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

Megan Fouty is the General Counsel and CHRO at Glowforge, Inc., a Seattle-based technology start-up that designs and produces 3D laser printers.  Megan oversees the Legal, HR, customer support organization, recruiting, and the facilities team at Glowforge. Megan joined Glowforge’s executive team during a period of rapid growth. Megan came from heading up the legal team at Convoy, Inc. another Seattle-based technology start up. In addition to her day job, Megan founded and runs Diversity University, a company that provides diversity, equity, and inclusion tools such as trainings, project management, or assists in investigations for companies, law firms, and organizations. Megan’s background includes both law firm and in-house experience with previous senior legal positions at Moss Adams, one of the country’s largest public accounting firms and Expeditors International, a Fortune 500 international logistics company.  Megan serves on the board of directors for Providence Pediatric Hospice of Seattle. Recently she was awarded thetop ten 30 somethings by ACC national,  received the “Legal MVP Award” by SimpleLegal, she was listed in Marquis 2022 Who’s Who in America, was featured on the International “The Counsel” Podcast, and was recognized  by  Women, Influence and Power in Law for Championing Diversity in-house and for Innovative Leadership.  She has spoken around the country on a wide range of topics and is seen as a prominent leader in the legal community. She recently published her bookThe Art of Networking, providing women, underrepresented individuals, and anyone looking for career progression or to grow a more robust network with tangible tools and advice to do so.

Helen Yu is a forward-thinking, problem-solving legal professional with considerable experience managing the complex affairs of entities of all sizes.  She is mission-driven and passionate about working alongside her clients and stakeholders to achieve their objectives.  Yu holds a BA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; a JD from the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University, Bloomington; and, an MBA from the University of Oregon.  She is a member of the Oregon and Washington State Bars, and also maintains senior professional certifications with both the HR Certification Institute and Society of Human Resource Management (SPHR and SHRM-SCP).  Yu was honored by the Portland Business Journal as one of its “Forty Under 40” (2018) and recognized by Lawyers of Color as a “Nation’s Best” Western Region Honoree (2019).  Outside of the office, Yu enjoys teaching group fitness classes (Zumba®, in particular) and spending time with her husband and young daughter.

Hewan Teshome is SVP and General Counsel of Climate Pledge Arena and NHL Seattle. Prior to this role, she served as VP and General Counsel of VICIS (a Seattle-based sports technology company) and Corporate / M&A Associate at Hogan Lovells New York. She holds a JD from Stanford Law School and BA from NYU. 

As a member of Mayor Jenny Durkan’s cabinet, Mariko is the Director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) which leads the City of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, a citywide effort to end institutional racism in City government. Additionally, SOCR advances race and social justice through its policy work and by protecting civil rights in the city of Seattle. SOCR enforces local and federal civil rights laws (illegal discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and contracting, along with Seattle’s All-Gender Restroom Ordinance, the ban on providing conversion therapy to minors, and the Fair Chance Housing Ordinance).

Prior to serving in this role, Mariko worked at the Aspen Institute’s Forum for Community Solutions on a national effort to prepare young people who are out of work and out of school for employment opportunities with a focus on those provided by a corporate coalition of more than 50 U.S.-based companies. Her leadership roles have included Director of the City of Seattle’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative and President & State Director of Communities In Schools of New Jersey where she led the state affiliate of the nation’s largest organization dedicated to keeping kids in school and helping them succeed in life. 

Mariko’s career in community organizing began in Nicaragua where she lived and worked for seven years during the Sandinista revolution serving in various roles including muralist, community education curriculum developer, and co-director of the Centro de Communicación Internacional. Mariko is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale University and holds a Masters of Public Administration from New York University. She currently resides in Seattle with her husband.

Serena’s practice encompasses a vast range of real estate and related business transactions.

Her commercial real estate practice focuses on acquisitions, dispositions, development, construction and leasing. She has structured complex real estate transactions for office, hotel, retail, multifamily and industrial projects across the United States. Her clients include real estate investment trusts, public and private pension plans, tax-exempt investors, developers, and other businesses. She also has substantial experience in the negotiation of purchase and sale agreements, office and retail leases, and joint venture documents. In addition, she provides counsel to clients in multimillion-dollar development and construction transactions involving drafting and negotiating development, design, construction and other related agreements.

Serena has achieved accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as a LEED Green Associate in connection with sustainable development and operation of real estate projects. The LEED rating system is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, constructions and operation of high-performance green buildings.

Serena regularly presents at legal education seminars on real estate development, construction and leasing.

Halley Agnello is the Chief Compliance Counsel for Fluke Corporation and other Fortive Field Solution Platform Operating Companies in Everett, Washington. Previously, Halley was at Cambia Health Solutions in Seattle where she served as Associate General Counsel, in the areas of privacy, product counsel and private equity. Previously, she was Security Counsel at Apple focusing on privacy, information and data security, and investigations. Halley also worked nearly six years as an Assistant US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and prior to that she served as a law clerk for a US federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois.

