Introducing Our New Systems Builders Committee Co-Chairs

The NAPD board recently appointed Theresa Edwards and Jonathan Sacks to serve as C0-Chairs of the Systems Builders Committee – a group committed to fortifying public defense systems through mentorship, best practices policy statements, and other supportive efforts.

Theresa and Jonathan are tasked with guiding the committee towards achieving established goals, including discussions with public defense agencies facing systemic difficulties, formulating policy papers on critical topics, and assisting on technical assistance projects as needed.

Read more about Theresa and Jonathan’s backgrounds below!

Theresa Edwards

Theresa Edwards is the Deputy Director of Policy and Administration at the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender (LOPD), where she bridges legislative policy planning, funding strategy, and data-driven analysis to advance equal access to justice. In this role, she assists in supporting the agency’s mission and operations statewide.

Before joining LOPD, Theresa served as a senior analyst with the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, where she focused on public safety policy and budgets as well as capital outlay. Her work helped inform legislative budget decisions and priorities across multiple policy areas.

Throughout her career, Theresa has worked extensively with state agencies, legislators, executive staff, and local entities, fostering collaboration and accountability in public policy and finance. She has provided numerous committee testimonies, authored comprehensive fiscal impact reports, and led the development of budget analyses and policy briefs that have shaped state decision-making.

Theresa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of New Mexico, and she is a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM).

Jonathan Sacks

Jonathan Sacks is of counsel to Salvatore Prescott Porter and Porter where he represents individuals in trial and appellate public defender appointments, and retained criminal and employment law matters.

Prior to joining Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter, Jonathan served as Director of Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office (“SADO”). Under his leadership, SADO initiated projects involving early release of people serving jail sentences during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, comprehensive review of the failed Detroit Crime Lab, pre-screening of appellate clients for claims of actual innocence, and the provision of social worker sentencing assistance. With Jonathan’s advocacy, SADO doubled in size to include a permanent Juvenile Lifer Unit; litigation, mitigation, and finance support for the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System; the establishment of youth appellate defense; and permanent state-funded Project Reentry and Wrongful Conviction Units.  Jonathan was previously the Deputy Director at SADO, and an experienced appellate defender.

Jonathan has been recognized for his leadership and advocacy, including the appointment to the Michigan Task Force on Forensic Science, and the receipt of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan’s Justice for All award.

Before he took the helm at SADO, Jonathan served as the first Executive Director of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, where his work culminated in Michigan’s first minimum standards for indigent defense at trial, and first significant financial contribution to trial level public defense.

Jonathan has also litigated as an assistant defender, major trials attorney, and felony trial supervisor at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. Jonathan was born in South Africa and worked for the South African Council of Churches on voter education and election monitoring programs for the first democratic elections in 1994.

Jonathan received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.