Amy Floriano was appointed as director of the Department of Juvenile Justice by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in January, 2022. She went to Old Dominion University for her undergraduate studies and obtained her law degree from the University of Richmond. She began her legal experience by working with the defense on the Commonwealth vs. Lee Boyd Malvo case, before returning to Chesapeake to be closer to her family. Amy has spent most of her career working as a prosecutor at both Portsmouth and Chesapeake Commonwealth Attorney’s offices. Amy's focus has been on addressing gang related crime and violence. She was a member of several multi-jurisdictional task forces and delivered numerous presentations on the presence of gangs in Hampton Roads. Amy was also the 2018 Virginia Gang Investigations Association state gang prosecutor of the year.
Dale Holden Jr. was appointed DJJ's Chief Deputy Director in May of 2022. He has worked for DJJ as a probation and parole officer for 25 years in the 1st District CSU in the City of Chesapeake. During his tenure at the CSU Dale worked in collaboration with various community partners to serve the citizens of his home city. Dale served on the Chesapeake Commission on Substance Abuse and two terms on the Chesapeake Family Assessment and Planning Team. In addition to his roles within the CSU, Dale provided implementation, training, consultation on EPICS, as well as participation in DJJ Certification Teams. A native of Virginia and graduate of Old Dominion University, Dale holds a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice. In addition to his years of state service, Dale also worked in a residential community as a residential supervisor and counselor. He later moved into the role of intensive in-home counselor, working with at-risk children and families, where he was first introduced to DJJ as a contracted service provider. Dale has experience providing services to court-involved youth, facilitating substance abuse and adolescent sexual offender groups alongside skilled and talented clinicians while collaborating with probation and parole officers across Hampton Roads.
Linda McWilliams is the Deputy Director of Community Programs. She has over 35 years of experience in the juvenile justice field. She began her career with the Department of Juvenile Justice where she provided supervision and case management services for youth and she held progressive positions of responsibility and management. She served as case manager supervisor, residential division administrative assistant and as superintendent for the Oak Ridge and Bon Air facilities for over 10 years. She most recently served as a Deputy Secretary for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services for over seven years where she had oversight of 13 residential facilities and 32 court service offices. Ms. McWilliams has extensive knowledge and experience in policy, program, and standards development and implementation. She has served as an elected member of the American Correctional Association delegate assembly for 15 years. She is a strong advocate for the implementation of reforms that support positive changes in the lives of our youth. Ms. McWilliams holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Lara Kate Jacobs Todd is the Deputy Director of Education and Rehabilitative Care. She previously served DJJ as the Director of Compliance and Legal Support, where her duties included managing the agency's policy guidance to the court service units, the juvenile correctional center, and other support divisions; serving as the agency’s FOIA Officer and managing the juvenile records request process; and oversight of the team responsible for assessing and monitoring DJJ’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title IX, and other federal requirements. She joined DJJ in 2014 as an Education Administrative Hearings Specialist and later became the Records and Legal Support Manager. Prior to coming to DJJ, she was an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Virginia Attorney General, where she advised and represented the Virginia Department of Corrections, the Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice, and DJJ. She also served as a prosecutor in Petersburg, where she spent much of her time on cases involving juveniles, either as victims or defendants. Her interest in serving youth began when she worked as a substitute teacher in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is a graduate of the Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington.
Nikia D. Jones is the Deputy Director of Administration and Finance. She joined DJJ in 2021 as the budget manager, providing oversight of the agency’s $230 million annual budget and directing agency appropriated resources to achieve efficiency in meeting strategic goals while serving the needs of youth. Her professional journey, which began as a correctional officer at Pamunkey Regional Jail, has included progressive roles across multiple agencies such as the Richmond Police Department and the federal Transportation Security Administration. Prior to joining DJJ, she served as the cross functional and strategic initiatives manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Budget and Funds Management Division, where she was responsible for leading strategic initiatives to ensure successful fund management of the agency’s $1 billion federal program. Other previous roles include assistant division administrator and budget team lead for VDOT’s Asset Management Division, budget and seized assets director for Virginia State Police and information technology budget manager for Virginia State University. Ms. Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master’s degree in public administration from Strayer University.
Michael Favale, Deputy Director of Policy, has been a member of DJJ’s Policy Team since 2013, first as a legal specialist and then as a manager of the Human Rights Team. Working primarily with partners in Residential Operations, Human Resources, the Investigative Unit, and the Training Center, his job duties have varied from handling resident and employee grievances, to instructing staff on PREA and civil liability, to working with the Procedures Committee to ensure compliance with policy and the law. Before joining DJJ, Mr. Favale served seven years at the Virginia Attorney General’s Office working on crime prevention programs and public safety legislation, spearheading initiatives to combat human trafficking and prescription drug abuse, as well as producing two anti-gang videos. Before coming to Virginia, he was a practicing attorney in New York, where he began his career as a prosecutor in a local district attorney’s office. He also practiced as a criminal defense attorney before moving. Mike received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Andrea McMahon is the Deputy Director of Placement and Program Implementation. In her previous role as the agency’s Director of Quality Assurance, she led, managed and ensured cross divisional quality assurance and fidelity of agency and statewide continuum of community-based and residential services, including the implementation of a validated, data-driven evaluation tool known as the Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP ™). Ms. McMahon has more than 28 years of experience working in the juvenile justice field. Her prior experience includes work within the community and residential divisions of DJJ. She began her career as a probation officer within the Roanoke City Court Service Unit and also had the opportunity to work as a probation and parole officer at the Chesterfield CSU for approximately 10 years. Subsequently, she transitioned to DJJ’s central office, where she gained experience in a variety of capacities to include the transition services specialist, detention specialist, and the interstate compact specialist. Under the residential division, she had the opportunity to work on system reform within the future planning group as the administrative services program specialist and was instrumental in creating the CAP unit. Andrea holds an undergraduate degree in psychology and criminal justice and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Radford University.
