Delaware State Senate Democratic Caucus
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Panelist Biographies

Panelist Biographies

All biographies were submitted by the panelists and edited for length. None of the histories included have been verified by the Delaware State Senate Majority Caucus.

B

Brendan O’Neill, Esq.
Chief Defender, DE Office of Defense Services

Brendan O’Neill is the chief defender in Delaware’s Office of Defense Services, a position he has held since his appointment by former Gov. Jack Markell in 2009.
O’Neill has over 30 years of experience litigating criminal cases in state and federal courts. He began his legal career as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County and then worked as an assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles. He was in private criminal defense practice in Santa Monica for 14 years before moving to Delaware in 1993.
In Delaware, he first served as a deputy attorney general in the civil division before joining the Public Defender’s Office in 1995.
O’Neill has received the Delaware Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Killen Award, the Delaware Bar Associations’ Government Service Award and the ACLU of Delaware’s Kandler Award. He also has been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.


C

Chris Feghali
FFL Dealer in New Castle County, Federal Firearm

Chris Feghali is the founder and owner of Federal Firearm, a small firearm retailer north of Middletown. As a federal firearms licensed dealer, he aims to provide an exceptional, top-notch experience to all customers seeking to purchase firearms, ammunition and accessories.
Feghali earned a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing from Indiana University. He has launched, operated and sold several businesses and received multiple awards from law enforcement agencies for his outstanding service and dedication to the community, including one from the State of New Jersey.


D

Dan Selekman
Retired Lieutenant with the Wilmington Police Department

Known throughout the state simply as Lt. Dan, Daniel Selekman spent over 20 years with the Wilmington Police before retiring in late 2019. His expansive career in law enforcement provided him with unique opportunity to work in nearly every division of the department.
He spent several years in major crimes/homicide, community policing, and developing new, inclusive hiring strategies. His final assignment placed him in West Center City, historically the most violent and impoverished 36-square blocks in Delaware. For 13 straight months, and without effecting a single arrest, Selekman’s supportive, holistic approach to policing dramatically reduced crime and improved the quality of life for all who live there.
Selekman is currently the CEO of Community Navigators, a consulting firm that connects health and human services directly to those who need it.


Daniel Webster
Bloomberg Professor of American Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research

Dr. Daniel Webster is the inaurual Bloomberg Professor of American Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he directs the Center for Gun Policy and Research and serves as co-lead of the Violence Prevention Workgroup of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative.
Webster is one of the nation’s leading experts on the prevention of gun violence and has published widely on gun policy, violence prevention, youth violence, intimate-partner violence, suicide and substance abuse. He is the lead editor and a contributor to Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).
His awards include the American Public Health Association’s David Rall Award for science-based advocacy (2015), Baltimore City’s Health Equity Leadership Award (2016), Pioneer Award from the Injury Free Coalition for Kids (2017), and Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni Award (2017).


Darryl L. Chambers
Chair of the DE Council on Correction

Darryl L. Chambers is a longtime community leader and advocate in Wilmington and Delaware. Chambers lost his only son, Muhammad Dominique Chambers, to urban gun violence in 2011 and is committed to ensuring no other family experiences the pain he and his family has endured.
Chambers is the executive director of Community Intervention Team (CIT), a community-driven intervention and prevention program. To date, CIT has engaged 26 children and teens in their positive youth development prevention program and mentored them to be change agents and leaders in their community.
Chambers previously served a member of the Wilmington HOPE Commission’s Street Outreach Program, co-program director on the Wilmington Street Participatory Action Research Project, a member of the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission, co-chair of the CDC Community Advisory Council, and chair of the Council of Corrections.


E

Earl M. McCloskey 
Executive Director of the DE Criminal Justice Information System

Earl M. McCloskey is the executive director of the Delaware Criminal Justice Information Systems (DELJIS), an agency responsible for the management and security of all law enforcement cyber systems.
McCloskey also sits on multiple criminal justice committees and chairs the Mid-Atlantic Regional Informational Sharing (MARIS) group, a regional information sharing committee comprised of criminal justice data agencies in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C. and Delaware.
Prior to leading DELJIS, he served as a full-time police officer and the statewide chief of operations for the Delaware Department of Justice.
McCloskey has served on numerous planning groups and criminal justice committees, including the DELJIS Board of Managers, the State of Delaware Contracting and Purchasing Advisory Committee, the Criminal Justice Data Governance Committee and the Emergency Services Coordinator Committee.
He continues serving the community by working as a part-time police officer in Elsmere.


Eugene Maurer Jr., Esq.
Criminal Defense Attorney

Eugene Maurer Jr. is a criminal defense attorney based in Wilmington who has litigated more than 1,000 cases during his 40-year career. His clients have included Delaware’s only known serial murderer and developer Tom Capano. He also has secured the only successful defense in Delaware history using post-traumatic stress disorder.
Maurer also has taught law classes at Delaware Law School and Widener University School of Law, chaired the Delaware State Bar Association criminal law committee and served as a member of its executive committee.


