2022 Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference – Event Speakers

Debo Adegbile

Partner, Chair, Anti-Discrimination Practice,
WilmerHale

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Debo P. Adegbile, Chair of WilmerHale’s Anti-Discrimination Practice, focuses his practice on matters at the intersection of law, business, and government policy. He is currently a Commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, appointed by President Obama in 2016. Prior to joining the firm, Debo spent more than a decade working for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., where he served in several leadership roles, including as Director of Litigation, and also previously served as senior counsel to the Chair of the US Senate Judiciary Committee. Debo has significant experience leading and advising corporations in connection with civil rights audits, reviews and assessments, including for market leading global companies, and providing strategic counseling in an array of high-stakes matters and investigations. A nationally recognized civil rights lawyer, Debo has argued significant civil rights cases in the US Supreme Court and federal appellate courts. Debo is a member of WilmerHale’s Global Management Committee, Partner Compensation Committee, and firm-wide Executive Diversity and Inclusion Committee, among others. 

Damien Atkins

Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel,
Aura

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Damien Atkins is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Aura, a leader in consumer cybersecurity solutions, where he is responsible for legal, compliance, government affairs and internal audit. Prior to joining Aura, Damien was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for The Hershey Company, where he was responsible for leading the corporate secretary, government relations, legal, compliance, privacy, and corporate security functions.

Prior to joining Hershey in August of 2018, Damien was the General Counsel and Secretary for Panasonic Corporation of North America as well as the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Panasonic Enterprise Solutions, a $100M provider of audio and visual technology solutions. At Panasonic, Damien led the legal, government relations, compliance, and regulatory teams. Damien also led global legal teams in a multi-jurisdictional Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation.

Before Panasonic, Damien was Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel – Corporate and Chief Compliance Officer for AOL Inc., leading a range of high-profile legal matters for the company, including AOL’s spin‐off from Time Warner and AOL’s successful proxy fight defense against Starboard Value.

Damien began his legal career as a corporate associate at Chadbourne & Parke LLP (now known as Norton Rose LLP).

In November of 2020, the Hershey Legal Department was selected by the Financial Times as one of the most innovative in-house legal teams for Leadership Development and the Future of Work. Damien was named Corporate Counsel of the Year by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association in 2017 and General Counsel of the Year by the New Jersey Business Journal in 2016.

Damien holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Stanford University where he was Senior Class President, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Michelle Banks

Senior Advisor,
BarkerGilmore

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Michelle Banks is a Senior Advisor at BarkerGilmore specializing in providing executive coaching to corporate general counsel. Michelle also co-founded UCLA Law Women LEAD, a network of more than 3,700 women law students and alumnae at her alma mater; serves as a board member of DirectWomen, a nonprofit whose mission is to increase the representation of women lawyers on corporate boards; sits on the women’s leadership board at Orrick law firm; and annually chairs the LaddHer Up retreat for Ms. JD.

Until 2016, Michelle was Executive Vice President, Global General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer of global apparel retailer Gap Inc. Before joining Gap in 1999, Michelle worked as legal counsel for the Golden State Warriors NBA team and in Tokyo as American counsel for Itochu Corporation. Her prior law firm practice with Sheppard Mullin and Morrison & Foerster in California and New York focused on corporate finance and international commercial transactions.

From 2007-2017, Michelle served on the board of directors of MCCA. She served as board chair of MCCA from 2015-2017 and was a member of the board’s executive, governance, and strategy committees over her ten-year tenure. She also co-chaired MCCA’s diversity gala from 2015-2017.

Michelle has been recognized widely for her professional accomplishments and her dedication to enhancing the careers of others. She has been named a Legend in Law by the Burton Foundation, a Distinguished General Counsel by the Directors Roundtable, a Top General Counsel to Watch by Corporate Board Member, a Corporate Counsel Innovator by the Financial Times, an Influential Woman in Bay Area Business and a Corporate Counsel Diversity Champion by the San Francisco Business Times, a Most Powerful and Influential Woman by California Diversity Council, and a Woman of Achievement by Legal Momentum. Santa Clara University Law School presented her with their Social Justice and Human Rights award in 2014 and UCLA School of Law named her 2016 Alumni of the Year for Professional Achievement. In 2019, Michelle received the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Woman Lawyer of Achievement award.

In 2022, Michelle co-authored Women in Law Discovering the True Meaning of Success, an anthology available on Amazon and from other booksellers. This book chronicles the career journeys of 23 women lawyers and is intended to inspire and empower people to define their own pathways to success in their lives. Proceeds will be donated to the nonprofit Ms. JD.

Anne Lee Benedict

Chair,
MCCA’s N-Gen Advisory Board

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Anne serves as Chair of MCCA’s N-Gen Advisory Board. She is the former Chief Legal Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, and Secretary of Thomas James Homes, a leading replacement homebuilder on a mission to transform the U.S. single-family urban center housing market.  She served as a member of the corporate executive team responsible for setting the overall strategy of the organization, and her functional areas of responsibility included legal, risk management, corporate affairs, people management, and corporate administration.  he previously served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Secretary of an F1000 NYSE-listed building materials company.  Prior to that, Anne was a partner in the Washington DC office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she had practiced since 2000.  Her practice involved a wide range of corporate law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic transactions, securities offerings, securities regulation, and disclosure issues, and corporate governance matters.  he began her legal career with Chadbourne & Parke (now Norton Rose Fulbright) in New York in 1999.   

Anne graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1999. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1995. 

Upnit Bhatti

Senior Associate, Supreme Court & Appellate,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP

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A senior associate of Orrick’s Supreme Court & Appellate team, Upnit represents clients in federal and state courts at both the trial and appellate level, often embedding in trials as appellate counsel to draft dispositive motions and pre-trial filings and develop trial and appellate strategies. Her work covers a wide range of substantive areas, including products liability, complex commercial litigation, patent disputes, antitrust litigation, cybersecurity law, and constitutional and administrative law.  

Upnit has presented oral argument in state and federal courts and has co-authored briefs before state and federal trial and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Upnit also maintains an active pro bono practice, with a passion for immigration, racial justice, and reproductive rights issues. 

Upnit is on the Women Bar Association of DC’s Board of Directors and previously served as the Co-Chair of its Amicus Committee and Advocacy Committee. She mentors law students and new lawyers through the Appellate Project and as a member of the Syracuse University College of Law Alumni Association’s Board of Directors.

Kathlyn Card Beckles

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, & Corporate Secretary,
Verisk Analytics, Inc.

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Kathlyn Card Beckles is Verisk’s chief legal officer and corporate secretary, providing leadership for all legal aspects of the business, as well as leading corporate governance, compliance, and internal audit.

Kathy assists the company and its Board of Directors in driving Verisk’s strategy forward and pursuing all the best practices of a modern, well-run public company to maximize performance and ensure transparency.

Before joining Verisk, Kathy served as the General Counsel for Consumer Banking and Shared Services at JPMorgan Chase. Previously she led the company’s Card team, served as chief intellectual property (IP) counsel, and managed matters from IP litigation to entertainment and philanthropic sponsorships.

Her prior legal experience includes Kenyon & Kenyon, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the Chambers of the Hon. Edward Damich of the Court of Federal Claims. Before that, Kathy honed her operational and strategic problem-solving skills in analytical chemistry and process engineering positions.

Kathy’s many awards include Trailblazer Under 40 from the National Bar Association, Corporate Counsel of the Year from the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, and Black Achiever in Industry from the YMCA. In 2022, she was elected to the Board of Directors of Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange subsidiaries.

She holds a JD with honors from The George Washington University Law School and a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.  

Kathy is a board member and founder of the TEHEKA engineering scholarship at the University of Delaware and a board member of Mobilization for Justice, which offers free legal assistance to low-income New Yorkers.

 

Kori Carew

Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

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Kori leads Seyfarth’s efforts to expand the firm’s culture of inclusion and to advance diversity within our partnership. Kori focuses on inclusive leadership development, cultural fluency, skill building to mitigate bias, and success strategies for professionals from underrepresented groups to innovate, integrate, and operationalize diversity, inclusion, and belonging into the business and practice of law at Seyfarth.

Elena Centeio

Assistant General Counsel, Corporate Development & Strategy and Innovation,
General Motors

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Elena is an experienced corporate attorney who started her career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP 25 years ago and has since spent more than 15 years in-house. She proactively partners with business leaders at GM to balance risk and opportunity utilizing broad-based legal and business experience. Elena advises on M&A, financing matters, venture projects, co-developments, joint ventures, government contracting, and internal reorganizations. She is also fortunate to support the new business incubator within GM and ensures the team is well positioned to react quickly to differing risk profiles while remaining nimble. She gets to work on flying cars!

Her passion is enabling GM to become the most inclusive company in the world. She leads GM Legal Staff’s committee on Awareness and Training which is driving better understanding and awareness within GM on the disparate treatment of certain people and increasing more open dialogue on diversity, equity and inclusion.

She also serves on the board of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra which enables her to support programs to put instruments into the hands of all children within Detroit.

She is a practitioner of continuous improvement and holds a green belt in Six Sigma.

Joseph J. Centeno

Shareholder,
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

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Joe Centeno’s practice includes collective and class action litigation, employment litigation, high stakes #MeToo matters, restrictive covenants, labor relations, policies, leave, termination of employment, joint employment, diversity and inclusion strategy and planning, Title IX investigation and compliance, and C-suite executive employment agreements. Joe counsels employers on virtually all employment and labor-related laws and regulations. He has extensive jury trial experience and has been lead trial counsel in numerous high-profile trials and arbitrations. He also has broad experience in defending claims before state and federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, many state and city Human and Relations and Civil Rights Commissions and agencies, and the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, where he served as a Commissioner by mayoral appointment.

Joe has been nationally recognized by Best Lawyers in America, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Philadelphia Business Journal, Minority Corporate Counsel Association and Pennsylvania Super Lawyers. He co-chairs Buchanan’s Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration section, which is recognized as a national Tier 1 practice by U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” In 2021 and 2022, Joe was honored as a leader in the field of Labor & Employment Law in Pennsylvania by Chambers USA. During the research process, one of Joe’s references remarked, “Joseph is a consummate partner in the truest sense – he thinks big, and understands what we are looking for in an attorney-client relationship.” In 2022, Joe was named a ‘Best Law Firm Mentor‘ by The Legal Intelligencer as part of the publication’s Professional Excellence Awards. Additionally, Joe was recognized as a ‘Best Mentor: Law Firm’ finalist by The American Lawyer in 2022.

Clients can expect highly responsive, strategic guidance and aggressive advocacy from Joe. He is passionately client-focused and brings 25 years of legal, human resources and business experience to every matter.

Joe is passionate about increasing diversity in the legal profession. He has served as the President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and as a member of the Comcast NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Council. Joe currently serves as Outside General Counsel and Assistant Secretary to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. He loves golf and has taken multiple overseas golf trips with friends. He is also a member of a baseball fantasy league that began in law school and continues to this day.

