Vanderbilt Law School is a special place. We are committed to scholarship and passionate about teaching. We demand intellectual rigor but do so in a welcoming environment. We embrace our rich traditions but constantly seek to innovate and improve. We celebrate individual achievement but place even more value on the accomplishments of the school as a whole.
Our alumni and friends are essential to the success of the Law School. We need your participation to inform us about current developments in law and legal practice, to suggest ways for us to improve the educational program for our students, to interview our applicants and hire our students, and to support us financially. In traveling from city to city, and trying to meet as many of our alumni and friends as possible, I have been repeatedly struck by the level of commitment and the deep reservoir of good will that exists toward the Law School. It is truly gratifying to know that we have already succeeded so well, and I believe that this success will serve as the basis for our further advances. The members of the Board of Advisors listed below are among our strongest supporters and most active participants. We appreciate their commitment to the Law School and the opportunity to work together toward continued success.
Chris Guthrie
Dean and John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law
Jeff Adams received a BS in Accounting in 1987 from the University of Kentucky and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1992. He is a partner at the law firm Arnall Golden Gregory LLP (Atlanta, GA and Washington DC offices) and Co-Chair of the firm’s Affordable Housing and Community Development Practice Team. Jeff focuses his practice on representing for profit and not for profit developer clients in all aspects of the acquisition, financing, and development of affordable and work-force housing, as well as mixed-use and community redevelopment transactions utilizing federal and state tax credits, tax-exempt bond financing and a variety of other conventional and subsidized financing. He is a board member of the Georgia Affordable Housing Coalition and has served on the board of several housing and community service based non-profit organizations. Prior to law school, Jeff was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy.
Partner
Arnall Golden Gregory LLP
171 17th Street NW Suite 2100
Atlanta, GA 30363
Phone: (404) 873-7014
Email: jadams@agg.com
Cortney Patterson Barton is a Director of the Patterson Family Foundation, a nonprofit primarily serving rural communities with a focus in health care and education. Prior to transitioning into philanthropy, Ms. Barton was an Associate in the Kansas City, Missouri office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, where she practiced in the firm’s Securities & Corporate Governance, M&A and Corporate Finance, Non Profit Organizations, and Commercial Contracts groups. Ms. Barton graduated magna cum laude from Washington & Lee University in 2012 with degrees in Politics and Psychology. She received her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School in 2016.
Director
Patterson Family Foundation
209 West 47th Street, Suite 200
Kansas City, MO 64112
Phone: (816) 665-1336
Email: cortneypbarton@gmail.com
Andrew T. Bayman received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1989.
Partner
King & Spalding LLP
1180 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30309-3512
Phone: (404) 572 3583
Email: abayman@kslaw.com
Matt Blumenstein received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 2009. He is a Director at Statera Capital and leads Statera’s investment underwriting, diligence, and monitoring processes. He also acts as Statera’s Deputy General Counsel.
Matt is widely respected as a leader in litigation finance and strategic partner to lawyers and clients involved in complex litigation. In 2022, Lawdragon named him one of the Global 100 Leaders in Litigation Finance. Matt joined Statera from Williams & Connolly LLP, where he practiced general civil litigation for 10 years. He is an experienced and accomplished lawyer who has represented numerous clients in high-stakes cases across the US and internationally. Super Lawyers named him a Rising Star every year from 2014 to 2019. Before joining Williams & Connolly, Matt clerked for Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Matt earned a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School. At Vanderbilt, Matt graduated in the Order of the Coif, served on the Law Review, and received several scholastic awards, including the Cecil D. Branstetter Award for extraordinary achievement in the study of litigation and dispute resolution. Matt also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt Law School, where he teaches a course on commercial litigation finance.
Director, Head of Underwriting
Deputy General Counsel
Statera Capital, LLC
216 North May Street, Suite 403
Chicago, IL 60607
Phone: (615) 440-1759
Email: matthewblumenstein@gmail.com
Julie Bracker (BS, 1993 and JD, 2002) is the managing partner of qui tam boutique firm Bracker & Marcus LLC in Atlanta, GA, which has returned more than $250 million dollars to the federal government. Julie has practiced exclusively as relator’s counsel in False Claims Act litigation since 2006. She has had the honor of arguing before the Eleventh, Ninth, and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeal on FCA matters and currently serves on the Education Committee for Taxpayers Against Fraud (the national qui tam bar association). In addition, she was elected to the Board of Directors for the Georgia Chapter of the National Employment Lawyer's Association (NELA) in 2009 and to be its President in 2014. She now chairs in the NELA Success mentorship program and speaks regularly at the state and national level on FCA law and retaliation issues.
