Women in Law & Leadership Summit: Washington, D.C.

Tory Lauterbach is a partner in the Energy, Regulation & Litigation Practice Group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Washington, D.C. She advises energy companies, investors, and infrastructure developers on complex regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters under the Federal Power Act, Natural Gas Act, and related federal and state regimes.

Lauterbach regularly represents clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), federal courts, the U.S. Department of Energy, and state utility commissions, and counsels on power supply arrangements and energy infrastructure projects, including data center power procurement. She is recognized for her deep expertise in energy regulation and was named to Best Lawyers in America for Energy Law.

She earned her J.D., with honors, from The University of Texas School of Law and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Cornell University.

Marissa Comart is General Counsel at Reverb, the leading online marketplace for new, used, and vintage musical instruments. In her role she leads the company’s legal function, advising on trademark, privacy, advertising, product, regulatory, compliance, contracts, employment, and other legal matters that arise in a high-growth tech-enabled marketplace.

Comart began her legal career in private practice and later moved in-house, gaining broad experience across litigation, employment, and commercial law before joining Reverb. She holds a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, grounding her practice in both analytical rigor and practical business counsel.

Aliya Robinson is a key figure at T. Rowe Price, serving as Senior Legal Counsel for Legislative & Regulatory Affairs, where she leads policy efforts on retirement and compensation issues, advocating for the firm’s positions with Congress and regulators. A respected voice in employee benefits, she previously held leadership roles at the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, bringing extensive experience in developing retirement policy.

Allie is a Product Counsel at McAfee. Allie is a seasoned lawyer with a unique focus on the intersection of technology, ethics, and consumer protection. With a deep understanding of AI, Allie specializes in guiding software developers and product teams through the practical challenges of sourcing and using data responsibly for machine learning. She has extensive experience in navigating the regulatory, privacy, and intellectual property challenges that come with developing AI-driven software and consumer products. With a passion for ensuring that technology benefits society responsibly, Allie helps businesses harness the power of AI while prioritizing transparency, fairness, and compliance with evolving legal standards.

Ms. Rao has been practicing law for over 13 years and worked in a variety of sectors, including private corporations, public companies, government and non-profit with an emphasis in the healthcare, insurance, financial services, and energy industries. Her expertise is broad and she specializes in contract negotiation, healthcare, and ERISA benefits law. Ms. Rao is a committee chair for the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Forum for the Association of Corporate Counsel – National Capital Region assisting in advocacy and education of diversity initiatives and allyship.  She has served on her Office of General Counsel DEI committee.  Ms. Rao has completed the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace certificate with the University of South Florida and the Self to Systems Diversity Course with Berrett-Koehler.

Ms. Rao is licensed to practice law in Illinois, District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Ms. Rao received her law degree from Loyola University Chicago law school with a concentration in health law as a health law fellow.  Prior to law school, Ms. Rao obtained her Masters in Health Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and worked in administration and strategic planning for Novant Health, a North Carolina based hospital system.   Ms. Rao is from Knoxville, TN and graduated with honors at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Sonia Rocha is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), where she serves as the chief legal advisor to NERC’s President & CEO, Board of Trustees, and staff on all legal, governance, regulatory, and enterprise risk matters. She also oversees NERC’s corporate assurance programs, including compliance and ethics, enterprise risk management, and internal audit functions, helping ensure legal and operational integrity across the organization’s mission to promote bulk power system reliability and security.

Rocha joined NERC in 2011 and has held multiple leadership roles, including Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Director of Enforcement, where she oversaw enforcement of reliability standards across the Electric Reliability Organization Enterprise. She has also served twice as acting General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, providing continuity of legal leadership during key transitions. Prior to NERC, Rocha was in private practice representing energy companies and advised governments in developing countries on energy policy matters.

Under her legal leadership, NERC continues to navigate a complex regulatory landscape, advancing reliability standards and compliance frameworks that are foundational to North America’s critical electricity infrastructure.

