Board of Directors

Steady Direction and Sound Strategy

With decades of combined business and leadership experience, CoreCivic’s Board of Directors guide and support the vision of our organization. They ensure accountability and instill governance. Together, the CoreCivic Board works with management to drive our leadership in making prudent, ethical decisions that benefit and protect all those we serve.

Mark A. Emkes, Chairman of the Board
Mark Emkes joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in August 2014, and serves as the independent chairman of the Board. He also serves as a member of CoreCivic’s Compensation Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee, and Chairman of the Executive Committee. From 2011 until 2013, Emkes served as the State of Tennessee’s Commissioner of Finance and Administration. For more than five years until his retirement in 2010, Emkes served as chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Directors of Bridgestone Americas, Inc. and Bridgestone Americas Holdings, Inc., a tire and rubber manufacturing company. He also served as president of Bridgestone Americas, Inc. from January 2009 until his retirement. From 2004 until 2010, Emkes served as a director of Bridgestone Corporation located in Tokyo, Japan. Emkes serves as a director and chairman of the compensation committee of Greif, Inc., a publicly traded industrial packaging products and services company, and is a former director and chair of the audit committee of First Horizon National Corporation, a publicly traded regional financial institution. Emkes has served as president of the Middle Tennessee Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and the Advisory Board of Habitat for Humanity, Nashville Chapter. Emkes was the 2011 recipient of the Jennings A. Jones Champion of Free Enterprise Award and was inducted into the Nashville Business Hall of Fame in 2012. Emkes holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from DePauw University and a master’s degree in business administration from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Robert J. Dennis
Robert Dennis joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in February 2013, and serves as chair of CoreCivic's Compensation Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee. Dennis served as the executive chairman of the Board of Directors of Genesco Inc., a publicly traded retailer of footwear, apparel and accessories, from February 2020 to June 2020. Previously, he served as Genesco’s president and chief executive officer from 2008 until 2020, and as chairman from 2010 to 2020. Prior to joining Genesco, Dennis held senior management positions with Hat World Corporation and Asbury Automotive, and was a partner and leader of the North American Retail Practice with McKinsey & Company. Dennis serves as a director and member of the Governance Committee, the Finance and Investments Committee, and as the chair of the Compensation Committee at HCA Holdings Inc., a publicly traded health care services company. He serves on the Board of Trustees at the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, the Board of Leadership Nashville, and the Board of Nashville Chamber of Commerce. Dennis holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a master’s degree in business administration, with distinction, from the Harvard Business School.

Alexander R. Fischer
Alex Fischer joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in March 2024. He is the founder of Alex R. Fischer and Company, which offers strategic advisory services on corporate strategy, real estate development, and economic development, operating in such capacity since 2021. He is also a Partner with The New Albany Company, the master developer for more than 20,000 acres of mixed-use development. He previously served as President and CEO of the Columbus Partnership from 2009 to 2021 and undertaking various positions at Battelle Memorial Institute, including Senior Vice President for Business and Commercialization from 2002 to 2009. Earlier, Mr. Fischer served as Commissioner of Economic Development, Deputy Governor, and Chief of Staff for the State of Tennessee from 1997 to 2002. Mr. Fischer currently serves on the Board of Directors of Advanced Drainage Systems, a publicly traded drainage products and services company, where he chairs the Nominating and Governance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee. Mr. Fischer also currently serves as a director of Nationwide Children's Hospital, where he previously served as Chair; White Oak Partners, as Chair; Andelyn Biosciences; and Downtown Columbus, Inc., also as Chair. He previously served on the board of trustees for The Ohio State University.  

Mr. Fischer holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Public Administration and a Master of Science in Urban Planning and Economic Development, both from the University of Tennessee.  

