Speaker Bios

As Associate General Counsel, Heather Gatley heads up the Global Labor and Employment Legal Department at Ryder System, Inc., Ryder has 30k employees in nine countries, a 6B Fortune 500 publicly held.  500 transportation and supply chain management solutions company.  In this position, Heather is responsible for managing all of the labor and employment law issues that arise relating to Ryder’s 26,000 employees, operating in over 7 different countries.  Heather and her team provide day-to-day counsel to human resource and business professionals, lead HR compliance initiatives and projects, and manage administrative charges and litigation matters for Ryder worldwide.   

Early in her tenure at Ryder, Heather spearheaded an extensive RFP for a national law firm to handle all of Ryder’s domestic labor and employment charges and single plaintiff litigation matters on a flat annual fee, portfolio basis, reducing overall legal spend for the company dramatically.   Heather has also been very active in managing threatened class and collective litigation as well as EEOC lead litigation both internally and through outside counsel and developed a written model for in-house lawyers to work to handle class action matters effectively and bring to early and favorable closure.

Before joining Ryder, Ms. Gatley served as Executive Vice President of Services and General Counsel of AlphaStaff, a 300-member professional employer organization (PEO)/HR outsourcing company with $300 million in revenue.  During her tenure at AlphaStaff from 2004 to 2010, Ms. Gatley played a key role developing products and services for the company’s evolving client base and supervising a team that handled client employment law and HR issues.  She also managed all of the company’s internal legal affairs, regulatory compliance matters, and litigation, serving as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.  Additionally, Ms. Gatley led the development of one of the industry’s first national accounts division, serving clients with 1,000 to 30,000 employees.  During her tenure, the company grew operations from four to 48 states and became one of the nation’s largest professional employer organizations.  When it was sold to a private equity fund in 2010, Ms. Gatley led the negotiation and consummation of the sale. 

Before her position at AlphaStaff, Ms. Gatley headed the labor and employment practice at the South Florida-based law firm of Steel Hector & Davis, where she was the youngest partner to head a major litigation department in the firm’s 75-year history.  During her tenure at Steel Hector & Davis from 1994 to 2004, she represented large employers from diverse industries facing employment litigation and/or regulatory/administrative investigations.  Ms. Gatley also grew the labor and employment client base, developed legal talent, and achieved summary disposal and significant court victories on behalf of her clients.   

Ms. Gatley earned a Juris Doctorate with high honors from the Frederic G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Science in speech communications from Penn State University.  She has served on the board of directors of the Florida Professional Employer Organization and the Human Resource Association of Broward County.  She also currently serves on the Legal Advisory Council of the National Professional Employer Organization, and is an active member of Women Executive Leadership (WEL) and the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM).  

Rebecca Sipowicz is Senior Counsel, Litigation and Employment for Ocwen Financial Corporation, located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Rebecca is responsible for the management of complex litigation nationwide such as class actions and residential mortgage litigation, including without limitation, servicing claims, complex contested foreclosures, complex contested evictions, adversary complaints, and affirmative actions. Rebecca is also involved in reviewing legal documentation executed by Ocwen, advising various business units on legal issues, managing the department’s policies and procedures, advising the Human Resources department and acting as the litigation group technical liaison.

Beatriz has served as Legal Director and General Counsel for Amzak for the last 10 years. As the Legal Director she manages the legal departments, transactions and legal affairs of Amzak's active investments. In her capacity as the General Counsel she is in charge of the corporate and legal aspects of all Amzak investments and she takes care of all the firms’ internal legal and compliance affairs. Beatriz has experience in managing corporate international legal transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, loan syndications, bidding processes acquisition, real estate and bankruptcy transactions. She is based in El Salvador and has been with the group since 2005. Beatriz previously was a Senior Associate at Consortium Legal (Central American law firm) were she directed the Corporate Law Department of the Law Firm. Beatriz was General Counsel and Country Compliance Officer of Citibank's Branch in El Salvador (1998-2005), and was a lawyer of the Legal Department of Citibank in the Guatemalan branch (1996-1998). As a Country Compliance Officer at Citibank for 6 years, she managed to apply United States regulations such as Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Anti-Bribery and Money Laundering in combination with El Salvador's local regulations. Beatriz also acted as Citibank’s legal coordinator and director for Citibank Honduras for more than 2 years.  Beatriz has a Degree in Legal and Social Sciences (Cum Laude) from Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, with the License to practice Law in Guatemala and El Salvador, she has a Master in US Law from Washington University in St. Louis, School of Law.  Beatriz is fluent in Spanish and English. She is an active member and contributor for the board of directors of Vital Voices Global Partnership in El Salvador. 

