The Women in Legal & Corporate Leadership Summit [Virtual]: Boston

Angela Markle is Lead Counsel for Guest & Consumer Products at Toast. Inc., a cloud-based all-in-one restaurant management platform. Angela provides strategic, legal, and risk mitigation guidance to enable innovative product development, and focuses particularly on issues surrounding consumer financial services, consumer protection, privacy, and marketing law. Prior to joining Toast, Angela spent over five years as product counsel at PayPal, advising a variety of business units and product suites. While at PayPal, she also led the implementation of the Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition, a diversity program overseen by the Diversity Lab.

Angela began her legal career by serving as a Law Clerk to the Hon. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd (ret.) of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and then joined Paul Hastings LLP as a Litigation associate. Angela earned her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and holds a B.A. of English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Kim Starr works for Liberty Mutual as an in-house employment attorney.  Kim counsels clients on employment matters, including terminations (including RIFS), leave management issues, and wage and hour questions.  She handles administrative charges and manages outside counsel concerning state and federal litigation.

Prior to Liberty Mutual, Kim worked for Jackson Lewis where she litigated matters before the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, various state administrative agencies, and federal and state courts regarding age, race, national origin, disability and gender discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination.

Prior to that, Kim worked for the United States Postal Service as an agency attorney litigating employment matters at the administrative level where she quickly amassed one of the best records in the department in terms of win rates and settlement payouts.

Before she joined the Postal Service, Kim lived and worked in Tokyo, Japan where she focused her efforts on a variety of transactional matters including capital markets, M&A, licensing.

Kim Starr, a native New Yorker, received her B.A. from Trinity College and her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law. 

Thanda focuses her practice on advising individuals and families on their estate and tax planning matters. She also works with families on estate settlement and trust administration matters. Thanda has expertise on New Hampshire trust and tax laws, and serves as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of our New Hampshire affiliate, Fiduciary Trust Company of New England. She also has expertise in estate planning for non-traditional families.

Thanda Brassard joined Fiduciary Trust in 2006. Ms. Brassard is also Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of our New Hampshire affiliate, Fiduciary Trust Company of New England. She is also a Director and Chair of its Trust Committee. Prior to joining Fiduciary, Ms. Brassard was an Associate at Ropes & Gray LLP in the Private Client Group from 2003 to 2006, an Associate at Hill & Barlow, P.C., in the Trust and Estates Department from 1998 to 2003, and a Law Clerk to Magistrate Judge Zachary R. Karol, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts from 1997 to 1998.

Desarie Green is the Senior Manager, Risk, Compliance & Privacy in Information Services at Hologic, Inc., a global women’s health company.

As the Senior Manager, Risk, Compliance & Privacy, Ms. Green oversees risk management, compliance to the cybersecurity framework, and the privacy program at Hologic. She has obtained several certifications pertaining to cybersecurity, privacy, and ethics.

Prior to her role with Hologic, Inc., Ms. Green was the Compliance & Privacy Manager at edX in Cambridge, MA., a global EdTech leader in online learning platforms. She has also worked in many other industries, such as aerospace, electronics manufacturing, telecommunications, and film. Ms. Green received her JD from Western State University College of Law and obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California. She also has a master’s degree from Full Sail University. She has been an active member of the California Bar for over 12 years.

Adi Osovsky joined Sarepta Therapeutics in January 2017 and serves as Director of Corporate Law. Her responsibilities include advising on complex securities and equity issues, strategic corporate governance and financing / capital raising initiatives, assisting with Board and committee meetings and communications, and providing advice and counsel to different departments, including Investor Relations, Human Resources and Finance. Prior to joining Sarepta, from June 2013 to December 2016, Ms. Osovsky was an associate in the Corporate Department of Sullivan & Worcester LLP, where she advised on corporate transactions and capital raising involving life science companies. From March 2005 to July 2010, Ms. Osovsky worked at Gornitzky & Co., a top law firm in Israel, where she specialized in corporate law, litigation and class actions, and provided on-going legal advice on regulatory and corporate governance issues to various key players in the Israeli economy. Ms. Osovsky holds an LL.B. from Tel Aviv University and an LL.M. and an S.J.D. from Harvard University. Her dissertation focused on the tension between financial innovation and investor protection.

Ms. Perrelli is a partner and the immediate past Chair of Seyfarth’s national Litigation Department. In her tenure as Chair, the Department’s practice groups were awarded numerous honors for superb legal work and innovation, including Law360 Transportation Group of the Year; U.S. News Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms in Construction, Commercial Litigation, and Appellate Law; BTI Litigation Outlook “Honor Roll” recognition in Class Actions, Securities and Finance Litigation, IP Litigation, Complex Commercial Litigation, Everyday Commercial Litigation, and Product Liability Litigation; Top ranking in Trade Secrets by The Legal 500 USA, and numerous national and regional recognitions by Chambers USA.

