Jeremy Travis, the departing president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, will join the Laura and John Arnold Foundation as senior vice president of criminal justice, the foundation announced. Travis will lead the foundation’s criminal justice group, which will include Amy Solomon, former director of policy for the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice, who will be vice president of criminal justice policy and Kristin Bechtel, a veteran researcher. The foundation will continue its Public Safety Assessment, directed by vice president Matt Alsdorf, and the Data-Driven Justice project, directed by vice president Lynn Overmann.
“We are thrilled that Jeremy will lead LJAF’s criminal justice initiative,” said foundation co-chair Laura Arnold. “We have collaborated with Jeremy for years, and have long respected his vision and impact.” Travis formerly headed DOJ’s National Institute of Justice, and served as a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and deputy commissioner for legal matters for the New York City Police Department. He has been president at John Jay since 2004. Travis said that the foundation “has established a strong reputation in the criminal justice field. By investing in research, the rigorous testing of new ideas, and the creation of powerful data analytics, [the foundation]has promoted needed reforms in the nation’s response to crime.” Among other duties, Solomon was director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, where she oversaw the efforts of more than 20 federal agencies to improve prisoner reentry policy. She previously worked at NIJ and the Urban Institute. Bechtel was most recently at the Crime & Justice Institute at Community Resources for Justice in Boston.