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Bruce Byrd (Chair)
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Palo Alto Networks
Bruce joined Palo Alto Networks as its general counsel in January 2021. He is responsible for legal affairs and compliance for the company, as well as its government affairs and public policy group. Bruce previously served as Chief Legal Officer for AT&T Communications, AT&T’s largest operating company. During his 20-year tenure at AT&T, Bruce held positions in virtually every corner of the business, as well its government affairs team in Washington, DC. Prior to AT&T, Bruce was a partner at Dickinson Wright PLLC, an AmLaw 150 law firm, where he maintained an active commercial litigation and regulatory practice. Bruce is the chair of the board of directors of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession and serves on the boards of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution and the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas.
Bruce is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School.
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Brian W. Duwe
Partner
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP
Brian W. Duwe leads Skadden's Chicago office and concentrates his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and general corporate and securities matters. Mr. Duwe has represented buyers, sellers and their financial advisors in a wide variety of transactions, including negotiated and contested public acquisitions, private acquisitions and divestitures, management buyouts, restructurings, spin-offs, and joint ventures and other strategic alliances. He also has counseled issuers, selling shareholders and investment banks in public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities.
In addition, Mr. Duwe advises clients regarding general corporate and securities matters, including securities law compliance, corporate governance issues, disclosure issues, stock repurchase programs, shareholder agreements, severance arrangements and proxy contests. He has counseled numerous clients regarding shareholder activism, the implementation of shareholder rights plans and other corporate control matters.
Mr. Duwe's clients have included, among others, Abbott Laboratories; Ball Corporation; CF Industries Holdings, Inc.; Deere and Company; Exelon Corporation; Guidant Corporation; Hartmarx Corporation; Pactiv Corporation; Sara Lee Corporation; Solo Cup Company; Steelcase, Inc.; Stryker Corporation; Suros Surgical Systems; Unitrin, Inc.; US BioEnergy Corporation; U.S. Can Corporation; and VeraSun Energy Corporation.
Among his various M&A representations, in 2010 Mr. Duwe represented CF Industries Holdings, Inc. in its unsolicited $4.7 billion acquisition of Terra Industries and simultaneous defense of a hostile offer by Agrium, Inc. In its inaugural issue on innovative lawyers in the United States, the Financial Times recognized the deal as the most innovative M&A transaction in 2010.
Mr. Duwe also has represented financial advisors and underwriters in various securities offerings and M&A transactions.
Mr. Duwe lectures from time to time on corporate and securities law topics. He repeatedly has been selected in the Mergers & Acquisitions Law section of The Best Lawyers in America and included in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2011. |
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Michael Hatfield
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Americas
ofi
Michael joined ofi as SVP and General Counsel, Americas in January of 2022. He is responsible for all legal affairs for North, Central and South America and serves on the Operating Committee for the North America Region (a small group of senior executives with the responsibility for the entire North America business while the company searches for a new region president). He is also responsible for managing the facilities and administration of the North America headquarters location in Chicago. Previously, Michael was the General Counsel for 1Worldsync and before that was the Chief Counsel for Global Business Services for Mondelez International. He started his career as an environmental lawyer in private practice before going in-house. Michael was a member of the Advisory Board for IILP prior to joining as a member of the Board of Directors.
Michael’s undergraduate work in history and political philosophy was done at Illinois Wesleyan University and obtained his JD from Marquette Law School and an MBA from the Marquette Graduate School of Business.
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Kim D. Hogrefe
Senior Vice President and Senior Specialty Claim Officer (Ret.)
Chubb & Son
Kim D. Hogrefe is a Senior Vice President of Chubb & Son. He is the Senior Specialty Claim Officer of Chubb's Claim Department, with responsibility for claims of the highest complexity and financial exposure.
Kim joined Chubb in 1986 after nine years experience as a trial attorney, supervisor and administrator in the New York County District Attorney's Office. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
He is a member of the American Bar Association and served from 2006 to 2009 on its Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. He was elected and served for three years as a member of the governing Council of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) of the American Bar Association. He was Co-Chair of the Professionals' Officers' and Directors' Liability Committee of TIPS. He was also the Chair of the Directors' and Officers' subcommittee of the Insurance Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The National Judicial College, an organization that offers courses to improve judicial productivity, challenge current perceptions of justice and inspire judges to achieve judicial excellence.