Neel Chatterjee

Partner,
Goodwin Procter LLP

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Neel Chatterjee is a partner in Goodwin’s Intellectual Property practice and serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. An internationally recognized technology litigator and trial lawyer, Mr. Chatterjee has a proven track record of wins in hard-to-win technology cases. Mr. Chatterjee has a passion for representing entrepreneurs and disruptive technology companies, even at their earliest stages. His cases often break new ground in undefined areas of the law. Clients frequently turn to Mr. Chatterjee shortly before trial to take over complex technology cases. A key strategist on complex litigation spanning multiple venues, Mr. Chatterjee simplifies extremely complex concepts to ensure that judges and juries understand the key issues in each case. Mr. Chatterjee has substantial expertise handling disputes related to patents, trade secrets, copyrights, internet law, and complex commercial technology issues.

Theodore K. Cheng

Arbitrator and Mediator,
ADR Office of Theo Cheng LLC

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Theo Cheng is an independent, full-time arbitrator and mediator, focusing on commercial, intellectual property, technology, entertainment, and employment disputes, including breach of contract and negligence actions, trade secret theft, employment discrimination claims, wage-and-hour disputes, and IP infringement contentions. Mr. Cheng has been appointed to the rosters of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the CPR Institute, Resolute Systems, the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s List of Arbitrators and Mediators, and the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center’s List of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals. He was recently appointed to the AAA’s Master Mediator Panel. Mr. Cheng is an Adjunct Professor at New York Law School and was appointed a Practitioner in Residence at the Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy (C-IP²) at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. Mr. Cheng serves on the AAA’s Council, and he is also the President of the Justice Marie L. Garibaldi American Inn of Court for ADR and a Past Chair of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Dispute Resolution Section. Mr. Cheng has also been inducted into the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and as a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. He received the 2020 James B. Boskey ADR Practitioner of the Year Award from the New Jersey State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, and the National Law Journal named him a 2017 ADR Champion. He was also voted the 2021 Best Mediator/Arbitrator by the readers of the New Jersey Law Journal.

Mr. Cheng has over 20 years of experience as an IP and general commercial litigator with a focus on trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. He has handled a broad array of business disputes and counseled high net-worth individuals and small to middle-market business entities in industries as varied as high-tech, telecommunications, entertainment, consumer products, fashion, food and hospitality, retail, and financial services. In 2007, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association named him one of the Best Lawyers Under 40.

Mr. Cheng received his A.B. cum laude in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Moot Court Board. He was a senior litigator at several prominent national law firms, including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Proskauer Rose LLP, and Loeb & Loeb LLP. He was also a marketing consultant in the brokerage operations of MetLife Insurance Company, where he held Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant designations and a Series 7 General Securities Representative registration. Mr. Cheng began his legal career serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Julio M. Fuentes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Honorable Ronald L. Buckwalter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Cheng frequently writes and speaks on a wide variety of ADR issues. He writes a regular column called Resolution Alley in the NYSBA Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal, which addresses the use of ADR in those industries.

 

Courtney D. Cogburn Ph.D.

Associate Professor,
Columbia University

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Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn joined the faculty at the Columbia University School of Social Work in July 2014 as an assistant professor and she was also invited to join the Faculty of the Columbia Population Research Center.

Her research aims to characterize and evaluate the function of toxic social environments in producing racial disparities in health and disease. She is particularly interested in examining associations between multiple dimensions of racism and stress-related disease as well as in identifying psychosocial processes that attenuate those effects. In one line of research, Dr. Cogburn is using data science techniques to develop a model and measure of media-based cultural racism and psychophysiological approaches to examine the effects of exposure to cultural racism on physiological, psychological and behavioral stress responses. She is also working closely with a community health center and global non-profit to educate and build community activism around social and structural inequities and health.

Dr. Cogburn completed the Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar program at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. in Education and Psychology as well as her MSW from the University of Michigan. She received her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Her current research projects examine:

the effects of cultural racism in the media on physiological, psychological and behavioral stress reactivity and moderating effects of cognitive appraisal processes; the role of structural racism in producing disease risk; and chronic psychosocial stress exposure and related implications for understanding Black/White disparities in cardiovascular health and disease between early and late adulthood. At the end of 2014, Dr. Cogburn received an award from the Provost’s Grants Program for Junior Faculty Who Contribute to the Diversity Goals of the University for a project titled “Black Face to Ferguson: A Mixed Methodological Examination of Media Racism, Media Activism and Health.”

In addition to her academic research, Dr. Cogburn works with the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston andis a senior advisor at the International Center Advocates Against Discrimination in NYC to educate and build community activism around issues of racism and health.

Before coming to Columbia in July 2014, Dr. Cogburn was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health. She received her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia, MSW from the University of Michigan School of Social Work and PhD in the Combined Program in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan.

James Cowan

Head of Legal & Associate General Counsel Litigation US & Canada,
Shell USA, Inc.

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As U.S. Head of Legal and AGC Litigation—US & Canada, Jim Cowan leads the U.S. Legal Coordination Team for Shell USA, Inc. and the team handling disputes for Shell’s U.S. Downstream, Trading & Supply, and cross-business matters and for its Canadian businesses. In these capacities, Jim manages a team of 21 lawyers and legal support professionals and leads the U.S. Legal function, which is comprised of over 165 employees. Jim is also Shell USA, Inc.’s Vice President-Legal and sits on its board of directors. He is an executive sponsor for Shell USA’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group, and he leads a mentoring circle of emerging LGBTQ+ leaders. In addition, he sits on the Shell USA country leadership team and is part of the sub-committee of senior leaders responsible for developing and implementing Shell USA’s 2022-23 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Plan. Jim leads the U.S. legal team’s DEI and pro bono / community service committees, two teams totaling more than thirty legal professionals who passionately deliver invigorating internal programming and impactful external service to the community. Outside of Shell, Jim serves on the executive committee of the board of directors for the Houston Ballet and is a former president of the board of directors of Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston.  

Before his current assignment, from January 2020 to August 2021, as AGC Litigation—Americas, based in Houston, Jim was responsible for arbitration and litigation for Shell companies in North and South America. As AGC Litigation—International from 2015 to 2020, based in London, Jim was responsible for arbitration and litigation for Shell companies in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. From 2012 to 2015, he was Managing Counsel Litigation—Latin America & Caribbean, based in Rio de Janeiro. From 2003 to 2012, based in Houston, Jim was responsible for a variety of commercial litigation matters for Shell companies in the United States. Before joining Shell Oil Company in 2003, Jim was a trial lawyer in private practice in Houston, handling a variety of matters including commercial, class action, appellate, toxic tort, trademark, and environmental litigation. He earned his BA (Plan II honors program) and his JD at the University of Texas at Austin.

Mark Davies

Partner,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP

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Mark Davies is the Former Co-Chair of the Firm’s nationwide Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group. His practice focuses on litigation matters for technology companies, particularly ones that lead the world in hardware and software innovation. He is experienced in the Federal Circuit, the D.C. Circuit, other federal and state appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He also develops trial court legal strategy, presents policy arguments to regulatory agencies, and advises on complex global disputes.

Mark is a highly successful appellate lawyer who has argued and briefed many cases, both in private practice and government. Mark has argued 50 appellate cases, including multiple arguments for one of the world’s leading high-technology companies. He has handled many appeals for Asian and European companies in U.S. courts, including challenges to International Trade Commission actions. He has represented, often repeatedly, companies such as Bosch, Cisco, EMC, Emerson, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Harmon, Honda, Intel, MediaTek, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nvidia, Oracle, Solar City, Tesla, TSMC, VeriFone, Vizio, and others. And, he regularly helps defeat non-practicing entities such as Intellectual Ventures, IP Bridge, and Uniloc Corporation.

Mark has special experience at the Federal Circuit. Legal 500 reports, “prominent in the high-tech field, Mark Davies … is praised for his ‘unparalleled Federal Circuit experience.”‘ An interviewee noted that he ‘” is an outstanding leader of their appellate teams, as well as a skilled and subtle advocate. He really knows the Federal Circuit. Mark also has the crucial ability to see both the big-picture forest and the technically-detailed trees at the same time, and to weave them all together into a compelling story on appeal.”‘

Chambers USA also recognizes Mark’s Federal Circuit experience, quoting an interviewee: “his questioning is insightful and he quickly grasps complex issues. He cuts to the heart of issues in a quick way.” Another interviewee notes that “he has the ability to interact with complex patent issues and a layperson audience, making sure the story of complex cases comes through.” 

He is the author of the “user manual” for Federal Circuit appeals, Patent Appeals: The Elements of Effective Advocacy in the Federal Circuit (November 2017). His new book, Artificial Intelligence: Law & Litigation, will be published in June 2022.

His cases have involved virtually every area of patent law, as well as copyright, trade secret, and trademark law. Mark’s practice has a particular focus on cutting-edge legal issues of particular importance to high-technology clients, including novel issues such as patent damages, standard setting, and artificial intelligence.

Mark also appears frequently in federal district courts, serving as legal strategist in complex intellectual property cases. In high­stakes trials, Mark often leads ‘appellate eyes’ teams to set the stage for the inevitable appellate proceedings.

Mark also plays an active role in the development of U.S. technology policy. He has represented clients at the Department of Justice, the Commerce Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the Patent and Trademark Office, and other government agencies. His amicus briefs on behalf of various technology clients are often cited in judicial opinions.

Mark also has a strong pro bona appellate practice, representing clients in the D.C. Court of Appeals, as well as the U.S. immigration and criminal systems. He is a member of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Criminal Justice Act Panel.

Before joining Orrick, Mark served as a member of the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (1999-2006), where he represented the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Copyright Office, the International Trade Commission and other federal agencies before the Federal Circuit, other U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mark also practiced with another major law firm appellate practice in Washington D.C.

Deneen Donnley

Senior Vice President & General Counsel,
Consolidated Edison, Inc.

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Deneen serves as Senior Vice President of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services through its two regulated utility subsidiaries, its Clean Energy Businesses (ranked #2 among solar energy producers in North America) and Con Edison Transmission, Inc., investing in electric and gas transmission projects. 

She previously served as Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to USAA. As Executive Vice President, Deneen was a member of USAA’s Executive Council and contributed to a broad range of strategic, management and commercial initiatives.  She also previously served as the general counsel for USAA Bank from 2010 to 2015.  

Before joining USAA, Deneen worked at ING DIRECT as the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. She was responsible for managing legal and compliance matters for that $90 billion organization. Prior to joining ING DIRECT, she served as an attorney for Pepper Hamilton LLP and a staff attorney with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.   

A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, she also received her Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law in New York. Deneen is a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the American Bar Association.  

