Tara Kunkel, the founder of Rulo Strategies, is an award-winning, nationally known expert in criminal justice, substance use disorders, and public health and how they intersect at the national and community levels.

Growing up, Tara was deeply affected by the struggle of a family member who suffered from addiction, which launched her lifelong passionate career to address one of our country’s toughest challenges by pioneering and facilitating new collaborations across various sectors and disciplines.

Tara’s training as a social worker, her hands-on experience as a probation officer, her work within all aspects of the court system, her leadership of a federal grant program, and a decade of independent consultant positions uniquely qualified her to open her business in 2020.

Tara’s skillsets include building partnerships, grant writing and administration, working with the Federal government, and coordinating with state, city, county, and community stakeholders to find funding and plan, develop, and execute a variety of cross-sector and multidisciplinary initiatives. Tara’s efforts to forge a unique and successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have saved countless lives.

Before founding Rulo Strategies, Kunkel served as a Senior Drug Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance and led the implementation of the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program and grew it from a $27 million grant program in 2017 to $187 million in 2019.

As an independent consultant, Tara has directed over 25 projects within the criminal justice system for various cities, counties, and states and overseas.

A highly sought-after speaker, Tara has presented at over 50 national and state conferences. In 2016, she received the Virginia Community Criminal Justice Association Award for outstanding leadership and service in community corrections and pretrial services. In 2020, Kunkel received the Outstanding Dedication Award from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, for her work in combating the opioid epidemic.

Tara received her MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University and has a BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Tara resides in Arlington, VA, and is an avid escape room competitor.

Kristina Bryant brings 26 years of justice-related experience to her role as Senior Director at Rulo Strategies. She served as a court management consultant at the national level with 20+ years as a practitioner and leader in community corrections. She also served as a Juvenile Court Probation Officer, Criminal Justice Planner, and Assistant Director/Interim Director of an adult pretrial and probation agency. She has worked comprehensively with the judiciary, elected officials, and policymakers to improve justice policies and practices and to expand collaborative court diversion and intervention efforts. Throughout her career, Kristina has demonstrated expertise at the intersection of substance use/mental health and justice systems.

Kristina was formerly a Principal Court Management Consultant at the National Center for State Courts, where she evaluated programs and processes, developed innovative approaches to existing practices, authored reports, and provided technical assistance and training. She served as Project Director or Principal Investigator on numerous U.S. Department of Justice-funded projects at the local, state, and regional multi-state level and is skilled in system analysis, process and outcome evaluations, and program and policy initiatives from implementation to long-term impact and sustainability.

Kristina is a trained facilitator in the Sequential Intercept Model and Evidence-Based Decision Making, leading to cross-system collaborations between justice and behavioral health partners for over a decade. Additionally, she is trained in Moral Reconation Therapy and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. Kristina is a graduate of the Probation and Parole Chiefs Executive Orientation (National Institute of Corrections) and the LEAD Program/Weldon Cooper Center for Public Services (University of Virginia), and she maintained certification as a Pretrial Professional with honors while in the field.

She has an extensive background in education and learning styles and was an adjunct faculty member for seven years at the university level. Kristina regularly presents on community supervision, substance use/mental health, rural justice, and organization and workforce health and wellness issues across the country.

Previously, Kristina served four years with the Virginia Community Criminal Justice Association on the Executive Committee and was Co-Chair of the statewide probation Quality Assurance Committee and Legislative Committee for several years.

Kristina holds a master’s degree in Business Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with minors in Psychology, Sociology, and Business Administration. She resides in a beautiful rural community outside Richmond, Virginia.

Becky Rose has a long-standing commitment to helping people, inspired by her family, who set an example by volunteering and encouraging her to be of service at a young age. A graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and a master’s degree in Public Administration, she is passionately dedicated to forming, shaping, and directing public policies in the criminal justice, substance use, and mental health arenas.

She began her 21-year career in public service at the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Institute in Washington, DC., where her community relations and fundraising efforts directly aided children and adults with developmental disabilities. Joining the non-profit National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws allowed her to engage in legislative and strategic planning with various state, federal, and national agencies – conducting research, coordinating information, and fielding requests dealing with policies, programs, and laws regarding alcohol and drug issues.

Taking a position as a Policy Advisor, Substance Abuse and Mental Health at the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, she analyzed, developed, and implemented national programs and policies such as the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program and the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. She was also tasked with improving the quality of existing programs, drafting grant solicitations and funding requests, and negotiating with internal and external officials and stakeholders to maximize the effectiveness of their proposed planning efforts.

Promoted to Senior Policy Advisor, she continued her work to enhance the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) programs. She identified and implemented strategies that reached criminal justice practitioners to relay BJA’s goals, resources, successes, results, and activities. Serving in a senior position in one of the largest grant-making divisions at the U.S. Department of Justice, she was responsible for assessing applications, identifying issues, and finding solutions to solve problems dealing with chronic and emerging criminal justice challenges for state, local, and tribal entities.