Ms. Perrelli’s practice is national in scope and includes a wide variety of complex commercial and employment matters, including business and contract disputes, unfair competition, trade secret misappropriation and other intellectual property theft, restrictive covenant litigation, real estate litigation, franchise litigation, wrongful termination, and business torts. Her practice also includes counseling regarding employer compliance with the ADA, ADEA, Title VII, FLSA, and other state and governmental laws affecting employers. She is also frequently retained to conduct internal workplace misconduct and other corporate investigations. 

Ms. Perrelli is also a leading authority on the law of trade secrets and noncompetes. In addition to representing clients on such matters across the country in federal and state trial courts, arbitrations and mediations, she is a frequent speaker and writer on these topics. She also counsels clients on minimizing litigation risks and protecting confidential and proprietary business information and trade secrets. These services include preparation of individual and multi-state employer noncompete, non-solicit, nondisclosure and other restrictive covenant agreements; advice regarding onboarding of employees or groups of employees from a competitor, or departing employees joining a competitor; and preparation and implementation of trade secret protection programs, including trade secret audits.

Ms. Perrelli is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt. Using Lean Six Sigma and project management methodologies, the SeyfarthLean approach delivers increased value to our clients at a time of increased market pressures and competitive demands. Ms. Perrelli applies these principles to her practice and also counsels clients on the use of lean six sigma, process improvements, data analytics, and project management in legal processes. She also has considerable experience in and is a frequent speaker on devising and managing alternative, value-based fee structures.

Ms. Perrelli is a member of the ABA Intellectual Property Law Section and chair of the “Interaction with Employment Law” topical subcommittee of the Trade Secrets Committee.

Ms. Perrelli has been selected regularly as one of the state’s “Super Lawyers” in Business Litigation and “Top Women Lawyers” in a joint survey conducted by the publishers of Law and Politics magazine and Boston magazine, as part of a special publication entitled “The Top Attorneys in the Northeast.”  She was also selected by U.S. News as a “Best Lawyer” in commercial litigation.

Susan Davis practices commercial real estate law and represents owners and investors in complex real estate transactions involving all types of commercial real estate properties, including acquisitions, financings, sales and joint ventures. She has extensive experience in multi-family housing and office properties.  A core of Susan’s practice is representing landlords and tenants in commercial real estate leasing matters, including the leasing of office, retail and industrial facilities.

Carson Burnham co-chairs the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Practice Group of Ogletree Deakins. She is a shareholder based in the Boston office.

Carson’s expertise includes multijurisdictional investigations into employment law and compliance matters including sexual harassment, bullying, assault, breach of finance and sales protocols, kickbacks and compensation fraud and other employment-law matters of particular importance to US headquartered multinationals. Carson also specializes in a practical and efficient approach to sensitive, executive-level negotiations, assisting her clients with hiring, management, and terminations worldwide. Carson has unique experience with labor and employment issues in cross-border M&A from a multidisciplinary perspective, and is often called upon to partner with corporate firms to assist from the kickoff of a transaction through post-close integration. Carson designs and implements global ethics protocols for US-headquartered multinationals and enables her clients to implement compensation plans and harmonized benefits practices with a solutions-oriented approach that maintains efficiency at the global level and compliance at the local level. Carson also manages employment litigation for clients abroad, most recently in the Netherlands, Spain and France. She is frequently asked to speak about addressing the challenges of effectively managing a global workforce.

In addition to her own practice, Carson established the Cross-Border Practice Group of Ogletree Deakins, a team of international attorneys based in five countries with experience handling employment law. Some recent representative projects handled by Carson and the team include global restructurings; overtime and wage/hour compliance in multiple jurisdictions; investigating allegations of sexual harassment and criminal assault (France, UK, Brazil, Thailand); investigating allegations of abuse of financial protocols, including benefits fraud, unauthorized discounting and alleged kickbacks (Japan, France, Brazil); drafting and coordinating the rollout of global sales compensation plans, retention bonus plans, codes of conduct and electronic communications policies; advising concerning choice of law, the enforceability of US judgments overseas and the extraterritorial application of US laws applicable employees employment laws to foreign decision makers; managing disability issues; preparing and delivering comparative anti-harassment trainings; measures to mitigate the multidisciplinary risks associated with Global Mobility assignments; negotiating executive terminations as well as handling performance and conduct-based terminations. The Cross-Border Practice Group consists of lawyers with in-house experience working for multinationals, lawyers experienced in cross-disciplinary matters such as white collar crime, M&A, immigration and tax; lawyers with educational and language experience in a multitude of foreign countries including China, Cuba, Brazil, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Austria, and Ireland; and German, Japanese, Chinese and Korean lawyers with experience working in the United States.