Deneen serves on the Board of Directors of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). She is a member of both the Executive Leadership Council and the Direct Women Board Institute. Deneen also holds the Fellow designation from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). 

Previously, Deneen served as a director on the boards of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation Girls Inc. of San Antonio, the Girl Scouts of The Chesapeake Bay, which awarded her its 2008 Woman of Distinction Award, and the YWCA of Delaware. 

She is passionate about promoting diverse and inclusive workplaces, and in 2016 was honored for her work in these areas by the National Diversity Council with its Texas Diversity Award.

Ellen Duffy McKay

Senior Vice President Employment Law,
Lincoln Financial Group

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Ellen Duffy is Senior Vice President, Head of Employment Law at Lincoln Financial Group where she leads the Employment Law team, providing executive leadership, strategy and legal representation for all aspects of human resources, including labor, employment, employee benefits and immigration.  Ellen provides strategic counsel to senior leadership on employment-related legal issues such as diversity and inclusion, and discrimination and harassment prevention. Ellen serves as the Executive Sponsor for Lincoln’s Legal Diversity Action Team. 

Ellen has 30 years of experience in all aspects of labor and employment law. Previously, she worked for Genworth Financial where she served as Deputy General Counsel, focused on labor and employment, for nearly 15 years. Prior to that, she was Vice President, Senior Employment counsel at GE Financial Assurance. She was also a partner with LeClair Ryan and held various other leadership roles within the labor and employment legal space including the firm, Goodwin Procter, and the Equal Employment Advisory Council. 

Ellen began her legal career as law clerk intern for the Honorable William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She earned her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and American Studies, magna cum laude, from Wellesley College.  Ellen serves on the board of directors for the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger and has served as a board member for Feed More: central Virginia’s core hunger relief organization. Ellen is a member of the American Employment Law Council, the nation’s premier organization of senior labor and employment attorneys. 

Judy Estes

General Counsel, Services & Strategic Growth,
Mastercard

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Judy Estes is Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Services & Strategic Growth at Mastercard. She is responsible for leading global legal teams that support Mastercard’s Data & Services, Cyber & Intelligence, and Strategic Growth business units, which collectively provide services including consulting, data analytics, cyber security, AI, fraud and authentication services, marketing and loyalty services, predictive analytics, insights, SaaS, and supports our engagement with government partners. Ms. Estes and her team are responsible for helping to shape the future of Mastercard as it evolves its business beyond payments. Ms. Estes also serves on executive management teams in the business units and the law department to help set and deliver on the groups’ strategic initiatives as well as day-to-day operational goals.

Prior to the current position, Ms. Estes managed a legal team that provided transactional expertise and other general support that drive revenue, strategic initiatives, and general matters in the US Markets. Prior to this role, Ms. Estes held a few positions at Mastercard supporting the company’s largest and global customer relationships and other strategic transactions, including managing the then-newly formed Strategic Transactions Group, a legal team that provides support to Mastercard’s mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures and global initiatives that launched innovative products and partnerships.

Prior to joining Mastercard, Ms. Estes was a corporate associate with the law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, and managed clients and handled various complex transactions in connection with mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, project finance, private and public financings, and general corporate matters.

Ms. Estes graduated from Fordham University School of Law and received her Bachelor of Science degree from Binghamton University, School of Management, with a double concentration in Finance and Management Information Systems.

Lucy Fato

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Lucy oversees AIG’s Global Legal, Compliance, and Regulatory groups. She is also the Global Head of Communications and Government Affairs.

Prior to joining AIG, Ms. Fato was Managing Director, Head of the Americas & General Counsel of Nardello & Co., a global private investigative firm, where she remains on the Advisory Board.

Previously, Ms. Fato was EVP & General Counsel of S&P Global. Prior to that, Ms. Fato was Deputy General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Marsh McLennan. Ms. Fato began her legal career at Davis Polk & Wardwell where she spent fourteen years, including five as a partner in the capital markets group.

Ms. Fato is a member of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) State Insurance Advisory Board and the Life Insurance Council of NY (LICONY) Board of Directors.

From 2018 to 2021, Ms. Fato was included in NACD Directorship magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the boardroom community. In 2015 and 2017, she was named by Ethispheremagazine as one of the “Attorneys Who Matter” for her dedication to furthering corporate ethics.

Brook Gardiner

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Brook Gardiner was named SVP and General Counsel for MLS NEXT Pro in April 2022. In his role, Gardiner is responsible for all legal matters, Including league governance and expansion and commercial and player policies.

Gardiner’s position with MLS NEXT Pro continues his legal career in sports and entertainment. He joined the new soccer league from NBCUniversal Media LLC, where he was Vice President, Labor Relations. In his role. Gardiner oversaw labor strategy for the NBC Sports Group, including Sunday Night Football, Olympics, Triple Crown, Premier League, NASCAR, and Golf, and the major market NBC and Telemundo stations.

Prior to NBCU, Gardiner spent 13 years as a lawyer with the National Football League, focused on labor relations. In his position with the NFL, he handled player-related arbitrations and provided labor law advice. He began his career as an associate at the Washington DC law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld LLP.

Gardiner received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his law degree from NYUSchool of Law, where he won the Larry Fleisher Memorial Foundation Prize for extraordinary achievement in the area of sports and entertainment law.

Hannah Gelbort

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Hannah Gelbort is a Senior Associate in WilmerHale’s Appellate and Supreme Court and Commercial Litigation Groups.  She has briefed issues involving constitutional law, criminal law, civil rights, and intellectual property before federal courts of appeals across the country and the US Supreme Court. Hannah previously clerked for the Honorable Randolph D. Moss of the US District Court for the District of Columbia and for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Loren Gesinsky

Partner,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

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For more than 25 years Loren has been counseling, negotiating, and litigating in partnership with employers on a broad range of pressing and high-value legal issues relating to the workplace. He was elected to the College of Labor and Employment Attorneys in his first year of eligibility and has been acknowledged as a BTI Client Service All-Star Attorney and by sources such as Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers.

Increasingly Loren is helping clients develop and improve initiatives in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), including through optimization of legal-risk management. He has long been a DEI thought leader, co-leading Seyfarth’s New York Diversity and Inclusion Action Team and writing and speaking on a broad range of DEI topics, including moderating a Belonging Project program on “Being an Ally in Action,” https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/put-me-in-coach-being-an-ally-in-action.html. Encouraging and leveraging the abilities of individuals with disabilities is one of his particular areas of DEI emphasis. For example, he co-founded and co-chairs Seyfarth’s All Abilities Affinity Group (which, at founding, was either the first or second such group at a large U.S. law firm), chaired the New York City Bar Association’s Disabilities Committee, was a founding participant in the Disability Rights Task Force of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and drafted the recommendations regarding recruiting and advancing attorneys with disabilities within bar associations for the American Bar Association’s Report and Recommendations on Diversity In the Legal Profession: The Next Steps.

José González

Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary,
Equitable Holdings Inc.

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José Ramón Gonzálezis Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Equitable Holdings, and a member of the company’s Management Committee. In this role, González leads the Law Department with responsibility for all legal, compliance, regulatory and governmental affairs.

Previously, Mr. Gonzálezwa s Executive Vice President & General Counsel for CNA Insurance, serving as principal counsel to the Chief Executive Officer, senior management team and board of directors. He led the Law Department and was responsible for legal affairs, compliance, regulatory and government affairs, corporate secretary affairs, securities and litigation.

Prior to joining CNA, Mr. Gonzálezwas Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at QBE North America, and Group General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Torus Insurance. He also held numerous leadership roles over the course of 12 years within the legal function of AIG. During his tenure, he played a leading role in the resolution of numerous significant regulatory matters.

Mr. González began practicing law in 1995 as a corporate associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

With a longstanding commitment to the community, Mr. Gonzálezhas served on a number of not-for-profit boards of directors. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and a member of the boards of The Bass Museum of Art and the Spain-U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. González holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor from the Columbia University School of Law

Tatia Gordon-Troy

CEO,
Ramses House Publishing

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Tatia L. Gordon-Troy uses the hashtag, #behindthebook, because she has been the brains behind hundreds of books written by attorneys during her 30-year career as an editor, writer, and publisher. As the former head of publishing for the American Immigration Lawyers Association where she was successful at building a multi-million-dollar publishing house, Tatia was instrumental in transforming many attorneys into successful authors and thought leaders. Tatia is a Maryland attorney, an experienced journalist, and an award-winning editor who is passionate about good writing and making people sound better than they ever thought they could. What author wouldn’t want that? As the CEO of her own publishing consultancy and author services company, Ramses House Publishing LLC, www.publishingforlawyers.com, Tatia has continued to work with attorneys and other professionals to independently publish their work and leverage their expertise to better market themselves and their practices while attracting high-end clientele. She also works closely with small associations to strategically approach ways to build non-dues revenue through the use of content while teaching how to repurpose, reuse, and recycle content to increase member outreach. Follow her on LinkedIn, She also can be reached at tatiatroy@ramseshp.com.

Ingeuneal Gray

Vice President,
American Arbitration Association

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Ingeuneal Gray is the Commercial Vice President of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), a not-for-profit organization and the largest private global provider of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services. Ms. Gray engages with business executives and counsel on ADR initiatives; and oversees the administration of large complex cases, the regional panel of arbitrators and mediators as well as the AAA’s national energy panel.

Recognized as one of The Top 50 Women Leaders of Houston, Ms. Gray is an Attorney-Arbitrator-Mediator with over 20 years of legal experience. Before joining the AAA she was the principal of ICG Law Firm, which focused on transactions, compliance, conflict prevention, and ADR in the areas of government contracts, commercial, construction, and employment-law-related matters. Today, Ms. Gray proudly serves as Co-Chair of the AAA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is a member of the distinguished Texas Bar College of Legal Scholars. In addition, she is Vice-Chair of the ABA Business Law Section’s Dispute Resolution Committee, Secretary of the State Bar of Texas ADR Section, and an active member of the Houston Bar Association.

Ms. Gray received her JD from Southern Methodist University School of Law and her BA in psychology from the University of Houston.

A frequent speaker at legal and industry conferences, Ms. Gray is dedicated to educating on the benefits of ADR and increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field.

Lea Haber Kuck

Independent Arbitrator,
Retired Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

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Lea Haber Kuck is an independent arbitrator with three decades of experience in international and domestic dispute resolution under various arbitration rules and in the United States courts.  Prior to launching her full-time arbitrator practice, she was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom LLP in the international litigation and arbitration group advising clients from around the world on the resolution of complex disputes arising out of international business transactions.  She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the AAA Commercial Panel of Arbitrators and the ICDR International Panel of Arbitrators.  Ms. Kuck is Chair of the New York City Bar Association Arbitration Committee and served as Co-chair of New York Arbitration Week 2021.  She is also a member ICCA-NYC Bar-CPR Working Group on Cybersecurity which recently released the Cybersecurity Protocol for International Arbitration.  She is a member of the Editorial Board of the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer and frequently writes and speaks on international dispute resolution topics.

