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Plenary: Can I Get Some Situational Sauce with Those Leadership Nuggets?
SESSION INFO
Monday, March 2, 2026
10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Session Type: Plenary
Leadership is rarely one-size-fits-all. Every day brings new challenges, shifting priorities, and people who need different types of support to perform at their best. This dynamic and engaging session breaks down the “leadership nuggets” that matter most—practical, memorable principles that strengthen decision-making, communication, and team performance. The presentation explores what effective leadership looks like in practice, how leaders fail when they default to the wrong style, and how personal mission statements anchor leaders during complex or rapidly changing circumstances. Attendees will walk away with actionable strategies they can apply immediately, no matter their role or level of experience.
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SESSION PRESENTERS
Michael W Nail
Commissioner, GA Department of Corrections
As Commissioner, Michael oversees the day-to-day operations of one of the nation’s largest community supervision agencies and is responsible for the adult felony supervision of over 200,000 individuals.
Michael was instrumental in casting the vision for the creation of the Department of Community Supervision and has served as (the first) Commissioner since its inception in 2015. Prior to his career with DCS, Michael has held multiple senior and executive leadership roles with the Georgia Department of Corrections and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, including Director of Probation Training, Director of Probation, Corrections Division Director, and Executive Director of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Notable accomplishments throughout his career include streamlining the prison diagnostic system, starting Georgia’s first Day Reporting Centers, creating the Probation Options Management program, implementing virtual offices and virtual hearings, leading transformative criminal justice reform legislation, contributing to implementation efforts of the Georgia Prisoner Re-entry Initiative, and being the first community supervision agency in the nation to issue body cameras to all community supervision officers.
With over thirty-five (36) years of experience, Michael is nationally recognized as a thought leader in the fields of corrections and community supervision and a recipient of multiple state and national awards, including the American Probation and Parole Association Walter Dunbar Memorial Award, the National Association of Probation Executives Dan Richard Beto Award, and the Governor’s Public Safety Award for Outstanding Contribution to Profession.
Michael was a member of the three-year Executive Session on Community Supervision at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, which led to the publication of
"Less Is More: How Reducing Probation Populations Can Improve Outcomes".
Michael served in various roles and capacities on numerous councils and commissions, including the National Steering Committee for JusticeCounts and the Advisory Boards for Familiar Faces, and Council on Criminal Justice Correction and Reentry. Additionally, he actively engages with projects sponsored by the National Institute of Corrections, National Institute of Justice, and the American Probation and Parole Association. In add
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