Prior to joining Ogletree, Carson was the Vice President of Global Employment Law for Novell, Inc. In that capacity, Carson managed a global team of attorneys, oversaw worldwide employment litigation and separation negotiations, served as counsel to the company’s Compliance and Ethics Committee, held responsibility for the employment-law aspects of the company’s transactional activity (including post-close integration) , chaired its Global Policy Committee, served as counsel to its Global Sales Incentive Compensation Committee, and regularly advised Internal Audit concerning international labor and employment matters, signature authority protocols, pricing review procedures, separation costs and incentive compensation issues. In this role, Carson frequently participated in the company’s Board and Audit Committee meetings and worked on a daily basis with the company’s executive team. Carson is best known for finding creative, simple and efficient solutions for her clients’ complex employment law problems around the world.

Yvette Politis is Associate General Counsel, Labor and Employment counsel with RELX Inc.  RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers and is the parent organization to LexisNexis, LexisNexis Risk & Business Analytics, Elsevier Scientific, Technical and Medical and Reed Exhibitions.  

As in-house labor and employment counsel, Ms. Politis is responsible for employment counseling, litigation management, HR and management training and corporate compliance initiatives.  Prior to joining RELX, Ms. Politis was an attorney in Seyfarth Shaw’s Boston office.  Ms. Politis received her JD from Boston College Law School and graduated from Cornell University with an undergraduate degree in Industrial and Labor Relations.  

Kristen Grannis, Co-Chair of Latham’s Boston Corporate Department, advises private capital providers, private equity sponsors, and companies on a range of investments, acquisitions, and divestitures, with a focus on the life sciences and technology sectors.

A creative thinker and sophisticated strategist, Ms. Grannis regularly navigates multifaceted transactions featuring bespoke deal structures. She brings particular experience representing investors and companies in connection with equity investments involving structured preferred capital. She also advises private equity sponsors and strategic buyers and sellers, as well as founder-owned businesses and their acquirers, in a variety of corporate matters. 

An early member of Latham’s Boston office, Ms. Grannis draws on her in-depth market knowledge and business acumen to handle growth investments at the pre-IPO stage. She takes a proactive approach to tailoring transactions with the aim of protecting clients’ investments while also closing deals efficiently.

Ms. Grannis supports various nonprofit and industry organizations through her pro bono and leadership efforts. She serves as outside counsel to Year Up, a nonprofit that provides professional training to low-income young adults. Ms. Grannis is also an active member of the Women’s Bar Association (WBA) in Massachusetts, serving as a member of the organization’s Board of Directors and as Co-Chair of the Law Firm Advancement Committee.

Lan Marinelli currently serves as Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE: HUBS), a leading growth platform.  At HubSpot, Lan oversees public company compliance, corporate governance, M&A, international expansion, and real estate.  Prior to joining HubSpot, she served as Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of athenahealth, Inc., where she led corporate matters for the legal team.  Previously, she helped to take ConforMIS, a medical device company, public and also focused on corporate and M&A matters at Sapient Corporation. Lan began her career as an auditor at Deloitte.  She received her B.S. in accounting and finance at The University of Arizona and her J.D. at Boston College Law School. 

In her role at Eversource Energy as Assistant General Counsel, Sustainability, Environmental & Real Estate, Nancy leads a team of lawyers focusing on a wide variety of environmental, real estate and sustainability issues.  Primary focuses include environmental stewardship, environmental compliance, equitable and sustainable real estate management, equitable and sustainable clean energy transformation, halting climate change, and Environmental Justice, all while supporting Eversource Energy’s industry goal of becoming Carbon Neutral by 2030. She is a member of the Eversource Pro-Equity Advisory Team and the Eversource Equity Governance Committee.

From 2011-2015 Nancy served as General Counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). As Chief Legal Officer of MassDEP, she was responsible for advising MassDEP’s Commissioner and staff on environmental and energy related legal and policy issues, ethics, personnel matters, and compliance with internal agency policies; supervising and managing a staff of approximately 45 attorneys and the Director of the Environmental Strike Force; and reviewing MassDEP actions for legal sufficiency. She represented MassDEP in administrative law matters; acted as a liaison between MassDEP and the Office of the Attorney General in investigations and litigation; communicated with stakeholders and the public regarding legal matters and regulatory reform; and served as lead attorney for MassDEP’s Fraud, Waste & Abuse investigations. In addition, she sat on the Energy Facilities Siting Board as the Commissioner’s designee.

