Upcoming Events

Spring Board Meeting

The NAFUSA Board of Directors will convene for its annual spring meeting on April 10-11, 2026, at the Mountain Shadows Resort located just outside of Scottsdale, Arizona. During this gathering, the Board will focus on developing the program for the 2026 Annual Conference, which is scheduled to take place in St. Louis, Missouri, in October. Additionally, the Board will address other important NAFUSA business matters.

Membership Dues Reminder

If you have not yet paid your 2026 NAFUSA membership dues, please remember to do so. For any questions regarding membership, you are encouraged to reach out to Lisa Rafferty.

Conference Sponsorship Information

The names and contribution levels of sponsors for the 2026 Annual Conference will be posted on the NAFUSA website as they are received. Please take a moment to thank both our returning and new sponsors for their generous support of the organization and its annual conference. If you or your firm have not yet become a sponsor, please consider joining in support of NAFUSA.

NAFUSA welcomed Louisiana native Brandon Fremin as a new member in February. Brandon served as U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana (MDLA) from 2018 to 2021 under President Trump. A former Marine, Brandon served as an Assistant District Attorney in the 19th Judicial District of Louisiana,

Director of the Criminal Division for the Louisiana Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the MDLA prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney. He is currently Managing Director at Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello.

Former NAFUSA president Paul Coggins is back in the spotlight with his latest book
“Chasing the Chameleon” which is set for release March 6. Paul, who served as U.S.
Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, is both a successful criminal defense attorney
and an award-winning author. His legal thrillers reflect his courtroom and criminal law
experience as well as his knack for telling a good story, a trait many NAFUSA members have
witnessed. His latest book, which has already received positive reviews, continues the
series he has written featuring the adventures of fictional Dallas defense attorney Cash
McCahill.

Paul, who is the current NAFUSA Foundation President, clearly enjoys the intersection of practicing law and writing stories about it. According to him, “Being a federal prosecutor is the best job in the world. Writing about them is the second-best job.”

NAFUSA member Michael Dunavant was sworn in -again- on October 10, 2025, as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Mike served in the first Trump administration from 2017-2021 and is the first person to serve that district twice as the Presidential appointee. He served as the Deputy Executive Director of Legal Services & Policy for the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference prior to his reappointment as U.S. Attorney.

NAFUSA members attending the 2025 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. elected a
slate of new officers and directors on Friday, October 10 in the general meeting at the
conclusion of conference programming. Former President Elect Catherine Hanaway (ED Missouri) was elected President for 2025-2026 replacing outgoing President Donna Bucella. Tim Purdon (North Dakota) became President Elect; Don Washington (WD Louisiana) became Vice President; and Rick Hartunian (ND New York) became Secretary. Members elected Jeff Taylor (District of Columbia) to the position of Treasurer. Jeff had been serving a term as a Board Member in the class of 2026.

Members also elected six new members to the Board of Directors, including Erin Nealy
Cox (ND Texas), a current member of the outgoing class of 2025 who was elected to serve an additional year on the Board filling Jeff Taylor’s vacated position. In addition to Erin, the newly elected directors are Rich Roper, Nick Trutanich, Ken Wainstein, Steve Dettelbach, Josh Levy and Jill Steinberg. The newly elected directors will serve a term of three years. In accordance with NAFUSA policy, three of the new board members previously served in a Democratic administration and three in a Republican administration.

Rich Roper served as U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Texas from 2004-2008 before leaving to join Holland and Knight where he practiced for 17 years. He is currently a partner in Dallas/Ft. Worth based Vartabedian Hester & Haynes LLP, leading the firm’s White Collar and Investigations practice.

Nick Trutanich served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada from 2019 – 2021.
After graduating from Georgetown University Law Center in 2005, he worked in private
practice and as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Manuel Real. After serving as an AUSA in the Central District of California for 6 years, Nick joined the Nevada Attorney General’s Office in 2014 until being sworn in as U.S. Attorney in January 2019. In March 2021 he joined the Fox Corporation as its Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer.

Ken Wainstein served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 2004 until 2006,
when he was confirmed as the DOJ’s first Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
In March 2008, he was appointed Homeland Security Advisor by President Bush and later
was named Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland
Security. In April 2025 he became a partner in the firm Mayer Brown as leader of its Global
Investigation & White-Collar Defense practice and member of its National Security and
Congressional Investigations practice.

