The Justice & Reconciliation Project (JRP) is currently governed by a five-member board of directors, with assistance from an advisory board of victims, criminal justice, media, and legal specialists.

Lisa M. Rea founded the JRP, and currently serves as president and chair of the board. Ms. Rea has an extensive background in restorative justice, with a passion for restoring and healing those harmed by crime. From 1992-1997, she served as the California director of Justice Fellowship, the criminal justice reform branch of Prison Fellowship Ministries. Following her service with Justice Fellowship, she consulted with Prison Fellowship International (PFI) on several justice-related projects, including directing the first Sycamore Tree Project, a model restorative justice program involving victims and offenders, inside Jester II State Prison in Texas. Since 1992, she has addressed many audiences on restorative justice issues, including speaking to criminal justice officials at a national prayer breakfast in Puerto Rico in 1997. She has also addressed PFI volunteers at two worldwide convocations, including convocations in Washington, D.C., in 1994 and in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1999, where she spoke on the subject of reconciliation between crime victims and offenders. In addition to her work as a restorative justice specialist, Ms. Rea has 20 years experience in government relations, specializing in legislative advocacy, grassroots organizing, coalition building, and media relations. She has worked inside the California Legislature as a staff person to several legislators, lobbied on behalf of a wide variety of public and private organizations, and served on the staffs of numerous state ballot initiative campaigns.

Dr. Theo Gavrielides serves as a JRP board member. He is also the founder and academic director of Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS), a nonprofit international research network based in London, England (www.iars.org.uk ). Prof. Gavrielides is an academic working in the fields of restorative justice, criminal justice and human rights. Additionally, he is a legal counsel specializing in criminal law, human rights and European Union law. He has taught criminal law and common law reasoning and institutions at the University of London. Prof. Gavrielides graduated from the Law Schools of the National University of Athens with a Law Degree in 1999 and Nottingham University with a LL.M in Human Rights Law in 2000. He also submitted a doctorate at the London School of Economics and Political Science (PhD, 2004) in which he examined the possible existence of a gap between the theory and practice of restorative justice. During 2002-2004, he worked as a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prof. Gavrielides has published extensively in academic journals, and his book Restorative Justice theory and practice is due to be published in 2006. In addition to his position with IARS, he is currently working for the British governmental Department for Constitutional Affairs as a human rights expert.

Roger Trott serves as JRP's treasurer. He is a research economist with more than 19 years of experience conducting economic analyses of public policy proposals and projects. He was first drawn to restorative justice through his volunteer work with Ms. Rea at Justice Fellowship. In addition to his treasurer duties, Mr. Trott assists JRP with research and technical writing.

Bill Pelke joined JRP 's board of directors in 2007. He is the president and co-founder of Journey of Hope--From Violence to Healing. Bill was also a founding board member of Murder Victims for Human Rights. Bill's's grandmother, Ruth Pelke, a Bible teacher, was murdered in 1985 by four teenaged girls. For more information on Mr. Pelke and the Journey go to www.journeyofhope.org He speaks around the country and internationally. Bill resides in Alaska.

Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins joined JRP's board of directors in 2007. She is active with many victims' organizations including the Million Mom March/Brady Campaign. Jennifer's sister, Nancy Bishop Langert, was shot to death along with her husband and their unborn child in Chicago in 1990. Jennifer strongly supports restorative justice. She is Field Director with the Brady Campaign in Illinois and Minnesota to prevent gun violence. For more information on Jennifer go to http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/jennifer.htm Jennifer resides in Illinois with her husband Bill Jenkins who is also a survivor of violent crime.