Angela Han

Life Coach and “Fit to Practice” Podcast Host

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Angela Han is a lawyer and a life coach. She helps lawyers get results by transforming blindspots into strengths. She is also host of the Fit to Practice podcast, where she interviews lawyers on what it means to be fit to practice.

Jennifer Herrmann

Partner and Global Co-Leader, Legal, Compliance & Government Affairs Practice,
Spencer Stuart

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Jennifer Herrmann is a lawyer and leads Spencer Stuart’s Legal, Compliance & Government Affairs Practice in North America in addition to co-leading it globally. She handles general counsel and senior in-house legal assignments across multiple industries, including financial services, consumer goods and services, industrial, healthcare, and technology. In addition to general counsel searches, Jennifer’s search work includes deputy general counsel, corporate secretary, chief compliance officer, and senior securities counsel assignments.

Extensive legal search experience:

• Jennifer has conducted numerous general counsel, chief compliance officer, and other legal searches for some of the leading financial services companies, including global banking organizations, asset management firms, and insurance companies.
• Her legal search work across a wide variety of other industries includes assignments ranging from Fortune 10 to small-cap companies in the global retail/consumer, aviation, aerospace and defense, chemicals, construction and engineering, hospitality, energy industries, and healthcare industries.
• Prior to joining Spencer Stuart in 1997, Jennifer was an attorney with the Philadelphia law firm of Marks, O’Neill, Reilly, O‘Brien, and Courtney, P.C., where she specialized in defense litigation. She is a member of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware state and federal bars.

Jennifer previously served as manager of the Philadelphia office and is a six-time recipient of the firm’s annual award recognizing quality client service. She earned her law degree from Widener University School of Law and graduated from Bucknell University with a degree in international relations. Jen and her husband live in the Philadelphia suburbs with their three sons.

Julie Hines

Vice President, Innovation and Strategic Business Operations,
Verizon

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As Chief of Staff to the GC and CAO of Verizon, Julie Hines anticipates the needs of the departments allowing him to focus on the top priority issues in the company.  She also serves as the VP of Innovation and Strategic Business Operations, leading the operational teams across Sourcing, Supply Chain, Real Estate, Security, Cybersecurity, Legal and Public Policy to drive operational excellence and effectiveness. 

Prior to her current role, she held various leadership roles within Verizon Media including leading the integration of legacy AOL and Yahoo legal teams to form Verizon Media legal team, leading the spin-off of AOL from Time Warner and creating and managing a streamlined Board of Director process to allow the Board to best fulfill its obligation of governance to execute against the corporate goals.   

Julie joined AOL in 2003 and has served in a wide variety of leadership positions including Vice President, Business Development, Vice President Technical Support and Strategic Initiatives, and Vice President of New Revenue.   

Before joining AOL, Hines worked in many diverse management positions for General Electric and Sears, Roebuck, and Co.  She has an MBA from Northern Illinois University and a BS in Marketing from Bradley University.

JENNIFER IVAN

Associate General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation

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Jennifer Ivan is an Associate General Counsel for Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington, where she supports Microsoft’s Security, Compliance, and Management (SCM) group. In this role, she manages a team of legal professionals that provides general counseling and transactional legal support in areas of product development, product marketing, privacy, regulatory and compliance matters. The SCM group is responsible for IT management tools and services like Windows 365 and Microsoft Endpoint Manager, and security and compliance products like Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Information Protection.

She also previously led Diversity & Inclusion for Microsoft’s Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) organization. In this role, she led CELA’s efforts to build and sustain a diverse department that reflects the diversity of our global company, the communities in which we work, and the customers that we serve and to take full advantage of that diversity by creating and nurturing a culture of inclusion that allows individuals and teams to do their best work.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Jennifer was Legal Director for Dell Computer Corporation in Austin, Texas, where she supported the Dell Services organization.

Prior to joining Dell, Jennifer was a Staff Attorney for IBM in Austin, Texas, where she provided comprehensive legal support for IBM’s Server Group.

Jennifer graduated Cum Laude with Honors in Liberal Arts with a B.A. in Political Science and English from the Ohio State University in 1990. Jennifer received her J.D. Cum Laude from the Ohio State University School of Law in 1994. She has served for more than 13 years on the board of Youth Eastside Services (currently Vice President), a non-profit that provides counseling and support programs for children and young adults who are dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, mental health issues, abuse and other difficult issues. She is also on the Next Generation Advisory Board for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her 17-year-old daughter (Olivia), her 23-year-old son (Parker) and her husband, Donnie.

She can be reached at Jenivan@microsoft.com.

Mike Jackson

Associate General Counsel, Compliance Governance, Training, and Culture (GTC),
Microsoft Corporation

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Mike Jackson is Associate General Counsel for the Compliance Governance, Training, and Culture (GTC) team here within CELA. As a member of Microsoft’s Compliance and Ethics (C&E) leadership team, Mike and his team are responsible for advancing trust in Microsoft through policy and policy governance, compliance learning, communications, culture assessments, and surveys, and through providing legal guidance on anti-corruption and other regulatory matters. Additionally, the team is responsible for ensuring that Microsoft’s products, goods, and services are inclusive, considerate of local practice, and reflect Microsoft’s mission and values globally. Immediately prior to this role, Mike led a team responsible for conducting complex workplace investigations in North America within C&E. Mike is a member of Microsoft’s Corporate, External, Legal Affairs (CELA) Leadership Team and recently concluded his two-year term as the D&I lead for CELA and now serves as Chair Emeritus for CELA’s D&I Council. Prior to Microsoft, Mike built and led teams at several Fortune 500 organizations including Target and The J.M. Smucker Company.

Mike is a member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA)’s N-Gen Advisory Board and served previously on the Board of Directors for the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association. Mike Jackson was recently recognized by Yahoo U.K. as part of its 2021 OUTstanding LGBTQ+ Role Model List. Mike and his husband, Chad, reside in the Seattle metro area.

Bob Johnson

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel,
USAA

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Bob Johnson is EVP, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel for USAA, one of America’s leading financial services companies, which offers insurance, banking, and investment and retirement solutions to its more than 13 million members. Johnson serves as legal advisor and counsel to USAA’s Chief Executive Officer, Executive Council and Board of Directors. He joined USAA in June 2020 and is a proud member of the association.

Prior to USAA, Johnson served as General Counsel, Corporate, Commercial and Legal Shared Services, at Truist Financial Corporation, the sixth largest commercial bank in the U.S. He also was the co-chair of the Truist Operating Council and chaired the Truist Contributions Committee supporting philanthropic activity for the organization.

Before the BB&T/SunTrust merger that created Truist Financial in 2019, Johnson held numerous leadership roles at BB&T during his 14-year tenure. He served as General Counsel from 2010 to 2019 and as a member of the Executive Management team from 2014 to 2019.

Johnson has extensive experience in risk, compliance, and regulatory governance and strategy, which includes leading the buildout of core risk and compliance functions to support evolving regulatory expectations and address regulatory issues. In his previous roles, he led Government Affairs; Human Resources; Corporate Social Responsibility; Community Reinvestment Act; and Payments, Credit Card, and specialty finance consumer and small business lending businesses (Sheffield and Commercial Equipment Capital) in addition to leading the Legal function. He also chaired the Executive Diversity and Inclusion Council. Before working in financial services, he spent almost eight years as an attorney at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey.

Johnson serves on the executive committee of the greater:SATX Regional Economic Partnership, a group of business leaders who guide the region’s economic development strategy.

He graduated with honors from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1997 and from Miami University (Ohio) with a B.A. in psychology summa cum laude in 1994. He has been married for more than 25 years to his wife, Julie. They are the proud parents of three children, Logan, who attends UT Austin, Riley, who attends East Carolina University, and Olivia, who is attending Clemson University.

Lauren A. Jones

Associate General Counsel, General Litigation,
Consolidated Edison, Inc.

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Lauren A. Jones, Esq. is an Associate General Counsel of Consolidated Edison. In that role, Ms. Jones leads the General Litigation group, which handles roughly 2,400 personal injury and property damage cases with a strategic mix of in-house and external counsel. Prior to joining Con Ed, Ms. Jones spent six years with the New York State Unified Court System. Most recently, as ADR Coordinator for New York City Surrogates’ Courts, she initiated, developed and implemented ADR programs for each of the 7 NYC Surrogates, resulting in a “first of its kind” program in many courts. Ms. Jones is also a trained mediator, with nearly 200 hours of experience. Her work in this role was recently acknowledged by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association who bestowed Ms. Jones with the President’s Award in 2022.

Immediately preceding this role, Ms. Jones was a Principal Court Attorney in New York County Supreme Court’s Commercial Division (first, for Hon. Eileen Bransten and then, upon her retirement, with Hon. Joel M. Cohen) where she organized and lead Chamber staff. She also drafted hundreds of judicial opinions and routinely conferenced cases with litigants. In 2018, Ms. Jones was appointed to the Franklin H. Williams Commission, a permanent Commission created to ensure racial fairness throughout the Courts, by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. In 2017, Ms. Jones was awarded the Chief Judge Judith Kaye Award/Scholarship for excellence by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association.

Prior to joining the New York State court system, Ms. Jones was a litigation partner at Lewis Brisbois LLP where she was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star each year and a Top Woman Lawyer. Prior to that, Ms. Jones worked as a Medical Malpractice defense lawyer as well as a Personal Injury plaintiff’s lawyer. She looks forward to bringing her varied experiences as a litigator, court attorney and mediator to her new role.

In her spare time, Ms. Jones enjoys traveling with her family, running and trying new restaurants.

Ms. Jones obtained her BA from Duke University and her JD from Brooklyn Law School. She resides in Brooklyn with her husband and two young daughters. Ms. Jones often serves as a moderator, panelist, speaker and author on dispute resolution, litigation management and best practice in state courts.

Kate Karas

General Counsel,
Chime

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As General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Kate Karas oversees legal and regulatory affairs and compliance at Chime. She previously served as VP, Senior Associate General Counsel at Lending Club and Deputy General Counsel at SecondMarket. Kate holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Pomona College and a JD from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She is smitten with her husband and has two delightful daughters who far surpass her in their negotiation skills.

Jay Kim

Partner, In-House Counsel Recruiting,
Major, Lindsey & Africa

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Jay Kim is a Partner with the San Francisco office. She focuses on in-house searches from small private startups to Fortune 500 companies. Jay recruits for a wide range of positions, including for General Counsels, DGC/AGCs, Chiefs of IP, Compliance, Employment, and other specialized roles. Since joining  Major, Lindsey & Africa in April of 2011, a majority of her placements have been diversity candidates.

