Driving Diversity in Law & Leadership: Dallas

Isabel Andrade Crosby is Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel for AECOM with primary responsibility for labor and employment matters globally. Isabel partners with AECOM’s Human Resource team at all phases of the employment relationship and is committed to employee engagement, retention, and diversity and inclusion. She helps ensure legal compliance related to candidate recruitment and onboarding, supports operations in workforce management through difficult challenges like COVID-19 and return to office issues, develops policies aimed at employee retention, and works through employee departures and offboarding issues.     

Prior to joining AECOM, Isabel was a partner at the global law firm, DLA Piper. Isabel is an experienced author on employment law topics and speaker, training employers and business leaders in employment laws and best practices, including diversity & inclusion topics, wage and hour issues, anti-discrimination and harassment, and best practices for conducting internal investigations. She attended the University of Texas School of Law where she was a member of the International Law Journal.  

Isabel is the mother to a very spirited and hilarious daughter who keeps her on her toes. Isabel is also actively involved in her local community, volunteering at the local public school and with the Girl Scouts of North Texas.

Whitney Laughlin joined the AMN Healthcare legal team in January 2006 and was named Deputy General Counsel in 2011.  Ms. Laughlin holds leadership responsibilities within the legal department’s corporate, employment, litigation and contract /divisional legal support functions and provides strategic and operational oversight for the Ethics and Compliance programs. 

Prior to joining AMN, Ms. Laughlin was a partner at Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith where she had an employment litigation practice, primarily serving healthcare and staffing industry clients.  She received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, both from Southern Methodist University. 

Ms. Laughlin is a licensed attorney in California and Texas.  She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of SafeHaven of Tarrant County and on the Board of International Esperanza Project.

Punam Kaji is Senior Legal Counsel in the Employment Law Group at Fidelity Investments in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX.  Prior to that, Punam was Assistant General Counsel at Ben E. Keith Company, a food and alcohol distributor. Her practice focuses on the full range of employment law issues from policy making, advice and counsel, to litigation. She is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law. Punam is passionate about making the experience of work better by finding practical solutions to workplace problems. Punam’s expertise comes from years of counseling and litigating employment law matters for clients while working at Haynes and Boone, LLP in the firm’s Fort Worth, Dallas, and Houston offices.   

When Punam is not handling labor and employment issues, she serves her community. She is currently on the Diversity Committee of the Tarrant County Bar Association. She was recently appointed to the State Bar of Texas Diversity Task Force. She is the past Chair of the Asian Pacific Interest Section of the State Bar of Texas. She has served on the board of the South Asian Bar Association of Houston (SABA Houston) and as a committee chairperson of the Dallas Asian American Bar Association (DAABA). In 2021, Punam was awarded the Tarrant County Young Lawyer of the Year. 

Punam’s commitment to local bar associations has been recognized on various occasions. In 2021, she was named Champion of Diversity by the Asian Pacific Interest Section of the State Bar.  The ACC-DFW has named Punam a Finalist for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion by the ACC DFW, and a Finalist for Corporate Counsel of the Year in a small legal department.  She has previously received an Outstanding Public Service Award from SABA Houston, and Member of the Year from DAABA. She has served on the board of various non-profit organizations in Houston and DFW. She is currently on the board of WiseUp TX, a nonprofit for South Asian Texans to become engaged citizens and she is the host of its podcast.  She and a small group of Asian American women lawyers in DFW recently founded a 501(c)(6) organization called The Podium, aimed at amplifying the voices of Asian American women lawyers. 

Punam regularly speaks at conferences and other venues regarding workplace issues, employment law, and on diversity and inclusion. She enjoys traveling with her husband, dining out and cooking (you can follow her food adventures on Instagram @eatsbyPK).  