Steve Dettelbach served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio (NDOH).
After graduating from Harvard Law School, he clerked for a federal judge before joining the
DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in 1992. He served as an AUSA in the Maryland and NDOH
offices between 1997 and 2006, during which time he was detailed for two years to
Chairman Patrick Leahy of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He was sworn in as U.S.
Attorney in 2009 and served until 2016 when he rejoined the firm BakerHostetler. In July
2022 he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ATF Director, the first confirmed director
since the departure of NAFUSA member Todd Jones in 2015. In April 2025 he rejoined
BakerHostetler as a partner on the White Collar, Investigations and Securities Enforcement
and Litigation Team.

Josh Levy served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from May 2023 to
January 2025. He previously served as First Assistant AUSA in that office. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he was as associate and later a partner in the law firm Ropes and Gray. After leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office he rejoined the firm in its litigation and
enforcement practice.

Jill Steinberg served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia from February
2023 until January 2025. After graduating from Duke University Law School in 1998, she
became an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia. In 2001 she joined Rogers & Hardin
LLP as an associate before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of
Georgia in 2008. She served in several positions in the DOJ, including the Office of the
Deputy Attorney General and the National Security Division until leaving in 2021 to join
Ballard Spahr as partner. She rejoined the firm in 2025 after her resignation as U.S.
Attorney.

Trini Ross, former U.S. Attorney (USA) for the Western District of New York (WDNY), is a new
NAFUSA member. She began her legal career as an appellate attorney for the New York
Supreme Court and later served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the WDNY from
1995 to 2018. Trini was sworn into office as USA in October 2021 and served until 2025, the
first African American woman to lead that office. She joined the firm Harter Secrest &
Emery LLP as partner in its Buffalo office on October 6, 2025, and leads the firm’s Government and Internal Investigations team.

NAFUSA also welcomes new member Ryan Buchanan, former USA for the Northern District
of Georgia (NDGA) 2022-2025. During his tenure as USA, Ryan served on the AGAC and was co-chair of its Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee and led the Foreign Influence and Nation-State Threats Working Group. Ryan began his legal career as clerk for U.S. District Judge Inge Prytz Johnson in Alabama. He joined McGuire Woods in Atlanta as an associate before becoming an AUSA in NDGA in 2010 and rejoined the firm as a partner in 2025 after leaving office.

Finally, NAFUSA welcomed new member Mac Schneider in October. Mac served as U.S.
Attorney for the District of North Dakota from 2022 to 2025. He graduated from the
University of North Dakota – where he was a starting center on UND’s 2001 national
championship football team – and received his J.D. from Georgetown University. Mac
served two terms in the North Dakota Senate, where he was elected Assistant Minority
Leader and later Minority Leader. He joined Fredrikson & Byron as an officer in its Litigation
Group in May 2025.

NAFUSA welcomed four new members in September, all of whom served during the Biden
Administration, bringing the total number of NAFUSA members from that administration to
51. We look forward to welcoming them at NAFUSA’s 2025 Annual Conference in D.C. this
month.

Kenneth “Ken” Parker, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio (SDOH) from
2021 to 2025, joined NAFUSA in September. Ken served as a judicial law clerk for Federal
District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel for two years following graduation from the Indiana
University Maurer School of Law in 1997. From 1999 to 2021, he served as an Assistant
United States Attorney (AUSA) in the SDOH until nominated by President Biden in September 2021 to be the U.S. Attorney and subsequently Senate confirmed. Ken joined the Taft Law Firm as a partner in its Cincinnati office in September 2025.

Also joining in September was Nikolas “Kolo” Kerest, who served as the U.S. Attorney for
the District of Vermont from 2021 to January 2025. Following graduation from Cornell Law
School in 2000, Kolo clerked for Judge Fred Parker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit. He worked in private practice at Ropes & Gray in Boston for three years and
then at Pierce Atwood LLP in Portland, Maine before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office as an
AUSA in December 2021. After his resignation as U.S. Attorney in 2025, he joined the law firm Stris & Maher LLP as a partner.

