Speaker Biographies
Courtney Anderson ’06
Courtney Anderson graduated with a JD from Harvard Law School in 2006 and an LLM
from Georgetown University Law Center in 2012. She practiced real estate law at Sidley
Austin LLP in Chicago for four years before beginning a two-year clinical fellowship at
GULC in affordable housing and community development. She is currently a law professor
at Georgia State University College of Law and teaches property, health law and poverty law
courses and is affiliated faculty at the Georgia State University School of Public Health.
Courtney Anderson is the owner of Vibe Ride, a boutique fitness studio located in the
Midtown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. Vibe Ride is a start-up company founded in
2014, and is a women and minority owned business that specializes in indoor cycling.
Afia Asamoah ’05
Afia Asamoah is Senior Product Counsel at Verily Life Sciences, formerly Google Life
Sciences. She leads the legal, compliance, and regulatory affairs teams responsible for
advising all health-related products developed at Verily. She was the first lawyer hired by the
Google[x] life sciences team and was the sole lawyer advising on FDA matters across Google.
Previously, Afia was a regulatory attorney at Covington & Burling LLP, where she advised on
a range of healthcare regulatory and compliance issues. From 2009-2011, Ms. Asamoah was
also a Special Assistant in the Office of the Commissioner at the US Food and Drug
Administration, where she received four awards, including the FDA Commissioner’s Special
Citation. In addition to her Harvard Law education, Afia holds a Masters of Public Policy
from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a degree from Harvard University in
Psychology.
Werten F.W. Bellamy, Jr.
Werten Bellamy is the President of Stakeholders, Inc., a company founded in 2007 that
provides training and conference resources directed to the active career management needs of
corporations and service firms. Stakeholders works in over 100 global law firms and law
departments. Mr. Bellamy launched Stakeholders following sixteen (16) years of practice in
both law firms and law departments. He completed his legal career as General Counsel of
Celera Genomics. Werten is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia
School of Law.
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Myma Belo-Osagie LL.M. ’78, S.J.D. ’85
Dr. Myma Adwowa Belo-Osagie served as a Managing Partner in Udo, Udoma & Belo-
Osagie, a leading Nigerian corporate law firm. Dr. Belo-Osagie has been the Chairman of
Africa Opportunity Fund Limited since February 28, 2014 and its Non-executive Director
since June 2007. She serves as a Non-Executive Director of FSDH Merchant Bank Limited
(Formerly, First Securities Discount House Limited), the African WildLife Foundation and is
a member of Harvard University’s International Advisory Committee . She is a member of
the New York, Ghana and Nigeria Bars and is a member of the American Bar Association.
Dr. Belo-Osagie graduated from the University of Ghana with a LLB degree. She obtained a
LLM degree and a SJD degree from Harvard Law School.
Hon. Victor A. Bolden ’89
Victor A. Bolden is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the
District of Connecticut. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Bolden served
as the Corporation Counsel for New Haven, Connecticut, the chief legal advisor of and
attorney for Connecticut’s second largest municipality. Before working for the City of New
Haven, Judge Bolden was the General Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational
Fund, Inc. (LDF). He also practiced with the law firm of Wiggin and Dana LLP in New
Haven, Connecticut, served as an Assistant Counsel with LDF as well as a Marvin Karpatkin
Fellow and Staff Attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation's (ACLU)
National Legal Department. Judge Bolden also has taught as an Adjunct Professor at New
York Law School and conducted seminars on constitutional law in South Africa and Brazil. He received his
undergraduate degree from Columbia University.
Dorian O. Burton
Dorian Burton, Ed.L.D., is currently the Program Officer at the William R. Kenan, Jr.
Charitable Trust in Chapel Hill, NC, a foundation that supports the education advancement at
all levels with programs and activities that hold exceptional value. He was formerly the Co-
Director of The TandemED Initiative for Black Male Achievement and Community
Improvement at Harvard University Law School's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for
Race and Justice, and was the Wasserman Foundation Fellow in the Doctor of Education
Leadership Program at Harvard. Prior to Harvard, Dr. Burton worked as an independent
consultant with various non-profits and school districts between Harlem, NY; Houston, TX;
and Newark, NJ. In his role as a consultant, Burton worked to provide strategic support to
Newark Public School principals in the launch of their Renew School Turnaround initiative. In addition, he worked in a
special projects role to develop external partnerships for the Harlem Children’s Zone College Success Office.
Dr. Burton started his professional career working for the National Football League and also served as the founding
Program Director of the Education Pioneers Houston Office, the Houston Director of Stand for Children, and the
Chief Strategy Officer for TandemED. In addition to his doctorate degree from Harvard, Burton holds a Master’s
degree in higher education from the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University and a Bachelor’s Degree
in sociology from Pennsylvania State University, where he also was a member of the varsity football team.
During Dr. Burton’s tenure at Harvard as a Wasserman Family Fellow, he was selected to the Dean's Committee on
equity and diversity, served as a Teaching Fellow for Lani Guinier at Harvard Law School and was awarded the
International Marshall Memorial Fellowship from the German Marshall Fund. Additionally, Dr. Burton was a Gordon
Ambach Fellow with the National Governors Association Education Division and The North Carolina Department of
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Public Instruction, as well as a non-Resident Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
at Harvard University.
Dr. Burton currently resides in Durham, NC. He is deeply driven by his faith, and is the proud son of two wonderful
scholarly parents, the father of four great children, and brother to three older sisters who serve as his inspiration, comic
relief, and confidants.
In 2014 Dr. Burton was selected to the Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40.” He has his own blog on Huffington Post
and tweets frequently @Dorian_Burton. He has also been published in the Boston Globe.
Sheryll D. Cashin ’89
Sheryll Cashin, Professor of Law at Georgetown University, is the author of Place Not Race,
The Agitator’s Daughter and The Failures of Integration. She is a frequent commentator on law,
race, and race relations, appearing on NPR, CNN, ABC News, and MSNBC. Her
commentaries have also appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post,
Salon, and The Root. She is working on a new book that explores why interracial love was
prohibited in the United States and how, since the landmark Supreme Court case of Loving vs.
Virginia declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, a new culturally dexterous class of
ardent integrators is emerging and will influence politics.
Kenneth I. Chenault ’76
Kenneth I. Chenault is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Express
Company.
Mr. Chenault joined the company in September 1981 as Director of Strategic Planning. He was named President of the Consumer Card Group in 1989, and in 1993 he became President of Travel Related Services (TRS), which encompassed all of American Express’ card and travel businesses in the United States. In 1995, he assumed additional responsibility for the company’s worldwide card and travel businesses and also was named Vice Chairman of American Express. Mr. Chenault became President and Chief Operating Officer in February 1997. He assumed his current responsibilities as CEO on January 1, 2001, and as Chairman
on April 23 of that year.
Before he came to American Express, Mr. Chenault was a management consultant with Bain & Co. from 1979 to 1981, and an attorney with Rogers & Wells from 1977 to 1979.
Mr. Chenault serves on the boards of American Express and several other corporate and nonprofit organizations, including IBM, The Procter & Gamble Company, the Harvard Corporation, the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse at Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution’s Advisory Council for the National Museum of African American History & Culture, National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. He also is a member of the Business Council and serves on the Executive Committee of the Business Roundtable as well as the Partnership for New York.
In 2014, Fortune Magazine named Mr. Chenault as one the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in its inaugural list and ranked American Express among 2016’s top fifteen World’s Most Admired Companies. A wide variety of civic, social service and community organizations have recognized Mr. Chenault for his public service leadership. He has received the Phoenix House Public Service Award, the Corporate Responsibility Award from the International Rescue Committee, the Wall Street Rising Leadership Award, and the Hadrian Award from the World Monuments Fund, among others. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Mr. Chenault holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA in history from Bowdoin College, and has received honorary degrees from several universities.
He and his wife, Kathryn, live in New York City, and they have two sons.
Teresa Clarke ’87
Ms. Clarke is one of 15 private sectors leaders in the United States appointed to President
Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, and is a member of the Council on
Foreign Relations. She serves on the board of Cim Financial Services Ltd, a public company
domiciled in Mauritius and Singapore, with over $150 billion under administration. She was
named one of the Top 25 Influential Women in Business by the Network Journal, and has
been honored twice by the South African government for her contributions to education as
the founder of the Student Sponsorship Programme of South Africa.
She earned a BA in economics, cum laude, from Harvard College, an MBA from Harvard
Business School, and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Gina Clayton ’10
Gina Clayton is Founder and Executive Director of Essie Justice Group (Essie). An award
winning social entrepreneur, attorney, activist, and advocate for women, Gina launched Essie
(named after her great grandmother, Essie Baily) in 2014 to support and empower women
with incarcerated loved ones.
Gina saw the impact of incarceration on women both in her personal and professional life. As
a housing attorney, Gina designed and implemented the Housing Defense Practice at The
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) to represent women who were facing
eviction as the result of a criminal matter. During this work, she became resolved to further
examine and expose the harmful impact of mass incarceration on women who have loved ones living behind bars.
Gina grew up in Los Angeles, where she started as a youth organizer for the NAACP while studying at the University of
Southern California. Under her leadership, the chapter became the largest in a nine state western region. She organized
campaigns addressing campus policing, voter registration, and CA state sentencing laws. Her successes locally led to her
election to the NAACP National Board of Directors where Julian Bond appointed Gina to the Executive Committee
and the President/CEO Search Committee.
Gina’s experiences as an organizer and civil rights activist in Los Angeles led her to pursue the law. Gina interned or
studied under some of the country’s most respected criminal justice reform organizations and leaders, including the
Southern Center for Human Rights, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, Charles Ogletree,
Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr., and Soffiyah Elijah. After law school, Gina dedicated herself to working directly with low-income
women and families impacted by the criminal justice system.
In 2010, she was awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship for her work at NDS. In 2014 Gina won a Soros Justice
Fellowship, an Echoing Green Global Fellowship, and a Harvard Public Service Venture Fund Seed Grant in support of
her design and launch of Essie Justice Group. Gina was named “Top 14 Women Who Rocked 2014” by Colorlines, and
in 2015 was named 2015 JMK Innovation Prize a San Francisco Magazine Soldier of Social Change in their "Women In
Power Issue."
Gina holds a BA in American Studies and Ethnicity, with a minor in Education, from the University of Southern
California and a JD from Harvard Law School.
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Dominick R. Cromartie ’03
Dominick Cromartie is Principal Counsel at Apple Inc. He leads the legal team for Marketing
Platforms, Apple’s advertising technology group. He also works with the Legal Internet
Services group reviewing the company’s online marketing. Previously, Dominick was an
attorney at the National Advertising Division examining advertising claims made by national
advertisers. He was also an attorney at the law firms Davis & Gilbert and Paul Weiss.
Dominick received his JD from Harvard Law School and BA from John Jay College of
Criminal Justice.
Shelmun Dashan ’13
Shelmun Dashan is a Staff Attorney at Legal Assistance Foundation (LAF), the premier legal
services provider for low-income residents of Chicago and its suburbs. Shelmun currently
represents tenants in subsidized housing in eviction defense suits, affirmative suits, and to
preserve clients' housing subsidies in administrative hearings. After graduation, Shelmun was
awarded a Harvard Public Service Venture Fund Fellowship and served as a Fellow at LAF
representing low-income clients in a range of consumer protection litigation and advocacy
efforts. Shelmun was born in Indiana and lived with her family in Nigeria from ages six
through 18.
