President
Puerto Rico Bar Association
Sunday Lunch Keynote Speaker

Celina Romany is a professor of law, practicing attorney, and arbitrator/mediator with vast experience on international law and international human rights law; national civil/human rights, (race, ethnicity and gender), in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Latin America; public interest issues, jurisprudence and feminist jurisprudence. She has her own law offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico and currently serves as president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association. Ms. Romany’s legal services specialize in labor and employment law, and civil rights litigation (sex harassment and employment discrimination) dealing with jury trials in U.S. federal court in Puerto Rico.

Ms. Romany has served as professor of law at City University of New York, and as visiting professor for several universities including University of Connecticut, American University School of Law, University of Miami Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and University of Puerto Rico Law School. She served as the Professor, Doctoral Facultyat the City University of New York Graduate Center for Women’s Studies. She is the Founder and Director of the Center for Human Rights Inter-American University School of Law ( Puerto Rico) and was the Co-Director/Founder for the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic -- the first legal clinical program on women and international human rights in the U.S.

Ms. Romany served as Administrative Law Judge for the Labor Relations Board of Puerto Rico.

Ms. Romany currently serves as Member Board of Directors for the University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute. She has served as Member Board of Directors for the Center for Women Policy Studies in Washington D.C.; the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York; the Puerto Rico Legal Defense Fund in New York; MFY Legal Services; and she served as an advisory board member for the Center for Women at the Union Institute and for the Committee for the International Women’s Rights Project. Ms. Romany was a United Nations representative for the Latin American Comm. for the Defense of Women’s Rights. She was the founder and president of the Labor Law Section for the Puerto Rico Bar Association.

Ms. Romany received a B.A. in Political Science from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. with cum laude honors in 1971. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law with magna cum laude honors in 1974 and a L.L.M. in Labor Law from the New York University School of Law as most distinguished graduate female student in 1975. Ms. Romany was a visiting scholar from Yale University School of Law in 1984.

SVP & General Counsel
Pitney Bowes
Monday Lunch Keynote Speaker

Michele Coleman Mayes assumed the position of Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Pitney Bowes in February 2003. From 1976 through 1982, Ms. Mayes served in the United States Department of Justice as Assistant United States Attorney in Detroit and Brooklyn, eventually assuming the role of Chief of the Civil Division in Detroit. In 1982, she entered the corporate sector as Managing Attorney of Burroughs Corporation. Her career continued to evolve as Burroughs and Sperry Corporation merged, creating Unisys Corporation, for which she was appointed Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Worldwide Litigation. In February 1992, she joined Colgate-Palmolive Company as Vice President and Associate General Counsel U.S. In 1993, she was promoted to Vice President of Human Resources and Legal for North America. She next became Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, and effective May 2001, she was promoted to Vice President, Legal and Assistant Secretary, and elected a corporate officer, a position she held until joining Pitney Bowes.

She joined the board of Legal Momentum in 1996 and served as Chair from June 2001- 2006. She also is a member of the American Bar Association, where she formerly served as Co-Chair of the Arbitration Committee and a member of the Commission on Women in the Profession. She sits on the board of Assurant Corporation (AIZ-NYSE). She has been admitted to the Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania bars; she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her JD from the University of Michigan Law School.

In 2003 Ms. Mayes received the Margaret Brent Award from the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession and the Trailblazer Award from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. In the November 2003 edition of Black Enterprise, she was identified as one of America’s top black lawyers.

Principle
Olive & Olive, P.A.

Vedia Jones-Richardson is a principal with Olive and Olive, PA, an intellectual property firm in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, where she handles trademark, copyright and licensing matters for a broad range of intellectual property owners, from small and mid-sized businesses, to technology developers, inventors, artists, authors, and performers. She has been admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Illinois and North Carolina. A graduate of Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center, she also worked in television, advertising and corporate communications prior to practicing law. Vedia is Chair of the ABA Law Practice Management Section and has served on various commissions in the ABA, including the Coordinating Commission on Legal Technology, the Standing Committee on Technology and Information Systems and the Commission on Professional Responsibility in Client Development, and was formerly chair of the ABA YLD Computer Law Committee where she served as editor of the Dictionary of Computer Terminology.