Catherine Toppin is Assistant General Counsel, Intellectual Property at Lockheed Martin, where she advises on a broad range of IP matters including portfolio strategy, patent preparation and prosecution, litigation support, commercial transactions, government contracts, and intellectual property rights management across diverse technologies. She is known for aligning IP strategy with business goals and fostering collaborative solutions in complex legal and technical environments.

Toppin brings deep experience as an intellectual property strategist and business partner, having held roles in law firms and corporate legal teams before joining Lockheed Martin. Her background spans work with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patent prosecution, and management of IP portfolios covering software, hardware, and industrial systems.

She holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University, reflecting a strong technical foundation that supports her work at the intersection of technology and law, and she is active in advising and mentoring broader legal and engineering communities.

Kate Gonzalez is Head of Contract Strategy at Capital One, where she leads the development and execution of enterprise-wide contracting frameworks that drive operational efficiency, legal risk management, and strategic value for one of the nation’s top financial services companies. In her role, she oversees contract lifecycle processes, standardization initiatives, playbooks and tooling, and cross-functional engagement to optimize how legal and business teams negotiate, manage, and enforce agreements.

Gonzalez’s leadership extends beyond Capital One: she was recently named to the Axiom U.S. Client Advisory Board, joining senior in-house legal leaders from top global organizations to help shape the future of legal operations and technology-enabled legal delivery.

Ceyda Maisami is the Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at HP, guiding the company’s global intellectual property strategy. She leads a team of professionals managing a comprehensive range of IP matters, including patents, trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and marketing, as well as overseeing IP transactions. Her team also supports litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate transactional issues.

Previously, Ceyda worked on high profile patent prosecution and litigation matters at Finnegan and Chadbourne & Parke. Her career began in the technical field as an electrical engineer at Osram Sylvania in the lighting industry, providing her with a strong foundation for an in-house intellectual property law role.

Katie Dugan is the VP, Employment Law, Ethics & Compliance at Match Group which is the global leader in online dating with brands including Match, Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, The League, and more. Prior to Match, Katie had in-house roles at both Yext, Inc. and Mattel, Inc. At Yext, she led the global labor and employment function. At Mattel, she worked in various roles in the global employment, ethics & compliance function.

Before going in-house, Katie worked in litigation and advice & counsel roles in the employment law department at regional law firms as well as a boutique management-side labor and employment firm. She began her career as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Robert Polifroni, P.J.Cv. in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Andrea Hackett Henningsen is Principal Counsel and Manager of Insured Litigation & Claims at Bechtel Corporation, where she leads the company’s management of insured legal matters, complex litigation strategy, claims oversight, and legal risk mitigation across a broad portfolio of industrial and infrastructure projects. In this role, she works with internal business units, risk management teams, outside counsel, and insurance partners to protect Bechtel’s interests and optimize outcomes in high-stakes insured and liability matters.

Tania Medina Bryant is Chief Cybersecurity & Technology Regulation Counsel at Marsh McLennan. She guides enterprise strategy at the intersection of cybersecurity, emerging technology development, and global regulatory risk, advising teams across the business on how to translate complex requirements into practical, scalable action. Tania oversees key workstreams in technology compliance, data-loss prevention, and incident response governance. She also leads cross-functional efforts to monitor and interpret emerging cyber, AI, and data regulations worldwide, helping the organization anticipate and prepare for evolving obligations.

Her background spans the military, public service, and the global private sector—experience that gives her a grounded, multidimensional perspective on organizational resilience, accountability, and operational excellence. Known for her clarity of communication and curiosity-driven approach, Tania brings a thoughtful, solutions-oriented lens to the complex challenges shaping the future of cybersecurity and technology risk.

Melesa Freerks is a healthcare regulatory and transactional partner who represents private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies, strategic investors, founders, and providers within the healthcare sector. Melesa is frequently called upon as special regulatory counsel in connection with major acquisitions, dispositions, and regulatory matters on behalf of healthcare strategic investors, public companies, private equity sponsors, and their platforms/portfolio companies.