Kim is a frequent speaker on the topic of Directors' and Officers' liability claim handling and related issues. He has made presentations at National and Regional RIMS, PLUS, the Stanford Law School Directors' College and various bar associations. He is the co-author of an article on D&O claim management published in 1997 by Risk Management Society Publishing, Inc. and a 1998 article on utilization of damage analysis in the settlement of securities class action claims. |
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Floyd Holloway, Jr.
Counsel
State Farm Insurance Companies
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Floyd Holloway received his B.A. degree in political theory and American government from Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences in Washington, D.C., and his law degree (J.D.) from the Georgetown University Law Center. Floyd is Counsel in the Corporate Law Department. His responsibilities include legislative and regulatory monitoring and advocacy for the Company's New York operations. He also provides and coordinates advice and counsel on compliance issues and others matters in the State.
Mr. Holloway began his career with State Farm in 1989 as a specialist in complex casualty claims and environmental coverage. He joined the Legal Department of the Fire & Casualty Company's General Claims Division in 1993, where he served as coverage counsel and was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Insurance Environmental Litigation Association. In 1995, he transferred into the Corporate Law Department, and assumed his current position as counsel in 2000. In the past he has served as State Farm's year 2000 Counsel, and has provided advice on a variety of technology-related issues, including the development and deployment of the Companies' Intranet and security infrastructure.
In addition to his legislative and regulatory responsibilities, Floyd manages the Corporate Law Department's Legislative Services Unit, which, among other things, provides support to the general departments and the network of state counsel responsible for legislative and regulatory affairs. He also manages office support operations for the Corporate Law Satellite Office in the Northeast Zone. Floyd is a past participant in the Northeast Zone's Enterprise Development Group, and served as the Northeast Zone Diversity Coordinator from 2003 - 2005.
Floyd is the past chairman of the New York Insurance Association (NYIA) (2003-2005). He remains active in the Association's governance and strategic planning process, serving on the NYIA Board; and in the management of public policy initiatives as chairman of the PAC Committee and the Automobile Insurance subcommittee. He is also a participating member on NYIA's legal, legislative and education and planning committees.
Mr. Holloway is a past chair of the American Bar Association's Minority Counsel Program, a constituent project of the ABA Commission on Racial & Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. He was appointed Commissioner 2001, serving three consecutive terms through 2004. He is also an active member of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practices Section (TIPS) of the ABA where he currently serves as vice-chair of the Corporate Counsel Committee, and participates in the Section's Diversity Task Force. Floyd's previous assignments within TIPS include service on the Property Insurance and Emerging Issues Committees, and the TIPS Committee on Women and Minority Involvement. |
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Sharon E. Jones
Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
Haynes Boone
Sharon Jones serves as the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Haynes Boone, helping to strategize, lead, and implement the firm’s diversity plan. Sharon is a partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group, leveraging her background as a federal prosecutor and as a litigator and counselor with Fortune 500 corporations and private law firms to help Haynes Boone clients with practical solutions to their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. Sharon will be a member of the ESG cross- disciplinary group at the firm.
Before joining Haynes Boone, Sharon was the President/CEO of Jones Diversity, a consulting firm that worked with Am Law 100 firms nationwide on best practices. Additionally, she previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, based in Chicago, where she conducted federal grand jury investigations and trials in high profile white-collar criminal cases.
Sharon has practiced law and been a community leader over a 25-year career, including positions as a federal prosecutor, with major law firms and with Fortune 500 Corporations. She has served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Chicago Urban League, a not for profit focused on African American economic development.
Sharon has served in leadership roles on numerous not for profit boards as well as a past President of the Harvard Law School Alumni Association (2010-2012) and was responsible for the launch of the HLSA Global Women’s Alliance. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession, and the Federal Defenders Program Board of Northern Illinois and Adler University, among others. Sharon has received numerous awards including the Chicago Bar Association’s Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges Award) and the Black Women Lawyer’s Visionary Award for Women Making History for Making a Difference. She is the author of “Mastering the Game: Career Strategies for Success” which provides the unwritten rules for career success for women and diverse professionals. Sharon is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College.