Catherine Hernandez-Blades
Catherine Hernandez-Blades joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in March 2024. Until January 2024, she served as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications for SAIC, a Fortune 500 technology integrator. Before joining SAIC in 2021, beginning in 2014, Ms. Hernandez-Blades held roles of increasing responsibility at Aflac, Inc., a publicly traded provider of supplemental health insurance and life insurance products, concluding in the role of Senior Vice President, Chief ESG and Communications Officer, which she held from 2019 to 2021. From 2017 to 2019, Ms. Hernandez-Blades served as Aflac's Senior Vice President, Chief Brand and Communications Officer. From 2014 to 2017, Ms. Hernandez-Blades served as Aflac's Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications. From 2011 to 2014, Ms. Hernandez-Blades served as Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Flextronics International Limited, a NASDAQ-traded public company specializing in electronics manufacturing services and original design manufacturing. From 2008 to 2011, Ms. Hernandez-Blades served as Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs for Raytheon, a defense contractor and industrial corporation. Ms. Hernandez-Blades is a Trustee for the Institute for Public Relations and serves as the U.S. representative on the Advisory Board of the World Communications Forum Association - Davos. In 1999, she was appointed Executive Director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board by the state’s then-serving governor, Mike Foster. She previously served as chair of Operation Homefront, a nationally recognized non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) dedicated to supporting America's military families. She has won an EMMY; is in three halls of fame (PR News, Women in Communications, and the PRWeek Hall of Femme); has two Cannes Lions; and is the first American to win the Relations 4 the Future medal at Davos. She was a 2019 Forbes Top 50 Most Influential Global CMO and was honored as the 2019 Latina Style magazine Corporate Executive of the Year.  

Ms. Hernandez-Blades holds a Bachelor of Arts, Mass Communications from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and is a Fellow of the Loyola University Institute of Environmental Communication. 

Damon T. Hininger
Damon Hininger has served as a director since August 2009. Hininger was named President and Chief Executive Officer in August 2009, having previously been appointed as President and Chief Operating Officer in July 2008. Damon served as Senior Vice President of Federal and Local Customer Relations since September 2007 after having served as Vice President of Federal and Local Customer Relations since June 2002. Hininger previously served CoreCivic as Vice President, Business Analysis since December 2000. He has also served the company as Director, Strategic Planning and Director Proposal Development.

Hininger joined the company in 1992 as a correctional officer at Leavenworth Detention Center in Leavenworth, Kansas, and was promoted to Training Manager at Central Arizona Detention Center in 1994. That same year, Hininger was also selected as both Central Arizona Detention Center's and CoreCivic 's company-wide Employee of the Year. He joined the corporate office in 1995, serving as Manager, Facility Start Up for three years. Hininger earned a bachelor of science degree from Kansas State University and a master's in business administration from the Jack Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University in Nashville. 

Stacia Hylton
Stacia Hylton joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in August 2016, and is a member of CoreCivic's Nominating and Governance Committee and Risk Committee. Since April 2022, Ms. Hylton has served as the Chief Executive Officer of KACE Company, a digital intelligence and cyber forensic company. Since 2016, Hylton has served as a principal for LS Advisory, a New Jersey-based business solutions advisory consultancy. In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Hylton to serve as Director of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), a federal agency with more than 5,600 employees responsible for federal judiciary security, fugitive operations, asset forfeitures, prisoner operations, transportation and witness security, and served as director of the USMS until her retirement in 2015. She served as the U.S. Attorney General’s Federal Detention Trustee in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2004 to 2010. From 1980 to 2004, Hylton served in progressively senior leadership positions within the USMS. She serves as a director and member of the audit committee of Spok Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded provider of communications solutions. She also serves on the Board of Directors at LexisNexis Special Services Inc., a software solutions company for government agencies. Hylton is a fellow for the National Academy for Public Administration and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Law Enforcement Exploring. She has served on the Executive Committee for the International Chiefs of Police and the Accreditation and Policy Committees for the National Sheriffs Association. Hylton holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University.

Harley G. Lappin
Harley Lappin joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in January 2018, and was also employed at CoreCivic as a special operations advisor to the leadership from January 2018 until February 2022. Lappin served as CoreCivic's executive vice president and chief corrections officer from 2011 until his retirement from such position on January 1, 2018. Prior to joining CoreCivic in 2011, Lappin served from 2003 to 2011 as director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). As director of the BOP, Lappin had oversight and management responsibility for 116 federal prisons, 14 private contract facilities and more than 250 contracts for community corrections facilities, in total managing more than 38,000 employees. Lappin has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Associate Warden of the Year award for the BOP’s South Central Region (1992); the BOP’s Excellence in Prison Management Award (2000); the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Management (2001); and the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive (2004). In 2010, he received the American Correctional Association’s (ACA) E.R. Cass Award for Correctional Achievement, the highest honor bestowed by that organization. In 2015, Lappin received the Louie L. Wainwright Award from the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA). Lappin has served as chair of the Standards Committee of the ACA, is a former board member of both the National Institute of Corrections and the Federal Prison Industry Board, and a former chair of the Prison Industry Committee of ASCA. Lappin holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Kent State University.