Managing Partner
Coulter Cranston LLC

For more than twenty years, law firms have relied on Silvia's expert advice on business, sales and service strategies.  She has substantial experience in working with firms on their key client retention and growth strategies; business development education and training programs, client service strategies and women lawyers' initiatives.  Silvia, a Six Sigma Green Belt, is a certified facilitator and works with law firms and legal associations to help shape and implement their business goals.

Silvia was chief marketing and business development officer at two global law firms from 1998 to 2005, where she built the marketing and sales functions.  Since 1987 she was a principal at an international law firm marketing and business development consulting firm.  Prior to her law firm business development career, Silvia spent 7 years as a key account sales specialist with a Fortune 200 company where she provided law firms with practice management technology tools.  She was recognized for several years as one of the top sales leaders in the company.

She has authored numerous publications and is a frequent panelist and speaker at bar associations, specialty bars, CLE programs and legal marketing and business development seminars. 

Forensic Accounting Consultant

Ms. Drum is a consultant specializing in forensic accounting and investigations. She has over twenty years of investigative, auditing and banking experience in both the private and public sectors. Ms. Drum has directed and conducted numerous forensic accounting investigations including but not limited to employee dishonesty, financial statement misrepresentation, ethical breaches and violations of standards of integrity, and professional malpractice for “Big Four” accounting firms. In addition, she has conducted and directed litigation support engagements, developed anti-fraud programs, and performed fraud vulnerability and business controls assessments for companies over a wide range of industries.

Ms. Drum serves on the Villa Julie College Advisory Committee, Master’s Program for Forensic Accounting. She is a member of the Certified Fraud Examiners Association and the American Bar Association and is an appointed member of the Executive Committee for ABA Women Rainmakers’ special interest group of the Law Practice Management Section.

She received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University in 1983.

Chair of the Women's Iniative
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC

Donna D. Fraiche practices law as a member of the health care and public policy departments in the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Washington, D.C. offices of the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz (“BDBCB”). She serves on the Firm’s strategic development committee, as well as the Women’s Initiative Steering Committee and nominating committee. She was past managing partner of the New Orleans office and past chair of the health law practice group of the firm Locke, Liddell & Sapp. BDBCB is among the largest 100 law firms in the U.S. and has been ranked as having one of the top two health law practices in the nation.

Ms. Fraiche was appointed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco to the Louisiana Recovery Authority where she chairs the Long Term Community Planning Task Force and serves on the Public Health and Health Care Task Force and Health Care Committee and as the LRA representative to the Louisiana Health Care Redesign Collaborative. She is the Past President of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association-Louisiana Bar Foundation’s Disaster Relief Task Force. She currently chairs the Louisiana Health Care Commission and served as a Chair of its Subcommittee on the Uninsured. Ms. Fraiche also recently served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University. She served as President and Chair of the Board of the World Trade Center. She is a diplomate of the American College of Health Care Executives. She was chosen for the first class of Fellows of the American Health Lawyers Association (“AHLA”), Health Law Fellows. She has served as the first woman president of AHLA and has chaired its national program on medical staff legal issues.

Ms. Fraiche is a member of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association has served as Chair of the Women Rainmaker Division of the ABA. Ms. Fraiche has been appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to the Committee to Review Requests for the Creation of Appellate Judgeships and the Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee. She is Treasurer of the Louisiana Supreme Court Historical Society. Ms. Fraiche was one of very few women in New Orleans to serve on the Board of the New Orleans Regional Chamber of Commerce and as a Vice Chair of Public Policy.

Her biography is included in The Best Lawyers in America and Who's Who in America in each annual edition from 1993 to present. She received her juris doctorate from Loyola University in 1975.

Director of Business Development
Day Pitney LLP

Catherine Alman MacDonagh, J.D. has developed groundbreaking client development initiatives as well as innovative training and coaching programs. She is the Director of Business Development at Day Pitney LLP. She is also a co-Founder, and Chief Operating Officer of the Legal Sales and Service Organization. LSSO is exclusively focused on sales, service excellence and quality issues facing the legal industry and produces an annual RainDance Conference.

