Becky Halstead, retired Brigadier General, United States Army, founded her own leader consultancy company, STEADFAST Leadership, LLC, following 27 years of service in the US military and her role as Executive Director for a leadership consultancy company. Brigadier General Halstead specializes in inspirational speaking (nationally and internationally; corporate and academic), developing leader training programs, leader coaching, consulting and advising. She authored her first book on leadership, 24/7: The First Person You Must Lead Is YOU.

Brigadier General Halstead has more than 15 years of executive‐level leadership experience, developing and training high-performing, complex and diverse teams capable of strategic planning and execution. She has a proven record of leading change, building successful teams in demanding environments (Afghanistan and Iraq, Germany, South America), and creating innovative solutions, systems and programs to complex problems. She is an experienced leader and logistician, a highly effective communicator, and a strategic planner with exceptional organizational skills.

Brigadier General Halstead is a 1981 graduate of the United States Military Academy and achieved an historic milestone as the first female graduate of West Point to be promoted to General Officer. She was the senior Commanding General for logistics in Iraq, and was the first female in US history to command in combat at the strategic level.  In this capacity she was responsible for leading more than 200 multi‐disciplined units (20,000 military and 5,000 civilians) located across 55 different bases, providing supply, maintenance, transportation and distribution support to over 250,000 personnel serving in Iraq.

Brigadier General Halstead honorably served with the US Army and retired as a General Officer in 2008. The culmination of her  career came in 2006 when she became the first female Chief of Ordnance and Commanding General of the Army's Ordnance Center and Schools (equivalent to President of a University), responsible for the leader development and institutional training for the second largest branch in the army with over 100,000 members of the Ordnance Corps.

During active service, she served in Europe as the Deputy Commanding General (Chief Operating Officer) for the 21st Theater Support Command and has experience leading a multi-national team in wholesale level logistics operations. Prior to Europe, she served as the Chief Advisor to the Combatant Commander (Four Star General) for Southern Command, whose responsibility encompassed military training and operations for South America. She was also responsible for coordinating directly with high‐level organizations such as Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of State, US Congress, US Ambassadors and equivalent foreign military and civilian organizations.

Brigadier General Halstead earned a B.S. in Engineering from West Point, an M.S. in National Resource Strategy (Advanced Manufacturing) from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, and an M.S. in Advanced Military Studies (Visionary Leadership) from the Army Command and General Staff College. 

She is a member on the Board of Advisors for multiple organizations: Principal Solar, the Thayer Leader Development Group, Vet R.E.S.T., and Patriot Project. She is an active spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress with specific focus on military health care. She is also a member of the Gordian Institute; a team of accomplished thought leaders and problem solvers.

She is a recipient of the 2007 National Women's History Project award for "Generations of Women Moving History Forward." From 2009 to 2010, she served as a Commissioner on the President's Military Leadership Diversity Commission. In 2011, her leadership model was a focus of a Harvard Business School Case Study.

Carla Harris is a Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley. She is responsible for increasing client connectivity and penetration to enhance revenue generation across the firm. She formerly headed the Emerging Manager Platform, the equity capital markets effort for the consumer and retail industries and was responsible for Equity Private Placements. In her 30 year career, Ms. Harris has had extensive industry experiences in the technology, media, retail, telecommunications, transportation, industrial, and healthcare sectors. In August 2013, Ms. Harris Harris was appointed by President Barack Obama to chair the National Women's Business Council.