Prior to law school, Julie worked for Vanderbilt’s Learning Technology Center as a research associate, taught middle school in Fulton County, where she was named Teacher of the Year in 1999, and served as Fulton County Math Curriculum Director. While at Vanderbilt Law, she was inducted into the Order of the Coif; was executive student writing editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law; served on the Moot Court Board; and was a member of Head Notes acapella singing group. After law school, Julie started her career as a business litigation associate at Rogers & Hardin LLP in Atlanta.
Julie has been named a Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters since 2015 and has consistently maintained an AV rating from the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings, the highest ranking for legal ability and professional ethics. She is an active member of TAF, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, National NELA, and Georgia NELA, and serves as co-minister for Women’s Ministry programs at Burnt Hickory Church of Christ. She lives in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, with her husband Will, a privacy attorney for Cox Communications, Inc. and adjunct professor in data privacy at Georgia State School of Law, her two school age children, and a feline overlord named Casanova.
Managing Partner
Bracker & Marcus LLC
3355 Lenox Road, STE 660
Atlanta, GA 30326
Phone: (404) 983-3454
Email: Julie@FCACounsel.com
W. Perry Brandt received a BA from Vanderbilt University in 1974 and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1977. He is senior counsel at Sandberg Phoenix, and was previously senior counsel at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, in Kansas City, MO. Perry served as the president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association from 2016 - 2018, and was elected to the Vanderbilt Board of Trust in 2018. His past community service includes serving as general counsel of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce; as a member of the Missouri Bar Board of Governors; and as board chair of Wayside Waifs, a Kansas City animal shelter.
Senior Counsel
Sandberg Phoenix
4600 Madison Avenue, Suite 1000
Kansas CIty, MO 64112
Phone: (816) 627-5533
Email: pbrandt@sandbergphoenix.com
Gregory Bressler serves as Deputy General Counsel of Corebridge Financial and General Counsel for SunAmerica Asset Management, LLC. He is also an adjunct professor of law at Vanderbilt. Before joining SunAmerica in 2005, Mr. Bressler served as Director of U.S. Asset Management Compliance for Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. and Deputy General Counsel for Credit Suisse Asset Management, LLC. He began his legal career with Werner & Kennedy before joining Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, LLP.
Mr. Bressler speaks regularly at conferences in the financial services areas, including topics relating to registered investment companies, private funds, investment advisers and broker-dealers. He has also written articles concerning these topics, including articles published in The Investment Lawyer and The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation. He is a member of committees of the Investment Company Institute and the New York City Bar Association Committee on Investment Management Regulation.
Mr. Bressler is a graduate of State University of New York at Binghamton, B.S., magna cum laude, and Vanderbilt University School of Law (Class of 1991), J.D., where he served as Managing Associate Justice of the Moot Court Board.
Corebridge Financial
SunAmerica Asset Management, LLC
Harborside 5
185 Hudson Street, Suite 3300
Jersey City, NJ 07311
Phone: (201) 324 6363
Email: gbressler@corebridgefinancial.com
Walter R. Burkley received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1996. He is the Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel, Fund Business Management Group for the Capital Research and Management Company in Los Angeles, CA.
Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel, Fund Business Management Group
Capital Research and Management Company
333 South Hope Street, 55th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071
Phone: (310) 393-4765
Email: mablanc2004@yahoo.com
Neel Chatterjee
received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1994 and is currently a partner in Goodwin Procter LLP’s Intellectual Property practice. He has handled groundbreaking cases for Facebook, Oracle, eBay, Apple, NVIDIA, LinkedIn, Logitech, and many others. After earning his BS in 1991 from Dartmouth and his JD from Vanderbilt in 1994, Chatterjee served as clerk for the Hon. Patricia V. Trumbull, U.S District for the Northern District of California and the Hon. Mary Mullarkey, Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. Chatterjee serves or has served on the Board of Directors of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, the Magistrate Selection Committee for the Northern District of California, the Patent Local Rules Committee and the Federal Practice Program for the Northern District of California. He is also active in the Sedona Conference Patent Litigation section. He founded the Bay Area Diversity Career Fair, one of the most successful diversity career fairs in the U.S. He is also an adviser to Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Asia Pacific Fund, and the National South Asian Bar Association.