G

Lt. Gerald Windish
Commander of the DE State Police, Criminal Investigations Unit

Lt. Gerald Windish Jr. is the commander of the criminal investigative unit at Delaware State Police Troop 3 in Camden. He has supervised investigative units dealing with special victims since 2010.
A 24-year veteran of law enforcement, he has spent the last 19 years with the Delaware State Police. Windish has been assigned to criminal investigations since 2003. He previously supervised the property crimes unit, Sussex drug unit and the major crimes unit. He also served on the Delaware State Police Special Operations Response Team for 10 years.
Windish is also an advisory board member of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Delaware, an adjunct instructor at Delaware Technical Community Colleg, and a member of the Child Protection and Accountability Commission multi-disciplinary workgroup.
A certified police instructor, he presented material at the National Child Abuse Symposium in 2019 and is scheduled to present at the 35th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment in January 2020.


j

Jeff Hague
President of the DE State Sportsmen’s Association

Jeff Hague is the president of the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association and an active high-power rifle competitor for more than 40 years. He holds National Rifle Association High Master Rifle classification in several disciplines, including XTC, mid-range, long range and NRA International full-bore.
During his 36-year professional career, Hague enjoyed stints in all three branches of state government, ultimately serving as the State of Delaware’s registrar of regulations from 1998 to 2015. In that position, he was responsible for administering the Administrative Procedures Act and publishing the monthly Register of Regulations. He also was responsible for developing the online Delaware Administrative Code of Regulations, the online Delaware Statutory Code, the Session Laws and other electronic publications for the General Assembly.
A registered lobbyist, he now owns a successful legislative and regulatory consulting firm.


M

Maureen Monagle
Exec. Dir. of the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council

Maureen Monagle is the executive director of the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (DVCC), a state agency dedicated to improving Delaware’s response to domestic violence through education, training and policy development.
Prior to joining the DVCC, she worked for the Criminal Justice Council as the coordinator of victims area, where she was responsible for administering several federal grant programs to designed to strengthen the response and services to victims of crime. Mongagle also previously worked as the coordinator of the children’s program for the domestic violence agency in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where she supervised the services for children who experienced domestic violence in their homes.


Dr. Meghan Walls 
Pediatric Psychologist with Nemours Children’s Health System

Dr. Meghan Walls is a pediatric psychologist at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics with the Sydney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.
She provides integrated primary care services at Nemours’ Jessup Street clinic in Wilmington, where she serves families who deal with the effects of gun violence. In 2019, Walls was selected for the Nemours Physician Excellence in Community Service Award and the award for 2019 NAMI-Delaware Healthcare Professional of the Year.
She is the state advocacy chair for the Delaware Psychological Association’s executive committee, co-chair of the data and policy committee for the Lt. Governor’s Behavioral Health Consortium and serves on the Society of Pediatric Psychology’s board of directors. Walls also serves on the Red Clay School District’s Parent Advisory Committee and recently became a fellow in Leadership Delaware’s Class of 2020. 


N

Dr. Neil Kaye, M.D.
Forensic Psychiatrist

Dr. Neil S. Kaye is assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Thomas Jefferson University’s College of Medicine and a special guest Lecturer at Widener University School of Law.
Board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and forensic psychiatry, he has held licenses in New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.
As a specialist in forensic psychiatry, Kaye has been an expert reviewer for the U.S. Department of Justice Special Investigation Unit and a member of the Delaware Governor’s Advisory Committee on Mental Health, Alcohol and Substance Abuse.
He has served on the advisory board of the Delaware Board of Medical Practice, as president of the Psychiatric Society of Delaware, as chairman of the Psychiatric Society of Delaware’s ethics committee, as a member of several committee of the Medical Society of Delaware and a member the Brain Injury Association of Delaware’s advisory board.


R

Renee Rigby
DE State Police, CJIS Systems Officer

C. Renee Rigby is the Criminal Justice Information System Officer in the Delaware State Police, where she is responsible for managing the integration of the federal and state criminal justice information systems.
She has been a civilian employee at the Delaware State Police since January 1994 when she was hired as a data entry operator in the State Bureau of Identifications’ Crime Reporting Section. Rigby was promoted in 1996 to manager of the Crime Reporting Section and became assistant director of SBI in 2009. She was promoted to her current position in 2017.


Robert Coupe
Secretary, Dept. of Safety and Homeland Security

Robert Coupe has served as the secretary of the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security since January 2017. In that role, he oversees numerous divisions, including the Delaware State Police, the Capitol Police, the Division of Alcohol Tobacco Enforcement, the Delaware Emergency Management Agency, the Division of Forensic Science, and others.
Coupe has served the State of Delaware for 34 years. He spent 28 years with the Delaware State Police before retiring in 2012 as the agency’s superintendent. During his tenure, Coupe worked as a detective in the major crimes and homicide units, a drill instructor at the training academy, a patrol sergeant, an investigator with the Internal Affairs Unit and as a troop commander.
Following his retirement from DSP, he was appointed by Gov. Jack Markell to serve as commissioner of the Delaware Department of Correction, a post he held from 2013 to 2017.  