Kimberly Houston Drummond is an experienced attorney whose primary legal practice is in the areas of labor and employment law, and compensation and benefits.  She provides a unique perceptive and understands the challenges employers face having served both as in-house and outside counsel.  Kimberly currently serves as Senior Corporate Counsel in the Employment Law Group for Liberty Mutual Group, Inc. – a global property and casualty insurer and Fortune 100 Company, some of whose subsidiaries include Liberty Mutual Insurance and Safeco. In her capacity, Kimberly provides daily counsel and advice to internal business partners and executives on complex employment matters; participates in substantial business transactions and litigation; advises in the formulation of policy for the Company; coordinates and synthesizes the Company’s position in response to changes in the law; as well as represents the Company in a variety of federal, state, and local employment matters before administrative and regulatory tribunals, and courts of law throughout the United States.  She also is the legal liaison to the Company’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) department, where she advises on DEI initiatives, internal and external communications, and agency audits and requests.  Kimberly continues to lead a team in providing daily consult to internal business clients and the Company’s Executive Leadership Teams of legal risks and requirements related to the COVID-19 pandemic to which the Company uses to manage its workforce infrastructure.  Kimberly also serves as a Site Advisor to one of Liberty Mutual’s Employee Resource Groups – LEADA (Liberty Employees of African Descent and Allies) which serves to foster a culture of building, growing and learning with ongoing support and professional development opportunities for employees of African descent and their allies.  In this role Kimberly is a liaison between the Plano Chapter of LEADA and executive sponsors and advisors in Liberty’s corporate offices.  Finally, she serves as a member of Liberty’s Future of Law INTEL team, which explores how the provision of in-house legal services will evolve based on various disruptive factors, including changes in the insurance industry, the use of technology within the legal space, and the globalization of our workforce to ensure that Liberty legal departments are operating efficiently.

Prior to Liberty Mutual, Kimberly served as Manager & Corporate Counsel for a worldwide restaurant and entertainment chain where she protected the company from impactful reputational, financial, and legal risks arising from employment and labor disputes, payroll/wage issues, and complex legal issues pertaining to the company’s business operations.  She has also served as counsel for a large university system where she advised and defended the Board of Regents, three campus institutions, and two central administrative offices in employment matters.

Beyond in-house representation, Kimberly practiced in law firms where she represented businesses, state agencies, and nonprofits in resolving matters in the areas of employment and labor law, business litigation, trucking litigation, insurance defense and school law.  Prior to attending law school, Kimberly was a Special Assistant for Legislative Policy for the Lieutenant Governor of Texas.

Kimberly has served on the Board of the J.L. Turner Legal Association (JLTLA), the Texas Tech University School of Law Alumni Executive Board, and the Impact Church DFW Council.  She currently serves as a Board member with the Collin County Women Lawyers Association, is a member of the Network of Empowered Women (N.E.W.) Roundtable, the Dallas Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), and Attorneys Serving the Community (ASC).  Kimberly is also a Fellow with the Texas Bar Foundation.

Kimberly was recognized as Outstanding In House Counsel by the National Bar Association, Women Lawyers Division in 2022; Outstanding In House Counsel by the Collin County Women Lawyers Association in 2022; Outstanding Non-General Counsel of the Year for Large Legal Department in 2018 by the Texas Law Book, Dallas Business Journal, and ACC; and by Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers magazine as a “Texas Rising Star” in 2009, 2015, 2016 and 2017.  

Kimberly attributes her legal success to cultivating and maintaining successful relationships with her clients, and focusing on a resolution that will best meet their business needs.  To this effect, she has provided legal commentary on employment matters on WFAA 8 News (ABC affiliate) and Fox4 News in Dallas, Texas, and has authored, presented, and lectured on multiple employment topics for the Texas Bar College, the University of Texas at Dallas, and at employment conferences around the state of Texas.  

Kimberly adores being a wife and mother to her 3 1/2-year-old twins, enjoys participating in church activities, and is as avid Dallas Cowboys and San Antonio Spurs fan! 

Percy Freeman Jr. joined SRS Distribution as the Diversity and Inclusion Program Manager in 2021. At SRS, Percy is driving change with allies across a rapidly growing company focused on being better today than they were yesterday. 