For more than a decade, Ms. Harris was a senior member of the equity syndicate desk and executed such transactions as initial public offerings for UPS, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Ariba, Redback, the General Motors sub-IPO of Delphi Automotive, and the $3.2 Billion common stock transaction for Immunex Corporation, one of the largest biotechnology common stock transactions in U.S. history. Ms. Harris was named to Fortune magazine's list of "The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America", Fortune's Most Influential List, US Bankers Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance (2009, 2010, 2011), Black Enterprise's Top 75 Most Powerful Women in Business (2017), and "Top 75 African Americans on Wall Street", and to Essence magazine's list of "The 50 Women Who are Shaping the World", Ebony's list of the Power 100 and "15 Corporate Women at the Top" and was named "Woman of the Year 2004" by the Harvard Black Men's Forum and in 2011 by the Yale Black Men's Forum.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Ms. Harris received an M.B.A., Second Year Honors from Harvard Business School and an A.B. in Economics from Harvard University, magna cum laude. Ms. Harris has also received Honorary Doctorates of Laws, Humanities and Business from Marymount Manhattan College, Bloomfield College, Jacksonville University, Simmons College, the College of New Rochelle, St. Thomas Aquinas College and Fisk University, respectively. Ms. Harris Harris is actively involved in her community and heartily believes that "we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to someone else."

She is the past Chair of the Board of the Morgan Stanley Foundation and of The Executive Leadership Council, and sits on the boards of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), A Better Chance, Inc, and St. Vincent's Hospitals, and is an active member of the St. Charles Gospelites of the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church and the Mark Howell Singers. She is a member of the board of overseers of Harvard University and of the board of directors of the Walmart Corporation. Ms. Harris was co-chair of the National Social Action Commission of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She has been named to the New Jersey Hall of Fame (2015) and has received the Bert King Award from the Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association, the 2005 Women's Professional Achievement Award from Harvard University, the Pierre Toussaint Medallion from the Office of Black Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York, the Women of Power Award given by the National Urban League, the Women of Influence Award from The Links, Incorporated and many other awards. In her other life, Ms. Harris is a singer, and has released her third gospel CD "Unceasing Praise" (2011), her second CD, a gospel album titled, "Joy Is Waiting", was featured on BET Nightly News while her first CD entitled, "Ms. Harris's First Christmas", was a bestseller on Amazon.com in New York and in record stores, and was featured on the

CBS Evening News with Dan Rather in his "American Dream" segment. She has performed 5 sold out concerts at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Harris is also the author of the books, Strategize to Win (2014) and of Expect to Win (2009) (Hudson Press).

Despite having her right leg amputated at age five, Bonnie St. John became the first African-American ever to win medals in Winter Olympic competition, taking home a silver and two bronze medals in downhill events at the 1984 Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. In recognition of this historic achievement, Ms. St. John was quoted on millions of Starbucks coffee cups and was honored at the White House by President George W. Bush.

Ms. St. John has achieved the highest levels of success in a variety of endeavors throughout her life. In addition to her success as a Paralympic athlete, she is a best-selling author, a highly sought after keynote speaker, a television and radio personality, a business owner and a Fortune 500 leadership consultant. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1986, and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, taking an Master of Letters degree in Economics. Upon her return to the United States, Ms. St. John was appointed by President Bill Clinton as a director for Human Capital Issues on the White House National Economic Council.

Today, Ms. St. John travels the globe as a leadership consultant, keynote speaker and facilitator for international summit conferences for senior-level executives. She frequently donates personal appearances to schools, homeless shelters, community groups and other organizations in hundreds of locations while traveling for corporate clients. In 2010, Ms. St. John once again represented the United States as a member of President Obama's official delegation to the Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The celebrated author of seven books, Ms. St. John's most recent book, Micro-Resilience: Minor Shifts for Major Boosts in Focus, Drive and Energy, outlines a quick, easy and immediately effective program of tools and techniques to give you a competitive edge in today's dynamic world of changes and challenges.

Ms. St. John has been featured extensively in both national and international media including: Today, CNN, CBS Morning News, NBC News, PBS, NPR and The New York Times, as well as People, "O" and Essence magazines, to name just a few.

In 2015, Ms. St. John was inducted into the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Hall of Fame.

NBC Nightly News called Ms. St. John, "One of the five most inspiring women in America."

Rachel Barnett is a Member of the Board of Directors and General Counsel of Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO), a global internet media company and trusted publisher of travel, entertainment and local deals. Ms. Barnett runs the legal department and is responsible for all aspects of Travelzoo's domestic and international legal affairs. As General Counsel, Ms. Barnett manages a wide range of legal matters for the company, including, among other things, corporate governance, employment, intellectual property, corporate transactions, securities compliance and general litigation. 