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John H. Mathias, Jr.
Partner
Jenner & Block LLP
John H. Mathias, Jr. is a partner in the law firm of Jenner & Block. He is a senior member of its Litigation Department and Chair of the firm's nationally prominent Insurance Litigation and Counseling Practice. He is a veteran trial lawyer concentrating on business litigation with particular emphasis upon insurance coverage litigation, reinsurance arbitrations, class actions, directors and officers litigation, and professional liability litigation. He has co-authored over twenty legal publications, including Insurance Coverage Disputes (Law Journal Press 1996) and Directors and Officers Liability: Prevention, Insurance and Indemnification (Law Journal Press 2000).
John is a member of the Illinois Capital Litigation Trial Bar and frequently provides pro bono representation to indigent defendants in death penalty cases at both trial and appellate levels. He is currently national Chair of the American Bar Association's Death Penalty Representation Project.
John also serves on the boards of Chicago Sinfonietta (the nation's most diverse symphony orchestra), The Latin School of Chicago, and the Dartmouth Lawyers Association. He is the immediate past President of the Harvard Law Society of Illinois, and he is currently President of the Association of Alumni of Dartmouth College.
John is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College (1969) and Harvard Law School (1972). |
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Madeleine McDonough
Chair
Shook Hardy & Bacon
Madeleine began a five-year term as Chair of Shook, Hardy & Bacon on January 1, 2017. A former clinical pharmacist, she represents multinational companies in a range of industries: pharmaceutical, animal health, medical device, food, cosmetics and beverage.
Shook’s pharmaceutical company clients have described Madeleine as “a true visionary and trusted counsel” and “one of the finest lawyers I have ever worked with—brilliant, innovative, with enormous integrity. ”Chambers USA states that Madeleine is widely considered to be “a fine lawyer.”
During her tenure as Chair of Shook’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Practice, the firm represented dozens of major pharmaceutical clients, including each of the top-10 pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Madeleine has also served as Co-Chair of the Agribusiness and Food Safety Practice, and Co-Chair of the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Practice. She was elected to serve four three-year terms on the firm’s Executive Committee.
Madeleine advises organizations on preventative litigation approaches, policy and governance issues,emerging international legal developments, creative resolution strategies, risk management, corporate social responsibility and crisis management.
In 2019, Madeleine received the Women, Influence & Power in Law Award for Innovative Leadership from Corporate Counsel/In-House Counsel magazine. The National Law Journal named Madeleine one of the nation's top-50 Litigation Trailblazers & Pioneers in its inaugural 2014 class. She has been named a leading product liability attorney by Who’s Who Legal: The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers and a Life Science Star by LMG Life Sciences. Madeleine has also been listed in The Legal 500 United States. In 2013, Missouri Lawyers Weekly honored her as a Mentor of the Year for her long-standing dedication to advising younger colleagues, law students and high school students with an interest in the law. She is also an American Bar Foundation fellow.
Before her legal career, Madeleine worked as a clinical pharmacist in a large university teaching hospital and brings her pharmaceutical background to her representation of pharmaceutical, medical device, food, and cosmetics manufacturers in product liability, regulatory and related legal issues.
Madeleine served as editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review. She earned her LLM in Global Health from Georgetown University Law Center. She is a member of the University of Kansas School of Law's Alumni Board of Governors and Women's Advisory Council, and serves on the Community Advisory Board of KCUR-FM, a National Public Radio affiliate in Kansas City. |
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Lorraine McGowen (Treasurer)
Partner
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Lorraine McGowen is a partner in the international law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP where she focuses on restructurings. One of IFLR1000’s Leading Lawyers, her clients include leading financial institutions, syndicated lender groups, creditor committees and other parties seeking to maximize recoveries in complex bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings and creditors’ rights controversies in the United States and internationally. She advises on all aspects of bankruptcy and creditors’ rights litigation, prepares and negotiates complex corporate and finance documents, and represents investors in, and purchasers of, financially distressed companies. Ms. McGowen has been involved in many prominent bankruptcy and out-of-court restructuring matters including Indiana Toll Road, Puerto Rico, South Bay Expressway, City of Detroit, Lehman Brothers, MF Global, Tronox, and General Motors.
