Diversity, Inclusion & Self-Care: Seattle [Virtual Summit]

Sloane Perras is a seasoned corporate executive and leader in global logistics and retail brands with expertise in post-acquisition integration of top two industry leaders as well as transitioning two, separate large publicly held companies from family control to investor control.  Perras also has expertise in cyber security, corporate governance and complex regulatory environments.   She is the General Counsel & Chief Ethics Officer of Foss Maritime Company, LLC, a 130 year old harbor and marine services company. She is formerly the Chief Administrative & Legal Officer for two privately held retail brands. As part of her executive teams, Perras regularly reviewed the companies’ enterprise risk strategies, financial controls and stays very familiar with the businesses’ flows of revenue. Perras also managed the Risk management functions and provided enterprise strategy for innovation, regulatory compliance and HR risk mitigation. Perras also has worked closely with her CEOs, executive peers and Boards of Directors on corporate governance, including reporting direct to the Audit Committee on cyber and privacy issues.

From 2002 through 2011, Perras worked in companies involved in the global supply chain. As an in-house lawyer, she was the Vice President, Assistant General Counsel & Assistant Corporate Secretary of Americold Logistics, LLC and corporate counsel of Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (“EXPD”). At Americold, she served as a key team member in the IPO readiness and IPO and secured indenture offering of the largest global logistics REIT and the resulting integration of two industry powerhouses. Throughout her supply chain background, she has addressed significant regulatory and compliance matters, especially around global enforcement protocol.  

Perras has a BS Finance from UF and earned her law degree, Cum Laude, from UGA School of Law. She is a recognized leader in talent development as well as promoting diversity in her community and industry as well as acting as an executive liaison in local and national trade associations as well as for government agencies.

Meredith Brooks is a Senior Corporate Counsel with Amazon supporting the Global Specialty Fulfillment Operations and North America Customer Fulfillment teams.  Previously, she supported a number of compliance functions including the Dangerous Goods, Hazardous Waste, and Food Safety teams.  Prior to joining Amazon, she was a public finance attorney in Chicago working on health care, municipal, and airport financings, and with her firm’s arbitrage rebate company. 

Ms. Brooks currently serves on the Amazon Legal Diversity Committee and is an alumna of the Chicago Urban League’s IMPACT Leadership Development Program.  She received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Melanie is an executive for the Microsoft’s Cloud Operations and Innovation organization as Sr. Director, Lease Center of Excellence, an integral role in charting the future direction of Microsoft through participation in global data center landscape-defining transactions. Previously, Melanie oversaw a team at T-Mobile responsible for driving billions of synergy savings to self-fund the network deployment strategy in bringing the best and most reliable 5G network to the country. She focused on optimizing T-Mobile’s long term financial health by reducing operating expenses. Melanie was Sr. Counsel for T-Mobile’s Engineering, Product and Information Technology organizations and partnered with her technology clients to provide operational guidance for T-Mobile’s network deployment strategy involving thousands of cell sites, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and in-building facilities providing wireless coverage to T-Mobile’s 100+ million customers and propelling 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) into the future. Melanie also focused on complex commercial transactions involving consumer IoT products, software licenses, software as a service, cloud computing, data collection, privacy, cyber security, and all aspects assisting the digital transformation of T-Mobile’s HR, Supply Chain, Sales Operations and Finance systems. 

Additionally, Melanie is a Board Director of the Together Center, providing affordable housing and a centralized location for services for underserved communities. Melanie was the Chairperson of the Women’s Leadership Network, an internal leadership organization that drives gender diversity and empowers its 16,200 members across 53 Chapters nationwide reach for opportunity and thrive in their personal and professional lives. Prior to joining Microsoft and T-Mobile, Melanie served as Managing Attorney at American Tower Corporation and led an organization in the securitization of the company’s most valuable real estate tower assets. She is a champion of gender and racial diversity. Melanie graduated with a J.D. from New England School of Law and a B.A. from Brandeis University, where she was a 3-sport varsity captain and recipient of the Max I. Silber award for being an outstanding student-athlete.

Kathy L. Feldman is a shareholder and member of the firm’s Labor and Employment Department. For over 30 years, she has focused her practice on employment law, helping clients navigate issues ranging from employment agreement negotiation to breach of contract litigation. She has been named a “Best Lawyer in America” every year since 2012 and titled one of “Washington’s Most Amazing Attorneys” in Labor and Employment Law by CEO Magazine.

With more than a decade of litigation experience, Tanya Nesbitt is a trial lawyer who maintains an environmental, employment and white-collar litigation practice before both federal and state courts.  Tanya is a former trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and a Special Assistant Attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C.  Tanya is currently a partner in the litigation and environmental groups at Summit Law Group in Seattle, Washington.

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.