Michele Martello is the Associate General Counsel at MDVIP, Inc. She has been an integral part of the legal team since 2008, helping MDVIP meet the unique challenges associated with a pioneering healthcare business model.  Michele has substantial experience negotiating and preparing business, employment, technology and human resources related agreements.  In addition, she advises on federal and state licensure, fraud and abuse and regulatory matters. Her expertise also includes patient privacy, security and compliance issues, physician recruitment and insurance services.  

Michele began her career as an associate practicing health law at Broad and Cassel where she specialized in complex health care transactions and regulatory compliance. She received her undergraduate degree in accounting and economics from Westminster College (summa cum laude). Michele is a (magna cum laude) graduate of the Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center which she attended as a Goodwin Academic Scholar. She enjoys running, listening to music, spending time with her two young children and volunteering at her church as a Sunday school teacher and assisting with the youth choir.

Jessica Alley is a Partner in the Litigation Practice Group and a member of the Firm’s Insurance/Reinsurance Industry Team. In the area of professional liability defense, Jessica focuses on the defense of professional malpractice claims brought against insurance agents and attorneys. She has defended hundreds of professional liability suits during her career, representing clients in state and federal courts as well as private arbitrations. She also has extensive experience defending high profile and high-stakes qui tam cases brought under the False Claims Act. In the area of insurance coverage, Jessica has provided counseling to insurers in construing insurance policies and litigated numerous declaratory judgment actions on behalf of domestic and foreign insurers.

Prior to joining Freeborn, Jessica was a Partner at Phelps Dunbar, where she served on the firm’s eDiscovery Team and the firm’s Operations Committee.

Lan Kennedy-Davis’ practice of law is diverse and involves corporate transactional work, as well as all aspects of general and complex business and family law litigation. She represents clients worldwide. Lan has worked at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, and is fluent in English and Vietnamese. Lan has a very strong business background. Lan has served as CEO of Soul Electronics a/k/a “Soul by Ludacris”, a high-end headphones company after first serving as it external general counsel for three years. She has a degree in Economics and has worked as a business consultant for Arthur Andersen/Andersen Consulting n/k/a Accenture, wherein she provided consulting services to CIGNA and PepsiCo. Lan has also served as corporate counsel for three publicly traded companies, including in-house counsel of a Fortune 500 company, CLO of a $800 million company which was then the world's largest electronics accessories company, and CLO of a publicly traded Hong Kong conglomerate. With a strong business background and having had extensive experience as in-house counsel, she serves corporate clients as their external general counsel and works closely with the corporations’ internal counsel and officers on transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiations, business development and litigation. The breadth and depth of both her business and legal experience allow her to understand and appreciate how legal issues impact the business, and enable her to resolve issues efficiently and effectively. Lan has represented manufacturers of jet engines, gas turbine and power plants, space and aircraft controls, consumer electronics, video games, software applications, and nanotechnology, as well as physicians and their practices, pharmaceutical companies, engineering firms, marketing firms, commercial developers, carnivals, and companies involved in the business of cryptocurrency, crowdselling and crowdfunding. Lan also has more than 20 years of experience with government contracting, qui tam actions, anti-trust and import/export laws and regulations. She has worked on matters with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Secret Service and has been granted Secret Security Clearance in the past. Lan has also worked on endorsement deals with celebrities and professional athletes. She also has an extensive and diverse commercial litigation practice. Lan has litigated complex business disputes, shareholder disputes, intellectual property, bankruptcy, products liability, breach of warranty, contracts, indemnification, administrative law, employment law, unfair competition, foreclosures and family law.