Halley earned her law degree at Harvard University and she holds a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University.

Ms. Kumi Yamamoto Baruffi joined Columbia Banking System and Columbia Bank in September 2014 as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Ms. Baruffi oversees Columbia’s legal functions, including providing legal support for the company’s board of directors and legal oversight of corporate, regulatory and enterprise project management matters.

Prior to joining Columbia, Ms. Baruffi was a partner in a Seattle-based business law firm where she served on the board of directors and on the financial services team. During her 19 years at the firm, her practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and bank regulatory compliance. 

She holds a law degree from Boston University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Ms. Baruffi has served on the board of directors for the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce and has been named one of “Washington’s Super Lawyers” in Banking. She is the Chair of the American Bankers Association Midsize Bank General Counsels Group. In Seattle, she serves on the Board of Trustees of ArtsFund and the Board of Directors of the Executive Development Institute.

Mike Jackson is Assistant General Counsel/Senior Director for Microsoft’s Global Workplace Investigations Team (WIT).  As a member of the WIT leadership team, Mike leads a team of seven ethics and compliance attorneys responsible for conducting complex workplace investigations for the U.S. and Canada, and he also leads WIT’s data governance team.  Mike is also the current Global D & I lead for Microsoft’s Corporate, External, Legal Affairs (CELA) department.  In this role, Mike and his team are responsible for supporting and advancing CELA’s D & I initiative globally.   

Prior to Microsoft, Mike was Director, Employee Relations Counsel at Target Corporation where he led the employment team for Target’s Central US region.  Before Target, Mike led an Employee Relations and Labor Relations team for all of Smucker’s U.S. manufacturing facilities.  Prior to Smucker, Mike was global labor and employment counsel at McDonald’s Corporation, joining from Fisher & Phillips LLP.  

Outside of work, Mike is a member of the Board of Directors for the National LGBT Bar Association and is co-chair of the Bar’s Lavender Links corporate counsel learning series. Mike was recognized by the LGBT Bar as one of its 2019 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers under 40, and he was also recognized as an LCLD Fellow in 2019.   

Mike lives in Seattle, WA with his husband, Chad.

Jolene Marshall is Smartsheet’s chief legal officer and corporate secretary. She is responsible for aligning the company’s risk management approach and leads the company’s legal, privacy, compliance, and procurement functions. Jolene has over 17 years of experience working in and leading legal teams. Prior to joining Smartsheet, she served as senior corporate counsel at SAP Concur and corporate counsel and secretary at WhitePages, Inc. Jolene holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington and a JD from the University of Washington School of Law. In her free time, she enjoys travel, skiing, gardening, and reading to her kids.  

Nancy Rigby is Assistant General Counsel at U.S. Bank National Assication, supporting its Fixed Income & Capital Markets business.  With a specific focus on foreign exchange and derivatives, Nancy advises U.S. Bank on derivative regulations and industry standards, and she supports the daily trading flow for thousands of over-the-counter FX transactions executed each day by the bank, from trade execution through settlement.  She also provides legal support for the currency exchange component of a variety of international payment products.  

Nancy currently serves as a member of the Financial Markets Lawyers Group (FMLG), a lawyers group sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York focused primarily on issues involving foreign exchange. She is also co-chair of the American Bar Association subcommittee on International Commercial Law and a Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.

Blake Barnes is a Senior Attorney at Microsoft, managing and defending employment litigation brought against Microsoft.  Her experience covers all areas of workplace litigation, including discrimination/harassment/retaliation, wage/hour, FMLA, ADA, and all types of class actions brought by employees against employers.  Blake has extensive experience providing advice to HR and management, as well as managing people and programs.

Emily Peyser partners with clients to offer strategic and comprehensive intellectual property strategies to help build, monetize, and protect their patent and trademark portfolios. She places a high value on working closely with clients to establish long term relationships and a deep understanding of their business objectives. Emily advises her clients at every stage in the lifecycle of their intellectual property assets with an emphasis on planning, procurement of U.S. and foreign patents, opinions, enforcement and licensing.

Salumeh litigates intellectual property matters in federal courts around the country, representing a variety of clients, including Fortune 500 e-commerce and software companies. She has represented both plaintiffs and defendants, and multiple clients in joint defense groups and in large multi-defendant litigations. She has extensive experience managing complex patent litigations, including participating in trials, taking and defending depositions, working with experts, and engaging in settlement negotiations.

Salumeh also represents clients in trademark and copyright infringement suits in federal courts and in trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Janiece concentrates her practice on corporate matters for clients in the technology and life sciences industries. Her background includes advising public and private companies with regard to corporate governance, mergers, acquisitions and venture capital financings ranging from bridge and seed rounds, to late-stage financings. Janiece has also counseled issuers and underwriters in numerous capital markets transactions, with particular experience handling initial public offerings, follow-on offerings and’34 Act reporting.