Cari K. Dawson ’93
Cari K. Dawson is a Partner at Alston & Bird LLP, where she chairs the Class Action Practice
Team and is Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee. Cari is a creative problem solver, legal
strategist and committed advocate, and has an established track record of successfully
defending Fortune 500 companies as lead counsel in high-profile litigation nationwide. Cari
has defended hundreds of class actions across an array of industries and regularly assists clients
in commercial litigation, strategic counseling and crisis management. In 2015, Cari was named
one of the country’s “Most Influential Black Lawyers” by Savoy Magazine and a “Woman
Worth Watching” by Diversity Journal, and in 2013, the National Law Journal named her one
of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” In addition to her Harvard Law education,
Cari is a graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Darryl L. DePriest ’79
Darryl L. DePriest is the seventh presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Chief
Counsel for the Office of Advocacy.
Prior to joining the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, Mr. DePriest was the
Senior Consultant for Legal and Regulatory Communications for Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a
position he held since 2008. Before joining Hill+Knowlton, Mr. DePriest served as the
General Counsel of the American Bar Association from 1988 until 2006. From 1980 to 1988,
Mr. DePriest was a litigation attorney at Jenner & Block, where he was named partner in 1987.
From 1979 to 1980, he was a judicial law clerk for Judge Robert E. Keeton of the US District
Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. DePriest has also served as a fellow, board
member, and president of Leadership Greater Chicago, and as chair of the City of Chicago Board of Ethics. Mr.
DePriest received an AB from Harvard University.
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Jenée Desmond-Harris ’06
Jenée Desmond-Harris is a John S. Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University, studying
ways to enrich journalism about race in America. She’s worked as a staff writer for Vox.com,
covering race, law, and politics in news articles, explainers, and features. Previously, she was
an editor at The Root, an African American news site, where she served as White House
correspondent, authored an advice column answering race and culture-related ethics and
etiquette questions, and hosted “The Confab,” a politics and pop culture podcast. A graduate
of HLS, her journalism career began in 2008, when she began freelancing for Time, The
Root, and MSNBC while she was still working as an attorney in the antitrust practice of a large law firm.
Thembisa Dingaan LL.M. ’97
Thembisa Dingaan is an Executive Director of Skweyiya Investment Holdings and Founder
of Theshka Gallery. She is an Independent Non-Executive Director of several companies,
including Absa Bank Limited (ABSA), a member of the Barclays Africa Group Limited. She
has additional responsibility of being a Board member of ABSA Financial Services, ABSA
Fund Managers and she is a trustee of ABSA’s Pension Fund. For the past ten years she has
also served on the Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, where she has served
as chair of the Credit and Investment Committee, member of Audit, Risk and Finance
Committee. In addition she is a Non-Executive Director of Johannesburg Stock Exchange
listed companies such as Telkom SOC Limited, Imperial Holdings Limited, and Japanese
owned company, Sumitomo Rubber South Africa.
Ms. Dingaan is a former member of the Minister of Trade and Industry Standing Advisory Committee on Company
Law, as well as a board member of the South African Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC), Royal Bafokeng
Resources, Enaleni Cipla Pharmeceuticals and Placecol Holdings (now listed as Imbalie Beauty Limited). She is a former
Investment Banker, having had roles at Citigroup in Johannesburg and the local South African Bank, Nedbank Capital.
She started her career in the legal profession with White & Case in New York and later moved to their Johannesburg
office. She is admitted to the New York State Bar.
She also holds degree from the University of Kwazulu Natal in Law as well as a Postgraduate diploma from University
of the Witwatersrand in Tax Law. Thembisa has a keen interest in travel, the arts and design.
Chris-Tia E. Donaldson ’03
By day, Chris-Tia Donaldson provides strategic legal advice to top executives at one of the
world's largest Fortune 100 companies. By night, the lawyer-turned-businesswoman is
inspiring women from the south side of Chicago to South Africa to embrace healthier beauty
practices through Thank God It's Natural, her line of natural products for hair and skin,
which are now available at Target, Whole Foods, and Sally Beauty Supply stores nationwide.
Under Chris-Tia’s leadership, the company plans to expand into healthy snacks, cookbooks,
supplements, and fitness apparel in the near future. Chris-Tia has been featured in major media publications such as
USA Today, Marie Claire, Essence, Black Enterprise, Ebony, Heart & Soul, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as many other
outlets throughout the country. Her book, Thank God I’m Natural: The Ultimate Guide to Caring for Natural Hair is a #1
Amazon bestseller, and was hailed the “Natural Hair Bible” by Essence Magazine. You can follow her on Instagram
@tginceo.
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Daniel E. Eaton ’89
Dan Eaton is a partner in the Litigation Department of the San Diego law firm of Seltzer
Caplan McMahon Vitek. He concentrates his practice on defending and advising San Diego
employers on a full range of employment issues. A native New Yorker, Dan received his
Bachelor of Science Degree from Georgetown University in 1984. After working in
Washington, D.C. for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (PA), he attended Harvard Law School and
received his degree, cum laude, in 1989.
Mr. Eaton is a former chair of the San Diego County Bar Association Legal Ethics
Committee. For ten years, he edited Ethics Quarterly, a publication abstracting California
state and federal legal ethics cases. For many years, Dan has been a member of the Standing
Committee on Discipline United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Dan has written and
spoken extensively on employment law and legal ethics issues.
Dan teaches classes in business ethics and employment law at San Diego State University’s College of Business
Administration. Government and non-profit panels on which Dan has served include past terms as President of the
Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association (the association of San Diego African American attorneys), Chair of the San Diego
County Bar Legal Ethics Committee, President of the City of San Diego Civil Service Commission, Chair of the City of
San Diego Ethics Advisory Board (the predecessor to the City’s Ethics Commission), and service on the Del Mar Fair
Board. He also has participated in a number of youth-related charitable activities. In addition to serving on the HLSA
Executive Committee, Mr. Eaton currently sits on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Courts and Community
Committee and the board of the San Diego History Center.
For most of his legal career, Dan has appeared regularly as a legal analyst on San Diego TV and radio.
LaKeytria W. Felder ’04
LaKeytria W. Felder has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender since 2009, first in the
District of Maryland and now in the Eastern District of New York. She has represented
indigent persons in every facet of federal criminal litigation from investigation through
appeal. Previously, Ms. Felder was a pro bono fellow at Holland & Knight in Washington,
DC. In that capacity, her practice focused on 1983 civil rights cases on behalf of prisoners
and juvenile pretrial detainees. Those cases challenged unconstitutional conditions of
confinement, inadequate medical and mental healthcare, and excessive use of force. After law
school, LaKeytria clerked for the Honorable Petrese B. Tucker in the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania followed by private practice in New York at Shearman & Sterling.
Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. ’73
Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., is President and Chief Executive Officer of TIAA, the leading
provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical, and cultural fields and a
Fortune 100 financial services organization.
Mr. Ferguson is the former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal
Reserve System. He represented the Federal Reserve on several international policy groups and
served on key Federal Reserve System committees, including Payment System Oversight,
Reserve Bank Operations, and Supervision and Regulation. As the only Governor in
Washington, DC on 9/11, he led the Fed’s initial response to the terrorist attacks, taking
actions that kept the US financial system functioning while reassuring the global financial community that the US
economy would not be paralyzed.
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Prior to joining TIAA in April 2008, Mr. Ferguson was head of financial services for Swiss Re, Chairman of Swiss Re
America Holding Corporation, and a member of the company’s executive committee. From 1984 to 1997, he was an
Associate and Partner at McKinsey & Company. He began his career as an attorney at the New York City office of
Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Mr. Ferguson is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and co-chairs its Commission on the Future of
Undergraduate Education. He serves on the boards of General Mills and International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and on
the advisory board of Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP.
He is Chairman of The Conference Board and a member of the Business-Higher Education Forum’s Executive
Committee. He serves on the boards of the American Council of Life Insurers, the Institute for Advanced Study,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Partnership for New York City. He is a member of the Economic
Club of New York, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Group of Thirty.
Mr. Ferguson served on President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness as well as its predecessor, the
Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and he co-chaired the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the Long-
Run Macro-Economic Effects of the Aging US Population.
Mr. Ferguson holds a BA, JD, and a PhD in economics, all from Harvard University.
Patrice Alexander Ficklin ’91
Patrice Alexander Ficklin has served as Fair Lending Director at the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau since May 2011. As Fair Lending Director, Ms. Ficklin leads the CFPB’s
efforts to ensure fair, equitable and nondiscriminatory access to credit for consumers and
communities. Her responsibilities include oversight and enforcement of the Equal Credit
Opportunity Act (ECOA), the federal law that prohibits discrimination in any aspect of a
credit transaction, as it pertains to the activities of the bank and nonbank institutions under
the CFPB’s jurisdiction.
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Ficklin was Counsel to the civil rights law firm of Relman,
Dane & Colfax. There she supported the work of civil rights groups and also helped mortgage lenders and servicers
ensure their compliance with the Fair Housing Act and ECOA. Prior to joining the Relman firm, Ms. Ficklin served as
Associate General Counsel on Fannie Mae’s fair lending team, where she advised clients in the single family business and
credit policy divisions on predatory lending, fair lending and fair housing issues, and worked to extend mortgage credit
to thin- and no-file borrowers.
During her tenure at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) Ms. Ficklin practiced in the
corporate transactions and employment law groups, and co-authored a Supreme Court amici brief on behalf of several
prominent civil rights organizations in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, a major affirmative action case. Finally, she served
as an arbitrator of ECOA claims made by Black farmers in Pigford v. Glickman, a class action lawsuit against the US
Department of Agriculture. As a Pigford arbitrator, she presided over mini-trials and ruled on several farmers’ claims of
discrimination in the Department’s lending programs, awarding monetary damages.
Ms. Ficklin is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Harvard Law School.
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Arlene J. Ford ’87
Dr. Arlene Ford is a "reformed" lawyer who works as an independent researcher and
education reform consultant. She works with educators and educational organizations
engaged in school reform efforts to support lasting and transformational change. She does
this by providing equity coaching and on-site learning opportunities aimed at deepening
understanding of the systemic inequalities surrounding education and encouraging school
practices and policies that seek to educate students in equitable ways. Before joining the
education field, Arlene worked as a senior corporate associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in
New York City. In addition to her law degree from Harvard Law School, Arlene obtained a
Masters in sociology and education from Teacher’s College at Columbia University and later
received her doctorate degree in Urban Schooling from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
Kenneth C. Frazier ’78
Kenneth C. Frazier is Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ. Prior to
his current role, Ken held a broad range of senior management positions with the global
biopharmaceutical company, including General Counsel. Before joining Merck in 1992, Ken
was a partner with the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath. He sits on the
boards of PhRMA, Weill Cornell Medicine, Exxon Mobil Corporation and Cornerstone
Christian Academy in Philadelphia, PA. He also is a member of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, the President’s Export Council, The Business Council, the Council of the
American Law Institute and the American Bar Association. In addition to his Harvard Law
education, Ken holds a bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University.