Living in the Bay Area (since 1989), Jay has developed a particular expertise in the needs of industries intersecting with technology and life sciences — zeroing in on the right candidates from a select nationwide pool. Her dedication to engraining herself in her client’s culture and her true commitment to finding the best person for their teams results in long-term matches that thrive within even the most unique environments.

Jay’s client list includes: Agilent, Amyris*, Applied Materials, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, CytomX*, Cytokinetics, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, GlobalLogic, Novo Ventures, Portola Pharma, Red Hat, Square Inc., Uber Technologies*, University of California, Varian Medical Systems*, UNITY Biotechnology, Zendesk and Zymergen*.

Jay has also successfully partnered with our Asia office on a general counsel search for a NYSE-listed technology company in Seoul, Korea, and worked closely with Infosys headquarters in Bangalore, India, to place their general counsel in Silicon Valley.  She also recently closed a search for Novartis, located in Basel, Switzerland.

Jay has a deep passion and understanding for diversity and is regular speaker and contributor to several diversity organizations, not only sharing her experience but also providing guidance and support to members to help them find career-success and fulfillment.

Jay started her career working as a litigator for five years, including at Gordon & Rees as an associate and with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as a legal affairs staff attorney. After practicing law, she opened a small business and explored her creative side in music and fashion while traveling extensively. She then moved into recruiting at a major legal recruiting firm before joining Major, Lindsey & Africa.

Education

• University of California, Hastings College of the Law: J.D.
• San Francisco State University: B.A., magna cum laude
  • Phi Beta Kappa

Seth Krauss

Chief Legal Officer,
Endeavor

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Seth Krauss has served as the Chief Legal Officer of Endeavor since June 2014. At Endeavor, Mr. Krauss oversees the global legal function, government relations, risk management and physical security, managing a department of professionals located around the globe. Mr. Krauss is also a member of the executive team responsible for managing the day to day affairs of the company.

Mr. Krauss currently serves as a Director on the Board for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), a non-profit organization that promotes and supports diversity, inclusion and equity in the legal profession.

From 2007 until 2014, Mr. Krauss served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ TTWO).He joined Take-Two from Morgan Stanley, where he served as an Executive Director in the Legal and Compliance Division from 2004 until 2007. At Morgan Stanley, he was responsible for coordinating all significant regulatory and law enforcement matters in the U.S. and served as one of the firm’s senior liaisons to its regulators.

From 1995 to 2004, Mr. Krauss served as an Assistant District Attorney and Senior Investigative Counsel in the New York County District Attorneys’ Office. At the DA’s Office, Mr. Krauss was responsible for leading complex, long-term investigations into violations of securities, banking, accounting, and taxation laws and regulations, working closely with US Federal and State regulators and law enforcement agencies as well as numerous international regulators and agencies. Among other matters, he co-led the Office’s investigation of the role of financial institutions in Enron’s collapse.

From 1992 to 1995, Mr. Krauss served as a Trustee on the Board of Duke University. He has also served as a Director on the Board for the legal services organization, the Center for Family Representation, as well as on the Board of Advisors for the Asian American Bar Association of NY and the MacDella Cooper Foundation. Mr. Krauss received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1992 and his law degree in 1995 from the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Janet Kwuon

Partner,
Reed Smith

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Janet defends clients in complex (often multi-plaintiff) tort and commercial disputes litigation in state and federal courts. Janet often works on multi-district litigation, class actions, and coordinated actions, serving either as national and lead counsel or as regional or local counsel as part of a broader legal team. Her clients include pharmaceutical and medical device companies (from start-ups to large global companies), managed care companies, and higher education institutions.

Nancy Laben

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
Booz Allen Hamilton

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Nancy Laben is an executive vice president and the chief legal officer at Booz Allen. She oversees ethics and compliance, and the legal department, as well as corporate affairs, which spans a number of functions including corporate governance, government contract law, employment law, securities law, litigation, investigations, government relations, media relations, corporate social responsibility, and marketing and strategic communications. She is also a member of the firm’s leadership team and the founding board member of the Booz Allen Foundation.

Nancy previously worked as general counsel and in-house counsel in three other Fortune 500 companies as well as from three different continents. Given her business focus, she never worked in a law firm but went straight from law school into a corporate legal department.

She is a frequent speaker on the law, diversity, a former commissioner on the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession and serves on the board of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. She is also a member of the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative.

Nancy holds a B.A. in government and East Asian studies, with honors, from Smith College and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.

LaTanya Langley

Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary,
Edgewell Personal Care

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LaTanya Langley serves as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Edgewell Personal Care Company, a leading pure-play consumer products company with an attractive, diversified portfolio of established brand names in the wet shave, sun and skincare and feminine care categories based in the Greater New York area.

Prior to joining Edgewell, Ms. Langley was most recently Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at BIC®. Throughout her 22-year career, Ms. Langley held several leadership roles including executive roles at Diageo, including General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Guinness Ghana Breweries Ltd. based in Accra, Ghana.

Ms. Langley began her legal career as an associate at Paul Hastings LLP, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, and Shipman & Goodwin LLP, specializing in corporate law and business finance and restructuring.

Ms. Langley is a member of the New York and Connecticut Bars and the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Ms. Langley received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and doctor of laws, honoris causa from Trinity College, where she serves on the Board of Trustees, and received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law where she serves as an adjunct professor.

Jill Louis

Dallas Office Managing Partner,
Perkins Coie LLP

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Jill Louis focuses her practice on advising companies with growth-oriented, liquidity-creating, and transformational strategies. Her experience includes leading strategic transactions for entrepreneurs, private equity sponsors, and portfolio companies, as well as members of the Fortune 50® with a particular emphasis on infrastructure, multi-location retail, transportation, manufacturing, and industrial sector matters.

In addition to her experience in private practice, Jill served as the general counsel for a large private equity portfolio company with over $1 billion in annual revenue, operating heavy duty parts distribution and service locations in 45 states. She also served as general counsel for a multinational shared workspace company with $600 million in revenue and operating both owned and franchised locations in all 50 U.S. states, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, France, and Mexico. For more than ten years, she led the transactions group for the retail operating company of a global courier delivery service, managing commercial and technology transactions in North America and Asia and launching the same-day transportation delivery service.
Active in both her professional and personal communities, Jill is a member of the board of trustees of Howard University. She also serves on the executive committees of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and North Texas Public Broadcasting, Inc. (KERA/KXT).

David Lu

Partner, 
K&L Gates LLP

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David Lu is a partner at the firm’s Boston office. He is a member of the Intellectual Property practice group.

David focuses his practice on patent prosecution, strategic intellectual property counseling, and due diligence for life science industries. He has designed global patent strategies in the field of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, and managed large patent portfolios for a variety of clients. David’s clients range from international corporations, mid-sized biotech companies, to venture capital funded startups. 

David has handled matters in a numerous technology areas, including cancer therapies, genome technologies, gene therapies, antibody drugs, personalized medicine, RNA therapeutics, diagnostic methods, and medical devices. By identifying each client’s technology strengths and business goals, David provides customized and creative legal solutions.  

Prior to joining the firm, David served as a partner and the co-lead of the Life Sciences group at a U.S. law firm. 

Linda Lu

Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, 
TransUnion

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Linda Lu is Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of TransUnion.  She and her team are responsible for global litigation, government enforcement, strategy, legal counseling for HR, IP, real estate, and insurance risk management.  Prior to TransUnion, Linda was the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Nationwide Insurance Personal Lines, and previously, it’s Chief Litigation Officer.

Linda is currently a Board Member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and the Association of Corporate Counsel Foundation. Linda is past Vice President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, past President of the Asian American Bar Association of Chicago, and an Alumni Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.  She is also past Vice President of The University of Chicago Board of Governors. Linda is the recipient of NAPABA’s Best Lawyers Under 40 Award, and recognized as a R3-100 by Inside Counsel Magazine. Linda was recognized by the National Diversity Council as one of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Ohio, received the Transformative Leadership Award from Inside Counsel, awarded the Diversity Leadership Award by NAPABA, and received the Ohio Asian Award.

Linda graduated from the Georgetown Law Center and The University of Chicago, where she was captain and MVP of the tennis team.

Marie Ma

Division General Counsel,
Banana Republic
VP and Deputy General Counsel,
Gap Inc.

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Marie Ma is the division General Counsel to the Banana Republic brand serving on the brand president’s leadership team. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Marie serves as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Gap Inc., where she leads the Corporate & Finance Law, Corporate Secretary’s Office, Legal Operations, and Global Equity Administration teams. She provides legal advice on a wide range of corporate, securities, finance, governance, ESG, transactional, compliance, and nonprofit issues. She serves as the Executive Sponsor of the API@Gap, the company’s AAPI Equality and Belonging group (BRG). Marie also serves on the Gap Inc. Political Action Committee and the Gap Foundation Board of Trustees. Marie leads Gap Inc.’s Legal Diversity and Pipeline Committee, whose mission is to help drive increased diversity among legal leadership across the profession through recruiting and hiring practices, engagement with its law firm providers, and partnership with key diversity organizations like Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), Diversity Lab, and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). Marie is a 2018 LCLD Fellow.  

She previously served on the University of San Francisco School of Law’s Board of Governors, the Bar Association of San Francisco’s (BASF) Justice and Diversity Center Board of Directors, and as Chair of BASF’s Mock Trial Committee. She currently serves on the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area’s (AABA) Law Foundation Board, and previously served on the AABA Board and as co-chair of the AABA In-House Lawyers Committee. In 2013, Marie was named a Rising Star by Minority Corporate Counsel Association. Ms. Ma received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law.  

Olga Mack

Vice President,
LexisNexis
CEO,
Parley Pro

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Olga V. Mack is the Vice President at LexisNexis and CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered digital negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing leading-edge technology. She shares her views in her columns on the Above the Law, Forbes, Bloomberg Law, Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Docket, MIT Computational Law Report, Newsweek, and Venture Beat. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. Olga co-founded SunLaw, an organization dedicated to preparing women in-house attorneys to become general counsels and legal leaders, and WISE to help female law firm partners become rainmakers. She lectures at Berkeley Law and has received numerous awards for her work, including the Silicon Valley Women of Influence, ABA Women in Legal Tech, Make Your Mark, Corporate Counsel of the Year, and Women Leaders in Technology Law. She is a fellow of CodeX, the Stanford Law Center for Legal Informatics, and a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. Olga authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat, Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security and Blockchain Value: Transforming Business Models, Society, and Communities. She is working on Visual IQ for Lawyers, her next book (ABA 2023). 

Laura Maechtlen

Executive Committee Partner,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

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Laura Maechtlen is the National Chair of the Labor and Employment Department at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. Her practice is focused on employment litigation and includes the defense of class, collective and multi-plaintiff actions. Laura also has experience litigating against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) in systemic actions, both at the early charge stage and in large-scale EEOC pattern-and-practice litigation.