As group general counsel and chief compliance officer of CNL Financial Group and CNL’s managing broker-dealer, CNL Securities Corp., member FINRA/SIPC, Erin Gray provides strategic in-house legal support for CNL and leads its distribution operations, regulatory due diligence, compliance and corporate legal teams.

Ms. Gray has been practicing law for over 14 years, serving as general counsel and other various roles at Orlando-based private attorney and real estate investment management companies.

Ms. Gray earned a juris doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Florida and two Bachelor of Science degrees, cum laude, in accounting and finance from the University of Central Florida. She is licensed to practice law in Florida and currently holds her FINRA Series 7, 24 and 63 registrations.

Kerri McClellan serves as the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Crowley Maritime Corporation. Prior to joining Crowley, McClellan served as a transactional attorney, strategic advisor and compliance counsel to multinational corporations while at a large law firm. She also served as a transactions and tax controversy advisor at a large professional services firm where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions, transaction integration, and taxation.  McClellan has a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of Florida, a Juris Doctor degree from Suffolk University Law School, and a Master of Laws in Taxation degree from Boston University School of Law.  McClellan is a licensed attorney in Florida and Massachusetts.

Juliet Murphy Roulhac is the Regional Manager for Corporate External Affairs for Florida Power & Light Company, a Fortune 200 company which is the largest electric utility in the state, and one of the largest electric utility providers of clean energy in the country.  Ms. Roulhac manages governmental and community relations with elected officials and major stakeholders and develops regional strategies for FPL. She is a licensed attorney and practiced in the General Counsel’s Department prior to External Affairs, and has over twenty-five years of complex business litigation and appellate experience.

Prior to joining FPL in October 1999, Ms. Roulhac practiced law in-house with the General Counsel Departments of CIGNA Property and Casualty Insurance Company and Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company. She started her career at the Rumberger, Kirk law firm in Miami.

Ms. Roulhac currently serves as Chair of the Florida Bar Leadership Academy.  She is Chair-Elect for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Executive Committee of the Greater Plantation Chamber of Commerce.  She serves as the Treasurer of the Broward Workshop and Treasurer of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, where she is also a member of the CEO Council. She serves on the Boards of the Museum of Discovery and Science and Baptist Hospital BOH/BHE. She is an active member of the Broward County Bar Association, and previously served on the statewide Florida Bar Board of Governors and as a Trustee on the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees.

Ms. Roulhac holds both BA and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Florida, where she previously served as a gubernatorial appointee on the Board of Trustees. She has resided in the South Florida area for over 35 years.

Erin is Associate General Counsel – Compliance, Head of Dispute Resolution and Senior & At-Risk Investor Protection at Raymond James Financial, Inc.  Prior to her present role, Erin was a Senior Litigator in the Legal Department at Raymond James for 12 years.  Most of her practice was focused on securities customer complaint arbitrations; however, she also handled internal investigations, intellectual property litigation, recruiting disputes, collections, and employment issues.  Erin is a frequent speaker and presenter for the company on lessons learned and best practices, for both new and experienced financial advisors, supervisors, and business managers.  Additionally, Erin also helps lead the Senior Investor Task Force for the firm.

Erin is originally from New York and received her B.S. from Cornell University.  She graduated from Tulane Law School, cum laude, with a specialization in European Legal Studies.  She has her Series 7, 9 and 10 licenses, is a FINRA Arbitrator and a member of SIFMA’s Senior Investor Working Group.  In 2016, Erin founded and currently leads an organization of women lawyers in the Southeast who practice in the financial services area called Southeast Women in Financial Services.

Marissa Corda is Sonnedix’s Executive Vice President, Global Head of Legal & Compliance, as well as Secretary of the Risk Committee. Her team is responsible for ensuring that the business has effective systems, procedures and controls in place for compliance with internal and external regulations, standards for best practice, and attitude towards risk, including ESG, anti-corruption, AML, FATCA and data protection, together with providing ad hoc transactional and dispute related legal support across the business.

