opening plenary

Gwen van de Pas

Gwen van de Pas is a Dutch filmmaker living in Amsterdam. A survivor of child sexual abuse herself, she recently directed a feature-length documentary on the subject called GROOMED. Two-time Oscar-winning film maker Bill Guttentag produced the film alongside her. Besides closely following Gwen’s own experiences as a survivor, GROOMED provides an in-depth exploration of the grooming process, including perspectives from five other survivors as well as a sexual offender. Gwen studied Film and Theater Science in The Netherlands, holds an MBA from Stanford. Besides her work as a filmmaker, Gwen holds the position of Talent VP at Consulting firm Bain & Company. Passionate about stories that matter, she’s ready to tell the story of GROOMED.

To understand her ongoing traumas, Gwen travels to meet survivors, psychologists, and even a convicted sex offender. What begins as an exploration into grooming becomes a dramatic journey where Gwen faces unexpected revelations in her case, finally finds her anger, and boldly confronts the evil we’d rather ignore.

Timothy Rountree

Timothy Rountree is a survivor of several years of physical and sexual child abuse. He is also a detective with the Mesquite Police Department in Texas and is currently assigned to the Child Abuse Unit. Based on his personal experience as both an investigator and survivor, he has a unique perspective and understanding of the pains of child abuse. Timothy desires to use his first-hand personal and professional experience to help the next generation of child abuse survivors. He was born and raised in Mesquite Texas. In 2010 Timothy married his college sweetheart and they now have three beautiful kids together.

Greg Smith

Greg Smith has been involved in public service for his entire adult life. He served in the United States Navy Submarine Service for ten years. Upon leaving the service, he began a career in law enforcement, serving on both police departments and sheriff’s offices in South Carolina, Missouri, and Kansas for 18 years.

In 2008, Smith left law enforcement to pursue a career in public education. He taught high school history and U.S. government classes in Kansas. In 2010, Smith ran for public office and was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives where he served on various committees, including the House Committee on Corrections & Juvenile Justice and the House Judiciary Committee. He championed issues such as the “Penn State” law, compliance with the Adam Walsh Act, and Caylee’s Law – all of which successfully passed in Kansas. In 2012, Greg was elected to the Kansas Senate, serving as the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Corrections & Juvenile Justice. In the Senate, he was the sole sponsor of legislation that improved the reporting and investigation of missing persons. He also worked to successfully strengthen the penalties for the crime of murder as well as several crime-victim-centered reforms.

In 2007, Greg’s daughter, Kelsey Smith, was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered. The case made international and national news and led Greg and his wife Missey to start the Kelsey Smith Foundation® (KSF).

The work of the Foundation has led to awareness of the Kelsey Smith Act throughout the United States. This life-saving legislation, now law in 23 states, allows immediate access to cell phone location data by law enforcement for persons who are missing and deemed in peril of bodily harm or death. Work is underway to pass the measure at the federal level. KSF also provides seminars on various safety topics to youth and young adults across the United States as well as training about Kelsey’s case and the impact it has on law enforcement operations.

John Walsh

John Walsh is known internationally as a crime fighter, victims’ advocate and host of the nation’s longest-running primetime program and number-one crime-fighting show, America’s Most Wanted and CNN/HLN’s series, The Hunt with John Walsh. In continuing the fight to bring fugitives to justice, John is busy with his upcoming series, In Pursuit with John Walsh on Discovery ID which will air in early 2019. Walsh’s extensive television career has helped law enforcement capture more than 1,500 fugitives and recover more than 50 missing children. A career in fighting crime is one Walsh never expected, but justice has been his life’s mission since July 27, 1981 – the day his son, Adam, was abducted from a mall near his home in Hollywood, Florida. Adam was found murdered two weeks later. Walsh and his wife Revé turned their grief into action and without a badge or a gun, Walsh quickly became a nationally recognized leader in the fight for victims’ rights. In 1984, the Walshes and other child advocates incorporated the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation to help find missing children and prevent child victimization. Walsh has authored three best-selling books: Tears of Rage, No Mercy and Public Enemies, which chronicle his family’s fight for justice and recount some of toughest cases he’s faced over the years.

Patty Wetterling

Patty Wetterling is the mother of Jacob Wetterling, who was abducted at the age of eleven by a masked gunman on October 22, 1989 near his home in St. Joseph, Minnesota. On September 1, 2016, nearly twenty-seven years after his abduction, Jacob’s remains were found and his abductor arrested. Patty has become a nationally recognized educator on child abduction and sexual exploitation of children. Patty co-founded the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center (JWRC) and Team H.O.P.E. a national support group for families of missing children. Patty co-authored the books, “When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide,” and “Perspectives on Missing Persons Cases.” Patty was Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from 2012-2015 and remains a champion of hope for families whose children are still missing and for prevention of sexual exploitation and abduction.

Sasha Joseph Neulinger

Sasha Joseph Neulinger (B.A. in Film Production at Montana State University) is the co-founder and Head of Production at Step 1 Films. He has worked behind the scenes on National Geographic’s award winning series, “America, The Wild” as a post production assistant. At Step 1 Films, he has produced, directed, and edited multiple commercial videos for various corporate clients nationally. He is currently directing his first feature length documentary, “Rewind To Fast-Forward,” an autobiographical film about his life surviving multigenerational child sexual abuse. In April 2014, Sasha launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for his film, and in doing so became the 6th most backed documentary in Kickstarter history, raising over $176,000 from the support of 4,395 supporters. In October 2014, Sasha directed an Emmy Award Winning Film crew in Philadelphia, and completed principal photography forRewind To Fast-Forward during a three week film shoot. While working to raise the finishing funds for Rewind To Fast-Forward, and directing the post-production team, Sasha also travels nationally as a public speaker, advocating for reforms in child advocacy and child abuse prevention. On March 27th, 2015, Sasha presented at TEDxBozeman. His presentation was titled “Trauma Is Irreversible. How It Shapes Us Is Our Choice.” Since it was released to the public on May 20th, 2015, Sasha’s TEDx Talk has been viewed over 78,000 times to date, reaching survivors internationally.