Prior to SRS, Percy worked in the financial services industry for 15 years. For the majority of those years, he worked as a licensed investment advisor. However, Percy’s passion for people and desire to create large-scale change led him to human resources, where he served as a diversity, equity, and inclusion leader. Percy specialized in talent management, organizational development, training, recruiting, and performance management to create positive organizational change. Percy has successfully developed and implemented strategic diversity initiatives that improve workforce diversity and awareness, thereby creating an inclusive environment.

If you ask Percy, he will tell that his entire world revolves around the two P’s! Percy(6) and Penelope(2) are his true north. He hopes to instill the best in them, provide the best for them, and ensure they are New Orleans Saints fans! Percy is quite proud of being from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Michelle Carey Jones is an Associate General Counsel in the Global Transactions and Compliance group for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Ft. Worth, Texas.   In this role, Michelle provides legal support for international transactions and legal compliance, including on the F-35 Program in Canada, Belgium, Finland, Switzerland and Germany. 

Prior to joining Lockheed Martin in 2018, Michelle served as General Counsel for Wells Fargo Rail Corporation, an $8 billion railcar leasing company, NCH Marketing Services, Inc., an international coupon clearing and settlement company of over $4 Billion in coupons annually, and Trinity Rail Group, Inc., a $2 billion international railcar manufacturing and leasing company.  Michelle has a law firm background as an international commercial and employment litigator at Donovan, Leisure and Orrick.   Michelle was a Phi Beta Kappa and received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (now UC Law San Francisco) and B.A. in Economics/Business from UCLA. 

Michelle is married to a Welsh rock climber and engineer, Peter Jones, and has two children, Kailey and Will, as well as her rescue dog Sierra.  She enjoys hiking, working out (Orange Theory classes are her new passion), international travel, food and wine, and reading.  Michelle is involved in various charities, including Attorneys Serving the Community.  Currently, she is part of a group supporting the #1 ranking US Women’s Rock Climbing Champion from Keller, TX, who is only 15 years old and the youngest carrying this title, on her path to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Francesca Perkins Austin currently serves as Senior Counsel, Associate Vice President at National Life Group, a diversified family of financial services companies offering life insurance, annuity and investment products.  In that role, she provides counsel on the development, administration, sales, marketing and distribution of fixed and variable life insurance and annuity products, including related regulatory and legislative issues.
Prior to joining NLG, Francesca worked in the Commercial Litigation group at BakerHostetler LLP.  In that role, she served as a key member of litigation team seeking worldwide asset recovery from financial institutions in hundreds of cases in connection with the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Securities LLC.  In addition, she represented large manufacturers, sellers, premises owners and contractors in product liability and construction litigation.  She also represented the Tort Creditors Committee in the PG&E Chapter 11 bankruptcy; measured by asset value, the largest ever public utility bankruptcy and the biggest in California.Francesca also had the opportunity to serve as a federal law clerk to United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York, The Honorable Andrew L. Carter and as a legal intern to The Honorable Ronald L. Ellis (retired), also of the Southern District of New York.Francesca received her undergraduate degree in History from Carleton College.  She earned her law degree from Fordham University of Law.

Christine Demana is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She is a member of the Firm’s Litigation Department, as well as the Trade Secrets Practice Group; the Media, Entertainment, and Technology Practice Group; the Intellectual Property Practice Group.

Ms. Demana has deep trial-court experience in the technology industry and in litigating and counseling clients on high-stakes bet-the-company and trade secrets matters.  Ms. Demana also has represented a number of Fortune 500 companies in prosecuting and defending business claims, including breach of contract, securities and other frauds, consumer product defects, antitrust violations, and employment issues, and she has successfully defended several of these companies in large class-action litigations. She plays a substantial role in these matters through all aspects of investigation, pre-trial litigation, trial, and appeal in courts throughout the country.

Ms. Demana practice focuses on framing cases—she has a unique ability to extract key facts from complex cases to craft a winning case strategy, and then translate that strategy into compelling oral arguments, briefs, key depositions, and presentations at trial.  She also has expertise developing a media strategy for large public matters, and has been repeatedly recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© as a “One to Watch” in Commercial Litigation and as a Super Lawyers Rising Star.

