OUR TEAM

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jason Gichner is Executive Director at The Tennessee Innocence Project. Jason is a veteran litigator who has spent his career fighting for clients in the courtroom. Jason received his undergraduate degree with Honors from Colgate University before graduating from Vanderbilt University Law School. Upon graduation from Vanderbilt, Jason joined the Office of the Metropolitan Nashville Public Defender. As a senior trial attorney and Team Leader, he represented thousands of clients and tried numerous jury cases to verdict. Jason subsequently worked in private practice for a decade at Nashville law firms handling complex civil litigation. He is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Association, graduate of the Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law Program and a member of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court. He served as Counsel to the State Task Force on Indigent Representation and is a former member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Middle District of Tennessee. Jason is consistently named to the annual list of Super Lawyers for the Mid-South and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School.

LEGAL DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER

Jessica Van Dyke graduated from the University of Tennessee Law School, where, as a law student, she cut her teeth on post-conviction work in the university's Wrongful Convictions Clinic. She has remained passionate about wrongful convictions and after eight years at Parker Lawrence Cantrell & Smith, left the firm in January 2019 to help launch the Tennessee Innocence Project. Jessica is a proud graduate of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and received her Master’s from Vanderbilt University. Jessica has served on the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Board of Directors and served for several years as the organization’s Indigent Defense Chair. She has been the recipient of TACDL’s Workhorse Award and the Robert W. Ritchie Service Award. She is a member of the Nashville Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

Becca joined the Tennessee Innocence Project in 2024 with 20+ years of executive and organizational management experience in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Specializing in nonprofit operations and development, Becca has guided small and large organizations to operational success over her two decades in the workforce. Beginning after receiving her degree at Lipscomb University, Becca would spend eight years as the Regional Operations Manager of a national fitness facility chain before joining the Metro Public Health Department in 2010. It's at this point that Becca truly began to combine her skill for organizational success with her passion for cause-based work and social change. From within MPHD, Becca would steer numerous high-profile assignments including as Davidson County's Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, tackling food deserts in Nashville, and the revitalization of Metro Animal Care and Control. When she took on the special assignment in 2013, MACC had a euthanasia rate of 75%. Within a year, the number was reduced to 30%, and 10% within a year after that. She would introduce a community cat program to Nashville, and help abolish Nashville's "ban" on bully breed dogs. Becca would go on to become the Director of Operations and Development at Nashville Humane Association modernizing their fundraising and operational procedures. During her time at Nashville Humane she would focus the organization on "both sides of the leash" creating human service programs to help divert intake and reduce pets in shelters. She would be selected to speak at the Best Friends National Conference and help NHA break year-over-year fundraising records and operational success during difficult pandemic periods, including winning a Frist Foundation Achievement Award in 2021. Becca would go on to serve as the Executive Director for the Nashville Tree Foundation before returning to her passion of social change and justice.

STAFF ATTORNEY, MEMPHIS

Quinn Carlson was a civil litigator in private practice for 17 years in Memphis, TN before joining the Tennessee Innocence Project in 2024. Quinn received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado Boulder and then served as an AmeriCorps volunteer with Save the Children before attending Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude. While in private practice, Quinn represented clients in state and federal court and tried several cases to verdict. During this time, Quinn remained committed to social justice through her pro bono work with veterans, asylum seekers and victims of domestic abuse, and ultimately oversaw a team of lawyers representing a client on death row. Quinn served on the board of the Community Legal Center for several years and has been consistently named to the annual list of Super Lawyers Rising Stars for the Mid-South. Quinn is a member of the Leo Bearman, Sr. Inn of Court, Memphis Bar Association and Tennessee Bar Association.

STAFF ATTORNEY, MEMPHIS

Connor attended Carleton College and Vanderbilt University Law School, where he served on the Moot Court Board. While in law school, he interned for two years with the Nashville Office of the District Attorney, where he gained experience working with the Conviction Review Unit and assisting with criminal prosecutions. After graduating law school, he began his legal career in insurance litigation before coming to work with the Tennessee Innocence Project in 2022. Connor is a member of the Memphis, Nashville, and Tennessee Bar Associations and is deeply committed to pursuing justice for his clients.

STAFF ATTORNEY, NASHVILLE

Madison Lowery proudly serves as a staff attorney for the Tennessee Innocence Project. Madison is a graduate of Central Michigan University in her home state where she taught high school English for three years before her passion for criminal defense law and innocence work inspired a career change. Madison received her law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2023 where she served on the executive board of Vanderbilt’s Journal of Transnational Law. During her years in law school, Madison honed her passion for public service through internships with Legal Services of South-Central Michigan, the Nashville Office of Public Defenders, and the Tennessee Innocence Project. Upon graduation, Madison was awarded the George Barrett Social Justice Fellowship which granted her the opportunity to assist the Tennessee Innocence Project in strengthening reentry services to clients as they transition back into the community.

