Board of Directors

The Louisiana Justice Coalition is supervised and supported by a Board of Directors.

Ms. Emily Maw
Director, Innocence Project New Orleans 
New Orleans, LA
Emily Maw is the Director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, which is located in New Orleans but represents individuals from Mississippi and Louisiana. Under Ms. Maw’s leadership, Innocence Project New Orleans provides post-conviction representation, investigative services, public policy reform and exoneree/re-entry advocacy to their clients.

Ms. Ilona Picou
Communications and Policy Director, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court
New Orleans, LA
Ilona Picou is an attorney with vast experience in juvenile defense. She started the Southern Juvenile Defender Center, served as the first director of the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Center and spent four years working with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. She currently serves as Policy and Communications Coordinator with the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, managing many of the Court’s day-to-day operations and its Juvenile Detention Alternative (JDAI) Program. Ms. Picou has also served on the Board of the Virginia Indigent Defense Coalition (now the Virginia Fair Defense Project) and as a public defender in several states.

Ms. Celeste Lofton-Bagert
Advocate
New Orleans, LA
Celeste Lofton-Bagert has more than 10 years of community organizing experience between Los Angeles, Houston and New Orleans. Ms. Lofton-Bagert has a Master’s Degree from UNO in Urban Planning, is fluent in Spanish and worked for the Louisiana Justice Coalition from 2007-2021 as the Community Outreach Coordinator. She is currently involved with the creation of an neighborhood charter elementary school in New Orleans.