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Justin Barry was appointed the NYS Office of Court Administration’s Chief of Administration in July 2021. As part of OCA’s executive office, his responsibilities include the administration of one of the country’s largest court systems with direct responsibility over the budget, facilities management, professional and court services, court research and technology and public safety. Prior to his current position, he was Chief Clerk of the Criminal Court of the City of New York from 2010 to 2021. Mr. Barry has also held the positions of Counsel to the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge of New York City Courts and Counsel to the Administrative Judge of Criminal Court of the City of New York. In both of these positions, he advised and assisted Criminal Court’s chief judicial officer with the overall direction of the Court and day-to-day management. He began his tenure in the Unified Court System in March 2002 as Citywide Drug Treatment Court Coordinator.
Mr. Barry is the recipient of Unified Court System’s Merit Performance Award for superior work performance (2008), the Appellate Division, First Department’s Bernard Botein Medal for outstanding contributions to the administration of the courts (2014) and the National Center for State Court’s Warren E. Burger Award for excellence in court administration (2019).
John “Jack” Sheridan graduated with a degree in Government and Politics from St. John’s University in 1991 and began working as a guard in the NYS court’s Appellate Division 2nd Dept. Later working in the clerk’s office and attending Baruch College in the evening, he graduated with a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems. He was then selected to be a part of the newly created Telecommunications unit of the Office of Court Administration.
First participating in and then being responsible for large scale telecommunications projects, Jack quickly rose to manage the unit. The attacks of 9-11-2001 brought the first large technological disaster recovery effort for Jack and the Division of Technology team. With over 6,000 telephone lines down with no immediate prospect of repair, an alternative solution was required. Within one month of the attack and while most downtown Manhattan offices still had little or no phone service, the courts expanded on cutting edge technology being tested at the time. Within six months, the courts had the largest voice over IP network in the world.
In addition to the Telecommunications unit, Jack was tasked with managing the statewide Video Conferencing, downstate Wide Area Networking, Network Critical Power and Fiber Optic Infrastructure Units. Knowledge and communication between all the units was critical to successful operations as well as the disaster recovery efforts of the 2003 blackout, Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy and CoVid-19. In 2015, Jack added management and consolidation of all NYC technical support staff to his portfolio.
As Senior Technical Manager, Jack oversees the efforts of 110 engineers, and technicians from several units in over 30 locations. He proudly serves and supports the Director of Technology and Court Research as well as the Courtroom Modernization Initiative Program goals.
Christine Sisario has over twenty-eight years of experience working in a variety of technology areas including systems and network engineering, high-profile project management, strategic planning, and all facets of the software development life cycle. The bulk of her career has been proudly spent in the public and non-profit sectors working in the justice field.
Christine started her public service path working for the New York State Unified Court System as a network technologist, assisting with the rollout of one of the country’s first private statewide court networks. From 1999-2014 she served as the Director of Technology at the Center for Court Innovation, a New York City-based think tank dedicated to improving the delivery of justice worldwide. At the Center she was responsible for all technology projects including custom web applications for problemsolving court case management, numerous public websites, and online learning initiatives. She consulted with jurisdictions around the globe to implement court data collection systems based on her experience assisting with New York’s efforts to implement the country’s first drug treatment courts and domestic violence courts. These problem-solving court data collection practices are now business-as-usual in many jurisdictions.
Christine re-joined the Unified Court System in 2014 as the project manager for a new statewide criminal court case management system. Under her leadership the system development was completed, and it has been successfully implemented in the hundreds of criminal courts statewide.
As Chief Information Officer, Christine oversees the work of 350 staff who support statewide network infrastructure and cybersecurity, telecommunications, data centers, software development, technical support, and technical equipment management for nearly 20,000 court employees across hundreds of locations. She sets the priorities and direction for all technology work and advises executive staff on best processes to streamline court operations and better serve the public. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York at Geneseo, and a Master of Public Administration degree from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.