DONOR RELATIONS & EVENTS ASSOCIATE

Gabrielle Dalton serves as the Donor Relations and Events Associate at the Tennessee Innocence Project. Originally from Nashville, she pursued her studies in Public Policy and French Language at the University of Chicago. Through her academic journey, Gabrielle developed a strong passion for criminal justice reform policy and the intersection of criminal justice and housing policy. With an interest in law, Gabrielle aspires to return to law school in the coming years to further explore criminal justice and policy in the United States. She has prior experience in nonprofit development and brings valuable event planning skills to her role. Gabrielle has authored and presented a report summarizing findings from housing-related focus groups conducted in Chicago. She remains open to new ideas and perspectives on improving affordable housing across the country. Gabrielle is honored to contribute to the exoneration efforts of the Tennessee Innocence Project, where she actively supports initiatives aimed at justice reform.

DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATE

Emma Zyriek-Rhodes is delighted to join the TIP team as Development and Communications Associate! Emma is passionate about providing care to all those impacted by the criminal justice system, including and especially the wrongfully convicted. She comes to TIP with several years of experience in the Memphis development sector, and has worked for a variety of local nonprofits, including Opera Memphis, The Collective Blueprint, and Indie Memphis. Emma holds a master's degree in theological studies from Vanderbilt University Divinity School and a bachelor's degree in political science and music from Furman University. She lives in Memphis with her husband, daughter, and two lazy beagles.

OFFICE & EXECUTIVE SUPPORT COORDINATOR

Hayden MacMath serves as the Office & Executive Support Coordinator at the Tennessee Innocence Project. Growing up in Chicago and Atlanta, he decided to pursue a degree in Social Work from Belmont University. During his education, Hayden became passionate about criminal justice reform through meaningful internships and insightful classes. Before TIP, he gained operations and management experience working for a large regional telecommunications company. He is an avid music lover, and in his free time enjoys playing the drums and spinning vinyl. Hayden is humbled to contribute to the important work of the Tennessee Innocence Project, combining his social work and management experience to help free the wrongfully convicted. 

INTAKE FELLOW

Margaret Wilson graduated with honors from Harvard University in May 2019 with a B.A. in History & Science with a Secondary Field in Global Health & Health Policy. She wrote her honors thesis on current mass tort opioid litigation, historically analyzing it against the Big Tobacco litigation of the 1990s, and the role of litigation in driving public health and policy change. After graduation, Margaret completed a two-year term as a Litigation Program Paralegal at Ropes & Gray LLP in Boston, where she served on case teams for matters ranging from investigations of electronic health records companies to a multibillion-dollar M&A trial matter, and on diverse pro bono work, including asylum intake, eviction clinics, and anti-trafficking legislation. Margaret served a two-semester term with the Interns & Fellows Program of International Justice Mission (IJM), which works to protect the global poor from violent injustice through justice system transformation. Margaret supported the work of the D.C.-based South Asia team and South Asia-based field offices focused on ending bonded labor slavery and sex trafficking, as well as expansion into an additional country with a programmatic focus on combatting commercial sexual exploitation of children. During college, Margaret interned with the CDC Foundation, Mercy Care, and Lawyers Without Borders.

INTAKE FELLOW

Maci Allred joins the Tennessee Innocence Project as an Intake Fellow after earning her B.A. from Vanderbilt University in both Political Science and Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her senior capstone focused on the factors that contribute to the normalization of discrimination and prejudice in small Southern communities. During her time at Vanderbilt, Maci gained valuable experience interning with environmental organizations advocating for clean air, water, and energy, and with a local judicial candidate who prioritized successful reentry initiatives. Through her research and volunteer work with reentry organizations, Maci discovered her passion for innocence work and recognized the critical need for it in Tennessee.

INVESTIGATOR

Marc Caudel proudly serves as the Investigator for the Tennessee Innocence Project based in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. After having been honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy where he served as a Hospital Corpsman for 10 years, he began his legal career with the Shelby County Public Defender’s office in Memphis. He subsequently worked for the Federal Public Defender’s office in the Western District of Pennsylvania as well as the Eastern District of California’s Capital Habeas Unit. Marc has over twenty years of experience in assisting in the representation of indigent clients and is devoted to the pursuit of freeing the innocent. As an investigator, he has worked on over 400 First Degree Murder cases in both State and Federal court and well countless number of other felony cases that include a wide array of crimes. While working in conjunction with the defense attorney, he has been instrumental in being able to create reasonable doubt in numerous cases that either resulted in dismissals, acquittals, or plea agreements for lesser offenses. Mr. Caudel is a member of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (TACDL), National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), National Defense Investigator Association (NDIA), and an advisory council member of the Tennessee Innocence Project.