Leadership

John Whitty, Deputy Director of Operations

Charmise Jackson, Member and Committee Relations Manager

Shanna Devine, Director

Shanna Devine serves as the inaugural Director of the Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds. In that capacity, she is responsible for advising the House community on best practices for working with whistleblowers from the public and private sectors.

Prior to joining the House, Shanna was already partnering with Congress in a bipartisan capacity to strengthen working relationships with whistleblowers. Her experience began in 2008 with the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower support organization. As legislative director, she led campaigns that resulted in bipartisan passage of landmark whistleblower laws, including Congress' unanimous passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012. As an investigator, she worked with whistleblowers to safely verify their allegations and channel their knowledge to Congress for effective oversight. She routinely conducted trainings on best practices for working with whistleblowers, and in 2015 and 2016 she played a strategic role in the establishment of the bipartisan Senate and House Whistleblower Protection Caucuses.

Shanna earned her Master of Public Management degree from the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. She earned her bachelor's degree in Critical Theory and Social Justice from Occidental College.

Rebecca Jones, Deputy Director

Rebecca Jones serves as the Deputy Director of the House Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds. There, she works to support House offices in establishing best practice whistleblower intake systems; to provide trainings to House offices on how to safely and effectively work with whistleblowers from the public and private sectors; and to provide House staff with overviews of whistleblower laws.

Rebecca honed her expertise in the nonprofit sector. As a subject matter expert, she worked across the aisle to advocate for an ethical and accountable federal government through best practice whistleblower protections and other open government reforms such as strengthening the independence of federal inspectors general.

Rebecca has extensive experience working directly with whistleblowers and Congress, including helping individuals understand the legal landscape of protected whistleblowing and connecting whistleblowers with congressional offices to effect change.

Rebecca has testified before Congress about whistleblowing and co-authored a guidebook to help whistleblowers safely disclose waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.

Rebecca is licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland. She earned her J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law, and her B.A. in Political Science from Notre Dame of Maryland University.

John Whitty, Deputy Director of Operations

John Whitty serves as the Deputy Director of Operations where he works with the Director to assist House offices in establishing best practices for working with whistleblowers, as well as managing the office's financial and administrative responsibilities.

John’s prior experience includes direct representation of whistleblower clients, including advocacy and litigation, to help them expose and correct violations of the public trust while defending them from retaliation. John's passion for supporting whistleblowers began during his 36 years with the Department of Defense, in uniform and as a civilian. The last 20 years of John's civilian career with the DOD was as a network design engineer, focusing on network security architecture and systems engineering.

John is licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. He earned his J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law. He has a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University.

Charmise Jackson, Member and Committee Relations Manager

Charmise Jackson serves as the Member and Committee Relations Manager of the House Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds. There, she works closely with the director and deputy directors to manage the Office's outreach and engagement efforts with House offices and staff. She also develops strategies to increase the Office's reach and impact as well as the tracking and analysis of these efforts.

Charmise has over eight years of experience working in a nonpartisan capacity on Capitol Hill. Throughout these years, she has established and maintained positive working relationships with Member and Committee offices. Prior to joining the Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds, Charmise served as a clerk on the Science, Space & Technology Committee. As clerk, she worked closely with Members and staff during markups and hearings. She also was the liaison with the Office of the Clerk regarding official listings of Committee Members, updating the House Repository, scheduling reporters for hearings and markups, and managing and archiving committee records.

In 2019, Charmise joined the Office of the Clerk as a Public Information Specialist where she served as the point of contact for House Committees. She verified and documented information on legislative actions, proposed legislation, and findings on issues under investigation. She also assisted Member and Committee offices with Official Foreign Travel, Lobbying Disclosures, and researching Statements of Disbursements. In 2015, she worked as a Visitor Guide in the Capitol Visitor Center, where she gave specialized tours of the Capitol building to Members of Congress, high ranking officials, staff, and the public.

Charmise earned her bachelor's degree in Theatre from Towson University.