The DomesticShelters.org Team

Gael Strack, Esq, CEO, Alliance for HOPE International

Gael Strack is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of the Alliance. Gael is a national expert on domestic violence and strangulation. Prior to this position, Gael was the founding director of the San Diego Family Justice Center, former prosecutor with the San Diego City Attorney’s Office, defense attorney, and deputy county counsel.

Casey Gwinn, Esq, President, Alliance for HOPE International

Casey is the visionary behind the Family Justice Center Movement, first proposing the concept of the Family Justice Center model in 1989. He is a national expert on domestic violence dynamics, including investigation and prosecution, the handling of non-fatal strangulation cases, and is one of the leading thinkers in the country on the science of hope. Casey was the elected San Diego City Attorney from 1996-2004 and founded Camp HOPE America in 2003.

Ashley Rumschlag, National Director of DomesticShelters.org

Ashley joined the team in 2017 after over a decade in the hospitality industry where she focused on growing membership bases and leveraging technology to improve the client experience. Her work for DomesticShelters.org includes helping launch the Purple Ribbon Awards, Facebook Group and a variety of website enhancements. She is a trained domestic violence advocate, supporting victims and survivors who reach out to DomesticShelters.org.  For Ashley, the best part of working with this organization is the opportunity to solve problems that otherwise might not be solved for domestic violence survivors.

Rita Smith, Expert Consultant

Rita is a nationally recognized expert in domestic violence who has been interviewed by hundreds of newspaper reporters, appeared on many local and national radio and television news shows, including the Washington Post, USA Today, People Magazine, NPR, The Today Show, Good Morning America and Oprah Winfrey Show. She began her career in 1981 as a shelter crisis line advocate and ascended to lead the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) from 1992-2014 where she established the original relationship between DomesticShelters.org and NCADV. Rita doubles as a consultant to the non-profit 501(c)3 Theresa’s Fund Inc., which operates DomesticShelters.org. Smith currently serves as a senior advisor to the National Football League on policy and training issues related to domestic violence and sexual assault.

Hannah Craig, Director of Content

Hannah Craig joined the DomesticShelters.org team in 2021. As Director of Content, Hannah focuses on helping more people find DomesticShelters.org and its domestic violence education resources by creating and implementing digital strategies as well as content such as videos and articles. Hannah is a trained domestic violence advocate and comes to DomesticShelters.org with over a decade of content creation experience including content that has been featured on USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Bloomberg, and Essence.

Amanda Kippert, Editor-in-Chief

Amanda Kippert joined the DomesticShelters.org team in 2014. As an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years experience, as well as a trained domestic violence advocate, she has spent the last decade reporting exclusively on issues surrounding intimate partner violence and abuse. Her work has been featured in several national publications including A&E and HuffPost. Her year-long investigation into domestic violence in the military, "A Forgotten Crisis," was nominated for a New York Deadline Club award. Amanda also co-hosts the podcast Toxic.

Rachael Myers, Senior Digital Services Specialist

Rachael joined the team in 2020 after 8 years in the product management field where she used her creativity to improve the product management cycle and grow sales. Her work for DomesticShelters.org includes assisting domestic violence programs with account management and onboarding, marketing projects such as email campaigns, social media, content creation and all things DomesticShelters.org.