A certified six sigma green belt, Catherine has more than fifteen years of professional services marketing and sales experience.  She is the co-author of The Law Firm Associate’s Guide to Personal Marketing and Selling Skills book and training manual, which were published by the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section this year.

She is a former corporate counsel and is a member of the New Jersey and New York bars, the American Bar Association and the Legal Marketing Association. She has been recognized as an innovator and industry leader - from Legal Marketing Association board positions to national awards and honors such as the Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, LMA’s Your Honor Awards , and Marketing the Law Firm’s MLF Top 50 List.

Ms. Fraiche is a member of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association has served as Chair of the Women Rainmaker Division of the ABA. Ms. Fraiche has been appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to the Committee to Review Requests for the Creation of Appellate Judgeships and the Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee. She is Treasurer of the Louisiana Supreme Court Historical Society. Ms. Fraiche was one of very few women in New Orleans to serve on the Board of the New Orleans Regional Chamber of Commerce and as a Vice Chair of Public Policy.

Her biography is included in The Best Lawyers in America and Who's Who in America in each annual edition from 1993 to present. She received her juris doctorate from Loyola University in 1975.

Principal Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig LLC

Judy is a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, an international, full-service law firm with more than 1700 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The firm is ranked seventh on The American Lawyer’s Am Law 100 listing of the largest law firms in the U.S., based on number of lawyers. Judy was the first corporate shareholder in the New York Office, brought in to build the corporate department.

She is a business lawyer who helps clients raise money through public and private offerings and then helps them deploy their capital in M&A transactions. She also Co-Chairs the Firm’s National REIT Practice. She served on the Executive Committee and on the Board of Governors of NAREIT (the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts). She has written and lectured extensively on securities, REIT and partnership issues. She has chaired two substantive committees in the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association relating to REITs - one for the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee and one for the State Regulation of Securities Committee. She is presently a member of the board of the Investment Program Association (“IPA”), an Industry Association for public non-traded REITs and similar products.

Judy is very dedicated to mentoring women and the one topic about which she proselytizes is the need for women to learn to market themselves both internally and externally. She served as the Chair of Women Rainmakers (a 1700 member interest group of the ABA); and she recently completed her term as the Co-Chair of the Women’s Executive Circle of UJA Federation. She is also on the Board of the Women’s Forum.

Judy is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, which is an honor granted to only 1/3 of 1% of the lawyers in each State. She also is listed in Chambers & Partners USA Guide, an annual listing of the leading business lawyers and law firms in the world (2007-2008 edition); named “New York Super Lawyer”, 2006, based on surveys of more than 59,000 Manhattan lawyers and the independent research of Law & Politics; and was the recipient of Professional Excellence Award at Hofstra Law School, March 2007.

Judy has been married to the same wonderful man for 35 years. She has two very inquisitive children - one, a Renaissance man - inventor, scientist and artist extraordinaire, recently graduated from the University of Chicago, and the other, a philosopher/journalist who recently completed his freshman year, enthusiastically reading the “Great Books” at St. John’s College in Annapolis. Judy’s other passion in life (in addition to her husband and kids) is traveling with her family and they have recently returned from an extraordinary vacation in Antarctica and Easter Island.

 

Principal
The BTI Consulting Group

Marcie L. Borgal Shunk is a principal with The BTI Consulting Group, Wellesley, MA. She oversees the continuing survey of top executives on client needs, expectations and satisfaction. This research includes more than 1300 General Counsels. She is a frequent speaker on client satisfaction and market opportunities.

BTI provides research and strategic consulting to the world’s largest law, engineering and IT service firms. These services include: key client research, market awareness studies, business strategy consulting, client satisfaction surveys, and competitive benchmarking. BTI also provides interactive programs and presentations at partner and executive committee meetings and retreats. She received her A.B. from Harvard University.

