Speaker Bios
Lesley Marlin is an experienced, senior in-house attorney with a specialty in labor and employment law. She works for Northrop Grumman as the lead labor and employment lawyer for the Company’s Defense Systems sector, which is one of the Company’s four operating units (with approximately 21,000 employees). She also supports the Company’s EEO/Compliance team. She provides day-to-day practical and strategic legal advice, develops or updates policies and procedures, responds to administrative charges and demand letters, handles government investigations, leads union negotiations, and conducts training. Ms. Marlin speaks frequently both internally and externally on various workplace issues, including labor and employment law topics, culture and psychological safety, diversity and inclusion, resilience, and career development. She recently participated in the Association of Corporate Counsel’s TED Masterclass program, and her talk was on the power of resilience. Beyond her professional engagements, Ms. Marlin is committed to giving back to her community. She serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing.
Manasi Raveendran is Counsel and Trust & Compliance Officer for IBM, advising and providing support to the business primarily with respect to anti-corruption regulations. Prior to her current role, Manasi was on an international assignment with IBM in India, acting as one of the Regional Trust & Compliance Officers for India/South Asia. Manasi has also been a cybersecurity lawyer as well as a commercial sales lawyer for IBM. She currently serves as the Global Pro Bono Co-Chair and as one of the leaders on the US Diversity & Inclusion team of the IBM Legal and Regulatory Affairs Department. Manasi was also selected for the IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) and worked with a Moroccan non-profit organization on a female empowerment small business project. Manasi has participated in bar service through the American Bar Association (ABA) and previously served as the Chair of the Young Lawyers Division Corporate Counsel Committee and was appointed as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service and the ABA Commission on Immigration Advisory Committee. Manasi also volunteers her time to mentor students of color through community and legal organizations. Manasi received her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School and her B.A. from Boston University. In her free time she enjoys exploring new cuisines, delving into a mystery novel, and going on adventures near and far.
Susan’s clients depend on her in-depth industry knowledge and strategic insights. Her in-house experience informs her pragmatic, business-savvy counsel to health care industry clients. She regularly advises pharmaceutical services providers, managed care organizations, post-acute and long term care providers, and those who invest in the industry on the risks and potential benefits of strategic affiliations, complex service agreements, and due diligence in high profile transactions. She also provides counsel on government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and compliance and regulatory matters. She has particular insight into the challenges facing managed care organizations, specialty pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers. Susan is also part of Mintz’s leadership team.
Daniele is the Assistant General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Indo-MIM Inc., a leading global supplier of precision-engineered products using Metal Injection Molding (MIM) as the core manufacturing technology. Daniele is responsible for overseeing compliance with laws, regulatory requirements, policies and procedures within Indo-MIM Inc. She provides leadership and direction in compliance matters by building and fostering a program of training, education, and cooperation throughout Indo-MIM’s manufacturing plants located in Bangalore, India and San Antonio, TX. Daniele also provide legal and strategic advice and support to senior leadership and Indo-MIM employees on a wide range of business issues including immigration, taxation, and personnel matters. Previously Daniele worked as a senior associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Skadden Arps for ten years. She represented clients in connection with congressional, government and internal investigations.
Daniele graduated with honors from the American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL), and now teaches Introduction to Regulation and Compliance at AUWCL. She received her Master of Public Administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and worked at the Government Accountability Office for five years thereafter as a Senior Policy Analyst. For her undergraduate degree, Daniele studied political science and economics at the University of Chicago. She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and three young children
Alesya Nasimova is the Product & Regulatory Counsel at Bolt where she focuses on Product Counseling, Regulatory Compliance and Data Privacy & Protection. Before Bolt, Alesya was Deputy General Counsel and Head of Legal and Compliance at DailyPay. As their first legal hire, Alesya was in charge of the creation, implementation and training of Company wide Standard Agreements and Compliance Programs. Alesya spearheaded the Trademark and Patent filings, the Contract Negotiation of Revenue Driving deals and Data Privacy Regulation and Compliance. Before DailyPay, Alesya has worked in the Commercial Real Estate and Investment Funding sector as well as devoting her time to pro bono work representing defendants in Consumer Debt Litigation. Alesya proudly holds a Bachelor of Science and Juris Doctorate from St. John's University.
Elaine Horn represents clients in a broad range of complex civil and commercial litigation matters, with an emphasis in the areas of employment disputes, products liability, and commercial contracts. Her trial experience includes the representation of both defendants and plaintiffs in federal and state court, bankruptcy court, and arbitrations.