Prior to joining Travelzoo in 2013, Ms. Barnett was a member of the Litigation department at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, where she specialized in representing corporations and their officers and directors in a variety of complex corporate and commercial litigation matters, including merger and acquisition litigation, shareholder derivative lawsuits and securities fraud class actions at both the trial court and appellate levels.

In the Spring, Ms. Barnett co-teaches a course at Columbia Law School along with the General Counsel of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc. The course is entitled "Exploring the Role of the General Counsel" and teaches students how to combine practical business sense with legal knowledge to achieve commercial objectives. Ms. Barnett developed the course content to expose students to practical commercial situations and teach them how to identify, analyze and solve legal problems from both legal and business perspectives.

Ms. Barnett also recently authored the book, "A Short & Happy Guide to Business Contracts," which is published by West Academic, and contains a simple roadmap on how practitioners negotiate terms and avoid common pitfalls in everyday business contracts.

She earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Kent Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University. Ms. Barnett clerked for the Honorable Vice Chancellor Stephen P. Lamb of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Katherine Butler brings more than twenty years of experience in the computer software, hardware and services sectors.  She currently is the General Counsel of GE Digital located in San Ramon, California.  Prior to rejoining General Electric, Ms. Butler was the Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of NComputing, a Silicon Valley start-up offering a disruptive end-to-end hardware and software virtualization solution. Before relocating to Silicon Valley, she served as Software AG's Senior Vice President and General Counsel in Reston, Virginia. At both NComputing and Software AG, she managed the Legal department and also led the Government Affairs, Finance and Human Resources functions. Prior to joining Software AG, Ms. Butler served as Senior Counsel with General Electric Company's computing and information services business unit in various locations including London, Paris and Washington, DC. Ms. Butler earned an L.L.M. from Boston University, a J.D. from Suffolk University and a B.A. from Smith College.

As Assistant General Counsel, Employment, Hannah Cole advises Human Resources and senior management on employment matters in the US and Canada, including:

• Wage and hour compliance
• Sales compensation planning and dispute resolution
• Compliance with OFCCP regulations and responses to compliance evaluations
• Non-competition and non-solicitation provisions, including enforceability and recruiting options
• Protection of company trade secrets and confidential information
• Due diligence and integration activities related to mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
• Reorganizations and reductions in force
• Compensation and benefits
• Recruiting, hiring, performance management and termination
• Leaves of absence and reasonable accommodations
• Employee relations
• Traditional labor law, including NLRB representation elections and campaigns
• Employee misconduct and investigations

In addition, Ms. Cole manages employment litigation, including the assessment and supervision of outside counsel.

Prior to going in-house, Ms. Cole worked at Paul Hastings LLC, representing employers in litigation including wage and hour class actions, as well as single and multi-plaintiff cases involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage-and-hour claims. Ms. Cole's practice also included providing advice and counseling to employers on a variety of employment-related topics.

Lucy Fato is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of AIG, overseeing the Global Legal, Compliance and Regulatory functions. Prior to AIG, Ms. Fato was Managing Director, Head of the Americas and General Counsel of Nardello & Co., a global private investigative firm headquartered in New York City.

Previously, Ms. Fato was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of McGraw Hill Financial (now known as S&P Global). Prior to joining McGraw Hill Financial, Ms. Fato was Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Marsh & McLennan Companies. She began her legal career at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell where she spent fourteen years, including five as a Partner in the Capital Markets group.

Ms. Fato is a member of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) State Insurance Advisory Board and a member of the Advisory Board of Nardello & Co.

