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Hon. Frederic B. Rodgers and Marybel A. Batjer, Appointed Chair and Chair-Elect of the Board of Trustees of the NJC

7/28/2009

The National Judicial College (NJC) is pleased to announce that Hon.
Frederic B. Rodgers, of Gilpin County Combined Courts in Black Hawk, Colo, has
become chair of the Board of Trustees of the NJC, and Marybel A. Batjer, vice president
of public policy and communications with Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., in Las Vegas,
Nev. was elected to chair-elect. The new positions became official at the June 19, 2009,
board meeting in Reno.

“Serving as chair of the board is a great honor in that it gives me the opportunity
to assist the NJC in its mission of advancing justice through judicial education,” said
Rodgers. “I am looking forward to leading the board in support of the NJC’s ongoing
effort to provide excellence in judicial education nationwide.”

Judge Rodgers was appointed to Colorado’s First Judicial District by the
Governor in 1986 and retained by election five times. He is presently assigned to the
Gilpin County Combined Courts in Black Hawk, Colo. He previously served as probate
judge for Jefferson County in Golden, Colo., from 2005 to 2007.

Judge Rodgers, who first attended NJC courses in the early 1980s, served on the
College’s faculty council. A faculty member since 1990, he is the first NJC faculty
council chair to be elected as chair of the Board of Trustees. Judge Rodgers, now in his
fifth decade as a judge, first took the bench in 1969 as one of the first U.S. Army military
judges in Viet Nam. He is a member of the Board of Governors and past-senior vice
president of the Colorado Bar Association, an 11-year member of the American Bar
Association (ABA) House of Delegates and is past-chair of the ABA Judicial Division.
He is a Colorado State Chair and Life Fellow for the American Bar Foundation. Judge
Rodgers has also provided judicial training and law drafting assistance to the Viet Nam
Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Justice from 2002 to 2004, helping that country
accede to the World Trade Organization in 2005.

Marybel A. Batjer is vice president of public policy and communications with
Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., in Las Vegas, Nev. and was elected to the position of chairelect
of the NJC Board of Trustees on June 19, 2009. Batjer will assume duties as board
chair in June 2010.

“The NJC has been a leader in the judicial education field since 1963, and I am
looking forward to collaborating with my fellow board members and NJC staff to
continue to provide the high level of commitment and service to the judiciary for which
the College is known,” Batjer said.

Ms. Batjer’s distinguished career in public policy and administration includes
local, multi-state and federal positions, as well as her current position with Harrah’s
Entertainment, Inc. in Las Vegas, a position she has held since 2005. Ms. Batjer has held
several senior leadership posts for executive branches of two state governments; held key
advisory roles for two U.S. presidential administrations, including positions in the
Pentagon; she is the former cabinet secretary to the governor of the State of California,
2002-2005; chief of staff to Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn; undersecretary, California
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency; chief deputy director, California
Department of Fair Employment and Housing; special assistant, Secretary of the Navy;
President’s special assistant, National Security Affairs; deputy executive secretary, the
National Security Council; assistant to Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger and
Deputy Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci; director of political planning, the National
Women’s Political Caucus; member, State of Nevada’s Colorado River Commission; and
is also a member of the Nevada Security Bank, Board of Directors.