Karen Freeman-Wilson ’85
Karen Freeman-Wilson has been the Mayor of her hometown of Gary, Indiana since January
2012. Mayor Freeman-Wilson is the first female to lead the “Steel City” and the first African-
American female mayor in the state of Indiana.
Mayor Freeman-Wilson has served in the public arena most of her professional life. She was
previously the Indiana Attorney General, the Director of the Indiana Civil Rights
Commission and the presiding judge of the Gary City Court. She was also a leader in the
national drug court movement having served as the CEO of the National Association of
Drug Court Professionals and Executive Director of the National Drug Court Institute.
Freeman-Wilson is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Freeman-Wilson has been honored by the
White House of Drug Control Policy, Governors of Indiana and various organizations throughout the United States.
A champion for children, seniors, the disabled and those suffering from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, Mayor
Freeman-Wilson quickly attributes the signs of progress in Gary to the efforts of “Team Gary”, which includes city staff,
members of other branches of government at the federal, state and local levels and those in the corporate, educational
and non-profit arena who have joined the effort to rebuild the city of Gary.
Mayor Freeman-Wilson is active with the US Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities and is honored to
serve as co-chair of a committee with each organization. She is chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Police Chiefs on
Community Policing. Mayor Freeman-Wilson and her husband Carmen Wilson, II have a blended family of four
children.
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Aminu Gamawa LL.M. ’10, S.J.D ’16
Dr. Aminu Gamawa is a world-class legal and dispute resolution trainer and practitioner who
helps individuals, businesses and organizations resolve disputes. He applies a collaborative
approach in providing creative solutions to complex and sensitive disputes, while assisting
clients who face barriers in managing relationships to create or structure deals that reach a
mutually satisfactory settlement.
He also provides legal and policy advice to wide range of organizations across private and
public sectors, including corporations, government agencies, educational institutions, and
nonprofit entities. He is a regular commentator on Voice of America, the BBC, CCTV and
Aljazeera on legal and international affairs.
Dr. Gamawa is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He is a partner at Collaborative Development
Partners (CDP), a global consulting firm, and an editorial board member of the newspaper, Premium Times.
Dr. Gamawa holds both a Doctor of Juridical Science and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, an LLB from
the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria, and a BL from Nigerian Law School, in Lagos. He was a Teaching Fellow at
Harvard’s Department of African and African-American Studies.
Haben Girma ’13
White House Champion of Change and Forbes 30 under 30 leader, Haben Girma is an
accessibility & inclusion advocate. The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law
School, Haben champions equal access to information for people with disabilities, earning her
recognition from President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton. After law school she
worked as a Skadden Fellow at Disability Rights Advocates where she helped achieve a legal
victory in National Federation of the Blind v. Scribd, the second case to hold that the Americans
with Disabilities Act applies to e-commerce. She now works as an educator providing trainings
and presentations around the world to advance the civil rights of people with disabilities.
Haben lives in Berkeley, California.
Jeremiah Gordon ’03
Jeremiah Gordon is the General Counsel of Google Capital. He manages legal and regulatory
affairs for Google Capital and is involved in all aspects of Google Capital, including fund
formation, deal execution and portfolio management. Prior to Google Capital, Mr. Gordon
served as a senior counsel at Google where he worked with Google’s corporate development
team on acquisitions, investments and special projects. Jeremiah holds an AB in Economics
from Princeton University and a JD from Harvard Law School.
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Faith Rivers James ’90
Faith Rivers James ’90 serves as Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Leadership,
and Professor of Law at Elon University School of Law, where she teaches courses in
property, nonprofit organizations, and legislation, as well as courses in law and leadership.
Rivers James is an expert on preservation of African American property ownership in the
Southeastern region. Her research on heirs’ property has been cited in many scholarly
articles, treatistes, casebooks, and statutes. Through collaborations with the Coastal
Community Foundation and the Ford Foundation, Rivers James was instrumental in the
creation of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation in Charleston, S.C. Rivers James
served on the American Bar Association Property Preservation Task Force and served as an
observer to the Uniform Law Commission committee that drafted the Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act.
After graduating from Harvard Law, Rivers James practiced as a legislative attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of
Akin Gump Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP. She entered public service to serve as Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor to the
Majority Leader of the United States Congress, and later served as Executive Director of the South Carolina Bar
Foundation. During her tenure, Rivers James served as president of the National Association of IOLTA Programs, and
co-chaired the ABA’s Task Force on IOLTA. She served on the board of the National Conference of Bar Foundations,
and was appointed to serve on the Legal Services Corporation’s Task Forces on Rural Legal Services, State Planning, and
Diversity. Rivers James is a graduate of Dartmouth College, where she majored in Government and Sociology, and
Harvard Law School.
Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale ’91
The Honorable Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale ’91 is a Managing Director of Kroll, Inc., the leading
global provider of risk solutions. In this capacity, she advises global clients on strategies to
identify, remediate, and manage enterprise risk. Prior to joining Kroll, Nicole was a Senior
Vice President of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, where she developed
and executed market access strategies for companies seeking to expand their sales of goods
and services around the world. In 2009, Ms. Lamb-Hale joined the Obama Administration in
which she first served as Deputy General Counsel for the US Department of Commerce. In
2010, she was nominated by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate
to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services in the
International Trade Administration. As Assistant Secretary of Commerce, she regularly led US business delegations on
international trade and trade policy missions during which she promoted exports of U.S. goods and services and
negotiated with senior foreign government officials to eliminate trade barriers to U.S. exports. Prior to her government
service, Ms. Lamb-Hale was a Partner in the international law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP, where she counseled
corporate clients in significant business transactions including out of court restructurings and bankruptcy. In addition to
her client work, Nicole served as the Managing Partner of the firm’s Detroit office. In addition to her JD from Harvard
Law School, Nicole holds an AB with high honors in political science from the University of Michigan where she
studied in the Honors College.
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Allegra Lawrence-Hardy
Allegra Lawrence-Hardy focuses her practice on Business and Commercial Litigation and
Labor and Employment. She has successfully defended Fortune 100 companies throughout
the United States and abroad in numerous trials, arbitrations and other forms of alternative
dispute resolution. Allegra is a fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, which is an
invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society and represents less than one-half of one percent
of American lawyers. Fellows are selected based upon excellence and accomplishments in
litigation, trial work and superior ethical reputation.
Allegra is a graduate of Yale Law School and is a member of its Executive Committee. She
received her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Spelman College.
Additional highlights of Allegra’s achievements include: recognized by Chambers USA: Guide to Leading Business
Lawyers; repeatedly named to The Best Lawyers in America; selected for inclusion among The Black Lawyers “Top
100”; named to the “Rainmakers” list by Diversity & the Bar; repeatedly selected for inclusion in Georgia Super
Lawyers® “Top 50 Female Georgia Super Lawyers” and “Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers.”
Karen M. Hardwick ’88 Karen Hardwick is General Counsel of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). She brings to UDC her nearly 30-year proven track record of solving complex legal problems for both public and private enterprises. Karen served most recently as the City Attorney and General Counsel for the City of Annapolis, Maryland, an historic municipal corporation with a $99 million operating budget and $88 million capital improvement program. As an active member of the mayoral cabinet during her tenure, she helped the city leadership manage changes in city governance, labor and employment, public finance, public works and related legal matters and disputes.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Hardwick was named the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the District of Columbia’s Anacostia Waterfront Development Corporation. Working for the quasi-public enterprise in those capacities, she led the negotiations of an array of complex corporate transactions, crafted optimal legal solutions to mitigate high-stakes policy and operating risks, and provided integral legal and policy support to the board of directors. Karen launched her legal career as an associate at Hogan and Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), where she was distinguished as the firm’s first African-American woman to rise up through the ranks to be promoted into equity partnership. Her practice at Hogan focused on high-stakes commercial litigation and complex investigations for companies in the commercial real estate, technology and insurance industries. As Ms. Hardwick rose to prominence in the District of Columbia legal community, she was tapped by the mayor to join the board of directors for the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC) and, eventually, appointed to serve as board chair. Under Karen’s leadership, NCRC spearheaded a number of iconic economic development initiatives in the District, including the award-winning revitalization of the Columbia Heights neighborhood. As a result of her success with NCRC, she was honored with awards from the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce and the DC Building Industry Association. Throughout her career, Ms. Hardwick has been a visible leader of the business community and not-for-profit initiatives. She has served as Vice-Chair of the Board of the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce, as programmatic co-chair for Leadership Greater Washington, and Vice-Chair of the National Black Child Development Institute. Karen continues almost a decade of service as Vice-President of the Washington Children’s Foundation, a not-for-profit organization focused on preventing child abuse and funding wrap-around services for victims of child abuse. Karen is a 1988 graduate of the Harvard Law School and a 1985 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Engineering. She lives with her husband Adrian Gardner ’88 in the District of Columbia and Annapolis, MD and has
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served several terms on the Vestry of Washington’s oldest church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish.
David J. Harris
David J. Harris is the Managing Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race
and Justice at Harvard Law School. In addition to his overall management of the Houston
Institute, David has been involved in the institute’s programmatic activities, including
formulation and promotion of the community justice approach to public safety and the
Houston Marshall Plan for Community Justice. Prior to assuming this position he served as
founding Executive Director of the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, where he
established himself as a leader in fair housing and equity issues. He previously served as a fair
housing investigator with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, before
which he was a Civil Rights Analyst with the US Commission on Civil Rights, both in Washington, DC, and the New
England Regional Office. He holds a PhD in sociology from Harvard University, and a BA from Georgetown
University. David serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations, currently chairs the Massachusetts Advisory
Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights.
Andrea C. James
Andrea James is the Founder and Executive Director of Families for Justice as Healing, a
founding member of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women
and Girls, a 2015 Soros Justice Fellow, and the author of Upper Bunkies Unite: And Other
Thoughts On the Politics of Mass Incarceration.
Andrea worked within the criminal justice system for more than 25 years, from her days as a
youth worker to her work as a criminal defense attorney. In 2009 she was sentenced to serve a
24-month federal prison sentence. After a lifetime of work seeking justice on behalf of
disenfranchised people, she was stunned at what she encountered upon entering the federal
prison system as an incarcerated person and uses her experience to raise awareness of the
effect of incarceration of women on children and communities, and to shift from a criminal legal system to a system
focusing on human justice.
Alan Jenkins ’89
Alan Jenkins is Executive Director of The Opportunity Agenda, a communications,
research, and policy organization dedicated to building the national will to expand
opportunity in America. Before joining The Opportunity Agenda, Alan was Director of
Human Rights at the Ford Foundation, managing grant making in the United States and
eleven overseas regions. His prior positions include Assistant to the Solicitor General at
the US Department of Justice, where he represented the United States government in
constitutional and other litigation before the US Supreme Court, and Associate Counsel to
the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where he defended the rights of low-
income communities facing exploitation and discrimination.
Alan's other positions have included Assistant Adjunct Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, Law Clerk to
Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Law Clerk to US District Court Judge Robert L. Carter, and Coordinator of
the Access to Justice Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. He is a frequent commentator in broadcast and
print media, including MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Huffington Post.