In 2009, she was inducted into the YWCA-NYC Academy of Women Leaders. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Randall's Island Park Alliance (RIPA), a nonprofit organization that works with the City of New York and local communities to maintain the park for the wellbeing of all New Yorkers. In 2015, she was RIPA's business honoree, and was named by Ethisphere Magazine as one of the "Attorneys Who Matter" in 2015 and 2017 for her dedication to furthering corporate ethics. Ms. Fato was recognized in 2017 as an "Outstanding Woman in the Legal Profession" by the New York County Lawyers Association.

Lucy is a frequent speaker on topics such as risk and crisis management, corporate governance, and legal and compliance operations and best practices.  She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Business and Economics, and received her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Law. She is admitted to the State Bars of New York and California.

Stefanie J. Fogel is Co-Chair of DLA Piper's Food and Beverage sector, focusing her practice on multi-national food and consumer product regulation and compliance, food and consumer product recall response, corporate compliance, and commercial, class action and multi-plaintiff litigation. She represents national and international manufacturers of foods and dietary supplements, retail clothing, manufacturing equipment, chemical products, bio-technology detection devices and a variety of consumer products. Ms. Fogel serves as a national and international advisor to these clients in the area of product safety, cross-border distribution and enforcement, crisis management response, and industry trends. She has extensive experience advising on FDA, USDA, TTB, and CPSC related regulations, including label compliance, claims risk assessment, import and export issues, FSMA, and supply chain management. She is also a seasoned trial lawyer and has represented clients both locally and as national coordinating counsel in toxic torts, consumer fraud, mislabeling and misuse and product liability matters, against individual, multi-district, and class action claims. She has also developed a global multidisciplinary crisis management team to quickly and effectively address issues arising out of recalls, contamination, natural disasters, equipment failure, and environmental leaks and spills.

Ms. Fogel has lectured across the country on subjects relating to food regulatory, litigation and compliance matters, supply chain risk and management, food safety, information management, and in-house and expert witness preparation, as well as civil practice litigation issues. She is well-versed in food and dietary supplement industry trends and has experience necessary to navigate the complex and nuanced food regulatory arena. 

Ms. Fogel also concentrates on data strategy, data privacy, and data security process management, records and information management (RIM), and data privacy. She has developed protocols for the implementation of national and international document retention schedules, records management programs, e-discovery strategic plans, and ISO auditing for a variety of industries. She also works with global companies in a variety of industries to develop data strategies integral to new product development. 

She is a member of DLA Piper's governing Policy Committee and the Hiring Committee and is also proud to be the co-founder and co-chair for DLA Piper's National Leadership Alliance for Women (LAW) Program. 

Ms. Fogel is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York and has been admitted in various other states pro hac vice.

Stefanie Fogel received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and her B.S., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Finance.

Susan Garcia is Associate General Counsel for Thomson Reuters (Legal Division), overseeing the legal function for the business lines that operate and sell Tracker, Practical Law, Westlaw, Managed Services (Pangea), and Elite software. 

Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Ms. Garcia was a Senior Corporate and Transactions Counsel for NBC Universal, handling a variety of corporate transactions, including global program distribution, joint ventures, acquisitions and affiliation agreements. Prior to NBCU, Ms. Garcia was a corporate associate at two major New York law firms, working on corporate finance, securities and M&A transactions.

Susan Garcia received a B.A. from Cornell University and a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania School of Law

Fatima Goss Graves, who has served in numerous roles at the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) for more than a decade, has spent her career fighting to advance opportunities for women and girls. She has a distinguished track record working across a broad set of issues central to women's lives, including income security, health and reproductive rights, education access, and workplace fairness.

Prior to becoming President, Ms. Goss Graves served as the Center's Senior Vice President for Program, where she led the organization's broad program agenda to advance progress and eliminate barriers in employment, education, health and reproductive rights and lift women and families out of poverty. Prior to that, as the Center's Vice President for Education and Employment, she led the Center's anti-discrimination initiatives, including work to promote equal pay, combat harassment and sexual assault at work and at school, and advance equal access to education programs, with a particular focus on outcomes for women and girls of color.

