Cybele Kotonias

Cybele Kotonias leads Arnold Ventures’ fines and fees reform portfolio. She develops and oversees strategic investments to eliminate criminal justice fees, ensure fines for violating the law are equitably assessed and collected, and abolish juvenile fines and fees. Cybele previously managed research grants, focusing on community supervision, prison reform, fines and fees reform, and reentry.

Before joining Arnold Ventures, Cybele conducted criminal justice research and advised on policy reform for more than seven years, holding positions at the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, FWD.us, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. Her research focused on state and federal sentencing and corrections policy, reentry following incarceration, and prosecutorial practice. At the Urban Institute, Cybele helped counties build cross-agency collaborations and improve jail reentry outcomes, and conducted policy analyses for the congressionally-mandated Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections. She also worked with the Policy Advocacy Clinic at Berkeley Law, where she provided strategic guidance to jurisdictions working to abolish fines and fees in juvenile justice systems.

Cybele holds a master’s of public policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s in political science and Latin American Studies from Macalester College. She resides in Washington D.C. with her husband and daughter.