Alan serves on the Board of Trustees of New York Public Radio, on the Board of Governors of the New School for
Public Engagement, and as an Advisor to the JPB Foundation. He is a Founding Co-Chair of the American
Constitution Society's Project on the Constitution in the Twenty-First Century. Alan holds a JD from Harvard Law
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School, an MA in Media Studies from the New School University, and a AB in Psychology and Social Relations from
Harvard College.
Channing D. Johnson ’75
Channing Johnson focuses his practice on corporate and securities matters, with a
concentration in the media, technology, entertainment and hospitality sectors. Mr. Johnson
represents public and private companies in a variety of industries, including music, film and
television production and distribution, animation, manufacturing, retail (clothing, food and
beverage), internet commerce, software and investment banking. Mr. Johnson has extensive
experience advising entertainment and media clients. His entertainment and media clients are
involved with all modes of distribution (broadcast, cable, broadband, theatrical and internet),
and seek legal advice in connection with the issuance of securities, mergers and acquisitions,
joint venture and financing agreements, production agreements, distribution agreements,
affiliate carriage agreements, publishing and co-publishing agreements, production deals, endorsements, co-branding and
sponsorship deals, and talent contracts. Mr. Johnson has significant experience representing superstar recording artists in
worldwide touring agreements, including handling all legal matters relating to one of the largest international tours ever
produced. He also regularly represents successful independent film and television production companies, music
publishers, and record companies with respect to their day-to-day legal needs, financings and strategic acquisitions.
Whitney Fogle Lewis ’12
Whitney Fogle Lewis received her AB, cum laude, in psychology from Harvard College, and her
JD from Harvard Law School. She began her law practice at Skadden (NYC) with a focus on
mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare and pharmaceutical space before transitioning in-
house as an associate counsel at Carlson Capital LP, a Dallas-based hedge fund. At Carlson, in
addition to helping resolve the full gamut of general issues the legal department faces,
Whitney is responsible for coordinating counterparty relationships and negotiating the
documents that govern them; assisting the London office; managing intellectual property
issues; and addressing a variety of labor and employment matters. Whitney was named a 2015
Corporate Counsel Awards Finalist by D CEO Magazine and the DFW chapter of the Association for Corporate
Counsel and was selected for the 2016 class of 40 Under 40 by the Dallas Business Journal.
Debra L. Lee ’80
Debra L. Lee is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BET Networks, a unit of
Viacom Inc. and the leading provider of entertainment for the African-American audience and
consumers of Black culture globally. Ms. Lee oversees one of the most influential
multiplatform media companies in the world, including several cable television networks and
digital offerings.
BET Networks is committed to providing its audience with quality entertainment that speaks
to where they are in their lives and where they want to go. Under her leadership, Ms. Lee has
led the company’s successful reinvigorated brand and successful programming vision that has
created hits such as, Real Husbands of Hollywood, Being Mary Jane, BET Awards, Black Girls Rock!, BET Honors, Sunday Best,
and many more. Ms. Lee’s vision for BET’s reinvigorated approach is built on supporting families, embracing and
encouraging their dreams, and focusing on the issues that are important to them.
In September 2009, Ms. Lee managed the launch of Centric, a 24-hour music and entertainment network. Under her
leadership, Centric was rebranded in 2014 as the first network designed for Black women. She also oversees the
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company’s current growth initiatives, including international distribution of the brand in Canada, the Caribbean, the
United Kingdom, France, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
Prior to her being named Chairman and CEO, Ms. Lee was President and Chief Operating Officer of BET Networks
for almost 10 years, during which she guided the company to consistent increases in viewership, revenue and earnings.
She first joined BET as Vice President and General Counsel in 1986 after serving more than five years as an attorney
with Washington, DC-based Steptoe & Johnson, a corporate law firm. Prior to that, she served as a law clerk to the late
Honorable Barrington Parker of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment, Ms. Lee’s achievements in a
25-plus year career at BET Networks have earned her numerous accolades from across the cable industry, as well as
recognition as one of this country’s most respected business executives. Ms. Lee was inducted into the Broadcasting &
Cable Hall of Fame, the Washington Business Hall of Fame, and was honored with the Distinguished Leadership
Vanguard Award by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. She also serves on the corporate board of
directors of Revlon, Marriott and Washington Gas & Light. Her business acumen and strategic approach to management
make Ms. Lee a popular speaker and lecturer on a range of business topics.
Ms. Lee earned her JD at Harvard Law School, while simultaneously earning a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the
John F. Kennedy School of Government. She graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in political
science with an emphasis in Asian politics. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for Brown University and was
awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from the University in May, 2014. She resides in Washington, DC.
Andrew Lindsay ’06
Andrew Lindsay currently serves as the VP of Corporate Development at Jawbone, a venture-
backed consumer electronics and wearable products company. Prior to this role, Andrew
advised clients on corporate strategy as a consultant for McKinsey & Company and on
corporate transactions as a member of Merrill Lynch's mergers and acquisitions team.
Andrew is the Chair of TechSF, the city's technology workforce development initiative, and is
a member of the Workforce Investment San Francisco Board. Andrew earned a law degree at
Harvard Law School, an MBA at Harvard Business School and a BS in Biology from Howard
University.
Loretta E. Lynch ’84
Loretta E. Lynch was sworn in as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States by Vice
President Joe Biden on April 27, 2015. President Barack Obama announced his intention to
nominate Ms. Lynch on November 8, 2014.
Ms. Lynch received her AB, cum laude, from Harvard College in 1981, and her JD from
Harvard Law School in 1984. In 1990, after a period in private practice, Ms. Lynch joined the
United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, located in Brooklyn,
New York—the city she considers her adopted home. There, she forged an impressive career
prosecuting cases involving narcotics, violent crimes, public corruption, and civil rights. In
one notable instance, she served on the prosecution team in the high-profile civil rights case of Abner Louima, the
Haitian immigrant who was sexually assaulted by uniformed police officers in a Brooklyn police precinct in 1997.
In 1999, President Clinton appointed her to lead the office as United States Attorney—a post she held until 2001. In
2002, she joined Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells) as a partner in the firm’s New York office. While in
private practice, Ms. Lynch performed extensive pro bono work for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,
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established to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations in the 1994 genocide in that country. As Special
Counsel to the Tribunal, she was responsible for investigating allegations of witness tampering and false testimony.
In 2010, President Obama asked Ms. Lynch to resume her leadership of the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.
Under her direction, the office successfully prosecuted numerous corrupt public officials, terrorists, cybercriminals and
human traffickers, among other important cases.
Ms. Lynch is the daughter of Lorenzo and Lorine Lynch of Durham, N.C., a retired minister and a librarian whose
commitment to justice and public service has been the inspiration for her life’s work.
Ms. Lynch enjoys spending her free time with her husband, Stephen Hargrove, and their two children.
Kenneth W. Mack ’91
Kenneth W. Mack is the inaugural Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law and Affiliate
Professor of History at Harvard University. He is the co-faculty leader of the Harvard Law
School Program on Law and History. During the 2015-16 year, he also served as co-faculty
leader of the Workshop on the History of Capitalism in the Americas at the Charles Warren
Center for Studies in American history. His research and teaching have focused on American
legal and constitutional history with particular emphasis on race relations, politics and
economic life. His 2012 book, Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer
(Harvard University Press), was selected as a Top 50 Non-fiction Book of the Year by the
Washington Post, was a National Book Festival Selection, was awarded honorable mention for the J. Willard Hurst
Award by the Law and Society Association, and was a finalist for the Julia Ward Howe Book Award. His is also the co-
editor of The New Black: What Has Changed – And What Has Not – With Race in America (New Press, 2013). His articles
have been published in a wide variety of scholarly and general interest publications. He is currently working on a book
project that examines the social and political history of race and political economy in the United States after 1975.
He began his professional career as an electrical engineer at Bell Laboratories before turning to law and history. Before
joining the faculty at Harvard Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, in the United States District
Court for the Southern District of New York, and practiced law in the Washington, DC office of the firm Covington &
Burling.
Leo S. Mackay, Jr.
Leo S. Mackay, Jr., is Senior Vice President, Internal Audit, Ethics and Sustainability, and an
elected corporate officer, of Lockheed Martin Corporation. He is an independent director of
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a $40B leading global supplier of business and
IT services, and strategic advisor to Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private equity fund focused
on sustainability and wellness. He was previously Vice President of Corporate Business
Development and President of ICGS, LLC, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and
Northrop Grumman. Dr. Mackay served as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2001-
2003 receiving the Exceptional Service Medal, the VA’s highest honor, for his service. From
1993 to 1995 he was military assistant to current Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, who
was then the Assistant Secretary of Defense - International Security Policy. Dr. Mackay is a member of the Council on
Foreign Relations, and the Aspen Strategy Group. A Secretary of the Navy Distinguished Graduate of the US Naval
Academy, he is a former naval aviator (F-14 pilot, Navy Fighter Weapons School [Topgun] graduate), and a veteran of
Operation Earnest Will. He earned a master's degree, and a PhD, in public policy from Harvard University where he
was a Harvard MacArthur Scholar and Kennedy Fellow.
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Debra Martin Chase ’81
Debra Martin Chase is an Emmy nominated and Peabody Award winning television and
motion picture producer whose company, Martin Chase Productions, has been affiliated with
the Walt Disney Company since 2001 and been based at the ABC Television Network since
2012. She was the first African American female producer to have a deal at a major studio.
Her filmography includes three beloved franchises: The Princess Diaries, The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants and The Cheetah Girls. The Princess Diaries and its hit sequel jointly grossed over
$300 million in worldwide box office receipts and launched the movie career of actress Anne
Hathaway. According to Variety, the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was one of the best
reviewed movies of 2005 and began the career of another young actress, Blake Lively. The soundtrack for The Cheetah
Girls, which Ms. Chase also executive produced, went double platinum. Its first sequel was the most watched movie
debut in the history of the Disney Channel and the singing group had one of the most successful US concert tours of
the 2006 – 2007 season.
Her other motion picture producing credits include Sparkle, a dramatic musical starring Jordin Sparks and the late
Whitney Houston; Just Wright starring Queen Latifah, which won the 2011 NAACP Image Award for Best Screenplay;
Courage Under Fire starring Denzel Washington; and the perennial holiday favorite, The Preacher’s Wife, starring
Washington and Houston. Her television credits include the Emmy-winning Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella with
Brandy Norwood and Houston; the Lifetime Television series Missing, which had the most watched series debut in the
network’s history; the Disney Channel’s original musical, Lemonade Mouth, which featured a number one Billboard
soundtrack that Ms. Chase executive produced; and the Oscar and Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning
documentary, Hank Aaron: Chasing The Dream. She has also produced five movies in her partnership with Mattel’s
American Girl Company and Universal Home Entertainment.
Her new romantic sitcom, Zoe Ever After, starring Grammy Award-winning-musician/actress Brandy Norwood,
premiered on BET in January 2016 and has been picked up for a second season.
Ms. Chase graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College and the Harvard Law School. In
2007, she received an honorary Doctorate of Arts from Mount Holyoke and is a member of its Board of Trustees. She
also serves on the boards of the New York City Ballet and the Second Stage Theatre. She is a Fellow at the Harvard
University iLab.