Marisa Giles is an experienced lead litigator who represents businesses and individuals in high-stakes disputes, including contract suits, construction litigation, securities litigation, tax controversies, restructuring litigation, and complex indemnity and insurance matters.

When working on a matter, Marisa leverages both her skills as a trial attorney as well as her experiences serving in prestigious roles in public service. She spent two years as a Rules Attorney for the Supreme Court of Texas, where she developed a deep knowledge of civil procedure and the state appellate process. Marisa also previously served as a judicial clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Her experiences both there and at the Texas Supreme Court provided her valuable insights into how judges approach cases.

Marisa’s success representing clients and in public service earned her recognition from Texas Lawyer magazine, which named her one of 20 “Winning Women” in 2014. In the magazine, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht praised Marisa as “an outstanding talent” who “can see the big picture.”

Marisa is a member of the Partnership Admissions Committee and Counsel Admissions and Compensation Committee, the Austin office hiring partner, and the lead of the Austin office’s Women’s Initiative.

Rocio focuses on the intersection of technology, privacy, and law, helping clients navigate complex issues, compliance, and the evolving legal landscape of privacy law, with a particular emphasis on emerging technologies and platforms such as machine learning and AI, blockchain technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), and Ad-tech and other innovative marketing technologies. She supports both B2B and consumer-facing companies ranging from start-ups to high-profile technology enterprises, as well as Fortune 500 companies across various industries, such as digital health, transportation, consumer goods and electronics, financial services, technology, and manufacturing. She helps clients navigate issues arising from novel and innovative technology and data practices by offering practical risk assessments and pragmatic advice.

Rocio’s experience as a transactional lawyer, along with her privacy experience, allows her to address privacy, data security, and other matters relating to data in the context of various transactions, while also handling the commercial terms of such transactions. She helps clients address these issues in the context of mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, outsourcing transactions, and other corporate transactions, as well as in outsourcing agreements, services arrangements, vendor agreements, and other commercial transactions or general counseling matters. As part of this work, Rocio regularly manages due diligence processes related to commercial contracts or other documents related to IP, data and privacy, and provides counsel on legal issues, technology matters such as open-source compliance, and other unique issues that arise in such transactions.

Rocio also has in-house experience having previously served as in-house counsel for an emerging growth company in the incident response cyber-security software market that was eventually acquired by a Fortune 50 technology company. While there, Rocio advised on a range of general corporate, technology, and privacy matters, supported a global sales organization by heading the negotiation of its customer software licenses, SaaS and other service agreements against a diverse customer base, and assisted with the company’s rounds of venture capital funding. In addition, Rocio played a key role in the acquisition and stayed on for a time with the acquiring company as integration counsel before departing for private practice.

Faith Lleva Anderson is Senior Vice President & General Counsel for American Airlines Federal Credit Union headquartered in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. The credit union has $7.3 billion in assets with over 300,000 members, and 47 branches located in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Anderson oversees legal, compliance, anti-money laundering, government relations and vendor management.

Anderson has served on the CFPB’s Credit Union Advisory Council where she was also the Subcommittee Chair of the Card, Payment and Deposit Markets Subcommittee. In 2017, she testified before the House of Representatives’ Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee at a hearing titled Examining the BSA/AML Regulatory Compliance Regime and participated in Treasury’s Roundtable meeting with credit unions. In 2016, she also participated in NCUA’s Exam Flexibility Initiative for billion dollar credit unions chaired by Regional Director Keith Morton.

Anderson has served as Chair for the American Bar Association Business Law’s Committee on Credit Unions. She testified at a HMDA hearing before Federal Reserve Board Governor Elizabeth Duke.  Anderson also served a three-year term on the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) representing credit unions where she also chaired its Depository & Delivery Systems Committee.   She has spoken to various groups including compliance officers, CEOs, board members and attorneys regarding regulatory, legal, compliance and diversity issues.

Prior to joining American Airlines Credit Union, Anderson was in private practice in Wisconsin.  She was also a former Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and also served as a staff attorney to the chief bankruptcy judge there.