Laura is a national leader on issues related to diversity and inclusion in the legal industry, and has held a variety of leadership positions through which she has advocated for systemic improvement in the legal industry in the areas of diversity and inclusion. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the California Minority Counsel Program. She is a previous Latina Commissioner for the Hispanic National Bar Association, President of the National LGBT Bar Association, Chair of the CA Minority Counsel Program, and Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). Laura is also a founding member of SeyfarthLife, her Firm’s core initiative focused on health, wellness and resiliency for all personnel.

Laura speaks and publishes regularly on a variety of employment law and litigation topics, and issues regarding diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, and has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Reuters, The Recorder, Vogue, The Daily Journal, the Insurance Journal, CIO.com, Employment Law 360, and others. She has also served as a contributing editor to multiple editions of The Fair Labor Standards Act (ABA) and The Developing Labor Law (BNA).

Sumit Mallick

Associate General Counsel,
Chime Financial, Inc.

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Sumit started his legal career at Berkeley Law as a Colbentz Civil Rights Fellow. As a fellow, he worked on education civil rights work with the NAACP LDF, MALDEF and the ACLU to address inequities in the public education system. After graduating from law school, Sumit worked as a Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights focusing on affirmative litigation in the area of educational equality. At the Lawyers’ Committee, Sumit worked as co-counsel on an affirmative litigation against the New Orleans school district for its disparate treatment of disabled students. Sumit was also part of a team that sought injunctive and compensatory relief against the state of Maryland for its long standing disparate funding of the state’s HBCUs. Sumit then joined the law firm of WilmerHale in Washington, D.C. where he was a part of the appellate and while collar groups. Sumit represented clients in a variety of industries focusing on internal investigations, regulatory inquiries, and appellate matters. Sumit maintained a robust pro bono practice while in the private sector. Sumit co-chaired a class action lawsuit with the SPLC against the city of Mobile, Alabama for its practice of long-term suspending students without proper due process which disparately impacted minority students. Sumit also briefed and argued several state appellate arguments on gay marriage and LGBT adoption rights. Sumit transitioned to public service and joined the Department of Justice in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Sumit’s career in public service focused on prosecuting violent crimes, sexual assaults, human trafficking, drug cartels, gun trafficking, cyber crimes, and financial crimes. Sumit more recently has returned to the private sector where he led the Global Litigation and Investigations team at Stripe prior to joining Chime in his current role as the Head of Litigation and Product.

Jorge Martinez

Senior Assistant General Counsel,
Intuit Inc.

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Jorge Martinez is a Senior Assistant General Counsel at Intuit Inc. and the legal business partner for the professional tax business unit and a member of the Products Counseling team focused on Consumer Group Growth initiatives and live expert experiences across the platform. Prior to his current role, he was the lead marketing counsel for Intuit partnering on TV campaigns and being a thought partner on key strategic advertising initiatives, sweepstakes, and offers. Jorge is also a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion programs at Intuit and leads the effort in the Legal, Compliance, and Policy team for helping underrepresented minorities understand the opportunities in our profession. Jorge is a graduate of UCLA with a B.A. Cum Laude in English Literature and received his J.D. at Loyola Law School. He is a long-time tennis player and lives in Los Angeles, California with his family. He is admitted to practice law in California. 

Michele Coleman Mayes

Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary,
The New York Public Library

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Michele Coleman Mayes is Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for the New York Public Library (2012 – present). She previously held the position of General Counsel for Allstate Insurance Company (2007-2012) and Pitney Bowes Inc. (2003-2007). Ms. Mayes served on the Presidential Commission on Election Administration from 2013-2014. She was Chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession of the American Bar Association from 2014-2017. In 2015, she became a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel and was elected to its Board of Trustees in December 2019. In August 2016, she was elected to the Board of Directors of Gogo Inc. (NASDAQ: GOGO). In June 2020, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the Center for Reproductive Rights. She is a sought after speaker on the topic of diversity and inclusion. She is co-author of the book Courageous Counsel: Conversations with Women General Counsel in the Fortune 500.

Jonathan McBride

Partner,
Heidrick & Struggles

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Jonathan McBride is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Los Angeles office and a leader in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practice. He is an advisor to boards, CEOs, and leadership teams on matters related to culture, people, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Alexis Mendoza

Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer,
Nokia

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Alexis is Nokia’s Chief Compliance Officer and responsible for leading a global team of ethics, compliance and regulatory professionals.  

Prior to becoming Chief Compliance Officer, Alexis held several senior roles within the Legal & Compliance function including in the areas of Commercial Sales and Litigation.  He enjoys applying a deep understanding of the business to compliance topics and helping drive sustainable growth in an open, speak-up culture.  Alexis is also active in the equality, diversity and inclusion space both internally and externally to drive change within the legal profession.

Larry Midler

Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Chief Risk Officer,
CBRE

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Laurence H. Midler is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer for CBRE. Larry is a member of CBRE’s Executive Committee and oversees its Legal, Compliance and Risk Management functions. He joined the company in April 2004 and helped lead the firm through its IPO, several transformational acquisitions and a period of global expansion and robust growth to number 126 in the Fortune list of the largest public companies.

Prior to joining CBRE, Mr. Midler served as General Counsel to Micro Warehouse, Inc. from 2000 to 2003 and as its Assistant General Counsel from 1998 to 2000. Earlier, Mr. Midler was General Counsel of Serviscope Corporation. Mr. Midler began his legal career with Latham & Watkins, a global law firm.

Mr. Midler is active in giving back to his community, both through work and in his personal time. Mr. Midler serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Goodwill of Southern California, and recently has become a member of The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) Board of Directors.

Armani’ O’Neal

Sr. DEI Business Leader,
Amazon

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Armani’ O’Neal is Sr. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Business Partner to Amazon’s Global Legal and Human Resources Tech organizations. Armani’ oversees the integration of DEI into talent management processes and compliance with Amazon-wide DEI goals and initiatives. 

Prior to joining Amazon, Armani’ worked for Expedia Group, Alaska Air Group, and Sears Holdings in roles focused on leadership development curriculum design, content delivery, and learning analytics. Armani’ was instrumental in building programs to enable manager capability and advance DEI competency.  

Armani’ currently lives in Arlington, VA after she relocated from Seattle, WA where she received a Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Seattle Pacific University. She earned a BS in Psychology, with a minor in Statistics, from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL.  

Armani’ is passionate about realizing diversity of identity, thought, and ability as a business imperative and fostering a true sense of belonging for all.

Amy Fliegelman Olli

Executive Vice President & General Counsel,
VMware, Inc.

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Amy Fliegelman Olli is the Executive Vice President & General Counsel for VMware. With more than 20 years of legal experience, Amy leads VMware’s Global Legal team, which includes VMware’s Ethics & Compliance and Global Government Relations organizations, and she champions the company’s commitment to integrity, ethics, compliance and risk management practices.

Prior to joining VMware, Amy served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Avaya. She led the Avaya Law and Global Contracting organization. Prior to Avaya, Amy held a similar position at CA Technologies and spent more than 18 years at IBM.

In 2010, Amy was the winner of Burton’s “Legends in Law” award and was named by the Diversity Journal as a “Woman Worth Watching” in 2011. She was a 2014 winner of the “Aiming High” Award from Legal Momentum, and in 2017, was included in Corporate Counsel’s list of Transformative Leaders in Technology, Media & Telecom and Collaborative Leadership. In 2021, Amy was named to Financial Times “Top 20 General Counsels,” and she was recognized with a “2021 Women, Influence & Power in Law, General Counsel of the Year—In House” award by Corporate Counsel.

Amy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Oswego and a Juris Doctor degree from Western New England School of Law.

Justin Pierce

Co-Chair, Intellectual Property Division,
Venable LLP

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Justin Pierce is co-chair of Venable’s Intellectual Property Division. Justin has significant experience advising companies and their executives on how best to acquire, develop, and apply their intellectual property to achieve their business objectives. He has guided clients through a wide range of matters involving patent litigation, trademark and brand protection, anti-counterfeiting initiatives, copyright, design rights, trade secrets, and licensing. Justin is also well versed in strategies for handling rights of publicity, domain name, and social media disputes, and he routinely engages in advising companies with respect to artificial intelligence and metaverse issues involving intellectual property.

Rodney Pratt

Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer,
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc.

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Rodney C. Pratt has over 20 years of experience and success leading global retail organizations as a trusted and strategic business executive and legal advisor. Rodney currently serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc., the North America subsidiary of the French multinational conglomerate and world leader in luxury products and services. Rodney oversees the North American business, leads the LVMH North America legal team, and serves on the LVMH North America Executive Leadership Team. In his role, Rodney is responsible for strategic, tactical, and operational execution and oversight on the entire range of legal matters that typically confront a business unit within a major global consumer company. Rodney also supports LVMH Maisons, providing proactive and pragmatic legal counsel regarding worldwide regulatory, corporate, litigation and commercial matters. 

Prior to joining LVMH, Rodney spent over 11 years at NIKE, Inc. While at NIKE, Rodney served for over six years as General Counsel of Converse Inc., a wholly owned NIKE subsidiary. In addition to his legal responsibilities, Rodney was a highly valued and respected enterprise leader and served as an inaugural member of NIKE’s externally focused Black Community Commitment Task Force and Co-Founder of the Converse Diversity Network.  

Rodney is Co-Chair of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s Advisory Board.  Rodney serves on the Board of Directors of Massachusetts Eye & Ear (MEE), a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and home to the world’s largest hearing and vision research center. Rodney is a Co-Founder and Board member of the Boston-based New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund (NCF). Rodney is an Adjunct Professor at Howard University School of Law where he co-teaches a course on Sports & Social Justice.  

Rodney is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and received his law degree from the George Washington University Law School. While in law school, Rodney served as a White House Intern in the Office of the Chief of Staff under the Clinton Administration. 

Rodney proudly serves as a mentor and advisor to attorneys of all practice areas and backgrounds.

Reginald Rasch

Chief Legal Officer & Secretary,
Party City

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Reggie is the Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Party City (NYSE: PRTY), a publicly traded manufacturer and retailer of party and celebration products. Reggie reports to the CEO and is responsible for all aspects of the company’s legal affairs, including corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, commercial matters, employment law counseling, intellectual property, compliance and litigation. Reggie also oversees the company’s government affairs initiatives. Reggie works collaboratively with all levels of management and the Board to achieve desired business outcomes. Before joining Party City, Reggie served as Head of Legal for Rakuten Americas, where he held several leadership positions of increasing responsibility from 2000 to 2021. Before joining Rakuten, Reggie worked as a corporate associate at New York law firms Warshaw Burstein, LLP and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, and Connecticut law firm Cummings & Lockwood LLC. Reggie serves on the Board of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation. He is a past president of the Association of Corporate Counsel, New York City Chapter, and a former member of the Advisory Board of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. Reggie holds a B.S. in Business from the State University of New York at New Paltz and his J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law. 

