SECRETARY
Ronald Telsch

Biography - Ron has thirty years of experience in the Virginia Departments of Welfare and Institutions, Corrections, and Juvenile Justice, and holds a Bachelors degree from West Virginia University and a Master’s degree from the University of Georgia.  Currently assigned at the Natural Bridge Juvenile Correctional Center, he has supervised every aspect of that center’s program during terms of equal tenure in the positions of Assistant Superintendent for Treatment, Assistant Superintendent for Security and, presently, the Assistant Superintendent for Security & Operations.  He has previously been a juvenile counselor; directed two juvenile group homes; served as the Commonwealth’s Regional Delinquency Prevention Specialist for fifty-eight counties and cities from Cumberland County to the Cumberland Gap; provided simultaneous support services as the Regional Training Manager for both the Divisions of Institutions and Community Services of the Department of Corrections addressing the staff development and training needs of a diverse employee population encompassing thousands of state and local employees; and he served as a Regional Ombudsman for the Office of the Director of Corrections, coordinating inmate complaint resolution activities and litigation liaison for thirteen adult correctional facilities.  A member of the American Correctional Association, he will be presenting a workshop at their National Conference later this month in Nashville, Tennessee. He has served on numerous state task forces and committees, including active involvement in writing several behavioral management programs. One of his fundamental beliefs is that we can enhance public safety at the same time we increase the effectiveness of our treatment programs, often by taking the same single action.  Mr. Telsch is the author of Three-Fifths Freedom, a historical fiction. Currently he is working on the sequel to that novel, The Crossroads Impasse, and two plays: a comedy loosely based on his experiences in Institutional Services, entitled pUBLIC SAFETy and, a drama, based on the death Socrates, with a working title of Socrates Rules.  He also writes a regular column on current issues in the association’s quarterly journal, The Advocate.  Ron lives in Rockbridge County with his wife and the youngest of their five children.  He was a Presidential Elector for the Sixth Congressional District in the recent national election.