We are also happy to welcome new lifetime member, Roger Handberg. Roger served as
U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida (MDFL) from December 2021 to February
2025, after having served as an AUSA in that district since 2002. Following graduation from
Harvard Law School in 1994, he worked as an associate at King & Spalding in Atlanta for
five years before leaving to join the Florida Attorney General’s Office in 1999. Roger is
currently a shareholder at Gray Robinson in Orlando, Florida.

Tessa Gorman, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington (WDWA), also
joined NAFUSA in September. Tessa began her career with the DOJ in the Honors Program
in 1998 after serving as law clerk to Federal District Judge Douglas Woodlock in
Massachusetts following graduation from law school at the University of California,
Berkeley. She became an AUSA for the WDWA in 2001 rising to the level of First Assistant
and served as “Acting” U.S. Attorney twice before being appointed U.S. Attorney by
Attorney General Garland and later by the district court judges in her district.

NAFUSA lifetime member Stephen J. “Steve” Cox assumed the duties of Attorney General for the State of Alaska on August 29, 2025, after being appointed by Governor Mike Dunleavy the previous day. Governor Dunleavy will forward Cox’s name to the Alaska Legislature for confirmation during the 2026 session.

Steve served in the first Trump Administration as Deputy Associate Attorney General and Chief of Staff within the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Associate Attorney General. In 2020, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas by U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and later that year by the Court. He served in that position until January 20, 2025.

Earlier in his career, Steve served on the William H. Webster Commission on the FBI’s
counterterrorism and intelligence operations in the wake of the 2009 Fort Hood attacks,
and as a senior advisor to the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
during the latter part of the Bush Administration. Prior to public service, He was a senior
associate attorney at a multinational law firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to appointment as Alaska’s Attorney General, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer at Bristol Bay Industrial (BBI), an investment platform of Bristol Bay Native Corporation.

Steve thanked the Governor for the appointment, “I am honored that Governor Dunleavy has invited me to be a part of the Alaska story. And I am grateful to the Governor and the people of Alaska for the opportunity to serve.”

NAFUSA welcomed several new members in August, all of whom served during the Biden
Administration. We look forward to having them as members and hope to see them in
October at the NAFUSA annual conference at the Willard!

Erek Barron was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland from 2021 to 2025, the first
African American to hold that position. Prior to his nomination by President Biden, Barron
served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, while practicing law as a private
attorney. Before entering elected office, he served as a prosector at the state and federal
levels and worked as a policy advisor in the U.S. Senate. He joined the law firm Mintz,
Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo in May 2025.

Delia L. Smith served as the U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands from 2022 to April 2025. Her
career prior to that included serving as law clerk for Judge Ishmael Meyers on the U.S.
Virgin Islands Superior Court; serving as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the
Attorney General for the Virgin Islands; a detail as a trial attorney in the Office of
International Affairs at DOJ; and from 2005 until sworn in as U.S. Attorney, serving as an
AUSA in that office.

Sayler A. Fleming served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri from her
appointment by then-Attorney General William Barr in December 2020 until her resignation
on June 3, 2025. A 2006 Vanderbilt University law graduate, she clerked for Missouri
Supreme Court Justice, Stephen Limbaugh, Jr. and was later an associate at Bryan CaveLeighton Paisner before her appointment at U.S. Attorney. While U.S. Attorney she co-
chaired the Attorney General’s Child Exploitation Working Group.

Joshua (Josh) Hurwit served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho from 2022 to 2025.
After graduating from Harvard in 2006, he worked as an associate at Paul Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison in New York City before becoming a judicial law clerk for Federal Judge
Naomi Reice Buchwald for a year. He was in private practice from 2008 until 2011 before
joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho as an AUSA in 2012. In 2022 he was nominated
and later confirmed as U.S. Attorney for that office and served until his resignation in
February 2025.

Philip R. Sellinger served as U.S. attorney for District of New Jersey from 2021 to 2025.
Following graduation from New York University School of Law in 1979, he served as a
judicial law clerk for a year before becoming an AUSA in New Jersey from 1981 to 1984.
From 1984 to 2002, he worked at Sills Cummis & Gross until becoming a co-managing
partner of Greenberg Traurig in 2002. He was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the District of NJin December 2021 and served until his resignation in January 2025. He is currently co-
chair, Global Litigation at Greenberg Traurig.