Tom Robertson

Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation

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Robertson leads the Corporate, External & Legal Affairs team that supports the Experiences and Devices Group, which is responsible for Office, Windows, Office 365, Microsoft Surface devices, Skype, Teams and many other products and services. He has led other teams in Seattle, Tokyo and Hong Kong since joining in 1997. Before Microsoft, Robertson was Associate General Counsel in the Office of the United States Trade Representative within the Executive Office of the President, where he was responsible for intellectual property issues and general trade issues with U.S. trading partners in the Asia Pacific region. Before that, Robertson practiced law at Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C., and London, England, and was a law clerk to the Honorable Albert Bryan, Jr., then Chief Judge in the U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.

Robertson holds both Bachelor of Science and Law degrees from the University of Virginia. He is admitted to practice in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Washington State. He serves on the Boards of Greater Seattle Partners, the Coalition of Services Industries, the National Bureau of Asian Research and Town Hall Seattle. He is a Life Member of the Council of Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program.

He lives in Seattle with his wife, Marcelle, and three daughters.

Yolanda Sanders

Vice President & Deputy General Counsel,
Gap Inc.

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Yolanda Sanders is Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Gap Inc., a portfolio of purpose–led, billion–dollar lifestyle brands including Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta. She oversees the company’s global employment law, compliance, and privacy work, on behalf of more than 120,000 employees, millions of customers, and Gap Inc. brands worldwide. Yolanda is also division General Counsel to Athleta brand serving on the brand president’s leadership team. She also plays a pivotal role leading the Company’s Coronavirus Vaccine Task Force, a cross functional team tasked with development and implementation of the Company’s global COVID safety and response strategy.

Beyond her work as legal counsel for Gap Inc., Yolanda champions the company’s purpose, Inclusive, by Design, and works tirelessly to bring it to life for all. Through her work with Gap Inc.’s Equality & Belonging team, in 2020, she helped develop, craft, and launch the Company’s Commitments to Create For All, With All. On the Legal team, she co–leads diversity and inclusion initiatives for her department to foster an environment of belonging and support the engagement and development of department members to achieve their full potential. Her work is crucial to the Legal team’s mission to drive increased diversity among legal leadership across the profession through recruiting and hiring practices, engagement with law firm providers, and partnership with key diversity organizations like Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), Diversity Lab, and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD).

Yolanda is a 2019 LCLD Fellow and served on the Advisory Board for Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition 2.0. Yolanda is currently a Journey Fellow, a unique, year-long program designed to accelerate the diversity and trajectory of women in leadership.

Yolanda is also a dedicated volunteer in her community, an involved parent, and a member of planning committees in the Castro Valley, California education system, where her two children attend school.

Kristina Satkunas

Director of Strategic Consulting,
LexisNexis CounselLink

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As Director of Strategic Consulting at LexisNexis, Kris leads the CounselLink team’s efforts to advise corporate legal department managers on improving operations with data driven decisions. Kris has over 20 years of consulting experience in the legal industry. Areas of expertise include benchmarking, practice area metrics and scorecards, matter pricing, and cost management.  

Prior to joining the CounselLink team in 2011, Kris served as Director of LexisNexis’ Redwood Think Tank. For 5 years, Kris led unbiased data-based research efforts in studying and formulating solutions to developing legal industry management issues. Members of the Think Tank were law firm thought leaders who gathered on a regular basis to vet new ideas and the results of research from their own firm data.   

Prior to establishing the Think Tank in 2006, Kris led the business of law consulting practice for large law firms. During this time she worked with key management at over a hundred law firms to evolve financial models and analyses.  She spearheaded the development of the Redwood client/matter profitability methodology, used today by more than 100 law firms to manage profitability.   

Kris’ commitment to advising on best practices within the legal industry extends to academia.  She has been a guest lecturer at Temple University’s School of Law and an assistant professor at Stony Brook University’s EMBA program for law firm managers. She has authored numerous articles and speaks frequently at legal industry conferences and events. Kris came to LexisNexis in 2000 after having honed her finance skills as a Senior Vice President in Strategic Finance at SunTrust Bank.  She holds a B.B.A. in Finance from The College of William & Mary. 

Anne Marie Segal

Executive Coach,
Segal Coaching LLC

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Anne Marie Segal, founder and principal of Segal Coaching LLC, partners with board candidates, General Counsel and other senior and rising executives to expand their impact and advance their leadership trajectories.

As an executive coach and professional writer since 2015, Anne Marie works with individual clients at key transition points in their careers and on longer-term personal branding and leadership development projects. A significant number of these clients have partnered with Anne Marie for five years or more and sought her support through multiple job changes and/or promotions, including first-time and successive C-Suite roles. More recently, she has launched senior leadership cohorts that offer opportunities for coaching, facilitated group discussions and professional networking.

Anne Marie leverages 15 years of experience as a practicing attorney, including as Deputy General Counsel to a private equity and hedge fund adviser with $6B+ AUM and Associate at a prominent global law firm, White & Case LLP. Her clients hail from all major industries, six continents and a range of U.S. and multinational organizations, including Amazon, American Express, Apple, AT&T, Blackstone, Coca-Cola, GE, JP Morgan, IBM, Novartis, Roche, Salesforce and numerous private equity and venture capital firms, technology and other start-ups, government agencies and non-profit organizations.

While serving for two years as Facilitator of the Hispanic National Bar Association and HNBA VIA Fund’s PODER25 General Counsel talent pipeline initiative, Anne Marie conceived, planned and hosted panels, presentations and small group sessions featuring 40+ prominent speakers and coached 60+ in-house counsel participants (including a range of executives and emerging leaders of Fortune 500 and other public and private companies). She has also presented to the United Nations (ICTY/MICT), American Bar Association, Association of Corporate Counsel, Illinois State Bar Association, National Resume Writers Association, University of Chicago and other corporate, non-profit, industry and university audiences.

Anne Marie has authored two career-related books, Master the Interview: A Guide for Working Professionals(Second Edition forthcoming in early 2023)and Know Yourself, Grow Your Career: The Personal Value Proposition Workbook. She has been quoted on CNBC.com, Monster, Above the Law and other media and as a former member of Forbes Coaches Council has published on Forbes.com.

Sonya Olds Som, Esq.

Global Managing Partner – Legal Risk Compliance & Government Affairs,
Diversified Search Group

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Sonya Olds Som serves as Global Managing Partner in Diversified Search Group’s Legal, Risk, Compliance and Government Affairs practice.

Combining her extensive executive search experience in the legal industry with a proven track record of understanding the importance of diversity and inclusive leadership. Sonya leads searches and advises clients in recruiting Chief Legal Officers, General Counsels other C-Suite and Board members with compliance expertise across industries.

Sonya has built a reputation as a connector of people. She has an unrivaled ability to build strategic partnerships. By cultivating key alliances through a highly consultative approach, Sonya has been able to leverage her deep background in talent acquisition, diversity & inclusion, and labor & employment law to attract top industry talent for organizations globally. Sonya regularly provides thought leadership through industry panels, the media, and social media.

She provides organizations with the ability to strengthen their culture of Diversity & Inclusion by positioning this as an integral component to successfully doing business.

At the core of her role is conducting executive searches across C-Suite roles and industries as well as conducting Diversity & Inclusion consulting for organizations.

Prior to joining Diversified Search Group, Sonya was an Executive Search Partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Chicago office and as a member of the firm’s Diversity Advisory Services Practice.

Preceding her time with Heidrick & Struggles, Sonya was a Partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa. For nearly a decade, she oversaw various areas of recruiting within the legal field including developing and sourcing candidates, business development and marketing. She was able to leverage a deep professional network throughout the legal industry to place leaders in global legal departments and top law firms.

Dev Stahlkopf

Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer,
Cisco

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Dev Stahlkopf is Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Cisco. She is responsible for driving the company’s legal strategy on key issues including intellectual property, privacy and security, internet governance, cross-border data issues, geopolitical matters, and the company’s public policy priorities.

Dev is a strong advocate for diversity in the legal profession and is passionate about building the next generation of leaders. She is also deeply focused on driving innovation in the legal profession.

Prior to joining Cisco, Dev held several senior roles at Microsoft over the course of 14 years, most recently as Corporate Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in Microsoft’s Corporate, External & Legal Affairs organization. Prior to Microsoft, she practiced law in the Seattle area at Perkins Coie, specializing in employment and labor law, and at Cooley Godward, focusing on corporate and technology transactions. She received her law degree from the University of Arizona, a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from Duke University, and undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy from the University of Washington.

Dev currently sits on the boards of several organizations. She is a board member for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a coalition of leaders in the legal industry working to build a more open and diverse legal profession. She also serves on the Corporate Pro Bono Institute advisory board, working to help close the gap in access to justice and help those in need of pro bono legal services.

Jamie Sternberg

Counsel,
Saunders & Silverstein LLP

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Jamie Sternberg is based in Connecticut and is Counsel with Saunders & Silverstein LLP, a leading trademark and copyright law firm trusted by some of the most well-known brands in the world. Jamie has passionately worked in the field of trademark and copyright law for 17 years.

Jamie’s practice focuses on strategic counseling, prosecution, enforcement, and transactions with respect to trademarks, copyrights, and domain names. Jamie advises clients on obtaining and maintaining domestic and foreign trademark protection. She has successfully registered well over a thousand trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In addition, she advises clients on the availability of new trademarks for use and registration, develops strategies to protect and enforce intellectual property assets worldwide, and negotiates resolutions to IP disputes. She routinely enforces trademarks and copyrighted material on the Internet, including handling Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution proceedings and taking infringing material down from websites, mobile applications, and social media platforms. Jamie also litigates opposition and cancellation actions before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Jamie has been recognized as a top trademark attorney in the 2021 and 2022 editions of World Trademark Review WTR 1000, is ranked among World IP Forum’s 2021 list of 250 Powerful Women in IP, and has been recognized by Super Lawyers in 2022 as a top Intellectual Property attorney in Connecticut.

Jamie regularly speaks on trademark and copyright issues, and is a contributing author for the 2022 book Women in Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success.

Paul W. Sweeney, Jr.

Partner,
K&L Gates LLP

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Paul Sweeney is a member of the Los Angeles office’s commercial litigation group, where he focuses his practice on handling complex business disputes, both individual and class action lawsuits, involving unfair business practices, false advertising, consumer fraud, trade regulation, privacy violations, civil rights, and violations of various federal and state statutes and regulations. He has also handled a number of employment arbitrations and lawsuits involving claims of discrimination, wage-hour violations, wrongful termination, and theft of trade secrets. He represents clients primarily in the manufacturing, retailing, technology, financial services, food and beverage, medical device, and entertainment industries.