Anderson holds a Juris Doctor from Marquette University where she was also a member of the Marquette Law Review.  She holds a bachelor’s of business administration degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  She is licensed to practice law in Texas and Wisconsin. 

Sheetal serves as Senior Corporate Counsel at Oracle America, Inc. bringing several years of technology litigation and complex transactions experience to the team. She maintains an interesting and diverse technology law practice focused on various transactions involving complex software licensing, hardware systems, professional services, data privacy/security, as well as general corporate matters. Sheetal provides legal support across all lines of business enabling profitable growth while mitigating legal risks. She works closely with internal business stakeholders and takes a leadership role in defining policies, practices, and procedures within the company.

Prior to Oracle, Sheetal’s practice was focused on intellectual property matters involving a wide range of technologies. Sheetal cares deeply about diversity, equity, and inclusion and is committed to creating a professional environment where all voices are heard. Sheetal has served on the executive board of the South Asian Bar Association of Dallas where she focused on creating strong relationships among South Asian lawyers in the community and amplifying their voices and professional contributions.

Brice R. White is Associate General Counsel at Meta where he is a leader on Meta’s Global Legal Privacy Incident Management (GLPIM) team. He leads Meta’s compliance with Section IX of the FTC Consent Order, including investigating and reporting misuse of User data by third parties. He also leads GLPIM’s governance program. Brice is a Meta Connections Ambassador leading efforts to build community and recruit diverse talent.

Prior to joining Meta, Brice served as in-house counsel at Tyson Foods where he focused on litigation and investigations, while also leading the privacy legal team.  He was a member of the Council to the EVP, General Counsel for Tyson Foods., which focused on professional development,  as well as diversity and inclusion within the law department and company. 

Before joining Tyson Foods, Brice was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Arkansas, where he became only the second African American to hold that position in the District.

He is a member of the University of Arkansas Law Alumni board, and a Charter Member of TechGC. He has been listed as a Top 40 under 40 lawyer in Arkansas by The National Black Lawyers for several years.  He was featured in Modern Counsel magazine for his unique career path and efforts in diversity.

Skyla Banks is Senior Commercial Counsel at Amplitude, Inc, a technology company that provides a data analytics SaaS solution that helps their customers build better products.  Over her near a decade tenure as a technology lawyer, Skyla has enjoyed a diverse practice of technology, data privacy and security, intellectual property, and commercial negotiations.

Before practicing law, she earned her B.A. in Economics from Howard University and a J.D. from Southern University Law Center, where she served as Executive Editor of the Journal of Race, Gender and Poverty.  Following law school, Skyla began practicing in the cyber security industry where was in-house counsel for various technology companies.  

Skyla contributes a substantial amount of time advising business clients on the risks associated with technology and ever-changing data privacy laws.  She has written multiple articles on data privacy concerns, specifically the impact of cross border data transfers on businesses, and the impact of the GDPR on day-to-day business operations.  She also advises non-profit organizations in Dallas focused on educating and developing girls of color within the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis.  Skyla is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and enjoys serving as a change agent to change the narrative of Black women in technology

J. Daryl Dorsey is a Director & Senior Attorney for American Airlines and has been with the airline for eight years. Daryl joined American in 2014, shortly after its successful merger with U.S. Airways.

Daryl is one of ten Labor and Employment attorneys at American Airlines’ headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Daryl manages and provides legal support for all international employment, labor and benefits matters in 55 international countries. Daryl also supports the payroll and garnishment teams on garnishment issues affecting airline employees. In addition, he works closely with the Privacy Office on privacy issues involving GDPR and data subject access requests from employees in the United Kingdom and the European Union.  

Daryl was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Morgan State University. Daryl attended law school in the evening programs at the University of Baltimore School of Law and Cleveland Marshall School of law while working full-time as a litigation paralegal for the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Baltimore and Greenbelt, Maryland; Washington, D.C., and Cleveland, Ohio.

Daryl began his attorney career as a federal law clerk managing Chapter 11 business cases for the chief bankruptcy judge in the Northern District of Ohio for six years.  Following his clerkship, Daryl served as in-house counsel for a national corporation and worked in private practice as a litigator for six years in Phoenix, Arizona before joining American.