Ms. Goss Graves has authored many articles, including "A Victory for Women's Health Advocates," National Law Journal (2016) and "We Must Deal with K-12 Sexual Assault," National Law Journal (2015), and reports, including Unlocking Opportunity for African American Girls: A Call to Action for Educational Equity (2014), Reality Check: Seventeen Million Reasons Low-Wage Workers Need Strong Protections from Harassment (2014), and 50 Years and Counting: The Unfinished Business of Achieving Fair Pay (2013).

Ms. Goss Graves received her B.A. from UCLA in 1998 and her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2001. She began her career as a litigator at the law firm of Mayer Brown LLP after clerking for the Honorable Diane P. Wood of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  She currently serves as an advisor on the American Law Institute Project on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct on Campus and was on the EEOC Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace and a Ford Foundation Public Voices Fellow.

She is widely recognized for her effectiveness in the complex public policy arena at both the state and federal levels, regularly testifies before Congress and federal agencies, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and other public education forums. Ms. Goss Graves appears often in print and on air as a legal expert on issues core to women's lives, including in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, AP, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR.

Maria Krasnikow Harris is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel at SoulCycle Inc., the boutique fitness and hospitality company. Prior to joining SoulCycle in April 2017, Ms. Harris held a number of senior international in-house roles in the retail, beauty and pharmaceutical industries, as General Counsel, Americas for The Body Shop, the UK beauty retailer;  Assistant General Counsel for Global Business Operations at Revlon; and Assistant General Counsel at Warner Chilcott Pharmaceuticals, where she had the opportunity to live/work in Dublin, Ireland. Prior to her in-house practice, Ms. Harris was an associate at Latham & Watkins' New York office, focusing on Mergers & Acquisitions and Latin America transactional work. 

Maria Harris is a proud double Hoya, receiving her B.S. in Foreign Service and her J.D. from Georgetown University. She serves on the Alumni Association of the Marymount School of New York.  Ms. Harris lives in New York with her husband and daughter. 

Phyllis Harris manages a team of 70 attorneys and support staff as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Legal Operations at Walmart Inc. In this role, Ms. Harris leads a team of attorneys and legal professionals in the areas of employment, intellectual property, corporate affairs and corporate governance law. In addition, Ms. Harris is responsible for the organization's budget; legal data and analytics; diversity and inclusion programs; outside counsel management; and programs to support the talent development of Walmart's legal team. Prior to this role, Ms. Harris served as Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for Walmart US and as Vice President, Environmental Compliance.

Prior to coming to Walmart, Ms. Harris worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency where she served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Regional Counsel in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2001, Ms. Harris was awarded the Meritorious Rank Award by President George W. Bush. She serves as the Chairman of the Converse College Board of Trustees; Board Director for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; the Advisory Board for the Council on Legal Education Opportunity; and the Advisory Board of the Wake Forrest Graduate School of Sustainability.

Denise Jackson joined AMN Healthcare in October 2000. Ms. Jackson is responsible for the company's legal, corporate governance, compliance, equity compensation strategies, risk management, real estate, and government and community affairs functions.

From 1995 to September 2000, Ms. Jackson worked for The Mills Corporation serving as Vice President and Senior Counsel from 1998 to 2000. She holds a J.D. from the University of Arizona, a Master of Public Health from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies from the University of Arizona. Ms. Jackson is licensed as an attorney in California, the District of Columbia, Arizona, and New York. Ms. Jackson serves on the Boards of Tractor Supply Company and the Corporate Directors Forum. She previously served on the Board of PipelineRX, LLC where she also held the role of Chairperson of the Compensation Committee and the Board of Girls on the Run International, where she served as Chairperson.

Caroline Krass is Senior Vice President and General Counsel, General Insurance and Deputy General Counsel of AIG. Prior to assuming that role in April 2018, Ms. Krass was a partner in the Washington, DC, office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. As Chair of the National Security Practice Group at Gibson Dunn, Ms. Krass advised clients on the most complicated and sensitive matters involving national security, intelligence, cybersecurity, data privacy, surveillance, economic sanctions, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), government investigations, and regulatory issues. Ms. Krass served as a senior national security lawyer in the Obama and George W. Bush Administrations and is widely known for her experience, both in the US and abroad. 