Paul served as a White House Fellow, where he worked for the White House Chief of Staff/Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs. Paul has also served as a volunteer prosecutor for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, Criminal Branch, where he handled misdemeanor jury trials. In 2022, Paul was named by Savoy magazine as one of the most influential African-American lawyers in the United States. He was also named Banking and Finance Visionaries for the Los Angeles Times in 2021 – 2022, Minority Leaders of Influence in 2021, and Most Influential Minority Attorneys in Los Angeles in 2019 by the Los Angeles Business Journal. From 2010 – 2019, Paul was named a Southern California “Super Lawyer” by the Los Angeles Magazine.

MICHAEL TANG

Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary,
Agilent Technologies, Inc.

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Michael Tang is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Agilent Technologies. He is responsible for leading Agilent’s global legal organization and advising the board of directors and management team on all aspects of the law, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and securities matters.

Tang has served in the Legal and Corporate Development departments of Agilent since joining the company in 2006. In 2013 he was named Agilent Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary. Tang was the lead attorney on Agilent’s spinoff of its electronic measurement business to form Keysight Technologies.

Prior to Agilent, Tang represented public and private technology companies in a broad range of corporate and securities matters at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a Palo Alto, California, law firm and Fenwick & West LLP, a Mountain View, California, law firm.

Tang is a graduate of Columbia Law School. He also holds a B.S. in economics from The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. He is an active member of the State Bar of California.

Lauren Tetenbaum

Therapist & Advocate,
LAT Counseling

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Lauren A. Tetenbaum, LMSW, JD, PMH-C is an advocate and therapist certified in perinatal mental health who specializes in life transitions affecting millennial and young women. With an approach grounded in empathy and emotional intelligence, Lauren counsels clients on romantic relationships, career choices, pregnancy and parenting, anxiety, and family dynamics. She offers cognitive behavioral and feminist-based psychotherapy to individuals and couples. A mother of two with over a decade of experience in the legal industry, Lauren also facilitates groups for working, new, and aspiring parents and provides consulting and mental health coaching to support parents in corporate settings. She is passionate about building connections and giving back to her community.

Lauren frequently speaks on women’s wellness topics on podcasts (including Working Mom Hour and Hello Postpartum) and at workshops for businesses and nonprofits. She leads support groups for women and parents at leading tech companies, banks, and law firms. Lauren frequently writes for platforms including Robyn: Maternal Wellness and Working Momkind and is a contributing author to the book, Women in Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success. Learn more at www.LATCounseling.com.

Linda Thayer

Partner,
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

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Linda Thayer is a unicorn among intellectual property attorneys, a blend of an experienced litigator and patent portfolio strategist, with deep knowledge in both patent law and multiple complex technologies. She excels at guiding high-tech clients in developing strong intellectual proper portfolios and defending their patent assets before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and in federal courts.

Linda’s wide range of knowledge and experience allows her to offer clients skilled guidance on a multitude of IP issues. She has been recognized by Intellectual Asset Management as a leading patent litigator and a leading patent prosecutor in Massachusetts. As a litigator, she has successfully defended clients in district court patent litigations and in the related PTAB proceeding to challenge the validity of the patent. By understanding the nuances of both fora, she can tailor the most cost-effective defense for clients. Linda also excels behind the scenes, working to help clients avoid litigation by conducting freedom-to-operate and validity analyses, and issuing defensible opinions detailing her analysis or advising on administrative procedures before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to request review of patentability.

And because “the best defense is a good offense,” Linda works with clients to develop strong patent portfolios to protect key technologies. Defensible patents begin with a detailed, well-written patent application that adequately describes the invention and alternatives. Strategic, focused prosecution results in strong patents that provide important value to startups and established companies alike. Linda also assists clients in building their global patent asset portfolios by conducting due diligence investigations for investments and mergers and acquisitions, and advising clients on worldwide patent portfolio development, patent licensing and sales.

Linda works with innovative companies in a variety of disciplines relating to computers and electronics, such as encryption, biometrics, data compression and storage, video games, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and robotics. She has represented one of the world’s leading music game developers, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., in multiple patent infringement lawsuits in Delaware and the E.D. Texas. She also represents Intertrust Technologies, a leading maker of trusted distributed computing products, in developing and defending its substantial worldwide portfolio of patents relating to digital rights management (DRM). From her prior industry experience as a cryptologic mathematician and computer programmer at the National Security Agency, she is uniquely qualified in the areas of cryptography and cybersecurity, and experienced in software programming. She leads the firm’s robotics group and is a member of the board of editors of the Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law.

Linda regularly engages in pro bono representation of veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the Federal Circuit. She also represents domestic abuse victims for the Family Law Project of the Women’s Bar Foundation. Linda has been recognized on the Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll. She has also been named as a Diversity Champion by the World Intellectual Property Review.

For over twenty years as an openly gay partner at Finnegan, Linda has served as a member of the firm’s LGBTQ+ affinity group, which she currently co-chairs, and as a mentor to other attorneys and law students, and she has represented Finnegan at The National LGBT Bar Association’s Lavender Law Conference. She has been named Diversity Champion by World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR), for her commitment to opening doors for aspiring IP practitioners, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or background.

In her spare time, Linda has supported and contributed to the sport of women’s lacrosse for over 40 years. She was a member of the 1982 NCAA Championship UMass women’s team, recently inducted into the UMass Hall of Fame for its achievements. She holds a National rating and has officiated at all levels, from juniors to NCAA collegiate contests. She has been an active member of committees responsible for adapting and interpreting the rules of the women’s game and has sat on the board of US Lacrosse. Linda was inducted into the Northern California Chapter Hall of Fame for her contributions.

Jamie VanDodick

Director of IBM’s AI Ethics Board,
IBM

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Jamie VanDodick is IBMs Director, AI Ethics Project Office, for IBMs AI Ethics Board, a multi- disciplinary team responsible for the governance and decision-making process for AI ethics policies and practices. She has held leadership roles at IBM in cybersecurity, GDPR vendor management, supply chain, CIO and is a former chief of staff in the CIOs office. Jamie holds a JD, MBA, PMP and is a certified Agile Coach.

Jamie is an adjunct professor at Mercy College, MBA Program and Treasurer of Family Services.

She lives in Pleasant Valley, NY with her husband, two kids, two dogs and two guinea pigs.

 

Wanji Walcott

Julie M. Wenah

Michael Wu

Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary,
Bath and Body Works, Inc.

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Michael Wu is chief legal officer of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE: BBWI), an international retailer with over 2000 stores and 90,000 employees worldwide. He joined the company (f/k/a L Brands, Inc.) in 2021 and led the successful spin-off of the Victoria’s Secret business into an independent, public company. Michael is responsible for legal, ethics and compliance, government affairs, regulatory and global trade compliance at Bath & Body Works.

Prior to Bath & Body Works, Michael was chief legal officer and corporate secretary of Madewell, where he drove the company’s preparation for an IPO and spin-off from J.Crew prior to the company’s bankruptcy proceeding and restructuring.

Prior to joining Madewell in 2019, Michael was senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Carter’s (NYSE: CRI), a leading children’s apparel company. Michael joined Carter’s in 2014 and was responsible for all legal, government affairs, compliance, internal audit, risk management and corporate social responsibility at Carter’s.

Prior to Carter’s, Michael was general counsel of Rosetta Stone, an education technology software company. He joined Rosetta Stone in 2006 and established Rosetta Stone’s antipiracy/anti-fraud enforcement program. Michael oversaw the company’s successful IPO on the NYSE, a secondary stock offering (private equity sponsor exit), and four acquisitions.

Before joining Rosetta Stone, Michael was vice president and general counsel of Teleglobe (Nasdaq: TLGB), an international telecommunications provider. Michael was a key member of the team responsible for restructuring Teleglobe in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings which led to the sale of the core business to Cerberus Capital Management. Michael became general counsel of Teleglobe upon the acquisition by Cerberus and led Teleglobe’s acquisition of ITXC Corp., the listing of Teleglobe on NASDAQ and the sale of Teleglobe to the Tata Group in 2006.

Prior to Teleglobe, Michael was a senior attorney in the Hong Kong office of Global One, an international JV between Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom. He was also associated with Baker Botts LLP in Houston, Texas and a firm in Washington, D.C. that merged into Morgan Lewis.

Simone Wu

Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and External Affairs,
Choice Hotels International

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Simone Wu is a member of the board of directors of Alarm.com (Nasdaq: ALRM), the leading platform for the intelligently connected property, and serves on the Compensation Committee. She is also senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary & external affairs for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s leading lodging franchisors, with 22 brands, more than 7,500 hotels, and nearly 650,000 rooms in 46 countries and territories. At Choice Hotels, Ms. Wu is an integral member of the C-Suite and leads the legal, corporate secretary, risk management and government affairs functions. Previously she also headed procurement services, corporate communications, public and media relations, and served as chief compliance officer.  

Prior to joining Choice Hotels in 2012, Ms. Wu was executive vice president, general counsel, and administration for XO Communications (now Verizon), a leading nationwide provider of advanced IP communications, managed network, and IT infrastructure services. Previously, Ms. Wu led the international legal team at MCI (now Verizon) and served in a business role negotiating technology transactions at AOL. Ms. Wu also practiced corporate transactional and communications law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.  

Throughout her career, Ms. Wu has been an outspoken proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. She has been recognized for her work in these areas as well as more broadly as a business and legal leader, including most recently by Corporate Counsel Women of Color (Diamond Award Winner 2021), the Financial Times (The FT Global General Counsel Report 2020), WomenInc. (Top Corporate Counsel Women 2019), the Washington Business Journal (Women Who Mean Business Award 2018), and the National Law Journal (America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel 2016). 

Ms. Wu also currently serves on the board of directors of the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), the largest hotel association in the U.S. representing all segments of the industry nationwide. She is a long-time supporter and prior board member and/or committee leader of the International Franchise Association (IFA), the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), the Association of Corporate Counsel – National Capital Region (ACC-NCR), and the National Asian and Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).  

She earned her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Michigan, with high distinction and high honors, and her law degree from Columbia University where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. 

Min Xiong

Chief of Staff, CDO/Director of User Experience/Chair of LexisNexis Enabled Disability ERG,
LexisNexis

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Min Xiong has led the Content User Experience team at LexisNexis Legal since 2015, working with colleagues throughout the business to provide the best customer experience, and ensure content and features in LexisNexis products are accessible to all users regardless of their abilities. She earned an MA in Electronic Communication and Publishing from the University College of London and is interested in artificial intelligence, responsible tech and governance. Min is a board member of the RELX accessibility advisory board and was recognised as the award recipient for RELX Accessibility Leadership in 2020. As the founder of LexisNexis Enabled Disability ERG, she is passionate about creating an inclusive workplace, amplifying voices of colleagues with disabilities, expanding the hiring pool by tapping into the underutilized talents within the disabled community, and engaging with a range of stakeholders and partnerships to advance the Rule of Law. During her tenure, LexisNexis is named as 2022 best place to work for disability inclusion by the DisabilityIn.