Partner
Goodwin Procter LLP
601 Marshall Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 752-3256
Email: awesomellp@outlook.com
James W. Cuminale received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1978. Jim served as president of the Board of Advisors from fall 2020 - spring 2023.
Partner
PJT Partners
280 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 364 7170
Email: cuminale@pjtpartners.com
Dave Damus received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1990.
Chief Executive Officer
System Property Development Company Inc.
80 South Lake Avenue, Suite 860
Pasadena, CA 91101-5913
Phone: (213) 687-7275 Ext. 22
Email: DDamus@Systemproperty.com
The Hon. Martha Craig Daughtrey received both a BA (1964) and a JD (1968) from Vanderbilt University, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Coif. She is currently a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, having been appointed to that position by President Clinton in 1993. Prior to that, she served as an associate justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court (1990-1993) and as an associate judge on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals (1975-1990). Before her appointment to the Court of Appeals, Judge Daughtrey was an assistant professor of law on the Vanderbilt Law School faculty (1972-1975). Periodically, she has also served as a lecturer in law (1971-1972) and as an adjunct professor of law (1982-83; 1988-90) at Vanderbilt. She was formerly an assistant district attorney in Nashville (1969-1972) and an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee (1968-69). She was formerly a member of the Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and a long-time faculty member of the Appellate Judges Seminar at New York University School of Law. She is a current emeritus member of the Board of Advisors.
Senior Judge
US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
300 Customs House
701 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 736 7678
Email: cissydaughtrey@aol.com
Rana B. DiOrio earned an AB cum laude from Duke University in 1988 and a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1991. She has been helping companies to grow ever since. As an investor, investment banker, and lawyer, she has helped management teams achieve their corporate objectives from raising equity or debt, to acquiring companies or assets, to hiring key employees, to developing and executing strategic plans. She has helped raise over $4 billion in public equity and debt and $400 million in private equity; she has completed advisory transactions representing nearly $3 billion in aggregate transaction value. Throughout her career, she has worked for Pillsbury Madison & Sutro, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Alex. Brown & Sons, Merrill Lynch, Banc of America Securities, and North Point Mergers & Acquisitions.
In 2009, Rana founded Little Pickle Press, an environmentally conscientious publisher of children's media. Little Pickle Press became March 4th, Inc. in 2016 and was acquired by Creative Mint, Inc. in 2018. Rana is also an author of the award-winning What Does It Mean To Be . . .?, a series of children’s picture books. She remains an active early-stage investor in purpose-driven companies and is Chairman of the Board of WeTransact, an innovation platform focused on funding and supporting women and other underrepresented Founders. She is currently the Chief Product Officer for Bridgetown Company, and lives in San Francisco with her two daughters, Ryan and Alex, and her son, Beckett.
Chief Product Officer
Bridgetown Company
San Francisco, CA
Phone: (415) 215-0004
Email: ranadiorio@mac.com
Al Dotson serves as CEO and Managing Partner of Miami-based commercial law firm Bilzin Sumberg, where he handles federal and local government procurement contracts and compliance for a wide array of clients. He also represents real estate developers in securing land use, zoning and other government approvals and permits for large-scale real estate developments. Al is nationally recognized for his work on government contracts and public-private partnerships (P3). As head of Bilzin Sumberg’s P3 team, he has led the firm’s engagement on various multi-billion dollar public-private partnerships in Florida, including rail and transit facilities, airports, marinas, sports facilities, convention centers, healthcare/life sciences facilities, educational institutions, water and sewer facilities, parking structures, and various infrastructure developments.
Al has been consistently recognized by leading industry publications, such as Chambers USA. He serves on and has led numerous Boards of Directors and has received Presidential and other government appointments over the years.
Al received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1987.