Ms. McGowen is the chair of Orrick’s firmwide Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives and recently completed two terms of service on the firm’s 11-member Board of Directors. She previously chaired Orrick’s Restructuring Group. She serves on the Board of Legal Advisers for Legal Outreach, a non-profit college-bound program for students in disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City and on the Advisory Committee for the Vance Center for International Justice of the New York City Bar Association. She is also on the Board of Directors for the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. |
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Willie J. Miller, Jr.
Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Corporate (Ret.)
Mondelēz Global LLC
Willie Miller joined Kraft Foods Global, Inc. in 2007 as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Corporate with responsibility for managing Kraft's corporate legal activities. Prior to joining Kraft, Willie was a partner in the Chicago law firm Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kamholz, P.C. as a member of the firm's Financial Institutions and Finance and Transactions Groups. Before joining Vedder Price, Willie was in the legal department of LaSalle National Corporation for 25 years where for the last six years he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. In his capacity as Chief Legal Officer, Willie led and managed the corporation's legal department consisting of 65+ attorneys and over 30 administrative and paralegal staff. He was largely responsible for the transformation and growth of the bank's internal law department. As a member of the senior management team, Willie was involved in the strategic direction of LaSalle's growth throughout the Midwest.
Willie is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Leadership Council of Metropolitan Chicago. He is also a former member and past president of the Board of Education for Evanston Township High School. Mr. Miller is an inaugural recipient of the Chicago United Business Leaders of Color Award and is a current member of the Fellowship of African American Men.
Willie earned his B. S. from the University of Illinois in 1975 and his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1979. |
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Michael J. Wagner
Partner
Baker & McKenzie LLP
Michael Wagner is an immediate past member of the Global Executive Committee and immediate past Chair, North America. He also served for four years as the Chair of the Global Pro Bono & Community Service Committee. He previously chaired the firm’s Global Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Industry Group. He also leads Baker & McKenzie’s Product Liability, Safety and Recall Practice and is a senior member of the firm’s North American Litigation and Government Enforcement Group. Mr. Wagner concentrates his practice in commercial and tort litigation. He regularly represents global manufacturers as they confront mass tort and other litigation involving a wide range of products, from prescription medications to medical devices to food and other consumer products. He has tried numerous cases to verdict before juries. Mr. Wagner regularly has primary counsel responsibility for the defense of commercial and product liability claims.
Drawing on his skills as a trial lawyer and his experience as a former journalist for the Associated Press, Michael coordinates internal investigations, advises corporations confronting major crises, and helps them manage those challenges by coordinating media responses, developing appropriate litigation strategies, and working closely with senior executives as they make critical decisions. He regularly assists companies in conducting national and international product recalls, meeting the challenges of highly publicized mass tort and commercial claims, and responding to product safety and data breach situations. In 2011, he advised Sony in responding to the widely reported data security breach allegedly involving more than 70 million customer accounts.
Michael was selected by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to serve as a stakeholder delegate to participate in the Third Biennial United States–China Consumer Product Safety Summit in Shanghai, Wuxi, and Beijing, China on October 21-26, 2009. The Summit included a series of direct discussions with senior representatives of AQSIQ, the CPSC’s counterpart agency in China.
Prior to joining Baker & McKenzie in 1983, Mr. Wagner served as a law clerk for the Honorable Fred J. Cassibry of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans. From 1981 to 1983, he was associated with the law firm of Jenner & Block.
Michael is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.S., 1978) and University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D., 1981). |
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Hon. E. Kenneth Wright, Jr.
Presiding Judge, 1st Municipal District
Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois
E. Kenneth Wright, Jr., the Presiding Judge of Municipal District 1 of the Cook County Circuit Court since 2003, is a former President of the Chicago Bar Association.
