Joe O’Leary is a coach with the Center for Improving Youth Justice (CIYJ) and principal of All Rise Strategies, a consulting practice specializing in executive coaching, change management, and leadership team development for mission-driven organizations.

From 2018 to 2025, O’Leary served as governor-appointed Director of the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA), overseeing statewide juvenile justice operations with a $200 million budget and 1,000 staff. He led initiatives to
embed a developmental approach in youth facilities, diversify the workforce, reduce isolation, and helped advance major legislative reforms, including the reversal of Oregon’s automatic waiver law ensuring youth begin in juvenile court unless a judge decides otherwise.

Previously, O’Leary was General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Ted Kulongoski, counsel to the Oregon Legislature’s Judiciary Committees, and a trial attorney in public defense and private practice. He
has also taught juvenile law as an adjunct professor and holds a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School.

O’Leary’s leadership has been recognized nationally: he has served on the boards of the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators (CJJA) and the Council of State Governments Justice Center, participated in Georgetown University’s Juvenile Justice Leadership Network, and received CJJA’s President’s Award. He is a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum of Oregon.