Partner
Hodge Niederer Cariani

Martha Fay Africa is a Partner with Hodge/Niederer/Cariani. She brings strategic industry and functional expertise across business sectors throughout the United States. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Africa was a founding member of Major, Hagen & Africa (now, Major, Lindsey & Africa) where she placed experienced attorneys worldwide in partner level and in]house positions in law firms, corporations, and universities. Some of Ms. Africa’s clients included: The Nature Conservancy, Texas Pacific Group, Silicon Valley Bank, Stanford Research Institute, The California Independent System Operator (The California ISO), the University of California, Blue Shield of California, Levi Strauss, Southern California Edison and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Technology. Ms. Africa is a member of the Blue Ribbon No Glass Ceiling Task Force and the Committee on Employment of Minorities; both groups are affiliated with the Bar Association of San Francisco and address concerns relating to minority and female lawyer advancement. She sits on the editorial board of Law Technology News a publication of The American Lawyer Ms Africa served as liaison to the News, Lawyer. Ms. American Bar Association’s ( ABA) Commission on Women from the Law Practice Management Section and founded Women Rainmakers, an ABA organization devoted to training women lawyers in the art of networking and practice Building.

Ms. Africa is a member of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Council, and serves on a number of non]profit boards. She has authored many articles and is a public speaker on issues of interest to business and legal professionals. She has been the recipient of the Cornerstone Award at Chatham College, the Golden Hammer Award for contributions enabling women and minorities to break the glass ceiling, the Award of Merit from the San Francisco Bar Association, and is a College of Law Practice Management Fellow of the American Bar Association.

Prior to entering the search profession, Ms. Africa’s earlier career was in service to educational institutions including Boalt Hall School of Law, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University Medical Center. Ms. Africa, also known as “Marty,” graduated from the University of California with a B.A. in English/Art History.

President
RJC Associates

Rachelle J. Canter, Ph.D. is President of RJC Associates, a consulting firm that provides leadership, career, and team development service to law firms and corporations. She is a featured coach in the ABA Journal’s June 2007 issue, has served on the Executive Committee of Women Rainmakers for over 10 years, and has published and spoken widely to legal audiences. Her book, Make the Right Career Move, a career guide for attorneys, executives, and professionals, was recently published by Wiley. Shelley can be reached at rjc@rjcassociates.net, at (415) 956-8438, or you can visit her website at www.rjcassociates.net.

Office Managine Partner
Foley & Lardner LLP

Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale is managing partner of Foley & Lardner’s Detroit office. She is also a member of the firm’s Business Reorganizations, Finance & Financial Institutions and Public Finance Services Practices.

Ms. Lamb-Hale counsels corporate clients on significant business transactions and legal issues, including bankruptcy, where she has served as counsel for Chapter 11 debtors, secured lenders, creditors’ committees and equity holders. She also regularly represents significant automotive Tier 1 suppliers and customers in troubled supplier workouts and bankruptcy proceedings. She has served as both bond and underwriters’ counsel in multi-million dollar public finance transactions for bond issuers, including the City of Detroit; Wayne County, Michigan; the Detroit Public Schools; and the Wayne County Airport Authority.

Ms. Lamb-Hale received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1991 and her undergraduate degree from University of Michigan in 1988.

Ms. Lamb-Hale is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, National Association of Bond Lawyers, National Bar Association, and Wolverine Bar Association.

Her community and civic involvement include serving as vice-chair of the board of directors of the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority, by appointment of Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm; as the full-time pro bono legal advisor to the City of Detroit’s Department of Planning and Development in connection with the City’s successful Empowerment Zone application; and as campaign finance chair for former Detroit Mayor Dennis W. Archer. She is also a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a member of The Links Incorporated, and a member of the board of trustees for the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. She is a graduate of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Leadership Detroit program for which she currently serves as a member of the board of trustees and chair of the candidate selection committee. Her legal and leadership skills were recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business, who named her to its "40 Under 40 List," which honors 40 Detroit-area professionals under the age of 40 for leadership abilities and accomplishments. She was also named a Minority Achiever by the YMCA and was recognized in 2006 by Law & Politics Media. Inc. as one of Michigan’s "Super Lawyers" in the practice of bankruptcy law.