CEO and Managing Partner
Bilzin Sumberg
1450 Brickell Avenue, Floor 23
Miami, FL 33131-3456
Phone: (305) 350-2411
Email: adotson@bilzin.com
Ike Lawrence Epstein assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer at Zuffa, LLC, which owns and operates the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®), the world's premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, in October 2012. He previously served as the Company's Executive Vice President and General Counsel since August of 2007. In his role as Chief Operating Officer, he is responsible for all of Zuffa's worldwide operations.
Prior to joining Zuffa, Epstein was a Partner and the President of the Nevada based law firm Beckley Singleton, which joined with Lewis and Roca in 2007. Epstein's private practice focused on business litigation and encompassed transactional work including contracts relating to MMA, boxing and other entertainment businesses. He is rated AV (Preeminent) by Martindale Hubbell and has been featured in numerous publications, including the American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, Vanderbilt Lawyer magazines and the Sports Business Journal.
Epstein is also the President of IKE Gaming, Inc., the owner of the El Cortez Hotel and Casino. The El Cortez operates over 1,000 slot machines, 20 table games and 354 hotel rooms in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Epstein has maintained a non-restricted gaming license in the state of Nevada since 1992.
A life-long resident of Nevada, Epstein has also been involved in numerous civic and charitable organizations. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of The Meadows School, a private non-sectarian pre-K through-12 institution.
Epstein holds a Juris Doctorate (1992) and a Bachelor of Arts (1989) from Vanderbilt University and is a current member of the Vanderbilt Law School Board of Advisors.
Senior Executive Vice President
Chief Operating Officer
UFC
PO Box 26959
Las Vegas, NV 89126-0959
Phone: (702) 588-5544
Email: lepstein@ufc.com
Zach Fardon received his BA in 1988 and his JD in 1992 from Vanderbilt. Former U.S. Attorney Fardon is now Managing Partner and Head of Litigation of King & Spalding’s Chicago office and a partner in the Special Matters and Government Investigations practice. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Zach specializes in bet-the-company civil and criminal trials as well as high-stakes government and internal investigations. In the private sector, Zach previously chaired the Litigation Department for the Chicago office of one of the world’s largest law firms. He remains deeply involved in Chicago charitable missions, and has served on multiple not-for-profit Boards of Directors advocating for the broader Chicago community. He is married to Rachel Fardon, JD ’94.
Managing Partner and Head of Litigation
Partner in Special Matters and Government Investigations
King &Spalding
444 West Lake Street
Chicago, IL 60606
Phone: (312) 995-6333
Email: zfardon@kslaw.com
Sara J. Finley previously served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of CVS Caremark Corporation (now CVS Health), a Fortune 15 pharmaceutical services company based in Rhode Island. In March 2011, she became Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs and served in a senior advisory role until her retirement from the company in April 2015. She was with CVS Health and predecessor companies for almost 20 years and has been based in Nashville since 2003. Prior to joining CVS Caremark, she was a partner at the Kutak Rock law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Alabama in 1982 and received her law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1985.
Sara serves on the Board of Directors of Tivity Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: TVTY), Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE: APTS), Studio Bank and Oak Paper Products Company, Inc. She is also a board member for several Nashville-based nonprofits, including The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, The Center for Nonprofit Management and Alive Hospice and formerly served as board chair for The Land Trust for Tennessee and The Nashville Food Project.
Principal
Threshold Corporate Consulting, LLC
Phone: (615) 356-5688
Email: sjfinley509@aol.com
Matt Gabriel, JD'03, is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led several high-growth, innovative companies. He currently serves as CEO and board member of XRI Fountain Quail, a company that he founded in 2013 to provide innovative water management and recycling solutions to the world’s most sophisticated energy companies. Mr. Gabriel spent an early part of his career as an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, specializing in complex corporate and private equity transactions. He then joined a venture capital firm based in Chicago where he funded and helped develop high-growth, healthcare-focused technology companies. Mr. Gabriel then shifted his focus from investor to creator, co-founding several high-growth technology-enabled companies in the defense and industrial sectors. Out of these start-ups, the idea for XRI Fountain Quail was conceived. Mr. Gabriel is active on the Board of Advisors of Vanderbilt University Law School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Rollins College and a Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University. He is a proud father of three and enjoys playing tennis and chess and hiking with his family.
