Leadership
The National CASA Association is made up of remarkable individuals dedicated to
child welfare. Meet our CEO, board president, board members
and key
staff.
 Our
CEO
Michael Piraino has served as chief executive officer of the National CASA
Association since 1994, overseeing such projects as a nationwide grants program
providing millions of dollars in funding for volunteer advocacy programs, a new
30-hour comprehensive volunteer training curriculum, a national quality
assurance program, a major multi-site outcome evaluation project and national
public relations efforts.
Piraino has law degrees from Cornell Law School and Oxford University. While
practicing law, he represented children as a guardian ad litem and served as a
consultant to international social service and child advocacy organizations in
Europe and Southeast Asia. Piraino has also worked as a juvenile probation
officer and was an associate research scientist for the National Center for
Children in Poverty at Columbia University.
Among Michael Piraino's professional achievements, he has authored and
co-authored several publications including "Discrimination in Employment" in
the Cornell Law Review, A Guide for Children's Advocates and The
Children's Databook
. He has also been a frequent speaker and presenter at symposia on children,
including the United Nations NGO Experts' Meeting on Adoption and Foster Care,
the Rockefeller Archives Institute Symposium on Children at Risk and the
Amnesty International Forum on Children.
As a result of his service to children, Piraino received the National Council
of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' President's Award in 1998 and the New York
Decade of the Child Award in 1992.
 Our
Board President
Judge Ernestine S. Gray is
the Chief Judge of the Orleans
Parish Juvenile Court in New
Orleans, LA. She was elected in
1984 and has been twice
re-elected to full, eight-year
terms on that court. Prior to
that, Judge Gray was employed by
the Baton Rouge Legal Aid
Society, the Attorney General of
the State of Louisiana and the
United States Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission as a
trial attorney.
Throughout her career, Judge
Gray has held leadership
positions with children’s
advocacy, judicial and bar
organizations. She is also
past-president of the National
Council of Juvenile and Family
Court Judges. She received her
bachelor’s degree in political
science from Spelman College and
her JD from Louisiana State
University. Judge Gray has been
on the National CASA Board of
Trustees since 2001 and serves
on the Inclusion and Outreach;
Education and Public Awareness;
and Standards committees.
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Board President
Board Members
Key Staff
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