Intensive Session: Building High-Performance Leadership Teams

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Dr. Jason C. Garnett is a strategic leadership and corrections expert with over thirty years of experience in the criminal justice system. He most recently served as Chief of Parole and Acting Assistant Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, where he played a pivotal role in shaping correctional leadership and reform eff orts across the state. As Founder and Principal of Jason C. Garnett and Company, Dr. Garnett now works with leaders across corrections, corporate organizations, and academia, helping them build high performing teams, sharpen strategic planning, and navigate complex policy change. His mission driven approach is grounded in clarity, accountability, and measurable impact. Dr. Garnett is passionate about reducing recidivism and strengthening pathways to rehabilitation. He has developed and implemented programs that improve correctional policy, enhance reentry strategies, and drive lasting systemic change, work rooted in his belief that strong leadership and eff ective policy are essential to safer, stronger communities. Dr. Garnett holds a PhD in Public Administration from the University of Illinois Springfi eld and a Master's in Rehabilitation from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Crystal P. Sherrill is an Operations & Systems Designer and the founder of CPS & Co., a Vision & Operations Firm built to help leaders fulfill the vision, make the work easier, and serve with excellence. She created the Visionary Operating System™ (VOS), a seven-system framework that keeps leadership teams connected to the vision while showing them exactly where the operation is strong, where it is stuck, and where it is straining. Crystal spent nearly two decades in the corrections and electronic monitoring space. She systemized RF, GPS, and case management platforms for parole, probation, and aftercare agencies and trained field agents, supervisors, and executives overseeing tens of thousands of cases. She knows how systems need to perform when the stakes are high, and the operation cannot afford to underperform. Today, CPS & Co. partners with businesses, agencies, and organizations to redesign the systems their teams work in every day, from how decisions get made and work gets finished to who takes accountability and how progress and success are measured and celebrated. Her work follows one discipline: assess the operation, advise on what's working and what to fix, and then support the team as they adapt to running the systems on their own. When the structure is sound, people stop holding the work together manually, the stress dissolves, and the vision moves forward.