She joined Sonnedix in 2012, and over the course of her career with the company she’s played a role in helping to set up Sonnedix’s office from the ground up in Miami and was instrumental in supporting early investment in Sonnedix.

At the beginning of 2017 Marissa moved to Sonnedix’s London office. Since moving to Europe, she is focusing on building out the Legal team and overseeing the development and implementation of a comprehensive ESG program (including a new corporate risk management standard) that will be rolled out company-wide in 2018. As a testament to the ESG program she is implementing, the UNPRI recently choose to highlight Sonnedix’s conflict mineral policy development process as part of their ESG Guidelines.

Prior to Sonnedix, Marissa spent her career at a mid-size law firm specialising in commercial litigation and corporate bankruptcy, as well as volunteering for Lawyers for Children, an advocacy group that represents children in the American foster system. Marissa also briefly spent time working for the US Federal Trade Commission on various matters, including legal research and statutory analysis regarding FTC advertising regulations.

Marissa has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, as well as a JD from Emory University School of Law, both in the US. In her spare time stateside, Marissa enjoyed coaching high school and collegiate women’s water polo.

Marissa is proud to have been part of Sonnedix’s growth from a start-up of less than 20 people to a large-scale, successful global business of more than 200 that attracted institutional investors. She’s excited to come to the office each day because her work is sophisticated and varied, and she’s had the ability to cultivate a team of incredibly talented, kind and hardworking people that take joy in contributing to Sonnedix’s mission.

Ms. Dickens earned her undergraduate degree from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1991 with honors, and her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Miami Law School in 1994.   Ms. Dickens is Rated AV® Preeminent™* by Martindale-Hubbell.  

Ms. Dickens has served as the City Attorney for the City of Miami Gardens since February of 2004.  She has extensive experience in the area of municipal law and litigation.  

Ms. Dickens started her legal career with the firm of Brown & Associates in Riviera Beach, Florida.  Ms. Dickens began her municipal career as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of West Palm Beach where her areas of specialty included planning and zoning, litigation, appeals and general municipal law.  

After serving the City of West Palm Beach, Ms. Dickens became associated with the law firm of James & Coker in Fort Lauderdale, a boutique law firm specializing in complex land use litigation, local government law, real estate litigation, and general civil and commercial litigation.  While at Brady & Coker, Ms. Dickens serviced both governmental and private clients. She also served as the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Lauderdale Lakes.  

In 2006, Ms. Dickens became a partner with Arnstein & Lehr (n/k/a Arnstein & Saul), LLP in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Ms. Dickens’ areas of specialty included land use litigation, local government law, real estate litigation, and general civil and commercial litigation. Her clients included both governmental and private clients, with an emphasis on municipal/governmental disputes. She handled appellate and first impression land use cases and other disputes involving governmental entities. She represented commercial litigation clients on a vast array of matters.  Before leaving Arnstein & Lehr, Ms. Dickens also served as the Practice Group Leader for litigation.

In 2009, Ms. Dickens came in-house with the City of Miami Gardens and started the City’s first Legal Department.  Ms. Dickens, and her capable staff, oversee and handle all legal matters on behalf of the City of Miami Gardens.  

Ms. Dickens currently serves as the chairperson for Miami Dade League of Cities City Attorney’s Committee, which deals with legal issues that affect the municipalities generally and hosts seminars to train the elected officials and others with respect to issues that affect municipalities.  

In 2018, Ms. Dickens’ office was recognized by the Daily Business Review as Legal Department of the Year in Diversity and Quality of Life. 

Chantel is an experienced trial attorney, skilled in Trial Practice, Pleadings, Legal Writing, Corporate Law, and Compliance. Chantel obtained her Bachelor degree in Philosophy from Stetson University in 2007, studied as a registered visiting student at Magdalen College, University of Oxford in England, and obtained her Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law in 2010. She has been a member of, and is the past President of, the Florida Creditors Bar Association, since 2011, and is has been a member of, and is a board member and past Treasurer of, the Rotary Club of Pinellas Park since 2015, and is a member of the Florida Small Claims Rules Committee and the Tampa Bay Inns of Court. She is barred in the state of Florida and the Northern, Middle, and Southern districts in Florida.