Her numerous awards and honors, include being named to Ebony Magazine’s, 150 Most Influential African Americans
in America (2007, 2008 and 2009); Black Enterprise Magazine’s Ten Most Bankable African American Movie Producers
in Hollywood (2012), the only woman on the list; the Entertainment Award (2013) by the Trumpet Awards Foundation
for her career achievements; and the African American Film Critics’ Association’s Ashley Boone Award (2015).
Zola Mashariki ’97
Zola Mashariki is currently Executive Vice President and Head of Original Programming at
BET Networks in Los Angeles, where she oversees original programming for both BET and
CENTRIC Networks. Prior to BET Networks, Zola was Senior Vice President of Production
at Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Ms. Mashariki is a graduate of Dartmouth College and
Harvard Law School. During her tenure at Harvard, she worked as a research assistant to the
late Judge A. Leon Higginbotham and was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard College and Harvard
Law School with Professors Cornel West and Roberto Unger.
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After law school, Zola practiced corporate law at Proskauer Rose LLP in New York and Manatt, Phelps and Phillips
LLP in Los Angeles. She also worked with the late playwright August Wilson and co-founded the African Grove
Institute for the Arts (AGIA), the first national black theatre organization.
In 1999, Ms. Mashariki moved to Los Angeles to attend the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of
Southern California, where she produced her first film in Cameroon, West Africa.
In 2010, Zola joined the faculty of the University of Southern California and in her “free time,” she teaches an
Advanced Producing course to the graduate film students.
Ms. Mashariki has been responsible for a number of feature films, including John Madden’s The Best Exotic Marigold
Hotel (nominated for 2 Golden Globes and a BAFTA), as well as the sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,
Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene (nominated for 4 Independent Spirit Awards), Mike Cahill’s Another Earth
(nominated for 2 Independent Spirit Awards) and I Origins (Sundance award winner), Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me
Go (British Independent Film Award winner), Sanaa Hamri’s Just Wright, Kevin MacDonald’s The Last King of
Scotland (Academy Award winner, Golden Globe winner, BAFTA winner), George Tillman’s Notorious, Gina Prince-
Bythewood’s The Secret Life of Bees, Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages (nominated for 2 Academy Awards), Mira Nair's
The Namesake (nominated for 2 Independent Spirit Awards), Pieter Jan Brugge’s The Clearing, Jim Sheridan's In
America (nominated for 3 Academy Awards, 3 Golden Globes, and an Independent Spirit Award winner), James Ivory's
Le Divorce, Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher (Independent Spirit Award winner) and Rick Famyiwa’s Brown
Sugar.Zola has been on the cover of Black Enterprise magazine and The Hollywood Reporter. She has been featured in
The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Essence, Ebony, Jet, Variety, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and Savoy.
Among her many honors, she was included in the Hollywood Reporter’s prestigious “Next Gen” list, as well as Black
Enterprise’s “40 under 40”. Most recently, she received the Delta Sigma Theta “Impact” award, the 2014 Special
Achievement award from the African-American Film Critics Association, and the 2014 Mosaic Woman Trailblazer
award. She is also on Ebony magazine’s 2014 “Power 100” list.
Tracy B. McKibben ’94
Tracy B. McKibben is an international energy and clean technology expert with 20+ years of
experience in the energy sector, including a 15+ years focusing on the areas of alternative and
renewable energy, clean technology, water, infrastructure and sustainability management.
Tracy is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MAC Energy Advisors LLC, an
investment and consulting company that provides integrated energy solutions to help clients
with investments and strategic opportunities across a global platform. Tracy advises
multinational corporations and financial institutions on strategic investments and capital
investment structuring in the alternative energy, renewable energy, clean technology, water
and energy efficiency sectors. Tracy has also acquired, developed and financed 200+ MW of
global renewable energy assets. Tracy has extensive transactional experience ranging from mergers and acquisitions,
business development, valuation and deal structuring, financial strategy, sustainability metrics, and public policy analysis.
Tracy started her finance career in 2007 at Citigroup Global Markets as Managing Director and Head of Environmental
Banking Strategy advising alternative and renewable energy companies and diversified multinational corporations on
strategic investments, US and international energy policies and environmental financing alternatives. She was a Member
of Citigroup's Alternative Energy Task Force and the Carbon Task Force. Tracy’s public sector experience includes
working in several senior level positions including at the White House at the National Security Council as Senior
Director of European Affairs and Director of European Economic Affairs and EU Relations. Tracy also worked at the
US Department of Commerce where her positions included Special Counsel for International Trade and Investments, as
well as Director and Executive Secretariat in the Office of the Secretary of Commerce. Prior to her work in the public
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sector, Tracy practiced law at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP representing and advising clients on commercial
and complex litigation matters, as well as corporate and multinational energy clients on strategic investments globally.
Tracy has served on a number of public and private/nonprofit boards. She is currently a member of the Board of
Directors of Ecolab Inc. (ECL), Imation (IMN), USAA, the New York Power Authority, and Geostellar. Tracy is a
member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-partisan organization exploring public policy and corporate
interactions across the globe. She has spoken at various international conferences on issues such as renewable energy,
water/energy nexus, clean technology and innovation, as well as a United Nations conference on sustainability
management. Tracy received her BA from West Virginia State University and JD from Harvard Law School.
ReNika C. Moore ’03
ReNika Moore is an advocate for racial and economic justice. She is currently Deputy Bureau
Chief of the Labor Bureau in the New York Attorney General’s Office. As Deputy Bureau
Chief she supervises the Bureau’s civil enforcement of New York’s labor laws and its
representation of New York State in various appeals affecting workers, including workers’
compensation, unemployment insurance, and prevailing wage compliance. The NY AG’s
Labor Bureau has been nationally recognized for enforcing labor standards in low-wage
industries, such as food services, car washing, and construction.
Prior to this role, Ms. Moore supervised and coordinated the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s
economic justice litigation, public education, and public policy efforts. Ms. Moore litigated high-impact racial justice
cases tackling a variety of civil rights issues, including criminal background checks in employment, discrimination in
major federal housing programs, and environmental racism. For example, Ms. Moore was lead counsel for LDF in
Cogdell v. Wet Seal, which resulted in a $7.5 million settlement that also provided for numerous compensation, promotion,
and personnel changes to ensure fairness and opportunity for current and future African-American retail workers. She
served as a faculty member in the Shriver Center’s inaugural Racial Justice Training Institute for legal aid and legal
services attorneys from around the country. Before joining LDF, Ms. Moore worked with the employment law firm
Outten & Golden advocating for the rights of workers who had been unlawfully discriminated against or had been
unlawfully denied their earned wages. Ms. Moore began her career clerking for accomplished civil rights litigator, the late
Honorable Robert L. Carter in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York. Ms. Moore received her JD
from Harvard Law School and AB from Harvard College cum laude.
Ory Okolloh ’05
Ory Okolloh is currently a director of investments at Omidyar Network Africa, a
philanthropic investment firm. Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Ory was Google's Policy
Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, Ory was at the forefront of developing
technology innovation as a founding member of Ushahidi. She served as the organization's
executive director from inception until December 2010. Ory is also the co-founder of
Mzalendo, a website that tracks the performance of Kenyan Members of Parliament. She is a
member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, a member of the World Bank's Council of
Eminent persons, an advisory board member of Amnesty International, East Africa and a
member of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program selection committee. In 2015 she was appointed to the
Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company Board.
Ory earned a JD from Harvard Law School and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in political science
from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2010, Ory was named one of the top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy
Magaine and in 2011 Ory was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and one of Africa's most
Powerful Women by Forbes Magazine. In 2014 she was named Time 100's most influential people in the world. She
lives in Nairobi with her husband and 3 children.
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Spencer A. Overton ’93
Spencer Overton is the fourth President of the Joint Center for Political and Economic
Studies. The Joint Center--founded in 1970 as a think tank to support black elected officials--
faced a fiscal crisis when Spencer became the leader in early 2014. Spencer spent 18 months
resolving these challenges. The Joint Center is now debt-free and growing, and under
Spencer's leadership has restarted programming. The Joint Center now supports innovative
elected officials of color and policy experts who focus on communities of color
Spencer is also a tenured Professor of Law at George Washington University, where he
teaches and writes on voting rights. He is the author of the book Stealing Democracy: The
New Politics of Voter Suppression and several academic articles on democracy. While serving on the 2005 Jimmy
Carter-James Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform, Spencer helped establish the contours for current debates
over voting restrictions with his dissent from the Commission's photo ID recommendation. As a member of the 2005-
06 Commission on Presidential Nomination Scheduling and Timing, Spencer led an effort that resulted in Iowa restoring
voting rights to 98,000 Iowans who had completed their sentences. He also worked with the Commission's chairs to
move more diverse states (South Carolina and Nevada) to prominent positions in the presidential primary election
calendar, and since 2008 these states have played pivotal roles in the presidential selection process.
Spencer held several positions on the Obama campaigns, transition, and administration. For the 2008 campaign he
chaired government reform policy, and during the 2012 campaign he had several leadership roles on the National
Finance Committee. At the beginning of the Obama Administration Spencer served as the Principal Deputy Assistant
Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy, the "think tank" of the Department of Justice that develops and
coordinates policy and regulations and leads the Department's efforts in the selection and confirmation of federal judges.
In that position, he led a task force that developed the Attorney General's reentry reform priorities (which have since
been implemented), and partnered with White House officials to lead the Administration's policy efforts related to the
Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and many other areas.
Spencer received his BA from Hampton University, and he clerked for US Court of Appeals Judge Damon J. Keith.
Warrington S. Parker ’89
Warrington S. Parker, a partner in Orrick's San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices, is a
member of the White Collar & Corporate Investigations group. Mr. Parker's practice focuses
on the representation of defendants and plaintiffs in litigation matters and appeals, including
criminal matters, trade secrets misappropriation and commercial disputes. He also has argued
numerous cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and California Court of Appeal.
From 1992 to 1996, Mr. Parker was Assistant United States Attorney for the United States
Attorney's Office, Central District of California, Criminal Division in Los Angeles.
Natosha Reid Rice ’97
Natosha Reid Rice currently serves as the Associate General Counsel for Real Estate and
Finance at Habitat for Humanity International where she initiates and manages financing
programs and strategies to generate sources of capital that enable Habitat affiliates to provide
decent, affordable housing to families throughout the country. In addition to her work at
Habitat, Natosha also serves as an Associate Pastor, Women’s Ministries at the historic
Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia and founder of Fresh Rain for Life Ministries, a
non-denominational ministry that provides a “sanctuary for women in the midst of life”
through worship services, retreats, bible studies, workshops, and mission outreach.
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Prior to joining Habitat, Natosha practiced law in the commercial real estate practices of Alston & Bird LLP, in Atlanta,
Georgia and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in New York City. While at these firms, she specialized in
commercial real estate development transactions, acquisitions, dispositions and leasing.
