Speaker Biographies

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.

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.

2

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

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.

3

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.

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.

4

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.

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.

5

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.

6

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.

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.

7

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.

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

8

education, Ken holds a bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University.

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.

9

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 Parition 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.

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.”

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

10

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

School, an MA in Media Studies from the New School University, and a AB in Psychology and Social Relations from

Harvard College.

11

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

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

12

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.

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 Vice President - 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

13

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.

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).

14

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

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

15

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.

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

16

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.

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

17

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.

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

18

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

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.

19

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

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.

20

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.

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.

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. EJI recently won an historic ruling in the

US Supreme Court holding that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or

younger are unconstitutional. Mr. Stevenson’s work fighting poverty and challenging racial

21

discrimination in the criminal justice system has won him numerous awards. He is a graduate of the Harvard Law School

and the Harvard School of Government, and has been awarded 22 honorary doctorate degrees. He is the author of

award winning and New York Times bestseller, Just Mercy. 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.

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.

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.

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

22

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.

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.

23

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

Educational Fund Board of Directors, and he is a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the governing body of Harvard

University.

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).

24

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

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.

25

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.