Fun Fact: Daryl began deejaying and producing hip hop and house music in high school. He continues his love for creating and producing music in his spare time.

Janet Hendrick is a shareholder in the Dallas office of Phillips Murrah, a general practice law firm based in Oklahoma City with more than 50% female equity partners.  Janet is an experienced employment lawyer who works with companies of all sizes. Her practice involves investigations, compliance, litigation, and representation before federal and state agencies.  She is a member of her firm’s Diversity Committee, a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers, and a recipient of the Texas Diversity Council’s Top Women in Legal and the National Women’s Council’s Top Business Women award.

Nicole Grida defends corporate clients in complex product liability and general civil litigation. For more than 15 years, she has represented individuals, professionals and businesses in products liability, premises liability, automobile negligence, medical malpractice and other high exposure matters involving catastrophic injuries and wrongful death claims. 

Nicole has extensive trial experience in state and federal court and has tried more than 50 cases to verdict. She has prepared and deposed a wide range of technical experts including accident reconstructionists, economists, OSHA compliance experts, vocational experts, physicians, psychiatrists, toxicologists, fire origin and cause experts, engineers, DOT compliance experts, and human factors experts. Though Nicole works remotely through the Dallas office, she lives in the Memphis area, readily available to assist clients locally and statewide. 

Nicole also brings a wealth of knowledge and perspective from her time serving as litigation counsel at a Fortune 500 company. In addition to managing more than 100 premises liability, automobile liability and workers’ compensation cases, she developed best practices for responding to third-party subpoenas and oversaw production of documents and witnesses for depositions in non-party matters. With management and strategic planning skills honed by her in-house experience, she works to understand her clients’ business objectives and develops legal strategies aligned with them.

In her free time, Nicole enjoys spending time exploring the Bluff City, reading, binge watching reality television and traveling to new places. Her goal is to visit all 50 states by the end of 2023, and she currently has only six states left to explore. Her five nieces and nephews and chocolate lab mix, Carmelo Thurston, all keep her busy as well.

Vicki Blanton is the Assistant Vice President – Senior Legal Counsel for AT&T, Inc., with primary responsibility for the legal compliance of the domestic and international retirement benefit plans, with over $54 billion in assets. She has handled complex retirement plan and health and welfare benefit plan issues for several Fortune 50 publicly traded companies and for large governmental employers.  Ms. Blanton brings the real world practical perspective of implementing legal changes with each change’s ripple effects in benefit plan administration and to other areas of business operations.  Ms. Blanton has been a frequent speaker on a variety of topics, including substantive legal issues, diversity topics, and career development panels.  She is a Past President of the J.L. Turner Legal Association, winning accolades from the State Bar of Texas and the National Bar Association. Ms. Blanton has been named as a Dallas Business Journal Best Corporate Counsel, D Magazine’s List of Best Lawyers, and Eclipse Magazine’s Dynamic Lawyers.  Vicki is an American Fellow of the German Marshall Memorial Fund and was a Barrister in the American Inns of Court.  Vicki has served on and been appointed to a variety of non-profit, charitable, municipal and state boards; currently serving on the boards of the Dallas Chapter of the American Red Cross and Dallas Bar Association as the Secretary/Treasurer and is a past board member of the Dallas Bar Foundation.  She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University School of Law. Additionally, she has a Certificate of Study from Georgetown University’s Executive Development Program at the London School of Economics. Vicki has 2 daughters, a 2017 alumna of Howard University and a graduating senior at University of Missouri at Columbia (MIZZOU).

Meyling “Mey” Ly Ortiz is an award-winning Managing Counsel of Employment & Labor at Toyota Motor North America. Her passions include mentoring and championing diversity and inclusion. At home, she’s doing her best to be a “fun” mom to three littles and to work on her passion project, a personal blog: TheMeybe.com. You can follow her on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/meybe/). And you knew this was coming: her opinions are hers alone.

