My first NDAA meeting was over 30 years ago.

• Author: Myers, Donnie
• Position: National District Attorneys Ass'n executive director Kay Chopard Cohen - Interview

Meet the New Executive Director

MY FIRST NDAA MEETING was over 30 years ago. Not long thereafter at a subsequent meeting, I had the great pleasure of meeting Kay Chopard Cohen. Professionally and socially, the first impression of her was a "WOW" factor, and she is even more impressive in 2014. While NDAA has had outstanding leadership over those years, the Board hit a grand slam selecting Kay Chopard Cohen as our executive director. She has done it all.

After graduating from the University of Iowa College of Law, she served as assistant county attorney for two offices, Prosecuting Attorneys Training Council Coordinator, and assistant attorney general in Iowa. Kay prosecuted felony and misdemeanor cases, taught in-service training to law enforcement agencies and legal interns, authored ordinances, provided counsel to county commissioners and processed child support and paternity cases.

Kay then joined the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation where she headed two multi-million dollar national programs analyzing strategic plans and goals, and leading national organizations representing prosecutors and judges. She created novel trial advocacy training programs provided to thousands of local and state prosecutors throughout the U.S. This included designing and instructing 25 faculty development (Train-the-Trainer) courses for experienced prosecutors to conduct their own trial advocacy programs. These courses were presented to NDAA and NAPC. The "Train the Trainer" (prosecutors training prosecutors) was an extremely successful program from which even I benefited. She also worked tirelessly with NDAA and NAPC expanding local and state budgets by increasing NHTSA funding from less than $100,000 per year to over $7 million.

At the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, a judicial education program was launched with various teams participating in 12 faculty development courses for states followed by in-state programs for specialized court judges. A National Judicial Leadership Conference was created and conducted by Kay with judges from every state to address the ethics and encouragement of judicial community leadership activities.

The Traffic Safety Summit II sponsored by the Secretary of Transportation was spearheaded by her. This resulted in the creation of the National Traffic Law Center in the American Prosecutors Research Institute. She also drafted model drug laws and provided...