In her products liability practice, Elaine represents major pharmaceutical companies in mass tort litigation, including serving on the national coordinating counsel team. Her employment practice includes conducting internal investigations, providing counseling on corporate and non-profit employment policies, defending employers in class action litigation, and litigating individual civil and administrative cases. Elaine serves as Co-Chair of Williams & Connolly’s Employment Litigation and Counseling practice group.
Over the course of her career, Elaine has also litigated claims involving major hospitality and commercial real estate companies, and a wide variety of plaintiffs' litigation, including favorable multi-million dollar judgments for a defrauded plaintiff. Elaine’s pro bono work has included the representation of asylum applicants, supervising representation in landlord-tenant matters and administrative proceedings involving disability benefits, and supervising attorneys on appellate criminal matters
Elaine grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and received double degrees from Texas A&M University in 1991, and her J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was on the Editorial Board of The University of Chicago Law Review. Following law school, Elaine clerked in Los Angeles for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Following her clerkship, Elaine spent a year in New York working for the Office of the Appellate Defender, a non-profit organization that represents indigent criminal defendants on appeal. Elaine joined Williams & Connolly in 1996. She previously served on the Williams & Connolly Hiring Committee from 1999 to 2005. Elaine currently serves on the Board of Directors for the House of Ruth, a local non-profit organization that provides housing and other services to homeless and abused women and their children.
Nicholas Tiger joined Capital One as in-house counsel in 2017, initially providing legal guidance to the Office of the President in resolving highly escalated customer complaints and regulator inquiries. Since then, his role has expanded to provide complaint escalations and regulatory counsel to multiple customer-facing phone channels. Nicholas serves on the Legal Diversity & Inclusion Committee at Capital One and in a leadership capacity for OutFront, the LGBTQ+ employee resource group. In addition to being passionate about driving diversity in the legal field, he has also been widely recognized for his pro bono service where he has appeared in contested removal proceedings before the Board of Immigration Appeals. He was recently named a finalist for the 2019 Volunteer of the Year award for the Greater Washington DC metro area.
Prior to joining Capital One, Nicholas practiced at the firm of Rausch, Sturm, Israel, Enerson, & Hornik in the area of creditors' rights where he represented multiple Fortune 500 finance companies and successfully defended federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) suits. Nicholas received his J.D. with an emphasis in International Law from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. While in school, Nicholas clerked for both a Federal Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Missouri and an Administrative Court of Appeals Judge abroad in Guanajuato, Mexico. He also holds a B.A. from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Casiya Thaniel is a senior attorney at Microsoft providing legal support to clients responsible for enterprise customers in the $2 Billion - U.S. Financial Services Industry. Casiya negotiates complex cloud technology deals and assists the U.S. Commercial business team drive revenue by hosting technology events and speaking regularly on digital transformation, artificial intelligence, privacy, cyber security, and the importance of cloud literacy. In her prior role, she supported Xbox and PC products for large U.S. retailers, where she primarily focused on marketing, sales, and antitrust concerns.
Casiya holds a B.B.A. from Howard University, Master’s Certificate in Commercial Contract Management from George Washington University/ESI International and a J.D. from North Carolina Central University. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional-U.S. and an alum of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Casiya is on the board of trustees for the Holy Trinity Day School in Maryland and the Executive Committee of the National Bar Association – Commercial Law Section.
Kristi Davidson is VP, AGC and Corporate Responsibility for Movado Group, Inc. (NYSE: MOV), one of the world’s premier watchmakers and distributor of some of the most recognized and respected names in time. Her mission is broad: elevate Movado Group’s sustainability and growth across all owned and licensed brands worldwide, empower its global workforce, and facilitate its first-class customer service and communications. Kristi’s “typical” week involves providing best practice advice to Board and executive teams on strategic, commercial, and operational items; identifying and minimizing risk through contract review, negotiation, execution, and process development; crafting environmental, social, governance and other legal policies and institutionalizing practices; partnering on regulatory and compliance matters; and conceiving and implementing an array of brand protection initiatives. Before joining Movado Group, Kristi was a partner and co-chair of the consumer products and retail group of an AmLaw200 firm. Kristi graduated from William & Mary Law and earned her B.S. summa cum laude from Truman State University. A converted New Jersey girl but military brat at heart, Kristi enjoys traveling and experiencing different cultures, and she can’t wait to get out of her house post-Covid!
Based in Los Angeles, Pillsbury partner Stacie Yee handles employment litigation, arbitration and counseling, and complex commercial litigation for a global clientele.