Before joining Gibson Dunn in May 2017, Ms. Krass was appointed to be the General Counsel of the CIA by President Obama, following overwhelming Senate confirmation on a bipartisan basis in March 2014.  As General Counsel, she served as the agency's Chief Legal Officer, principal legal advisor to the CIA Director, and a trusted member of the Senior Leadership Team, overseeing more than 150 attorneys and advising on complex, highly sensitive legal and policy issues, including cybersecurity and privacy, foreign investment in the US and export controls, government investigations and litigation, crisis management and congressional relations. From 2011 to 2014, Ms. Krass served as Acting Assistant Attorney General, and before that, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice, providing legal advice to the Attorney General, the White House Counsel, the National Security Council Legal Adviser, and senior officials at other executive branch agencies on a wide range of complex and significant constitutional, statutory, and regulatory questions.  

Ms. Krass served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the Office of White House Counsel from 2009 to 2010.  During this time, she dually served as the Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council.  From 2007 to 2009, she served as a prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia in the National Security Section.  Before that, she served as Special Assistant to the Department of the Treasury's General Counsel, as an Attorney-Advisor at the State Department, and as Senior Counsel and an Attorney-Advisor in OLC.

Ms. Krass currently serves as a member of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, as a member of the Advisory Board of the Georgetown Law Cybersecurity Law Institute, and as an advisor to two elements of the US Intelligence Community. Ms. Krass has been awarded numerous honors for her exceptional contributions to national security while in government. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a B.A. in International Relations, and she received her J.D. from Yale Law School.

Victoria Lee has been practicing in DLA Piper's Technology and Sourcing practice for over 17 years. Her practice focuses on representation of emerging growth and public companies in complex technology and commercial transactions in the software and semiconductor industry, as well as a variety of other industry sectors.

A significant component of Ms. Lee's practice includes advising clients on open source business models and compliance issues and she has substantial expertise in representing both customers and service providers in cloud computing transactions. She also has significant experience assisting clients in the intellectual property aspects of buy and sell-side M&A transactions, spin-ins and spin-outs.

The respected research publisher Chambers & Partners recently recognized Ms. Lee in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. The Recorder lists her as one of the 50 Women Leaders in Tech Law 2013.

Victoria Lee received her J.D. and her B.A. in History and Economics from the University of California at Davis.

Wei Ling Lim graduated from University of Auckland New Zealand in 1994.

Ms. Lim started her career with Unilever six years ago in Singapore. She heads the Supply Chain Legal and Enterprise Support Legal team globally and partners with multiple stakeholders to ensure the smooth running of Unilever's Supply Chain. Ms. Lim also leads the Global Smarter Contracting project in Unilever.

Rena Mears has more than 25 years of experience advising global companies in financial services, hospitality, technology, pharma, biotechnology and consumer products on data risk, privacy, cybersecurity and information security matters. She has built and led teams with the diverse skill sets necessary to manage information assets in the evolving global market. Ms. Mears has worked closely with boards and senior management to evaluate data risk and deploy effective risk mitigation strategies in the enterprise.  She  has also helped organizations design and implement the effective operational programs, processes and controls  required to comply with the legal, regulatory and contractual requirements affecting companies operating in complex regulatory environments.

Before joining DLA Piper, Ms. Mears was the national and global leader of Deloitte's Privacy and Data Protection services, and more recently was managing director at a leading US law firm.  

Ms. Mears works closely with lawyers in DLA Piper's global Data Protection, Privacy and Security group – highly rated by Chambers and Legal 500 – to augment the firm's offerings in privacy and cybersecurity assessments, program and control design, data mapping, and program and vendor-risk management.