She is engaged by private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies for guidance on structural, transactional, regulatory and enforcement matters and regularly advises healthcare clients on a broad range of healthcare-related issues including corporate transactions, federal and multi-state regulatory matters, compliance programs, fraud and abuse issues, employment agreements, and privacy matters.

Additionally, Melesa provides guidance on business issues and serves as transactional and regulatory counsel to both lenders and public and private borrowers in the healthcare and life sciences sectors as well as hospitals, physician group practices, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care centers, pharmacies, veterinary practice platforms, medical device companies, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, physicians, dentists, and other healthcare providers, artificial intelligence (AI) companies.

Melesa regularly counsels clients on the corporate practice of medicine and licensed professionals, state, and federal fraud and abuse laws, including Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act, HIPAA, state anti-referral and anti-kickback laws, and related regulatory issues. Melesa also serves as outside healthcare general counsel for several clients.

Prior to joining DLA, Melesa was a partner for a Top 10 AM Law 100 global law firm.

Chimdi (Nwosu) Ginsburg Tuffs represents various employers and entities in complex litigation including employer, professional and executive liability claims, premises liability, trucking liability and product liability matters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York federal and state courts. She draws on her vast courtroom experience as a former prosecutor in Philadelphia, and as a former felony sexual assault and domestic violence prosecutor in New York City, to develop an expertise in investigating and defending negligent security claims in the sexual assault context. She has tried many cases, both civil and criminal, to jury verdict and has experience in presenting before a grand jury. She prides herself on her aggressive, yet pragmatic, approach to litigation.

Rhina M. Roberts is an Associate General Counsel in the Multifamily Real Estate Department in Freddie Mac’s Legal Division. She provides legal advice and training to the Multifamily Targeted Affordable Housing business on all facets of originating, underwriting, purchasing and servicing multifamily mortgages.

Prior to joining Freddie Mac in 2018, Rhina was in private practice where she represented financial institutions in all aspects of commercial real estate financings with a focus on multifamily housing transactions.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College, and a juris doctorate from Howard University School of Law, where she was a member of the Howard Law Journal. She is admitted to practice law in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and New York.

Seba Kurian (“Sonia”) is Managing Legal Counsel at T. Rowe Price, where she leads complex regulatory and corporate governance matters related to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and supports the growth of the firm’s ETF platform. She brings more than 15 years of experience in the registered funds space, with prior roles at USAA, Invesco US, and K&L Gates. Sonia is an active advocate for advancing women in financial services through mentorship and DEI initiatives and is a member of DC’s Women in ETFs. She recently marked a career milestone by ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Farinaz Tehrani is Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary at VSE Corporation, where she leads the company’s legal, compliance, and regulatory functions for the publicly traded engineering and technical services firm. She brings more than two decades of senior legal and compliance experience across global public and private companies, with a strong track record of building and leading high-performing legal teams and overseeing corporate governance, regulatory strategy, and enterprise risk.

Tehrani holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Tufts University. Her experience spans corporate strategy, board governance, public company matters, mergers and acquisitions, employment, intellectual property, compliance, and litigation — equipping her to support complex legal and business priorities in dynamic markets.

Tania Koles is the Compliance and Legal Affairs lead for  Microsoft’s US Public Sector Industries team, where she leads a team providing end‑to‑end legal and compliance support across regulated industry customers and partners. In collaboration with engineering, the business, and corporate legal teams, Tania helps embed compliance early in the deal lifecycle, accelerating transaction velocity while proactively mitigating risk. Tania advises on a broad range of public‑sector requirements—from FAR/agency clauses and CUI governance to FOIA/Open Records, audits, disclosures, and ethics obligations—delivering practical training and guidance to strengthen compliance literacy across Microsoft.  A licensed attorney with experience in government contracting, cloud, and IT services, Tania brings a mature legal presence to complex public‑sector relationships and mission‑critical programs.

Kamil Shields is a member of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Criminal Defense and Investigations Group and a partner in the firm’s Litigation Group. Her practice focuses on high-stakes investigations and regulatory enforcement proceedings, with a particular emphasis on matters involving consumer protection and compliance.