Amrita Srivastava is Associate General Counsel at Coupang Global LLC, the largest eCommerce platform of South Korea. She manages a broad range of legal matters for all its US offices, including corporate, commercial, and employment issues. Prior to Coupang, she was a partner at Desh International and Business Law, where her practice focused on privacy, intellectual property, and international trade issues.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors at Theatre Puget Sound. She previously served as board member and treasurer of the South Asian Bar Association of Washington and was co-chair of the Seattle chapter of International Association of Privacy Professionals. She is the author for a series of articles on Westlaw on Legal Issues for Mobile Applications.

Amy Hinzmann serves as Chief Client Experience & Diversity Officer for Consilio, a global leader in law department management, contract and document review, eDiscovery, and legal consulting services.

Professional Experience

Amy is responsible for supporting her colleagues across Consilio in implementing our vision for the Client Experience. Amy is responsible for ensuring that our commitment to service excellence - always putting our clients first - is embedded along every step of our processes. Part of our commitment to Client Experience includes embracing our clients' values, which is why Amy also heads up Consilio's Diversity & Inclusion program.

Reporting to the Consilio’s CEO, Amy partners with other members of the executive team to influence operational processes and sales best practices to maximize client acquisition, retention and profitability. Amy draws on her past experience in operations and client relationship roles to engender frank conversations with clients regarding the quality and value of Consilio’s delivery of services. Working with key members of the Consilio team, Amy puts that feedback to work, using it to improve existing processes and operationalize innovations made during the e-discovery process. 

Prior to joining Consilio, Amy was an EVP at a nationally recognized provider of eDiscovery services. In that role, Amy was responsible developing and managing best practice-based, process-driven workflows for efficient document review, including the use of analytics that reduce cost and strengthen quality of work product. 

Amy served as vice president and counsel for Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. prior to entering the e-discovery industry. As counsel for Merrill’s brokerage business, Amy served as a litigation attorney in the United States and Latin America, including management of document collection and supervision of discovery responses. Amy also spent six months with Merrill Lynch International Bank in London, where she served as counsel to Merrill Lynch’s brokerage in EMEA. In that role, Amy managed document production and email retrieval on a cross-jurisdictional investigation involving the SEC, Central Bank of Bahrain and Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

Amy began her legal career as an attorney in the litigation group of Jenkens & Gilchrist PC. Her litigation practice focused on the representation of brokerage firms before the NYSE and NASD. Amy is admitted to practice in Texas and New York.

Megan is the Acting Head of Legal for Convoy. Inc., a technology start up in Seattle, leading their commercial transactions team, employment team, and immigration group. Megan has both law firm and in-house experience at multiple companies ranging from start-ups to national consulting firms, to an international Fortune 500 company. In her free time, Megan is also involved  a company that provides diversity tools and training to organizations. Additionally, Megan is an Executive Board Member of the Association of Corporate Counsel and on the advisory committee for Center Force. She was given the "Career Success in the Private Sector" award by the Women Leaders of Washington and the 2020 Women, Influence & Power in Law Innovative Leadership award presented by Corporate counsel in Leadership.  Megan lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and her one year old daughter.

Sherry L. Talton is a Principal in the Seattle, Washington, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She advises and represents employers in every stage of disputes, from risk management to trial and appeal.

Ms. Talton has a broad base of litigation, trial, and appellate experience in numerous state and federal courts across the nation. She has assisted employers to protect their trade secrets, combat wrongful competition, comply with wage and hour laws, enforce arbitration agreements and other employment contract provisions, and implement best recruiting, hiring, and termination practices.

In law school, Ms. Talton was an associate editor for The Review of Litigation. In graduate school, Ms. Talton taught undergraduate writing courses and served as student director of the Northwestern State University of Louisiana Writing Center. As an undergraduate, Ms. Talton was a member of the 1993 National CEDA Collegiate Debate Championship Team.

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. 

Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy is an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department. Prior to her appointment in July 2020, Justice Kennedy served as a Justice of the Supreme Court, New York County, commencing in January 2016, after election in November 2015. She was elected to Civil Court in November 2005 and thereafter served in Criminal Court, Civil Court, Family Court, as Acting Supreme Court Justice, and as Supervising Judge of Civil Court, New York County. She is also a former Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law, where she taught a Juvenile Justice seminar for ten years.

Justice Kennedy is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York City Bar Association and past chair of the organization’s Special Committee to Encourage Judicial Service. She is also an Executive Committee member of the Women in Law Section of the New York State Bar Association; member of the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions of the Association of Supreme Court Justices of the State of New York; member of the Board of Overseers of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she received her law degree; and an Advisory Board Member of Penn State Law. Justice Kennedy is also the Past President of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ). 

A frequent speaker at various conferences, she has received numerous professional awards, including the 2021 Distinguished Alumna Award from Penn State University; the 2021 John E. Higgins, Esq. Diversity Trailblazer Award from the New York State Bar Association; the 2020 Inspiration Award from the New York Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law; the 2019 Igniting Change Award Recipient and the 2012 Patricia L. Irvin Personal Service Award from the Association of Black Women Attorneys; the 2017 Diversity Leadership Award from Penn State Law; and the 2015 Alumni of the Year Award from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Justice Kennedy is also an ABWA member, as well as a life member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association (MBBA) and a former MBBA Board Member.