She has significant experience leading major enterprise initiatives for global companies focused on:

• Data asset risk management services
• Privacy and security program development
• Third-party risk management
• Cybersecurity, data protection, and data breach response
• Forensics, data analytics, and data leakage
• Legal and regulatory compliance
• Privacy and security gap assessments and reporting
• Cross-border data flow compliance and management
• Security and privacy by design in products and services

Ms. Mears' engagements typically involve risk and threat analysis, strategy and program development (including governance, operations, assessment, and reporting), data mapping, controls assessment, and remediation and program sustainment activities. In addition, Ms. Mears has led multi-year engagements dealing with cyberthreats, incident response, and APT analysis for global companies.

She further advises clients on issues involving:

• General Data Protection Regulation; Safe Harbor/Privacy Shield
• US breach notification laws
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
• State privacy and data protection laws
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA)

She holds the following/certifications: CISSP, CIPP, CISA, CITP. She also is a CPA in Alabama.

Rena Mears received her M.B.A. from Auburn University and her B.A. from the University of Albuquerque.

Mackenzie Phillips serves as Chief Corporate Counsel focused primarily on compliance, subsidiary management, securities regulation and corporate governance. 

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. A Fortune 500 company with annual fee revenue of $5.2 billion and gross revenue of $6.0 billion, JLL has more than 250 corporate offices, operates in more than 80 countries and has a global workforce of more than 60,000. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 4.0 billion square feet, or 372 million square meters, and completed $138 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2015. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $56.4 billion of real estate assets under management.

Ms. Phillips works closely with senior management advising on compliance matters under SEC rules, NYSE listing standards, Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and other corporate governance rules and regulations.

Prior to joining JLL, Ms. Phillips served as Interim Securities and Corporate Governance Counsel to a NYSE-listed online travel company through Axiom Law. Prior to Axiom, Ms. Phillips was an associate at each of Winston & Strawn LLP and Mayer Brown LLP.  At both large law firms, her practice focused on M&A, securities, corporate finance, corporate governance and general corporate work.

Ms. Phillips currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of the Business Law Enterprise Clinic at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Phillips was a Co-Editor of The Board of Directors (Portfolio No. 63-2nd) (September 2009) published by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. Corporate Practice Series.

Ms. Phillips received her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School where she served as Executive Editor of the Michigan Law Review.  Ms. Phillips holds an A.B. in French from Cornell University.

Sally Rau grew up in San Diego, CA, and has worked in San Francisco and the UK. Ms. Rau began her legal career in San Francisco and worked as a Corporate and Securities lawyer in San Francisco at two pre-eminent San Francisco law firms, before becoming General Counsel of a global container leasing company, Cronos Containers, based in London. While at Cronos, Ms. Rau gained considerable international experience, followed by a successful US public offering.

After leaving Cronos, Sally Rau joined the Silicon Valley technology law firm, Gray Cary Ware & Friedenrich, which through mergers became DLA Piper, then the largest global law firm. While at DLA Piper, Ms. Rau represented public and private technology companies in fields including software, hardware, SaaS, signal reconnaissance and chip manufacturing, focusing on public and private offerings, mergers and acquisitions, public company compliance including SEC and FCPA compliance. This also included board and management governance.

In 2010, Ms. Rau joined Velti, a SaaS-based mobile marketing and advertising company, initially founded in Greece, and took them public on Nasdaq in an initial, as well as a follow-on, US public offering. Her role as Chief Administrative Officer and General. During her tenure, Velti completed four acquisitions, two in the US and two internationally.

She holds a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law and an A.B. in History from the University of California, Berkeley.

Rena Hozore Reiss is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Marriott International, Inc.  Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Ms. Reiss is a member of Marriott's executive team and leads a global legal team with offices worldwide supporting all facets of Marriott's business, ranging from lodging development and operations to brand, marketing, sales and consumer services, information technology, dispute resolution, intellectual property, compliance and governance.  

Ms. Reiss most recently served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, overseeing the Hyatt legal department and Hyatt's risk management and corporate transactions teams.  At Hyatt, she served as the executive sponsor of the Women@Hyatt business resource group, as well as a Director and Officer of Hyatt Hotels Foundation and Xenia Assurance Company, Inc., Hyatt's captive insurance company. 