Judge Wright has distinguished himself as one of the most active and visible leaders of the Chicago legal community with roles in civic, judicial and bar association initiatives. A frequent speaker and prominent champion of accessibility to justice issues and legal outreach in Chicago, he currently serves as Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair of the Center for Conflict Resolution; on the Executive Committee of the Municipal District Presiding Judges Committee; on the Judges Mentoring Program; and on the Board of the Chicago Urban Day School. He is also a member of the Senior Review Board for the Guardianship Reform Project.
A frequent guest on Chicago-area legal affairs programs he has most recently appeared on CAN-TV's "Hotline 21," the Illinois State Bar Association's cable TV program; WBBM's "Morning News;" PBS Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight;" and CLTV News. He is a frequent lecturer and speaker at Chicago colleges and universities and at professional events and is the author of "The Other Shoe Drops," published in 2006.
He has been honored with numerous awards including the 2006 Vanguard Award of the CBA, presented to outstanding minority lawyers and judges; the 2007 Judge of the Year Award from the Illinois Commission for Honest Government; the Man of the Year Award from the Sweet Holy Spirit Full Gospel Baptist Church; the 2005 Dog Advisory Walk Group Award for community service on behalf of animals and pet owners; and the Gavel Award presented by the African American Employees Committee of the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in 2005. In 2004, he was named by the Center for Conflict Resolution one its "25 Most Influential People." He also was honored with the 2003 Chairperson Award from the Illinois Judicial Council.
Before taking the bench in 1994, the year he was appointed to the Cook County Circuit Court, he ran a solo practice in Chicago and served as a guardian ad litem in the Probate Division of the Circuit Court. |
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Sandra S. Yamate
Chief Executive Officer
The Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession
Sandra S. Yamate is the CEO of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession. Previously, she spent ten years as the Director of the American Bar Association's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. She was the first Executive Director of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. Prior to that, Sandra was a litigator in Chicago for ten years.
Outside the legal profession, Sandra is best known for her interest in multicultural children's literature. She and her husband are the founders of Polychrome Publishing Corporation, the only company in the country dedicated to producing children's books by and about Asian Americans. Sandra authored Polychrome's first two books, Char Siu Bao Boy and Ashok By Any Other Name. Polychrome books have been described as exemplary examples of anti-bias children's literature by Teaching Tolerance Magazine, a publication of the Southern Poverty Law Institute, and are included in the Anti-Defamation League's World of Difference Program bibliography of recommended children's books.
Sandra was a founding member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, where she served as the first Central Region Governor. She is a former president of the Japanese American Service Committee, the oldest Asian American social service agency in the Midwest and the Harvard Law Society of Illinois. She is a former member of the boards of the Japanese American Citizens League, the Asian American Institute, the National Women's Political Caucus of Metropolitan Chicago, the Girl Scouts of Chicago, Friends of the Chicago Public Library, the Asian Pacific American Women's Leadership Institute, and Asian Americans for Inclusive Education. Sandra is a member of the Board of Trustees of The National Judicial College, an organization that offers courses to improve judicial productivity, challenge current perceptions of justice and inspire judges to achieve judicial excellence. She has written and spoken extensively on diversity in the legal profession and on multicultural children's literature.
Sandra earned her AB in Political Science (cum laude) and History (magna cum laude) from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her JD from Harvard Law School. |
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Marc S. Firestone (Chair Emeritus)
President, External Affairs, and General Counsel (Ret.)
Philip Morris International, Inc.
Marc Firestone is Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Philip Morris International, Inc. Before joining Philip Morris in 2012, Marc was Executive Vice President, Corporate and Legal Affairs and General Counsel of Kraft Foods Inc., where he served since 2003. From 1988 to 2003, Marc held numerous positions in the law departments of Philip Morris Companies Inc. and Philip Morris International Inc., lastly as Senior Vice President & General Counsel of PMI. Marc started his legal career as an attorney at Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC.
Marc received a BA, magna cum laude, in Romance Languages and Philosophy from Washington & Lee University and a JD, magna cum laude, from Tulane University School of Law.
Marc is a co-founder and the chairman of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession; Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School; a frequent speaker on international antitrust law, diversity and in-house legal practice; and a recipient of the Director's Roundtable Distinguished General Counsel award. |