Law Operations Division

The Law Operations Division, provides administrative support for the Kentucky Public Advocacy statewide system in order to fulfill the statutory mandate of KRS Chapter 31 of high quality representation of clients. Those duties include providing: caseload data and analysis, fiscal information, professional work environment, technology, recruitment of high quality staff, personnel actions, criminal justice issue analysis, grant application and management, payroll and health benefits, and library information services. The Division works to help defender staff operate efficiently and effectively.

Michael Rodgers michaeld.rodgers@ky.gov joined DPA in 2007 as an IPA for the Trial Division working directly with Division Director Damon Preston and became Director of Law Operations in January of 2009.

Before joining DPA, Michael Rodgers has had a significant breadth of leadership experience. He has over 25 years of proven results in business management.
Rodgers served as General Manager & Ambassador of Geek Squad City located in Louisville KY. Geek Squad City is the largest computer repair services facility of its kind in North America. With over 650 employees, it is also the largest concentration of Geek Squad Agents in the world. Rodgers brought to this position over 25 years of executive management experience in retail and service management. Geek Squad is a brand owned by Best Buy, a Fortune 100 company and North America’s leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics.  

For 18 1/2 years, Rodgers was with Thornton Oil Corporation, a $1 billion organization, in a variety of positions, working his way up from a store Manager to Director of Product Development, Director of Marketing,  Vice-President of Planning and eventually the Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. He was one of a 6 member Executive Staff Team leading Strategic Planning and providing oversight of the Financial Performance of the company. After leaving Thornton’s, he was Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for Novelty Incorporated, an international distributor of novelties to 15,000 convenience stores in 45 states.

Rodgers graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a B.A. degree in Public Administration and Political Science. He is involved in our communities. His current and past professional affiliations include  he served 5 years in the U.S. Army National Guard. He served on the Advisory board of the Salvation Army’s Louisville Boys and Girls Club, Connect Kentucky Advisory Board, Bullitt County School Systems Technology Advisory Council, and was an active member of Greater Louisville Inc. He also concluded service on the board of the Louisville Science Center and was the past Chairman of the Board and Deacon of Capital City Christian Church and the Board of ALS advancing the service to those afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Michael lives in Frankfort with his wife Jackie and their three son’s Sean, Seth & Steele.

Human Resources Branch Manager Sherri Payne sherri.payne@ky.gov began  her career with DPA in December of 2010.  Prior to coming to DPA, Sherri had 13 years of state government experience working with the Department of Juvenile Justice and Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center.  Her educational achievements include a Bachelor Degree in Business Management from Sullivan University in which she graduated with honors and was the recipient of the President’s Cup.  Sherri resides in Louisville with her husband and has two sons and two grandchildren.

Information Technology Branch Manager Scott Richard scott.richard@ky.gov (Profile coming soon)

Fiscal Branch Manager Dave Morris davidw.morris@ky.gov has been the Administrative Branch Manager of DPA since September 2010 and has responsibility for all budgeting, accounting and business functions. David received his Business Administration degree (with emphasis on marketing and finance) from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. He worked as general managers for TruGreen before coming to Kentucky state government. He was hired initially as an Internal Policy Analyst in Law Operations and worked there until promoted to Administrative Branch Manager. All Dave’s family still lives in Ohio which is "home" for him. His wife Roberta, son Matthew, and daughter Tara all reside in Lexington.