Stacie litigates wage and hour, California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act, discrimination, and retaliation/whistleblower, including qui tam, actions. She also resolves trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition and false advertising claims. Stacie provides preventative counseling to help clients avoid litigation and advises on contracts, policies, disability accommodations, terminations and other issues. She regularly helps Asia-based clients enter the U.S. market including to navigate employment laws. Over the years, she has worked particularly close with foreign airlines on employment-related and litigation matters, as well as with clients in the restaurant, food and beverage industry.
Samantha recently joined Spark Therapeutics, the dedicated gene therapy subsidiary of Roche Holdings AG (NASDAQ: RHHBY), leading legal support for the corporate functions, including Human Resources, Real Estate & Corporate Facilities, Finance, Information Technology and Corporate Communications. Prior to joining Spark, Samantha served as Executive Director, Corporate Counsel at Incyte (NASDAQ: INCY), helping the S&P 500 Component biopharmaceutical company build and execute strategies required to take the company global, enter new markets, double its annual revenue to ~$2 billion, and increase its headcount to 1,400. Her previous experience also includes more than a decade at GlaxoSmithKline (NASDAQ: GSK), where she concentrated in the area of pharmaceutical product development, manufacturing and supply chain operations, advising on legal and compliance issues associated with complex supply networks comprised of large internal systems and extensive contract manufacturing operations with annual operating budgets in excess of $10 billion. The breadth of the organizations and business units she has supported throughout her career has deepened her knowledge in areas spanning commercial transactions, GxP compliance, labor and employment, data privacy, healthcare fraud and abuse, international trade and corporate risk management and compliance.
Samantha received her J.D. and LL.M. in Health Law from Widener University School of Law, and dual bachelor degrees in International Area Studies and Political Science from Drexel University, as well as an Executive M.B.A. from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.
Samantha is a tireless supporter of corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and mentoring initiatives. She is President of the Board of Trustees for KIPP Philadelphia Public Schools, a regional network career and college preparedness charter schools in underserved local communities. She is also the founder of Jewels Advancing, Nurturing & Empowering (JANE), a non-profit organization which provides professional mentoring to high school and college students, as well as career counseling for young professionals. Samantha is also a devoted wife and mother.
Amanda Wick is the Chief of Legal Affairs at Chainalysis, Inc. Previously, she served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) where she advised on issues involving cryptocurrency, money laundering, and human trafficking. Before that, she served for nearly ten years as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice where she specialized in cryptocurrency money laundering, asset recovery, and BSA/AML issues. Chainalysis is the blockchain analysis company. They provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 50 countries. Their data platform powers investigation, compliance, and risk management tools that have been used to solve some of the world's most high-profile cyber criminal cases and grow consumer access to cryptocurrency safely. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Ribbit, and other leading names in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.
Daphne Turpin Forbes is a trusted legal and business advisor at Microsoft with 20+ years of practice in the U.S. Public Sector and commercial industries. Her corporate experience spans in-house at companies like Microsoft, Discovery Communications, ACS State & Local Solutions (a Xerox Company), Lockheed Martin, Hyatt Hotels, and General Motors. She is well-regarded within the legal and business communities with recognitions as a top lawyer and corporate leader. At Microsoft, Daphne leads a team of attorneys and assumes lead legal responsibility for a segment of the company’s Global Commercial Field Group (“GCFG”) where she negotiates, serves as the escalation point on complex legal matters, and provides advice on a wide spectrum of complex enterprise-wide license deals; including cloud services, ethics, and privacy issues (to name a few), and she advises on all other matters unique to the U.S. Public Sector and Education verticals.
Daphne is a leader who is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and equality. She has participated and collaborated with various organizations as a champion for diverse lawyers, legal professionals, and women, with an emphasis on women of color. In addition, Daphne is the U.S. Diversity & Inclusion (“D&I”) lead for GCFG and has served as a corporate leader in the company’s African American Employee Network. A former Human Resources professional, who claims civility and coaching as her superpowers, Daphne is effective at and enjoys leading people, projects, and process. In addition, she is visible, active, and involved in her community. Daphne has long-standing memberships in several community service organizations. She has served on various non-profit boards and advisory councils nationally and in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She currently serves as a Commissioner of the Prince George’s County, Maryland, Liquor Board as its Chairwoman. She is a member of the Maryland State Bar and National Bar Associations.
Daphne is the recipient of various corporate awards for her D&I and client work. Most notably, she is the corporate recipient of the Microsoft MVP Circle of Excellence (Gold Club) Award, and the National Bar Association’s Clyde E. Bailey Corporate Leadership Award. Daphne is a graduate of Michigan State University, and the American University Washington College of Law.