Ms. Shields rejoined the Firm in 2019 from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Fraud and Public Corruption section. In her capacity as an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Shields served as lead prosecutor in 13 jury trials, investigated and indicted dozens of cases, drafted and argued procedural and substantive motions, worked with expert witnesses, and coordinated with victims of fraud and other crimes.

Liana M. Nobile is a Partner at Maron Marvel based in the firm’s Jersey City office, where she defends clients in premises liability disputes, insurance coverage matters, and a broad range of civil litigation including toxic tort, product liability, and general casualty claims. Before joining defense practice she gained valuable perspective as a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney, and early in her career she clerked for the Honorable Dennis J. O’Brien, J.S.C. (Ret.) in the Monmouth County Superior Court of New Jersey—experience that helped shape her litigation approach. She is admitted in New Jersey, New York, and the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience providing dedicated client service as an attorney and consultant, Maureen engages with Consilio’s customers to ensure a best-in-class client experience. She works cross-functionally across the company to develop and deploy best practices that embed Consilio’s commitment to service excellence, and to deliver the highest levels of quality and value. She seeks opportunities to create differentiating moments for clients—from bespoke educational sessions to loyalty programs to peer networking events—to foster client satisfaction and loyalty.

Maureen also serves as Consilio’s Diversity & Inclusion Officer. She leads the development and implementation of the company’s strategies, policies, and programs for ensuring a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace. Partnering with Consilio’s internal and client Advisory Boards on Diversity & Inclusion, Maureen guides the organization in carrying out its mission of attracting and encouraging a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and ideas; fostering a global, inclusive culture; and celebrating employees’ diverse strengths.

Maureen is a respected industry thought leader, speaking and writing frequently on significant issues that impact Consilio’s clients, such as current challenges for legal professionals around data privacy and security; strategies and tactics for engaging in cross-border discovery; the latest developments in e-discovery law and practice; and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession.

Prior to joining Consilio, Maureen was a partner at Paul Hastings LLP, where she represented Fortune 100 and other multinational companies in complex employment litigation, including class and collective actions. Maureen also co-chaired the Firm’s E-Discovery Practice Group. In that role, she advised clients on various e-discovery issues, such as identifying and inventorying sources of electronic information, drafting legal hold notices, and developing protocols for document collection, storage, and management. She also consulted internally with attorneys at the Firm on e-discovery issues, and helped develop best practices for litigators engaged in e-discovery.

Kaitlin Descovich is a partner in Weil’s Governance, Securities & Reporting Group and is based in Washington, D.C. Kaitlin advises public and private companies, as well as nonprofit organizations, on corporate governance, disclosure, compliance, executive compensation and securities law matters, including in connection with M&A, capital markets, private equity investment and corporate restructuring transactions. Among the topics Kaitlin regularly addresses include fiduciary duties, risk oversight, director independence, governance structures, compliance policies, executive and director compensation, SEC reporting and other public disclosure matters, stock exchange requirements, conflicts of interest and related party transactions, and cybersecurity and AI governance and disclosures.

María González Calvet serves as co-chair of the firm’s award-winning global anti-corruption and international risk practice and Latin America practice and is a former U.S. federal prosecutor and former in-house executive counsel of a Fortune 500 company. With a practice that spans two decades, María is recognized for her significant experience in multijurisdictional investigative and compliance matters involving allegations of corruption, money laundering, financial fraud, health care fraud, tax fraud, environmental violations, executive misconduct, and other alleged criminal and civil misconduct. María has represented clients in every significant business sector, including aerospace, health care and life sciences, energy, private equity and other investors.

María has conducted internal and government investigations in more than 40 countries around the globe arising from whistleblower complaints, escalations from audits, and other front-end monitoring, and benchmarking. María works closely with in-house counsel to conduct internal investigations and compliance reviews drawing on her past work in government and the corporate sector to help clients across industries, including aerospace, health care and life sciences, energy, private equity and other investors, and geographies. María works with clients to identify and mitigate risks and implement effective compliance programs.