Janiece is a dedicated pro bono services advocate, and has provided legal services for homeless and low-income Seattle residents through a community legal clinic. She has also been actively involved in pro bono work for a Seattle-based nonprofit with a mission to support adults in their exploration of music.

Before joining Fenwick, Janiece was an associate at a prominent global law firm where she focused her practice on a variety of corporate and securities matters.

Janiece received her J.D. from Stanford Law School. She received a B.A. in financing and a B.A. in communication, both with distinction, from the University of Washington. 

Janiece is admitted to practice in California and Washington.

Ryan Carpenter serves as Attorney and Managing Director of Carpenter Wellington. Ryan advises clients across a broad set of industries, on a wide range of corporate and commercial matters including intellectual property, corporate compliance, M&A, technology and sourcing, and complex business transactions, that include development and license agreements, services agreements, technology SaaS and license agreements, outsourcing, joint ventures and strategic partnerships.

Ryan is also trusted by clients to serve as general outside counsel, providing strategic and practical advice on transactions and day-to-day operational matters with an eye toward their broader business goals.

Clients can benefit from Ryan’s experience working within a range of sectors, with a particular focus on technology transactions, strategic sourcing.  His extensive work for technology companies, including leading telecommunication providers, and information technology companies, involves advising on a broad range of complex transactions. In addition, Ryan is very well versed in employment matters, including defending claims with state Human Rights Commissions, and state Labor Commissions.

Ryan brings over a decade of robust experience in the legal industry. Specifically, Ryan has worked for some of the most prestigious law firms in both the UK and New Zealand, and worked in both the corporate counsel and general counsel capacity in the US headquarters of international companies, across multiple industries. 

Shawnte M. Mitchell, S.V.P., General Counsel and Corporate Affairs of Aptevo Therapeutics Inc., an exciting publicly traded biotech company based on Seattle WA, is a seasoned senior executive with over 15 years of experience helping companies increase organizational value. In her role, Shawnte serves as a member of the executive leadership team and as an advisor to the board of directors. She provides strategic legal advice in a variety of areas, including M&A, corporate governance, healthcare regulations, and product development. As the company’s chief compliance officer, she is responsible for overseeing risk and compliance policies and practices for the company’s operations. 

Prior to Aptevo, Shawnte was V.P., Associate General Counsel at Emergent BioSolutions Inc., where she served in variety of capacities during her 8-year career in the organization. Beginning as M&A counsel, she played a leading role in the execution of the corporation’s acquisition strategy and later transitioned to lead a team providing strategic legal advice in the areas of corporate governance, manufacturing operations and product development.

Shawnte received her JD from George Washington University Law School and her BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. In her spare time, she serves on the board of Urban League of Seattle and Stanford Women on Boards and as a consultant to Aumazo Inc., a non-profit organization making secondary education opportunities available to girls in the Cameroon. She also serves as a mentor of high school girls as the co-chair of the Delta GEMS program run by Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. 

Kristina Silja Bennard is an Associate General Counsel at Avalara, a Seattle-based tech company that helps businesses of all sizes with automated, cloud-based solutions for tax compliance. She has over 20 years of experience both as an in-house attorney, including at Boeing and Expedia, and in private practice in Seattle and Washington, D.C. She also teaches Enterprise Legal Systems at Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics. Kristina graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and with distinction from Stanford University. Originally from Oregon, Seattle has been home for 17 years. 

Helen M. McFarland focuses her practice on employment litigation and counseling for a broad range of Washington, Oregon, and California employers, professionals, and insurers.  She advises clients on the entire gamut of employment issues, including hiring and firing, avoiding harassment and discrimination claims, responding to leave requests, accommodating disabilities or claimed disabilities, ensuring wage and hour compliance, handling grievances and investigations, and drafting employee handbooks, agreements, and other employment policies.  Helen also frequently trains supervisors and Human Resource Professionals in best practices.

Helen has more than 18 years of experience representing management in litigation before state and federal courts, administrative agencies, and in arbitration.   Helen enjoys all aspects of litigation and vigorously defends her clients in all types of employment claims, including equal employment opportunity laws, such as Title VII and its state counterparts the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, the California Labor Code, retaliation, wrongful termination, and other employment related statutory and tort laws.  She deftly handles each stage of litigation from the initial witness interviews and preparing the employer’s response to the EEOC or corresponding state agency, through discovery, dispositive motions, mediations, and trial.

Scott Hayden is the Vice President of IP Operations at Amazon. He leads a growing team of 70+ IP professionals in acquiring, maintaining, and enforcing the global intellectual property rights of Amazon.com. For the past 14 years, Scott has contributed to Amazon.com’s rapid growth by supporting the business team’s ability to innovate and delight customers.

By leveraging 30 years of experience as a hiring manager with proactive recruiting, he has assembled a diverse and talented IP operations team.

Scott has written and prosecuted thousands of US and international patent applications and is a co-inventor on five granted US patents.

He is licensed in MO, IL, WA (in-house), and with the USPTO.