Natosha is passionate about providing a voice to the voiceless and opportunities to communities that have been
historically disadvantaged. She is a frequent speaker and facilitator for community/civic organizations, churches, colleges
and corporate events on topics such as the intersection of faith and justice, race and gender justice, leadership
development and community empowerment. In addition, Natosha is a past Board Chair for Georgia Women for a
Change and currently serves on the boards of the YWCA of Greater Atlanta and Invest Atlanta’s Atlanta Emerging
Markets, Inc. which is a community development entity that seeks to spur job creation, economic development and
neighborhood revitalization in under-served parts of the City of Atlanta. She has been actively involved in efforts to pass
legislation and policy to protect victims of human sex trafficking in Georgia and provide for a fair workplace for women.
Natosha has received recognition and several awards for her work and leadership in the community. Recent honors
include the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers, the Circle of Friends Pearl Award and the Church Women United
(Atlanta Unit) Outstanding Young Woman. Natosha was also a member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2014.
Natosha received her JD from Harvard Law School and her BA in Government with honors from Harvard/Radcliffe
College where she was a Harvard/Radcliffe Class Marshall and awarded the Captain Jonathan Fay Prize (Radcliffe’s
Highest Honor) and the E.P. Saltonstall Prize. Natosha lives in metro Atlanta with her husband Corey Rice and their
children, Kayla, Malachi and Caleb.
April Reign
April Reign practiced law for over twenty years, honing her talent for public speaking and
persuasive writing, but it wasn't until she walked away from her legal practice that she found
her true passion. Now, as Managing Editor of BroadwayBlack.com and Editor at Large of NU
Tribe Magazine, Reign is able to capitalize on her strengths and pursue her calling, using her
voice to spark dialogue and explore issues of race, politics and culture.
As the Creator of the viral hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, April Reign challenges the lack of
representation of marginalized communities in Hollywood and beyond. Reaching out to her
engaged network of over 25,000 digital media followers worldwide, Reign sustains a
movement that has resulted in the most systemic change ever seen in the over 80-year history of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences. April Reign owned her opportunity, the results of which are reverberating throughout the
entertainment industry.
Reign is an influential and sought-after digital media presence, having built an organic following of over 25,000
worldwide. April Reign now travels the country speaking at academic institutions.
Christopher P. Reynolds ’86
Chris Reynolds is a Managing Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC). As a Managing
Officer of the global automaker, Reynolds functions as General Counsel and Chief Legal
Officer, responsible for all legal matters of the company in its design, manufacturing and sales
operations worldwide including litigation, regulatory, transactional and legal compliance
matters. Reynolds also serves as TMC's Deputy Chief Officer of the General Administrative &
Human Resources Group. In that function, he is responsible for Human Resources matters
related to "high potential" executives outside of Japan. As Chief Officer for the Governance
Management Group, Reynolds is responsible for co-managing the governance practices of
TMC.
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Previously, Reynolds was General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of Toyota Motor North America, the holding
company of Toyota's North America operations, and before that Group Vice President, general counsel, chief
environmental officer and corporate secretary of Toyota Motor Sales, USA (TMS), Inc., Toyota's sales and distribution
arm in the United States.
Before joining TMS in 2007, Reynolds was a partner and trial lawyer at the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in
New York City. While at the firm, Reynolds served as manager of the New York office's employment law group, a
member of the firm's advisory board and chair of the firm's diversity committee.
Earlier, Reynolds served from 1989 to 1994 as an Assistant United States Attorney in the criminal division of the US
Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. Before his stint with the US Attorney’s Office, Reynolds worked
from 1987 to 1989 as a litigation associate at the law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed in New York City, and as a law
clerk for the Honorable Damon J. Keith, US Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit in Detroit, Michigan from 1986 to 1987.
Reynolds grew up amid the auto industry in Detroit as the son of a Ford Motor Company River Rouge plant worker and
a registered nurse. He attended Detroit Public Schools and entered Kalamazoo College in 1979. In 1981, he was named
a Harry S. Truman Scholar. After a junior year abroad at the Universite de Strasbourg in France, Reynolds received his
bachelor’s degree in political science with honors from Kalamazoo College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1983.
He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1986.
Reynolds is a member of the American Bar Association and the National Bar Association. He serves as a trustee of
Kalamazoo College and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Married with three children, he currently
lives in the Los Angeles area.
Brooke J. Richie-Babbage ’03
Brooke Richie-Babbage is the Founder and Executive Director of the Resilience Advocacy
Project (RAP), a New York City-based youth leadership organization working to empower
youth to become leaders in the fight to end poverty. Brooke has over 15 years’ experience in
the social justice arena. She has worked as an anti-poverty attorney and advocate for
numerous organizations, including the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, the
Children’s Defense Fund-NY, the Center for and Urban Future, and the Center for Law and
Social Policy, and has taught the history of social welfare law and policy at Tufts University.
In addition to serving as the ED at RAP, Brooke is also an Adjunct Professor at the Baruch
School of Public Affairs, and she sits on the Board of Directors of the Community Resource
Exchange and Forstdale, Inc. in NYC.
Brooke has been a speaker and presented papers at Harvard, NYU, Fordham, and Brooklyn Law Schools, and has
published articles and presented papers at conferences and trainings throughout the country on child care policy, welfare
law and policy, teen fathers and child support, social entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment methodology. She is a
Harvard Law School Young Wasserstein Fellow, a recipient of the Skadden Fellowship, a finalist for the Echoing Green
Social Innovation Fellowship, a former Chair of the Social Welfare Committee of the NYC Bar Association, and a
CORO Leadership alumna. Brooke received both her JD and MPP from Harvard, and her BA from Yale.
Joyce M. Roché
Joyce M. Roché is an author and former President and Chief Executive Officer of Girls Incorporated (a national
nonprofit research, education, and advocacy organization in New York, New York). Prior to her role at Girls Inc. Ms.
Roché was President and Chief Operating Officer of Carson, Inc. and held various senior marketing positions at Avon
products, Inc., including Vice President of Global Marketing. Ms. Roché received her BA from Dillard University and
earned her MBA from Columbia University. Ms. Roché serves as Lead Director of AT&T and Chairperson of the
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Human Resources Committee. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Macy’s Inc. where she chairs The
Nominating and Governance and is a Director of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. and Tupperware Brands Corporation.
Daron K. Roberts ’07
Daron K. Roberts is the founding director of the Center for Sports Leadership & Innovation
(CSLi) at the University of Texas. His pivot from Harvard Law School to NFL coach has been
featured in ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated and Bloomberg Businessweek.
As a faculty member in the Liberal Arts Honors Program at the University of Texas, Roberts
teaches three courses: Leadership Strategy in Sports, Disruptive Innovation in Sports and
Gameplan for Winning at Life. Roberts served coaching stints with the Kansas City Chiefs,
Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and West Virginia Mountaineers.
He holds a BA in Plan II Honors and Government from the University of Texas, an MPP from Harvard Kennedy
School and a JD from Harvard Law School.
The Presidential Leadership Scholars Foundation – a joint venture between Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
– tabbed Roberts as a Presidential Leadership Scholar for 2015. He was one of 60 members selected for the inaugural
class.
Roberts is the CEO and founder of 4th and 1, Inc. (4thand1.org). 4th and 1 offers free SAT prep, life skills development
and football training to at-risk high school youth in Michigan, Texas and Florida. The camp has served nearly 500
students during the last six years.
Roberts has served as a contributor to TIME, Fortune, Forbes, Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle, and
Dallas Morning News.
Stephanie Robinson ’94
Stephanie Robinson is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, a national media figure,
author, former Chief Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and the President and CEO of
The Jamestown Project, a national think tank focusing on democracy.
Between 2013 and 2014, Ms. Robinson hosted her own national radio show, Roundtable with
Stephanie Robinson, a popular and weekly 30-minute, talk-radio program focused on culture,
politics and relationships that aired on the Tavis Smiley Network.
For five years, between 2008 and 2013, Ms. Robinson was Political Commentator for the Tom Joyner Morning Show
where she spoke to between 9 and 10 million people weekly, offering her perspective on the day’s most pressing social
and political issues.
Ms. Robinson is a nationally recognized expert on issues relating to social policy, women, race, family, and electoral
politics. She was featured as one of the 30 Young Leaders of the Future in Ebony Magazine and was profiled in the
book As I Am: Young African American Women in a Critical Age, by Julian Okwu. She is a frequent speaker expressing her
views in countless media outlets including the Associated Press, The Washington Post, C-Span, NPR, The Baltimore
Sun, CN8, and Fox News. As a political and legal analyst, Ms. Robinson has spoken on a wide variety of topics including
faith and policy, international conflict, race and society, political participation and voting trends of African Americans
and women.
Ms. Robinson, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland and the Harvard Law School, is a native of
Steubenville, Ohio. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons. She, along with Harvard Law Professor
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and husband, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., are the first black Faculty Deans in the history of Harvard University.
Kim K.W. Rucker ’93
Kim Rucker is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of Tesoro
Corporation, a Fortune 100 company that is an independent refiner and marketer of
petroleum products. There she is a member of the Executive Leadership Team responsible for
executing the strategic direction for the Company. She is directly responsible for providing
effective advice and counsel to the Board and its committees, officers and business leaders.
Kim serves on the Board of Directors of Lennox International Inc., a $3.5 billion global leader
in the heating, air conditioning and refrigeration markets. She also is a member of the Board of
Trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine, a $6 billion nonprofit which includes Baltimore’s Johns
Hopkins Hospital and Health System, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins International.
Prior to joining Tesoro in 2016, Kim was the Executive Vice President, Corporate and Legal Affairs, General Counsel
and Corporate Secretary, for Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (now The Kraft-Heinz Company). During her tenure, the
company had a market cap of approximately $32 billion. Its iconic brands include Kraft, Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer,
Philadelphia, Planters, Velveeta, Capri Sun, Lunchables and JELL-O.
Prior to joining Kraft, Ms. Rucker held the position of Senior Vice President, for Avon Products Inc. Before that she
was the Senior Vice President, for Energy Future Holdings Corp., in Dallas, Texas, and also worked as a partner at the
Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP.
In addition to her Harvard Law School degree, she earned a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School
of Government. She received her BA with highest honors in Economics from the University of Iowa in 1989, and was
also named a Harry S. Truman Scholar.
Kim has received numerous accolades for her achievements, and has been interviewed and noted in publications in the
legal, corporate governance and compliance areas. She is a sought-after speaker on a variety of topics including corporate
governance, corporate reputation, leadership, ethics and compliance and managing for value.
Ms. Rucker was born and raised in the Chicago area, and now lives in the San Antonio with her husband and two
children.
Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell ’92
Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell is serving her third term as the US Representative of
Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. She is one of the first women elected to Congress from
Alabama in her own right and is the first black woman to ever serve in the Alabama
Congressional delegation.
Congresswoman Sewell sits on the House Committee on Financial Services and the
distinguished House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence charged with the oversight of
our national security. She is the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on the Department of
Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture, a key subcommittee on the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence.
In her short time in Congress, Sewell has held several leadership positions, including Freshman Class President in the
112th Congress. This term, she was selected by Democratic leadership to serve as a Chief Deputy Whip, and sits on the
prestigious Steering and Policy Committee which sets the policy direction of the Democratic Caucus. Congresswoman
Sewell is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
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A proud product of Alabama’s rural Black Belt, Congresswoman Sewell was the first black valedictorian of Selma High
School. She is an honors graduate of Princeton University and Oxford University in England and received her law
degree from Harvard Law School.