An industry-leading environmental attorney, Lisa Rushton guides corporate clients, including global, multi-national, and local corporations, real estate developers, financial institutions and investment funds on matters relating to federal, state, and local environmental, health and safety laws and regulations and was identified by Chambers as one of the leading environmental practitioners for business transactions. Lisa serves as Head of the firm’s Business Litigation Practice Group, Co-Head of the Energy and Natural Resources Sector and Head of the firm’s Renewable Energy Subsector.

With substantial experience in matters relating to air and water pollution control laws, solid and hazardous waste management and cleanup, toxic substance control laws and the development of “brownfield” properties, clients rely on Lisa’s guidance and due diligence to understand environmental issues attendant to corporate and real estate transactions, debt and equity financings, public offerings, and bankruptcy proceedings. She routinely assists buyers, sellers, lenders, borrowers, debtors, landlords and tenants with understanding and apportioning environmental liabilities; manages the environmental due diligence process; and drafts and negotiates contractual provisions covering environmental aspects of business and real estate transactions.

Lisa has more than thirty years of experience representing clients in environmental litigation and overseeing the investigation and remediation of site conditions. She counsels clients on compliance obligations and the implementation of environmental management systems and assists clients in the defense of claims relating to environmental liabilities and allegations of non-compliance. She has specific experience representing clients in such industries as:

• Energy generation and sale
• Waste management
• Real estate development
• Telecom
• Pharmaceutical
• Chemicals
• Adhesives and coating manufacturing
• Pulp and paper manufacturing
• Aluminum and steel mills, and
• Airport management

Lisa is described as “incredibly responsive, efficient, business-oriented and practical” by a client, who further highlights her ability to “parse through complicated environmental issues amazingly quickly and thoroughly.”

Sarah Coyne is an accomplished litigator and former federal prosecutor focused on white collar criminal defense, internal and government-facing investigations, and related complex litigation. A partner in Ropes & Gray’s global litigation and enforcement practice group, Sarah advises clients on a broad range of matters relating to financial crime, securities fraud, health care fraud, and high-profile allegations of misconduct and serious wrongdoing.

Her experience spans heavily regulated industries, including financial services, health care and life sciences, technology, and sports. Clients describe Sarah as an “incredible advocate” and “the kind of person you want in your corner” in Chambers USA, where she is highly ranked for white collar crime and government investigations.

Before entering private practice, Sarah served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for 11 years and in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey for three years. In New York, she was Chief of the Business & Securities Fraud Section and also held key roles in the Public Integrity Section. Sarah prosecuted and supervised many high-profile criminal investigations, and briefed and argued numerous successful appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits.

Sarah maintains a robust pro bono practice, currently serving on the board of directors of the Legal Aid Society of New York. For several years, she was a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she taught a course on white collar crime. She also regularly presents at major industry conferences.

De’Borah Coggins is a strategic HR leader and trusted executive advisor with more than a decade of experience shaping workforce strategy, organizational effectiveness, and leadership development across multi-state, multi-market operations. She currently serves as Senior Human Resources Business Partner at Tricon Residential, Inc., a Blackstone portfolio company, where she partners with leaders to align people strategy with business priorities.

Known for her expertise in employee relations and risk mitigation, De’Borah has led high-sensitivity workplace investigations and coached leaders to strengthen accountability, communication, and inclusive leadership behaviors. Guided by her leadership motto to “lead with empathy,” she is recognized for balancing compassion with clarity to foster trust, psychological safety, and performance. De’Borah holds an M.S. in Human Resource Management from Capella University, a B.B.A. in Human Resource Management from the University of West Georgia, and an A.A. in Teacher Education from Gordon College, and is SHRM-CP certified. She serves as D&I Director for the Greater Henry SHRM Chapter, is a member of the Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI) and was recognized with the Tricon Culture Icon Award (2025) for advancing leadership, culture, and inclusion.

