At the beginning of the year, WILEF designated 2017 the “Year of the In-House Counsel.”
WILEF Global Chair and Co-Founder Betiayn Tursi explained the reasoning: “WILEF serves women in Big Law and Corporate America so it seemed to me we should make a concerted effort to honor in-house attorneys by inviting them to join the board.”
The job of attracting in-house attorneys was assigned to a newly-formed in-house counsel committee, chaired by Naomi Waltman, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at CBS. The group set a goal of having at least three in-house counsel in every WILEF market.
Waltman, who joined the WILEF board in 2016, said the committee focused its recruiting efforts on women who had spoken at WILEF events and other lawyers the committee believed would make good additions. The committee also received recommendations from counsel in WILEF’s markets.
Naomi Waltman, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel of CBS
The committee accomplished its mission, recruiting 24 new in-house counsel to the board. The list, set forth below, includes lawyers from a wide range of industries, including technology, media, and finance.
WILEF Global Advisory Board: In-House Counsel
(* indicates a new Board member in 2017)
Boston
*Keeley A. Aleman, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Secretary, Waters Corporation
*June Duchesne, Senior Vice President, Dell EMC-Legal
*Peggy L. Ho, Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, LPL Financial
*Maura Davis McAuliffe, General Counsel, The Boston Globe
Chicago
Suzanne S. Bettman, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel, LSC Communications
Jennifer Reiners, Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Donnelley Financial Solutions
*Lydia Wahlke, General Counsel, U.S. Soccer
Houston
*Marilyn Moore Basso, Vice President and General Counsel, TPG Group
*Brandy Copley, Managing Director and Counsel, GE Capital-Energy Financial Services
*Kimberly Phillips, Associate General Counsel, Global Litigation-Americas, Shell Oil Company
London
*Ijeoma Okoli, Executive Director, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
*Gill Phillips, Director of Editorial Legal Services, The Guardian
*Vanessa Zampiga, General Counsel-Europe, TPG Special Situation Partners, London
New York
*Kimberley Harris, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, NBC Universal
Gwen Marcus, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Showtime Networks Inc.
Hazel-Ann F. Mayers, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Andrea Newborn, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, TravelClick Inc.
Naomi B. Waltman, SVP & Associate General Counsel, CBS Corp.
Northern CA
*Elena DiMuzio, Senior Corporate Counsel, Oracle
*Amy Fox, Director and Associate General Counsel, Oculus VR
Mary Huser, GC, Plantronics
*Diane Gabl Kratz, Senior Corporate Counsel Intellectual Property, Seagate Technology
Catherine Lacavera, Director of IP and Litigation, Google Inc.
*Heather Mewes, Principal Counsel, Apple
*Roxana Niktab, Corporate Counsel, Amazon Lab 126
*Nikkya Williams, Associate General Counsel, Facebook
Southern CA
*Rahwa Ghebre-Ab, Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Lionsgate Entertainment Inc.
*Victoria Furniss, Associate General Counsel, Netflix
*Jodi Karpel, Senior Counsel, Employment Law Group, Walgreen Co.
Sandra Williams, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel West Coast, CBS Television
Washington, D.C
*Jackie Medecki, Director and Managing Attorney, Cybersecurity and Privacy Policy, Intel Corporation
*Ashley Messenger, Senior Associate General Counsel, NPR
*Savalle Sims, General Counsel, Discovery Communications, LLC