Rob Kracyla
Chief of the Middletown Police Department

Rob Kracyla became chief of the Middletown Police Department in early 2019, following a stint as chief of the Seaford Police Department.
Altogether, he has 37 years of law enforcement experience at various agencies with a multitude of high-level duties. Kracyla’s career began with a three-year stint as a Dover Police Department patrol officer, followed by 27 years as a Delaware State Police trooper. His tenure there included more than 23 years as a Special Operations Response Team member and leader. He also was an FBI Federal Task Force officer for 10 years and Detail Leader of former Gov. Jack Markell’s executive protection team.
After leaving DSP in 2012, Kracyla served as the deputy director of the Delaware Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement and graduated from the FBI National Academy.


Ron Hagan 
FFL Dealer in Sussex County, American Responder Services, LLC

Ronald W. Hagan is the owner and operator of American Responder Services, a firearms retailer west of Rehoboth Beach that offers multiple training programs.
He previously spent 30 years in the Delaware State Police before retiring in 2014 at the rank of captain. Hagan has trained police officers across the United States and in other countries, having previously served as DSP’s assistant director of training.
During his tenure, he also has conducted patrols, served as a burglary detective, an undercover narcotics detective, a troop commander and the aviation section commander, as well as a member of the DEA Task Force, the conflict management team and the critical incident debriefing team. Hagan was named Trooper of the Year in 1991.


S

Dr. Sandra M. Gibney, M.D.
Emergency Room Physician at Saint Francis Hospital

Dr. Sandra M. Gibney is board certified in internal medicine. She has served as associate director of emergency medicine at Saint Francis Hospital in Delaware and The Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Gibney currently practices emergency medicine at Saint Francis.
Dr. Gibney graduated summa cum laude from the Sidney Kimmel/Jefferson Medical College in 1994 and has been in practice for 25 years. She is a member of the Lt. Governor’s Behavioral Health Consortium, which looks to address mental health and substance use disorder in Delaware.


Spencer Price
Co-chair of the DE Criminal Justice Council’s Data and Evaluation Subcommittee

Spencer Price is the director of the Delaware Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) in the Delaware Criminal Justice Council (CJC).  The SAC collects, analyzes and reports on data relating to crime and criminal justice research, program evaluation, and proposed legislation to all branches of government.
Price was an analyst with the SAC for 13 years before spending three years in the Controller General’s Office, where he provided fiscal and policy analysis to the General Assembly. As an analyst at the SAC,
Price’s primary areas of research were in adult recidivism, court program evaluation and sentencing trends, and legislative bill analyses.
Mr. Price returned to the SAC as director in March of 2018. He holds degrees in behavioral science and criminal justice from Wilmington University.


T

Traci Murphy
Executive Director, Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence

Traci Manza Murphy is the executive director of the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence – or DECAGV – a nonprofit education and advocacy organization focused on preventing gun violence in Delaware. The Coalition works to both support and protect common-sense legislation, as well as support programs that reduce gun violence. The Coalition enjoys support from legislators on both sides of the aisle – most recently in bills focused on the safe storage of firearms and lethal violence protection orders.
Prior to joining the Coalition, Manza Murphy held a volunteer leadership role with Moms Demand Action in Delaware. She owns a boutique marketing firm and counts among her successes several political campaigns, public awareness campaigns, and the regular communications work of highly respected Delaware-based businesses and organizations.
She has been regularly named as a Best Blogger via the News Journal’s Reader’s Choice awards.


V

Col. Vaughn Bond
New Castle County Chief of Police

Vaughn M. Bond Jr. was promoted to the rank of colonel and named New Castle County Police Chief in 2017, making him the first African-American to ever hold that post.
Bond began his career with New Castle County Police in late 1991 and rose through the ranks, eventually holding every supervisory rank within the division. He has received a Distinguished Unit Citation, several letters of commendation, the 1997 Crime Stoppers Detective of the Year, and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award.
Col. Bond is a member of the Delaware Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executive, and a board member of both the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Police Athletic League. He also is an active member of Psi Iota Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity in Dover and serves on the usher board at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington.

 Delaware State Senate Democratic Caucus, 2020.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Senators >
      • Sarah McBride
      • Darius Brown
      • Elizabeth "Tizzy" Lockman
      • Laura Sturgeon
      • Kyle Evans Gay
      • Marie Pinkney
      • David P. Sokola, President Pro Tempore
      • Jack Walsh
      • Stephanie L. Hansen
      • Bryan Townsend, Majority Leader
      • Nicole Poore
      • Spiros Mantzavinos
      • Bruce C. Ennis
      • Trey Paradee
    • District Maps
    • Legislative Background
    • Contact the Senate
    • Helpful Links
    • Disclaimer
  • Bill Tracking & Information
  • Senate Committees
    • Agriculture
    • Banking, Business & Insurance
    • Capital Improvement
    • Corrections & Public Safety
    • Education
    • Elections & Government Affairs
    • Environmental, Natural Resources & Energy
    • Executive
    • Finance
    • Health & Social Services
    • Judicial
    • Labor
    • Legislative Council
    • Rules & Ethics
    • Sunset
    • Transportation
    • Veterans Affairs
  • Senate News
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
  • COVID-19 Resources
  • State of the State of Corrections - 2023