Rob Simmelkjaer ’97 Rob Simmelkjaer has served as Senior Vice President of NBC Sports Ventures since
September of 2011. NBC Sports Ventures is a division of NBC Sports Group, which forms
joint venture partnerships and makes minority investments in a wide variety of sports-related
businesses.
In addition to his position as Senior Vice President, NBC Sports Ventures, Mr. Simmelkjaer
serves as an on-air contributor across multiple NBCUniversal platforms, including NBC
Sports, NBCSN, NBC Sports Radio, NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC. He anchored
MSNBC’s coverage of the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
Prior to joining NBC, Mr. Simmelkjaer served in a variety of roles at ESPN from 2003-2011. Prior to his tenure at
ESPN, Simmelkjaer practiced law at two New York firms, Weil, Gotshal and Manges from 2000-2001, and Cravath,
Swaine & Moore from 1997-2000.
Mr. Simmelkjaer joined the board of directors of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) in 2016. CSGV is
Washington, DC based 501(c)(4) organization that was founded in 1974. It seeks to secure freedom from gun violence
through research, strategic engagement and effective policy advocacy. Simmelkjaer also serves on the board of directors
of the Child Center of NY, and is a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals in Westport, CT.
Mr. Simmelkjaer is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. He is a native of Haworth, NJ. He
currently lives in Connecticut.
Bryan Stevenson ’85
Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in
Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Stevenson is a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has
dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. Under his
leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing,
exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the
mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults. Mr. Stevenson has successfully argued
several cases in the United States Supreme Court and recently won an historic ruling in the US
Supreme Court banning mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger
are unconstitutional. EJI has also initiated major new anti-poverty and anti-discrimination
efforts challenging the legacy of racial inequality in America. Mr. Stevenson’s work fighting poverty and challenging
racial discrimination in the criminal justice system has won him numerous awards including the ABA Wisdom Award for
Public Service, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award Prize, the Olaf Palme International Prize, the ACLU
National Medal Of Liberty, the National Public Interest Lawyer of the Year Award, the Gruber Prize for International
Justice and the Ford Foundation Visionaries Award. In 2015, he was named to the Time 100 recognizing the world’s
most influential people. Recently, he was named in Fortune’s 2016 World’s Greatest Leaders list. He is a graduate of the
Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government, has been awarded 26 honorary doctorate degrees and is
also a Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. He is the recent author of the critically acclaimed
New York Times bestseller, Just Mercy, which was named by Time Magazine as one of the 10 best books of nonfiction
for 2014 and has been awarded several honors including the Carnegie Medal by the American Library Association for
the best nonfiction book of 2014 and a 2015 NAACP Image Award.
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Carter M. Stewart ’97
Carter Stewart is a Managing Director at Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. He supports
investment selection, builds portfolio support, cultivates fund development and drives
strategic and operational leadership. Stewart comes to Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
from the US Department of Justice where he served as the presidentially-appointed United
States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. In this role, Stewart was responsible for
prosecuting federal crime in a district comprised of 5.5 million people, which included
Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton. Stewart also served on the Attorney General’s Advisory
Committee and chaired the Attorney General’s Child Exploitation Working Group. Stewart
previously served as an Assistant US Attorney in San Jose, CA, and he was a litigator at Vorys,
Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP in Columbus, OH and Bingham McCutchen LLP in San Francisco, CA.
Prior to law school, Stewart was a New York City Urban Fellow and then taught history at Friends Seminary High
School and in the Prep for Prep program. Stewart received a JD degree from Harvard Law School in 1997. He holds a
Master of Arts Degree in Education Policy from Columbia University and received his undergraduate degree in Political
Science from Stanford University. After law school, Stewart clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, US District
Judge in the Southern District of New York and the Honorable Raymond L. Finch, US District Court Judge for the
District of the Virgin Islands.
David Strickland ’93
A partner in Venable’s Regulatory Group, David Strickland has significant federal government
and private experience and focuses his practice on transportation policy, consumer protection,
Internet privacy, data security, and legislative and government affairs. He draws on his
experience as former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
where he led high-profile investigations of companies in the sector, including investigations
regarding violations of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act that resulted in
record fines being issued by the agency. Prior to his position as the country’s top automotive
safety official, he served as the Democratic Senior Counsel on the US Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation where he played an important role in conducting
investigations and inquiries of companies in connection with consumer protection issues and commercial practices,
including the 2002 Enron inquiry concerning the company’s bankruptcy and business practices.
Ronald S. Sullivan ’94
Professor Sullivan is a leading theorist in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, trial
practice and techniques, legal ethics, and race theory. He is the faculty director of the Harvard
Criminal Justice Institute and the Harvard Trial Advocacy Workshop. Professor Sullivan also
serves as Master of Winthrop House at Harvard College. He is the first African American ever
appointed Master in Harvard's history. He is a founding member and Senior Fellow of the
Jamestown Project.
Professor Sullivan has merged legal theory and practice over the course of his career in unique
and cutting-edge ways.
In 2014, Professor Sullivan was tasked to design and implement a Conviction Review Unit (“CRU”) for the newly
elected Brooklyn District Attorney. The CRU, designed to identify and exonerate wrongfully convicted persons, quickly
became regarded as the model conviction integrity program in the nation. In its first year of operation alone, Professor
Sullivan discovered over 10 wrongful convictions, which the DA ultimately vacated. Some of the exonerated citizens
had served more than 30 years in prison before they were released.
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In 2008, Professor Sullivan served as Chair, Criminal Justice Advisory Committee for then-Senator Barack Obama’s
presidential campaign. In this capacity, Professor Sullivan’s committee made policy recommendations on a range of
issues in an effort to put into practice some of the best research in the field. He also served as a member of the National
Legal Advisory Group for the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. Finally, Professor Sullivan was appointed Advisor
to the Department of Justice Presidential Transition Team.
In 2007, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Professor Sullivan was asked to create a system to solve a criminal justice
crisis. Over 6000 citizens were incarcerated in and around New Orleans without representation and with all official
records destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Professor Sullivan designed an indigent defense delivery system that resulted in
the release of nearly all the 6000 inmates.
In 1994, Professor Sullivan was a visiting scholar for the Law Society of Kenya, where he sat on a committee charged
with drafting a new constitution for Kenya. He also worked with the Kenyan Human Rights Commission on
monitoring and challenging human rights abuses.
Prior to joining Harvard’s faculty, Professor Sullivan was on the Yale Law School faculty where he won the award for
outstanding teaching after his first year. Before joining the legal academy, he served as the Director of the Public
Defender Service for the District of Columbia. He also spent several years in private practice in two major Washington,
D.C. law firms where he specialized in white-collar criminal defense and complex commercial litigation.
Professor Sullivan still maintains an appellate and trial practice. He has represented persons ranging from politicians to
professional athletes to recording artists to pro bono clients in criminal jeopardy. Representative clients include: The
family of Micheal Brown; Former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez; The family of Usaamah Rahim.
Professor Sullivan has provided legal commentary for CNN, FoxNews, PBS, and all the major networks. He has been
quoted in the nation’s leading newspapers and periodicals, and he has testified before the United States Senate and
House of Representatives on numerous occasions.
Professor Sullivan is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and the Harvard Law School. Where he served as
President of the Harvard Black Law Students Association and as General Editor of the Harvard BlackLetter Law
Journal.
Jeff H. Tignor
Jeffrey H. Tignor is Special Counsel in the Broadband Division of the Wireless Bureau at the
Federal Communications Commission. Jeffrey develops rules for spectrum auctions, including
for the first-of-its-kind Incentive Auction. Concurrent with his tenure at the FCC, from 2012-
14, Jeffrey was a Fellow at Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) and a
contributor to Freedom-to-Tinker (CITP’s blog), where he discussed civic participation and
engagement in diverse communities. Previously, but also concurrent with his FCC tenure,
Jeffrey was elected Chairman of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4B in Washington, DC.
Prior to joining the FCC, Jeffrey was an Associate and Member of the Hiring Committee at
Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky. Jeffrey graduated from Harvard College and the Duke
University School of Law. Jeffrey currently serves on the Board of Harvard Club of Washington, DC, where he is co-
chair of the Schools Committee.
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Kristin Turner ’17
Kristin Turner ’17 is the President of the Harvard Black Law Students Association. A 2012
graduate of the University of Southern California, Kristin majored in Political Science and
Spanish. She later returned to her hometown and alma mater to teach Spanish at St. John's
College High School in Washington, DC. At the Law School, Ms. Turner has been an active
member of Harvard Defenders and HLS Parody. Last year, she chaired HBLSA's Leadership
and Mentorship Program (LAMP), where she continued her passion for inspiring and coaching
high school-aged students in achieving their goals. This past summer, Kristin was a Summer
Associate at White & Case LLP in Palo Alto, CA and plans to return to the San Francisco Bay
Area after graduation.
Mayor Sylvester Turner ’80
Mayor Sylvester Turner was elected Mayor of Houston on December 12, 2015, to serve a four
year term beginning January 4, 2016.
Sylvester Turner was born and raised in the Acres Homes community in northwest Houston.
His parents moved to Acres Homes in 1954, the year Sylvester was born.
Sylvester’s mother worked as a maid in the old Rice Hotel in Houston. His father worked as a
painter for Continental Ensco and cut yards with his sons on the weekends to make extra
money. The Turners raised nine children in their modest two-bedroom home in Acres Homes.
Sylvester lost his father to cancer when he was 13 years old. Afterward, his mother took over the Turner household.
Although she never finished high school or learned to drive, she ensured her children got an education and inspired
them to achieve.
Sylvester attended neighborhood public schools until forced integration came to Houston and he was bused to Klein
High School. After a predictably rocky start, the student body adapted to its new enrollees – and Sylvester was later
elected president of the student body and graduated as valedictorian.
Sylvester graduated from the University of Houston and Harvard Law School before joining the law firm of Fulbright &
Jaworski. He later founded the Houston law firm of Barnes & Turner in 1983.
In 1988, Sylvester was elected to the Texas House of Representatives to serve the people of House District 139 in
Northwest Houston. He served until his election as mayor, working on the House Appropriations Committee for 21
years and serving as Speaker Pro Tem for three terms. He was appointed to several Budget Conference Committees to
help balance the state’s budget and served on the Legislative Budget Board.
He is very proud of his daughter Ashley, who is continuing the Turner family tradition of public service in the healthcare
field.
Rory E. Verrett ’95
Rory E. Verrett is a principal at The Raben Group and leads the firm’s Sports Practice.
Raben's Sports Practice is committed to helping organizations which traditionally operate in
the sports arena - as well those whose interests intersect with the sports sector - to develop
innovative solutions which promote fairness, equity, and integrity within sports. Rory is also a
leader in the firm’s Inclusion practice, which helps corporations, foundations and advocacy
organizations develop strategies and implement solutions which increase diversity and
inclusion within their organizations.
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Rory most recently served as vice president of public affairs at the National Football League, where he was responsible
for creating partnerships with leading advocacy organizations. Prior to that role, Rory served as the NFL’s first ever head
of talent management, where he developed initiatives to help diversify senior management at league headquarters and
within the front offices of the 32 NFL clubs.
