Francey Hakes

Francey Hakes served as the first-ever National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction from January 2010 to March 2012. The United States Attorney General appointed her to the post, which was created by the U.S. Congress in the Protect The Children Act of 2008, and which was housed in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

As the first coordinator, Francey was responsible for creating the inaugural U.S. strategy addressing child sexual exploitation entitled, The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, which was submitted to the U.S. Congress in August 2010.

After submitting this first National Strategy to Congress, Francey was charged with its implementation. She lead multiple working groups across federal, state, local and international agencies, and regularly briefed the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, drafted remarks for delivery by the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, and helped prepare the Attorney General for testimony before the U.S. Congress. Francey also testified before the U.S. Congress and the United States Sentencing Commission, and briefed senior officials at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

Francey was a prosecutor for more than 15 years, serving first as a state prosecutor then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Francey has held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance as part of her work on national security investigations, and was lead counsel on dozens of trials.

She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with a Global Policy Studies Certificate, from the University of Georgia. Francey also holds a Juris Doctor from Ohio Northern University. She now runs her own consulting firm, Francey Hakes Consulting LLC, that provides advice in the field of child protection.