Anne L. Mariucci
Anne L. Mariucci joined the Board of Directors in 2011 and serves as a member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee. Mariucci spent the majority of her career in the large-scale community development and home building business. She was employed by Del Webb Corporation from 1984-2003 and served in a variety of senior management capacities, including serving as President following its merger with Pulte Homes Inc., which created the nation's largest homebuilding company. Since 2003, Mariucci has been affiliated with the private equity firms Hawkeye Partners (Austin, Texas), Inlign Capital Partners (Phoenix, Arizona), and Glencoe Capital (Chicago, Illinois). Mariucci received her undergraduate degree in accounting and finance from the University of Arizona and completed the corporate finance program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She presently serves on the Arizona Board of Regents, and is its immediate past-chairman. She also serves as a director of Southwest Gas Company, Scottsdale Healthcare, Arizona State University Foundation, and the Fresh Start Women's Foundation. She is a past director of the Arizona State Retirement System and Action Performance Companies, as well as a past Trustee of the Urban Land Institute. 

Thurgood Marshall, Jr.
Thurgood Marshall Jr. joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in December 2002, and serves as chair of CoreCivic's Risk Committee and as a member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Marshall served as a member of CoreCivic's Special Litigation Committee until July 30, 2020. Until his retirement in 2019, he served as a partner in the Washington D.C. office of the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and a principal in the firm’s Morgan Lewis Consulting Group LLC, which assists business clients with communications, political and legal strategies. Marshall has held appointments in all three branches of the federal government. Prior to joining a predecessor of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in 2001, he served as assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary from 1997 to 2001. Marshall has served as director of Legislative Affairs and deputy counsel to the Vice President and as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Senate Government Affairs Committee. In 2006, he was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service and served as Chairman prior to completing his service in 2013. Marshall serves as a director of Genesco Inc., a publicly traded retailer of footwear, apparel and accessories. He also serves on the board of En+ Group, a publicly traded multi-national corporation producing low-carbon aluminum and hydropower, and the board of DRB Financial, a privately held financial services firm. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Ford Foundation and the Ethics and Compliance Certification Institute. Marshall serves as a trustee on four non-profit boards: The Third Way, Campaign Legal Center, President Lincoln’s Cottage and the DC Grays. Marshall holds a bachelor’s degree and a juris doctor from the University of Virginia.

Devin I. Murphy
Devin Murphy joined CoreCivic's Board of Directors in November 2018 and serves on CoreCivic's Audit and Risk Committees. He also serves on CoreCivic's Nominating and Governance Committee. Since March 2019, Murphy has served as president of Phillips Edison and Company, Inc., a non-traded internally managed public REIT that is one of the nation’s largest owners and operators of grocery-anchored shopping centers. Murphy served as Phillips Edison and Company, Inc.’s chief financial officer from 2013 until he was named president in March 2019. Before joining Phillips Edison and Company, Inc. in 2013, Murphy worked for 27 years as an investment banker and held senior leadership roles at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. Murphy was the Global Head of Real Estate Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank, where his team executed over 500 transactions representing total transaction volume in excess of $400 billion, including initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, common stock offerings and secured and unsecured debt offerings. Murphy began his banking career at Morgan Stanley in 1986, and held a number of senior positions at Morgan Stanley including vice chairman, co-head of U.S. Real Estate Investment Banking and head of Real Estate Private Capital Markets. He also served on the Investment Committee of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds, a series of global private real estate funds with over $35 billion in assets under management. During his 20 years with Morgan Stanley, Murphy and his teams executed numerous capital markets and merger and acquisition transactions. Murphy is a director of Apartment Income REIT Corporation (AIRC), a NYSE listed apartment REIT, and serves on the Audit, Compensation, and Nominating Committees of AIRC. Murphy is an advisory director of Hawkeye Partners, a real estate private equity firm headquartered in Austin, Texas, and of Trigate Capital, a real estate private equity firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Murphy holds a bachelor's degree in English and history with honors from the College of William and Mary and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan.

John R. Prann, Jr.
John Prann, Jr. has served as a director since December 2000. Mr. Prann serves as Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation Committee. Prann served from 1993 to 2001 as president and CEO of Katy Industries, Inc., a publicly-traded manufacturer and distributor of consumer electric corded products and maintenance cleaning products. From 1991 to 1995, he was president and CEO of CRL, Inc., an equity and real estate development company, which held a 25% interest in Katy. A former partner with the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche, Mr. Prann serves on the boards of several institutions including Dynojet Research, Inc., Student Leadership Institute and Cardinal Cushing School and is an advocate of education and youth issues. A 1974 graduate of the University of California, Riverside, Prann obtained his master's in business administration from the University of Chicago in 1979.