Ms. Kaplan spent 24 years in private practice in the Boston area during which time she represented energy, commercial, industrial, municipal and citizen group clients on regulatory environmental compliance counseling, strategic analysis, solid waste site assignment and management, Brownfields Redevelopment, wetlands, waterways and land use permitting, assessment and remediation of and contribution for complex contaminated sites, environmental litigation, the Water Management Act and Clean Water Act compliance. Nancy is a Certified Environmental Education Facilitator, published author on the topic of protecting public lands, and holds a Certificate from the Commonwealth Management Program. She has held Adjunct Professor positions at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Suffolk University, and Boston University, teaching courses in environmental law and litigation. 

Nancy is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University and Suffolk University Law School and is a past member of The Parent Advisory for the Boston Children’s Hospital Comfort Ability Program; past Co-Chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Energy Law Committee; and past member of the Board of Directors for the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation. 

Punam is an experienced business immigration attorney who counsels U.S. employers of all sizes, from start-ups to established multinationals, on immigration matters for a wide range of industries and activities, including: information technology, telecommunications, biotechnology, electronic component technology, insurance, financial and management consulting, hospitality, general manufacturing, and education.

Punam is acutely aware of how important key employees are to an enterprise.  That is why she works directly with her clients to design and implement immigration strategies that help them navigate through an ever changing, complex legal framework of immigration and nationality law.  Punam identifies and implements successful programs US employers to hire and retain international personnel, including senior leadership all the way to critical professional positions. 

Punam also develops cost and time efficient strategies to pursue high volume processing of immigration petitions and applications for employers who have a large number of foreign national employees. In addition to overseeing the preparation of non-immigrant and immigrant visa petition filings of all types, Punam regularly provides employment-related immigration compliance training to human resources and legal staff for employer clients. She also effectively counsels clients through government investigation of enforcement proceedings, including Labor Condition Application Audits conducted by the Department of Labor and I-9 Audits with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And, often these days, Punam provides clients with Congressional advocacy advice for changes in the law, which includes regular travel to Washington, DC for meetings with elected representatives and government agencies.

Punam is a frequent speaker on immigration matters and has published immigration articles on a foray of immigration topics that include multinational transfers, compliance, cross-border issues, layoffs, and general visas strategies. 

As the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen has extensive experience as a trial lawyer, investigator and crisis manager.  She focuses her practice on internal investigations, corporate compliance, civil litigation, and white collar criminal defense.  Carmen also has significant experience with sexual harassment investigations and claims, and high-stakes employment litigation.

During her tenure as  the U.S. Attorney from 2009 to 2017, Carmen led an office of more than 200 attorneys and support staff in Boston, Worcester and Springfield.  She oversaw the investigation and litigation of many significant and complex criminal and civil cases in matters involving financial and securities fraud, healthcare fraud, public corruption, money laundering, cybercrimes, national security, organized crime and violent crime.  Among other high profile matters, she directed the prosecutions of Whitey Bulger and the Boston Marathon bomber.  Carmen also had significant achievements in the healthcare fraud arena, leading the District of Massachusetts to some of the largest civil healthcare fraud settlements in U.S. history.  Carmen served as Co-Chair of the Attorney General’s Healthcare Fraud Working Group from 2010 through 2015. Carmen was also a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee from 2012 until 2014, and a member of the AGAC’s subcommittees on Civil Rights, White Collar Crime, Terrorism and National Security and Cyber Crimes/Intellectual Property.  She earned high marks for her ability to manage high-profile situations under the media spotlight, to provide leadership and direction in crisis situations, and to facilitate decision-making between law enforcement partners, political leaders and community representatives.

As U.S. Attorney, protecting the civil rights of the residents of Massachusetts was a top priority for Carmen, and she implemented the District’s first Civil Rights Unit aimed at reinvigorating enforcement of federal civil rights laws.  She also broadened the Office’s outreach and engagement efforts, meeting regularly with community groups on a variety of issues to promote public safety, community policing and civil rights.

Prior to becoming U.S. Attorney, Carmen honed her litigation skills as both a federal and state prosecutor, as well as a defense attorney, trying over 60 jury cases to verdict.  She was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and also served for eight years as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, where she supervised the District Court prosecutors, and prosecuted homicides, sexual assaults and robberies.