Founder & CEO
XRI Fountain Quail
840 Gessner Road, Suite 530
Houston, TX 77024
Phone: (432) 312-2090
Email: matt.gabriel@xrifq.com
Sarah Gabriel is the Chief People Officer at Shore Capital Partners in Chicago. Previously, she was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis; Chief Compliance Officer for SmileDirectClub; Managing Director of Entia Ventures in TX; and served a previous role as corporate/capital markets partner at Kirkland & Ellis. Ms. Gabriel serves on the Board of Support our Scholars, a non-profit organization that provides college scholarships to low-income students. She received her JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 2004.
Shore Capital Partners
Chicago, IL
Phone: (407) 690-0958
Email: sarah.b.gabriel@outlook.com
Mary L. Garceau, JD'97, is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of The Sherwin-Williams Company, a global leader in the manufacture, development, distribution, and sale of paint, coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial and retail customers. Garceau oversees delivery of global legal services, advising management on all aspects of legal matters including corporate governance, litigation and regulatory matters. Additionally, Garceau oversees the Company’s Environmental, Health & Safety, Regulatory, Product Stewardship, Sustainability and Government Affairs functions.Before joining The Sherwin-Williams Company, Garceau served as General Counsel of, and created the legal departments for, Thirty-One Gifts LLC and Bob Evans Farms, Inc. Prior to beginning her in-house legal career, Garceau served as a partner at the Columbus, Ohio, office of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. She concentrated her practice in securities, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters.
Garceau is a 1994 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science (summa cum laude), and a 1997 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.
Garceau serves as a director of The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, a member of the Board of Advisors for Vanderbilt Law School and a director of University School, an all-boys, private, Junior Kindergarten–12 school. She currently resides in the Cleveland, Ohio, area with her husband and two sons.
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
The Sherwin-Williams Company
101 West Prospect Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115
Phone: (614) 216-3267
Email: mary.l.garceau@sherwin.com
Frank M. Garrison attended Vanderbilt University where he graduated in 3 years while earning a double major in Business and Economics (B.A. '76) and Vanderbilt School of Law (J.D. '79). Mr. Garrison practiced commercial law with Farris, Warfield and Kanaday specializing in securities, creditor's rights and other commercial/corporate matters until 1982 when he became involved in the real estate and service company finance business. Until July 2003, held the title of Office of the Chairman of Insignia Financial Group, Inc., a New York City based and NYSE publicly traded real estate services and Investment Company and President of Insignia Financial Services, Insignia's investment banking and principal investment arm. Mr. Garrison was directly responsible for and oversaw or personally negotiated over 60 acquisitions of operating service companies, 90 public tender offers, multiple financing of both debt and equity for Insignia and the sale of various divisions and ultimately the remaining business in several public company transactions the last of which occurred in July 2003. In addition, Mr. Garrison was responsible for managing Insignia's principal real estate investment business which acquired over $5 billion of assets and managed joint venture relationships with a variety of institutions. Mr. Garrison presently serves as President of C-III Capital Partners, an operating company sponsored by Island Capital Group, LLC a New York based investment firm in which he is a partner. C-III Capital Partners is a real estate advisory, investment and service firm of over 400 employees and is the largest special servicer of CMBS overseeing a portfolio of approximate $130 billion. C-III Investment Management also oversees an investment portfolio of over $2 billion. Mr. Garrison previously also previously served as President of Courage Capital Management, LLC a registered investment advisor with approximately $1 billion under management and offices in Nashville, Los Angeles and Mumbai, India. Mr. Garrison has served as a member of the Board of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, the President of the Board of Trustees of University School of Nashville, and serves as a Board member of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, the Vanderbilt University School of Law National Council, the Board of Cumberland Heights and Belcourt Yes! He is married to Amy Price Garrison and has 2 children, Price and Julia. His oldest child, Julia, graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2012 and is employed as a paralegal in the Washington, D.C. office of the New York law firm of Richards, Kibbe and Orbe and his son is a rising senior at New York University.
Principal
Overton Capital LLC
One American Center
3100 West End Avenue, Suite 1230
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 783-1021
Email: fmg@overtoncapital.com
David R. Gelfand is a Partner in the New York office of Milbank LLP and a member of the firm's Litigation & Arbitration Group. A partner since 1996, he served from 2001 through 2009 as the Practice Group Leader of the Litigation Department. He joined the firm in 1987.