In addition, De’Borah is the owner of Empathetic HR Solutions LLC, an HR consulting firm specializing in employee relations, complex workplace investigations, and leadership guidance. She is also an active member of Tau Epsilon Omega Chapter in Atlanta, Georgia, proudly serving as part of the South Atlantic Region of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated

Rachel Cohen is a partner in Weil’s nationwide IP, Technology & Science Litigation practice. She is a go-to legal strategist with extensive experience across all aspects of complex litigation, representing leading global technology and life sciences companies in high-stakes intellectual property disputes and trials in courts nationwide.

Jessica Phillips is a partner and seasoned trial lawyer at Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP with deep experience litigating high-stakes disputes across employment, contract, business torts, antitrust and competition, securities, constitutional law, defamation, healthcare, and intellectual property matters. She also counsels clients on complex regulatory challenges and has successfully litigated administrative law disputes nationwide.

Jessica has taken 14 cases to verdict in federal and state courts, securing major victories in significant business and civil rights matters—ranging from a $100 million jury verdict against Caterpillar to lead trial work in the landmark Sines v. Kessler civil rights case featured in the HBO documentary No Accident. Her work has earned numerous honors, including rankings by Chambers and Partners and Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America,” and she has clerked for respected federal judges including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito.

Erin J. Morgan is a partner at Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP and a trial lawyer who specializes in complex civil litigation, with particular expertise in jury trials, bench trials, and high-stakes arbitrations. She has taken eleven cases to trial or arbitration, securing favorable results for major corporations, financial institutions, and investment managers across industries including technology, industrial services, media, and finance. Notable wins include a high-impact jury verdict for Qualcomm in ARM Ltd. v. Qualcomm Inc. and a major arbitration victory in WWM Logistics, Inc. v. CFE International, underscoring her skill in managing fast-moving and critical disputes.

Erin’s work has earned broad recognition, including New York Law Journal’s Rising Star and inclusion on Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under List – Northeast and Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation. She maintains an active pro bono practice—handling family law and anti-hate cases—and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and as a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School. Ms. Morgan holds a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

Meryl Conant Governski focuses on high-risk, high-profile commercial litigation, with particular experience in defamation, privacy torts, First Amendment matters, and complex contract disputes. She regularly serves on trial teams in federal and state courts and is known for her ability to litigate on both sides of the “v,” having defended major media organizations while also representing victims of disinformation. In addition to litigation, Meryl advises clients on publication risk through pre-screening and strategic counseling.

Meryl has played key roles in some of the most prominent cases in recent years, including representing Blake Lively in her sexual-harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, contributing to the dismissal of Baldoni’s $400 million defamation suit, and serving as lead counsel for multiple media organizations—including Warner Bros. Discovery—in defamation litigation brought by Buster Murdaugh. She helped secure a landmark $148.1 million jury verdict for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea’ “Shaye” Moss against Rudy Giuliani and later cross-examined Giuliani in post-judgment enforcement proceedings. Her trial experience also includes defense victories for Uber Technologies and Oracle Corporation in major commercial disputes. Before law school, Meryl spent nearly a decade in communications, including roles at CNN and as an on-air broadcast journalist—experience that continues to inform her litigation and media strategy work.

Kiran Mand is a legal and business executive leader with over 15 years of experience in providing strategic counsel and guidance to global organizations in various industries, such as finance, technology, media, travel, and retail. Her legal experience includes commercial transactions, strategic partnerships, data compliance, contract negotiation, legal process improvement, and team leadership.

Kiran Mand is currently the Assistant General Counsel – Head of Legal at Capital One’s Velocity Black, where she previously supported the enterprise products and emerging payments teams, focusing on digital wallets and other innovative solutions. She now supports the Premium Products and Experiences team supporting the post-acquisition of a travel concierge business called Velocity Black. Her previous experience includes working as in house counsel at DoorDash, Disney, National Geographic, and Gap.

Kiran Mand’s mission is to enable and empower business growth and innovation, while protecting and advancing the interests and values of the company and her clients. In addition, Kiran Mand takes an active role in the diversity efforts in all her roles including but not limited to previously being co-chair of Disney Lawyers of Color, volunteering with the Mid Atlantic Innocence Project and mentoring young lawyers and law students to a variety of programs.