Additionally, she served as the Director of the National Training and Technical Assistance Center to provide high-quality training and technical assistance to the criminal justice community. She worked with over 150 jurisdictions annually to develop strategies and solutions to meet criminal justice practitioners' unique needs, elected officials, community organizations, and advocates. She also oversaw developing and implementing training programs, strategic planning, peer-to-peer support, and criminal justice coordinating efforts.

She has received three distinguished service awards at the U.S. Department of Justice throughout her federal career and has demonstrated the ability to work across sectors with various people to provide quality support and services to state and local partners nationwide.

Becky lives with her husband and two boys in Austin, Texas, fully embracing much of the Texas lifestyle, including BBQ and the San Antonio Spurs, after spending two decades in Washington, DC.

Matt has practiced in the social work field for over forty years, worked with adults in various environments, and created interventions that lead to positive changes. Matt’s work in social work is inspired by a need to give back to others. He is driven by the desire to engage with individuals and organizations who are seeking to make positive changes for themselves or their systems for the benefit of all.

Matt was employed by a large Sheriff’s Office in Michigan for over 29 years, and his last assignment was supervising the Program Services Unit (PSU) of the jail, with a capacity ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 individuals. During his nineteen years as supervisor of the PSU, Matt was responsible for the clinical supervision of fifteen caseworkers and support staff and also provided high-acuity care to individuals. Matt was selected as the Sheriff’s Office representative to design, implement, and monitor one of the first jail-based Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) programs in Michigan. Before his promotion to supervisor, Matt spent ten years as a caseworker at the PSU, conducting risk/needs assessments and providing caseworker services.

After serving in the Sheriff’s Office, Matt was a project manager at the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice (CBHJ) at Wayne State University, School of Social Work. One of his primary responsibilities was the development and expansion of MOUD programming in jails in Michigan, and during his four-plus years at the CBHJ, Matt worked with fifteen counties to develop jail-based MOUD programs. Matt was also responsible for the procurement and placement of naloxone vending machines (NVM) and he placed thirty-five NVMs in twenty counties across Michigan.

Matt earned a Master in Social Work from Wayne State University in Detroit and is a licensed clinical social worker.

Matt is a lifelong Michigander and enjoys spending time with his wife. While they are empty nesters, they always look forward to visits from their three adult children.  

Rahni's journey to working in criminal justice systems began through her tenure in academia. She worked in financial and student affairs at Jackson College in Michigan for just under five years. While in that role, she was given an opportunity to support the Jackson Prison Education Initiative, where she provided academic advising, registration, and billing services to males incarcerated in prisons across Michigan. What started as a pilot program quickly became one of the college's most reliable enrollment funnels.

Motivated by the profound impact of her work at Jackson College, Rahni accepted a project coordinator position at the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at Wayne State University, School of Social Work. In this role, she offered technical assistance and evaluation to support communities in Michigan in implementing or enhancing access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder for incarcerated individuals. Rahni also played a pivotal role in the Stepping Up initiative, focusing on increasing diversion for individuals with mental illness or substance use disorders from jails.

Recognized for her collaborative prowess and ability to achieve project goals, Rahni was promoted to the position of Jail Diversion Manager in the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice. In this capacity, she oversaw the Center's collective diversion efforts, primarily focusing on Stepping Up and evaluating grantees implementing boundary spanner positions within their communities.

Rahni holds a Master of Arts in Human Resource Management from Marygrove College in Detroit. Outside of her professional pursuits, Rahni resides in a rural community outside Jackson, Michigan, where she enjoys a quiet life with her daughter.

Jana Braswell is a dedicated consultant at Rulo Strategies, bringing over 15 years of expertise in criminal justice and behavioral health. She specializes in program evaluation and working with stakeholder groups to develop and implement programs, policies, and services. Jana's career began in 2004 as the Director of Evaluation at the National Fatherhood Initiative, where her work focused on developing programs that encouraged men to foster strong connections with their children and become positive role models.

From 2008 to 2011, Jana worked at the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, managing a federal grant and spearheading the implementation of Evidence-Based Practices across Virginia's local pretrial and probation agencies. She later spent ten years at the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, where she led strategic initiatives in criminal justice and behavioral health. Key projects included a Statewide Cross Systems Mapping and Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program, a Statewide COSSUP grant, the development of Behavioral Health Minimum Standards for Virginia's Jails, and the Governor's Center for Behavioral Health and Justice.

Jana participated in the Political Leaders Program at the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership in 2017 and was honored with the Distinguished Service Award from the Virginia Community Criminal Justice Association in 2009. She holds a Master of Science in Applied Sociology from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Arts in Community Organization from Antioch College.

Jana currently resides in Henrico County, VA, where she enjoys gardening and birdwatching in her free time.