Prior to the NFL, Rory worked in the diversity and public policy practices at Spencer Stuart, a leading executive search
firm, where he recruited senior leaders for clients such as the NFL, the U.S. Olympic Committee, The New York Times,
Harvard University, and other leading organizations. He began his career in executive search at Russell Reynolds
Associates. Rory was formerly CEO of Diversiplex, a public affairs consulting firm with offices in Atlanta and New
Orleans. Rory began his career as legislative counsel to a Member of Congress and later served as senior counsel for
governmental affairs for Entergy, a Fortune 500 utility corporation in New Orleans.
Rory serves on the advisory board of Mentoring USA and Auburn Avenue Films.
Rory is a 1995 graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as class marshal, and Howard University, where he was
an elected student member of the Board of Trustees and a Harry S. Truman Scholar.
Rory is also host and producer of the critically acclaimed podcast, Protégé. Protégé Podcast provides the insightful
career advice, powerful inspiration and unvarnished truth you need to pursue and fulfill the career of your dreams. Rory
interviews guest mentors from media, sports, entertainment, technology and law, as well as dynamic entrepreneurs and
artists who share their career insights with the protégés/listeners.
A native of New Orleans, Rory lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife, Tamara, and daughter, Jordan.
Frances Cudjoe Waters ’96
Frances Cudjoe Waters is an Associate Pastor at Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in
Dallas, TX and a blogger for the Huffington Post. She is a highly-sought after preacher; an
insightful, spirit filled writer, an adept media entrepreneur and a highly-regarded Strategic
Planner. Rev. Waters graduated with Honors from Stanford University and Harvard Law School
and has pursued theological studies at Brite Divinity School. She combines faith, intellect and
media in dynamic, innovative ways that result in new vision for ministry; personal and spiritual
transformation; as well as strategic planning and practical theology.
Theodore V. Wells, Jr. JD-MBA ’76 Ted Wells co-chairs the Litigation Department at Paul, Weiss and is widely recognized as one of
the best trial lawyers in America. In 2010, The National Law Journal named Mr. Wells one of
“The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers” and in 2006, named Ted, “Lawyer of the Year.”
Chambers USA has noted that Mr. Wells “is considered by many to be ‘the best trial lawyer in
the country.’” Some of Ted’s significant representations include the successful defense of a
number of high profile clients: US Secretary of Agriculture Michael Espy; US Secretary of Labor
Raymond Donovan; US Senator Robert Torricelli; hedge fund manager Steven Cohen and SAC
Capital Advisors; financier Michael Milken; Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the chief of staff to former
Vice President Dick Cheney; and former New York Governors, Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson.
Ted is a 1976 graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He served as an editor of the Harvard
Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and clerked for Judge John J. Gibbons on the US Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit. Active in social, political and community affairs, Ted is Chairman Emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and
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Educational Fund Board of Directors, and he is a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the governing body of Harvard
University.
Rev. Dr. Wesley S. Williams, Jr. ’67
The Rev. Dr. Wesley S. Williams, Jr., has had a lengthy and esteemed legal career as both a
practicing attorney and a law professor since completing his JD from Harvard Law School in
1967. He has also earned a BA, magna cum laude, MA, an LLM, and a DMin degree.
He started as an instructor at Columbia University Law School, while commuting for a year
and a half to work for the Washington Office of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference and as counsel to the then newly-formed District of Columbia City Council. He
spent a year and a half as legal counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the District of
Columbia.
In the fall of 1970, Dr. Williams commenced his nearly 35 years (five as an associate and 30 as a partner) with the DC-
based international law firm of Covington & Burling. Concurrently, he served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown
University Law Center.
He also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law, and for more than 25 years as a member of the American Law Institute.
Wes Williams is the recipient honoris causa of the LLD degree from his parents’ alma mater, Virginia Union University,
“for pioneering achievements in law, business, education, religion and community service.” Also, by command of the
Sovereign Prior, Her Royal Britannic Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Wes Williams was dubbed a Knight of Grace
(honorary) of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem “for sustained commitment to the
ideals of the Order, in service to humankind.”
Dr. Williams has stayed involved with Harvard University over the years, including serving a six-year term as a member
of the University’s Board of Overseers, and as chairman of the Overseers’ governance committees for Harvard Divinity
School and for the University’s Memorial Church. In the 1980s, he served as an elected member of the Board of
Directors of the Harvard University Alumni Association; and later, in the 1990s, he served as President of the Harvard
Law School Association (world-wide). He also served on the governing boards for annual fund drives and capital
campaigns for Harvard College, Harvard Law School, Harvard Divinity School, and Harvard University overall.
After his retirement from law practice in 2004, Wes Williams prepared for and was subsequently ordained to priesthood
in The Episcopal Church. In this capacity he now serves as the Bishop of the Virgin Islands’ Sub-Dean for the islands
of St. Thomas and St. John, as Priest-in-Charge of the Cathedral Church of All Saints and All Saints Cathedral School,
and as Vicar of Nazareth By The Sea Episcopal Church - the Cathedral, its school, and Nazareth Church all located on
St. Thomas.
Lastly, it bears noting that Wes Williams’s wife of 48 years, Karen Hastie Williams, Esq., until her retirement in 2010,
served on the boards of several corporations including Fannie Mae, SunAmerica, Inc., and the U.S. Internal Revenue
Service Oversight Board. Additionally, the Williamses have served on the boards of directors of two or more charitable
foundations each.
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Professor David Wilkins ’80
Professor Wilkins is the Lester Kissel Professor of Law, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on
the Legal Profession, and Faculty Director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard
Law School. He is also a Senior Research Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a Fellow of
the Harvard University Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, and a member of the
American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Professor Wilkins has written over 80 articles on the legal profession in leading scholarly
journals and the popular press and is the co-author (along with his Harvard Law School
colleague Andrew Kaufman) of one of the leading casebooks in the field. His current
scholarly projects include Globalization, Lawyers, and Emerging Economies (where he directs
over 50 researchers studying the impact of globalization on the market for legal services in rapidly developing countries
in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe); After the JD (a ten-year nationwide longitudinal study of lawyers'
careers); The Harvard Law School Career Study (examining, among other things, differences in the experiences of male
and female graduates and the careers of lawyers who do not practice law); and The New Social Engineers (charting the
historical development and current experiences of black lawyers in corporate law practice).
Professor Wilkins teaches several courses on lawyers including The Legal Profession, Legal Education for the Twenty-
First Century, and Challenges of a General Counsel. In 2007, he co-founded Harvard Law School’s Executive Education
Program, where he teaches in several courses including Leadership in Law Firms and Leadership in Corporate Counsel.
Professor Wilkins has given over 40 endowed lectures at universities around the world and is a frequent speaker at
professional conferences and law firm and corporate retreats. His recent academic honors include the 2012 Honorary
Doctorate in Law from Stockholm University in Sweden, the 2012 Distinguished Visiting Mentor Award from Australia
National University, the 2012 Genest Fellowship from Osgoode Hall Law School, the 2010 American Bar Foundation
Scholar of the Year Award, the 2009 J. Clay Smith Award from Howard University School of Law, and the 2008 Order
of the Coif Distinguished Visitor Fellowship.
Paul S. Williams
Paul Williams is a Partner in the Chicago office of Major, Lindsey & Africa, the largest legal
recruiting firm in the nation. Paul graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1981 and received his
JD from Yale Law School in 1984. A Fortune 500 public company director and a former chief
legal officer and corporate secretary of a Fortune 20 company, Paul focuses on conducting in-
house searches, particularly general counsel and other senior level positions.
Paul is a member of the board of directors of three public companies, each having a market
cap exceeding $1 billion: Essendant, Inc., a Fortune 500 distributor of business products; Bob
Evans Farms, Inc., the owner and operator of nearly 700 restaurants in the US; and Compass
Minerals, Inc., a producer of salt and other inorganic mineral products. He currently is the Compensation Committee
chairman for Bob Evans and Compass Minerals. He previously has served as the Lead Independent Director of State
Auto Financial Corporation, a property and casualty insurance company, and retired from that board in 2015 after
serving for 12 years. He has sat on numerous charitable and educational boards, including Physicians for Human Rights,
the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Arthritis Foundation, Buckeye Boys Ranch and Salesian Boys and Girls Club. He
is a long-time member of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Prior to joining Major, Lindsey & Africa, Paul served for several years as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer
and Secretary of Cardinal Health, Inc., a Fortune 20 healthcare services company with $80 billion in revenues and 55,000
employees. Responsible for managing legal affairs globally, he also served as the co-chairman of the company’s Diversity
Council. His 51-lawyer legal department was recognized for its outstanding diversity, receiving the Minority Corporate
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Counsel Association’s ''Employer of Choice'' award. Paul has been recognized by two publications as one of the 100
most influential diverse lawyers in the nation.
His career began as a corporate and securities associate with the large law firms of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in
Southern California and Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease in Ohio. Paul also served as general counsel of a computer
software company and group counsel for the dairy division of a multinational corporation.
Paul and his wife, Laura, who is also a lawyer, are the proud parents of two grown sons. In his spare time, Paul enjoys
movies and physical fitness.
S. Reginald Williams ’95
S. Reginald Williams is the founder and CEO of Ambrosia For Heads (AFH), a Hip-Hop
lifestyle digital media company that curates and creates content reaching more than 3 million
people per month via its web site and social media platforms. Prior to AFH, Reggie was SVP
of Programming, Music & Specials at BET Networks, where he set the overall programming
and business strategy for the department and managed its day-to-day operations. Prior to
BET, Reggie was the Chief Operating Officer of Desi Hits, a global digital media company
that bridged the world between Western entertainment and Bollywood. Reggie also spent 7
years at MTV Networks in a number of positions that concluded with his role as the SVP of
Music Strategy. Reggie also produced the 2006 HBO/Cinemax documentary, “Cutting Edge,”
which depicted a day in the life of a Harlem barbershop. Prior to MTV, Reggie founded and was the CEO of
nuRules.com, an urban lifestyle web site. Reggie began his career as a corporate attorney at Paul Hastings before
transitioning into entertainment law. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College and earned his JD at Harvard Law
School.
Rowan D. Wilson ’84
Rowan D. Wilson is a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he has been for 30 years,
following a clerkship with Chief Judge James R. Browning of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Rowan’s practice in complex litigation includes antitrust and
competition, intellectual property, contract, securities fraud, entertainment and media, and
civil rights and employment matters. He has served for twenty years as Board Chair of the
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and is a member of the Board of Directors of
Wide Horizons for Children. He has previously served on the Boards of Directors of the
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the National Center for Law and Economic
Justice and The Constitution Works. Rowan presently oversees Cravath’s pro bono practice.
Kneeland Youngblood
Kneeland Youngblood is a founding partner of Pharos Capital Group, a private equity firm
that focuses on providing growth and expansion capital/buyouts in health care, business
services and opportunistic investments.
He is a director of Energy Future Holdings Corp. (formerly TXU) and Mallinckrodt
Pharmaceuticals. He is a former director of Burger King Corporation, Starwood Hotels and
Lodging and Gap Inc.
Mr. Youngblood graduated from Princeton University with an AB in Politics/Science in
Human Affairs and earned an MD from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical
School. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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