/her) is the Senior Attorney & Project Director for Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. Elizabeth is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining Chicago Appleseed, she was an appellate attorney, served as an adviser at the Writing Center of the John Marshall Law School, and was an instructor in Constitutional Law at Governors State University. Elizabeth came to Chicago Appleseed in 2010 to manage the Judicial Performance Commission Demonstration project. She currently focuses on domestic relations and judicial elections in her program work. Elizabeth’s family has been in Chicago since the Fire and she is thrilled to be working to improve the quality of justice in Chicago. Follow Elizabeth on our blog.
Contact Elizabeth: emonkus@chicagoappleseed.org
Jason Olexa, Operations Manager
Jason Olexa (he/him) is the Operations Coordinator for Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. He grew up within the walls of John K King Books in Detroit and studied Economics and Philosophy at Western Michigan University. Over a decade later, with a detour into automotive finance, his conviction that everyone deserves a fair day in court led him to Chicago Appleseed. Jason believes all books are beautiful and always stop to pet cats.
Contact Jason: jolexa@chicagoappleseed.org
Malcolm Rich, Student Engagement Coordinator
Malcolm Rich (he/him) is Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts’ Student Engagement Coordinator. Until early 2024, Malcolm was the Executive Director of the Chicago Council of Lawyers (since 1987) and of Chicago Appleseed (since its creation in 1997). He is a 1979 graduate of the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, where he was the recipient of a Northwestern University Center for Urban Affairs Research Fellowship. Malcolm practiced with the law firm Whitted & Kraning, where he specialized in special education and mental health law. He chairs the Executive Directors’ Council of the Appleseed Network. He previously served as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Educational Research. Follow Malcolm on our blog.
Contact Malcolm: malcolmrich@chicagoappleseed.org
Austin Segal, Research Manager & Jill Dupont Memorial Fellow
Austin Segal (they/he) is Chicago Appleseed’s Research Manager and our Jill Dupont Memorial Fellow. They earned a B.A. from Northwestern University, where they studied sociology, mathematical methods in the social sciences, and legal studies. They have been involved in organizations that promote constructive dialogue and community organizing, and they wrote an interdisciplinary thesis with original research on the implementation of queer-inclusive educational policies. They are deeply invested in supporting those harmed by the criminal legal system by supporting advocacy with community-based mixed-methods research.
Contact Austin: asegal@chicagoappleseed.org
Maya Simkin, Appleseed Network Fellow
Maya Simkin (they/them) is a recent graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law. They have a background in farming and permaculture, and love studying Jewish liturgy and other radical texts. Maya is committed to abolition and is interested in learning how efforts in public interest law can contribute to liberation. There are lots of damsons to pick, pit, and preserve into compote this week and Maya continues to be impressed by the small fruit’s magic blues and purples, and even greens. Follow Maya on our blog.