Vynessa M. Nemunaitis is a Partner in Weil’s Banking & Finance practice and is based in Dallas. She assists primarily on finance transactions, including acquisition financing, investment grade lending, leveraged lending and debt restructuring transactions.

Ms. Nemunaitis has been recognized as a “Rising Star” in Banking by Texas Super Lawyers* 2018-2019. She was also selected by the Business Council for the Arts for its prestigious 2018-19 Leadership Arts Institute.

Ms. Nemunaitis has been honored by the North Texas Business Council for the Arts, for being one of 40 graduates of its 30th Anniversary Leadership Arts Institute class, a program to develop the next generation of business leaders for the arts in North Texas. She was also recognized by the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program as the 2010 Outstanding New Pro Bono Lawyer. Ms. Nemunaitis is an active member of the Dallas Area Young Lawyers and the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association.

Ms. Nemunaitis received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and her B.A. from the University of Texas.

Rebecca Fike is a Partner at Vinson & Elkins whose practice focuses on shareholder enforcement, government and internal investigations, and white collar defense. As Senior Counsel in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement for 10 years, Rebecca conducted more than 60 investigations, including three “Top 5” national priority investigations. At the SEC, she ran all aspects of her investigations, including crafting case strategy, interviewing witnesses and conducting on-the-record testimony, engaging in settlement negotiations, and drafting civil complaints and settlement documents. She frequently conducted investigations in parallel with the Department of Justice and other civil and criminal agencies.

Amber Sims currently works as Assistant Vice President, Senior Legal Counsel in Litigation for AT&T, and her responsibilities include handling personal injury, premises liability, catastrophic loss, wrongful death, and commercial dispute cases on the company’s behalf throughout the United States. Amber holds a B.A. in Political Science from The George Washington University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from Texas Tech University School of Law. She worked briefly as an Assistant District Attorney in Dallas County during the tenure of Craig Watkins, the first African-American elected District Attorney in the State of Texas. Her primary field of practice is insurance defense litigation, and Amber previously worked in a top insurance defense law firm as well as for three of the largest carriers in the country.  

In her spare time, she co-hosts Broke-ish, a podcast with Erika Brown, which discusses the systemic and interpersonal impacts of racism, inequity, and injustice on the Black community.  She also regularly appears on radio shows, virtual events, and churches – discussing a wide range of issues. Amber lives in Prosper, Texas with her three children.

Jennifer DeBoy is a native Texan. She graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Dallas and went on to study law at Southern Methodist University. She focused her studies on international tax, consumer, and intellectual property law. She also clerked at a mid-size international tax firm, a boutique estate planning firm, and the Federal Trade Commission while in law school. She went straight in-house at Copart, Inc., the top performer on Deloitte’s Exceptional 100 Companies list. She then worked at EZCORP, Inc. as Associate General Counsel. She gained omni-channel experience at KidKraft, Inc. and is now at Analog Devices. She has two young children who make her laugh (or sometimes cry) and when time permits, she travels with her husband or sneaks in an early morning run.  

Sheri Crosby Wheeler currently works as the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for Fossil Group, Inc.  Fossil Group is a global design, marketing, distribution and innovation company where distinctive watches, accessories and wearables are created for some of the greatest brands in the world.  Sheri is a diversity leader, an employment lawyer and an avid community volunteer.  For the past 7 years, she has worked exclusively on diversity and inclusion strategies and integration in the corporate setting. Sheri is a member of the State Bar of Texas and has been honored as an Outstanding Young Lawyer. She earned a J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law and a B.A. in Sociology at Emory University. 

Katherine Gnadinger serves as Corporate Counsel at Microsoft, supporting the Manufacturing industry account teams. Her primary responsibilities include advising business clients on complex cloud computing deals and complex legal issues such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and regulations affecting the Defense Industrial Base. She additionally provides risk analysis for and negotiation of strategic alliances, software and IP licenses, professional services and support contracts, and various other agreements. Prior to joining Microsoft, Katherine worked as a Senior Attorney at Bell Textron Inc., supporting US and Canadian military business, global supply chain, and IT security. Katherine received her Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law and her Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University.