Additions in the Admin Office
by Heather Cessna, BIDS Executive Director
I’m pleased to use this space this month to introduce two exciting additions to our administrative office: Ann Sagan, our new Director of Special Projects, and Jared Harsin, our new Human Resources Director.
Ann came to us directly from the Federal Public Defender, but she also worked at the Third Judicial District Public Defender Office in Topeka for about four years earlier in her career. She has a JD from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In addition to her work at BIDS, she serves on the Kansas Holistic Defenders Board of Directors and the Kansas Judicial Council’s Criminal Law Advisory Committee.
In the mere two months since she started, Ann has quickly become an invaluable jack-of-all-trades, attacking many of the problems we face in the Administrative Office with her characteristic even-keeled tenacity. But her initial focus has been on recruiting new talent to work at BIDS. In that role, she has collaborated with the Topeka and Wichita offices to launch a formal BIDS summer internship program, which she hopes will expand to additional offices over the next few years. The program already has eight phenomenal law student participants – thanks to the recruiting efforts of a dedicated group of attorneys from Wichita, Topeka, DPDU, the ADO, and Capital Appeals. Ann is very excited that this year the interns will be paid fairly for their work, and thanks Kim Mason and the HR team for their work in making that happen.
Ann would also like encourage everyone at BIDS to reach out to her with further ideas for projects she can tackle. “I have such respect for the work done by everyone in the agency, including investigators, staff, and attorneys, and I am excited to work with all of you to help implement your plans and goals for the agency and our clients. If you want to discuss a particular project or idea, I’d love to talk with you about it, please reach out any time,” Ann said. Ann can be reached at asagan@sbids.org.
Jared Harsin has almost 20 years’ experience working in government, with an emphasis on court operations and personnel. Some of you in the Topeka area may know him from his work with the Shawnee County Drug Court Program many years ago. He graduated from the University of Kansas and Baker University. Jared comes to us most recently from the Federal District Court of Kansas, in Topeka, where he worked as a Division Manager overseeing the day-to –day operations of the Clerk’s Office. Prior to that, he was the Human Resources Director at the Kansas Corporation Commission. But his proudest accomplishment is that he and his family are the Kansas City Royals “Wurst” Fans – they can regularly be seen at games in their family hot dog costumes.
As you may be able to tell from that last sentence, Jared has a great sense of humor! But he also brings with him a deep concern for BIDS employees’ well-being, and a wealth of knowledge and connections for answering human resources related dilemmas. Jared joins Beth Child in our Human Resources Department and is ready to help out with our human resources related needs!
“I would like to be a resource for our agency, and help employees navigate situations and provide information in a meaningful way,” Jared said. Jared can be reached at jharsin@sbids.org.
Welcome to the team Ann and Jared!