In 1991, on behalf of the National Football League, Ms. Ortiz investigated allegations of sexual harassment made by a sportswriter against the New England Patriots. In 1992, she was part of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee team that investigated “October Surprise”, the Congressional inquiry into allegations that members of the 1980 Reagan-Bush presidential campaign delayed the release of 52 Americans held hostage by Iran.

Tara D. Dunn concentrates her practice on complex civil litigation matters, including commercial and employment law, as well as criminal defense matters.  Ms. Dunn represents clients in the courtroom at trial and arguing pre-trial motions, and handles all phases of pre-trial discovery.

Prior to joining Todd & Weld, she was an Assistant Attorney General in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where she worked on a variety of enforcement matters, including civil rights, employment, environmental protection, and fair housing, as well as provided civil defense for state agencies and employees sued in their official capacity.  During her tenure, Ms. Dunn obtained a jury verdict for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts following a civil jury trial in Superior Court, as well as appeared regularly in court to argue substantive motions.

During law school, Ms. Dunn was a law clerk for Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as at the Public Defender Services, Parole Division, of the District of Columbia.

Ms. Dunn serves in the Air Force Reserve Command at Westover Air Reserve Base in Massachusetts, and was recently selected to become a Judge Advocate General.  She previously served on active duty in the Space Command of the United States Air Force.

She serves as a Massachusetts Bar Foundation Fellow, a member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Rights Restorative Justice Project, and a board member for the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys.

Katie is AVP, Assistant General Counsel at Berkshire Residential Investments (Berkshire), where she assists with legal matters in connection with the day-to-day operations of the company including corporate, employment, real estate, landlord-tenant, litigation, insurance, risk and crisis management matters. She is an active member of Berkshire’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Environmental & Social Governance Committee. Prior to joining Berkshire, Katie served as Assistant Counsel at Admirals Bank, where she advised and represented the bank on a wide range of legal and regulatory matters. An avid civil rights advocate, Katie first began her legal career doing workplace rights and employment discrimination work before transitioning into an in-house role. Katie holds a B.A. from Trinity College and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. She is also a member of the National LGBT Bar Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Mandy Petrillo joined the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management legal team in February 2008.  She began her career with the organization as a Senior Paralegal, moved into a Legal Operations role in 2011 and was elevated to Club Counsel in 2015.  In her capacity as Club Counsel, Petrillo is responsible for drafting and negotiating a variety of agreements, including sponsorship, consulting and event agreements for the Red Sox, Fenway Sports Management (FSM) and New England Sports Network (NESN).  In addition to her transactional responsibilities, Petrillo also manages the company’s intellectual property portfolio and related matters. 

A native of Foxboro, MA, Petrillo earned her B.A. from Arizona State University in 1999.  She received her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in 2006 and is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.  Petrillo is an Adjunct Professor teaching Sports Law at Suffolk University Law School and is Co-Chair of the Boston Bar Association Arts, Entertainment and Sports Law Committee. Petrillo is also a member of the Sports Lawyers Association and currently resides in Beverly with her husband and two children. 

Jessica Ragosta Early is a Boston-based attorney and member of Holland & Knight’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice, as well as the firm’s COVID-19 Response Team. Ms. Early is a trial lawyer with extensive experience in all phases of the litigation process. She has successfully represented clients in the prosecution and defense of claims in federal and state trial courts and courts of appeals.

In addition, Ms. Early advises companies and individuals regarding complex business disputes, including breach of contract, unfair trade practices, unfair competition and breach of fiduciary duty in both the corporate and trusts and estates contexts. Ms. Early also has significant experience with environmental cost recovery and property damage, toxic torts and product liability actions. Clients rely on Ms. Early to help avoid or resolve conflict short of litigation whenever possible and to vigorously represent them through all phases of litigation, including at the trial and appellate level.

Meredith is a seasoned technology litigator focused on both disputes and on IT, licensing and outsourcing transactions, particularly in the financial services, health care, life sciences, and technology sectors. Her extensive litigation and arbitration experience provide a unique and valuable perspective at the front-end of developing critical business relationships. Meredith recognizes that the most successful collaborations and contracts are created with a full understanding of how to allocate risk between parties and a pragmatic understanding of how contract language is likely to be deployed in practice or interpreted by a judge or arbitrator should a dispute arise. Whether it be in a board room, a conference room or in a court room, Meredith’s clients have recognized her for bringing equal parts strategic vision and precision in execution to every matter she handles.

Meredith also has a true passion for championing the advancement of women in the legal profession. As Chair of the Mintz Women’s Initiative, she collaborates with external thought leaders and visionaries, and a number of in-house and in-firm lawyers to create and drive programs and initiatives that support sponsorship, mentorship, advancement and retention of women attorneys in law firms.