Prior to joining Hyatt, Ms. Reiss was a Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Marriott, a partner at Counts & Kanne, Chartered, in Washington, DC, and served as an Associate General Counsel for the Miami Herald Publishing Company. 

Ms. Reiss sits on the Georgetown University Hospitality Law Advisory Board and is a member of GC50 and the Princeton University Alumni Schools Committee. Corporate Counsel awarded Ms. Reiss its Transformative Leadership Award in 2017, and she has been recognized by the ADL Midwest Division as a Woman of Achievement and by the Harvard Law Society of Illinois. She has been profiled in The Practical Law Journal, The National Law Journal, Diversity and the Bar, the Chicago Law Bulletin, and Diversity Journal.

Ms. Reiss is admitted to the bar in Florida and the District of Columbia.  She received her A.B. from Princeton University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She and her husband Steve, a journalist, have two adult children. 

Kathy Ruhland advises clients on cross-border transactions, including global M&A, restructuring and joint ventures, in established and emerging markets throughout the world.

Recognized by third parties for providing superior client service, Ms. Ruhland advises a number of world-leading corporations. Her recent work includes transactions in the Middle East and Europe, as well as India, Hong Kong and China.

Ms. Ruhland holds the following firm Leadership positions:

• Steering Committee, Global Alignment and Integration
• Co-Chair, Food and Beverage Sector
• Co-Chair, Global Leadership Alliance for Woman (LAW)
• Member of DLA Piper's governing Policy Committee

Ruhland advises privately and publicly held companies in the following areas:

Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures

Advises companies in various industries in global M&A transactions which often involve multiple jurisdictions. Effective in directing large teams of lawyers and accountants to assist clients in structuring, negotiating, implementing and closing global transactions.

Joint ventures and strategic alliances

Advises companies in negotiating, structuring, operating and exiting international equity joint venture arrangements, licensing, distribution and manufacturing agreements, collaborative marketing arrangements and other strategic alliances.

Pre-and Post-acquisition integration and restructurings

Advises companies on global post-acquisition integration and restructurings including significant experience in global supply chain structures, complex reorganizations involving multiple jurisdictions and other group restructurings.

Foreign direct investment

Advises companies regarding the international legal and tax aspects of the establishment of branch and subsidiary operations, setting up manufacturing operations, and advising clients regarding local investment incentives.

International compliance

Advises US multinationals on compliance issues under US laws affecting cross-border transactions including the Office of Foreign Control Sanctions Programs, anti-boycott legislation and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Global tax planning

Advises companies on international tax matters in connection with international transactions, reorganizations and other international tax planning matters.

Kathy Ruhland earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from William Mitchell College of Law, and her B.A., cum laude, from the University of St. Thomas.

Rachel Stern serves as the Executive Vice President, Strategic Resources; General Counsel; and Secretary of FactSet (NYSE, NASDAQ: FDS), a leading global financial information services company. Ms. Stern’s operational experience includes Real Estate Strategy, Facilities Management, Human Resources, Investor Relations, M&A, Data Procurement and Governance, and Offshore Site Management in India and the Philippines. A member of the executive management team, she sits on FactSet’s Executive and Operating Committees, and Enterprise Risk and Disclosure Committees.  

Prior to joining FactSet, Ms. Stern was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP. She clerked for Chancellor William Allen of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Ms. Stern is a Trustee of The Baldwin School (Bryn Mawr), and a Director of the Westchester Fairfield Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel. She is a member of the board of directors of Baron Capital Management, Inc.

Rachel Stern graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was an Executive Editor of the Law Review. She received her B.A. with a double major in Economics and Art History from Yale University. She earned an M.A. from the University of London and studied at the University of Vienna as a Fulbright Scholar. Ms. Stern has completed more than 24 marathons and two ultramarathons, and lives with her husband and three daughters in Westchester, New York.