Mr. Gelfand's practice is highly diversified, with a concentration in complex civil and corporate litigation. He regularly represents financial institutions and corporations in class actions, securities and bankruptcy litigation cases. He has tried jury and non-jury trials in state and federal courts throughout the country and has extensive experience representing clients in fiduciary and estate litigation. Mr. Gelfand serves on the Disciplinary Committee of the New York State Supreme Court, First Department. He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Fund for Modern Courts, a nonprofit organization committed to improving the administration of justice in New York. Mr. Gelfand is also a member of the American Bar Association, the DC Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where he served on the Committee on Judicial Administration. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of The Green Vale School.
He has been recognized as one of the leading lawyers in America for general commercial litigation by Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation and New York Super Lawyers. Mr. Gelfand has authored articles and lectured on various aspects of litigation and trial practice as well as serving as an editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. He earned his B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1984 and his J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School in 1987.
Partner
Milbank LLP
55 Hudson Yards
New York, NY 10001-2163
Phone: (212) 530 5520
Email: dgelfand@milbank.com
Mitch Glazier received a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1991. He received his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in 1988. After serving as law clerk to the Honorable Judge Wayne R. Andersen, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of IL, Glazier practiced law at the Chicago firm of Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg. He then served as Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property to the Judiciary Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is currently Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, where he has been employed for the past 18 years. Among other volunteer work, he is Chairman of the Board of Musicians on Call, a charity that brings the healing power of music to the bedsides of patients in hospitals. He lives with his wife, Carly, in Bethesda, MD.
Chairman and CEO
Recording Industry Association of America
1000 F Street NW, FL 2
Washington, D.C. 20004
Phone: (202) 875-9673
Email: mglazier@riaa.com
Joshua A. Green is the President and CEO of Raven & Company (Raven). He is responsible for the day-to-day management, strategic and cultural direction of the firm and its affiliates. Mr. Green has led Raven Capital Management, a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), as its CIO from its inception in 2008. Prior to founding Raven, Mr. Green was a Managing Director with Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York where he pioneered an asset focused finance strategy for the firm. From 1998 to 2008, Mr. Green and his team directly originated and managed a $12 billion principal investment portfolio. Today, Raven executes a similar investment strategy focused on multiple asset types and credit opportunities, including receivables and intellectual property, real estate, specialty finance and transportation. Over the past 14 years, Mr. Green has partnered with some of the industry’s largest asset managers, both public and private, to grow firm assets to over $1.5 billion. Through several closed-end funds, related vehicles and operating platforms, Mr. Green has established Raven as a tactical acquirer of specialized assets as well as a unique provider of solution capital in the Private Debt Markets. Mr. Green received his BA from Lafayette College, Phi Beta Kappa, and a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1995. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Vanderbilt University Law School.
President and CEO
Raven & Company
1335 4th Street
4th Floor
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Phone: (917) 545-5834
Email: josh@ravencm.com
Jay Grushkin is a partner in the New York office of Milbank LLP and a member of the firm's Alternative Investments Practice. A partner since 1991, he was previously Managing Partner of the firm’s Tokyo office and prior to that was resident in the firm’s Hong Kong and Washington, DC offices.
Mr. Grushkin has a highly diversified international finance practice, including structured finance and securitization, secured and unsecured lending, project and aircraft finance, capital markets and private placements. Mr. Grushkin also has deep experience in workouts and restructurings. He has worked on transactions throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Mr. Grushkin is listed as a leading lawyer by Chambers and Partners (in its Global and US Guides), the IFLR 1000 and The Legal 500. Mr. Grushkin has published in numerous periodicals, is a frequent speaker at conferences throughout the world, has appeared on Bloomberg and CNBC and has been quoted in The New York Times and numerous other periodicals.
While resident in Tokyo, Mr. Grushkin was a member of the Tokyo Bar Association as a gaikokuho jimu bengoshi and served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Temple University's Law Program in Japan, where he taught secured transactions.
Mr. Grushkin received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979 and his J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School in 1982, where he was the Executive Articles Editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, a Raymonde I. Paul International Scholar and a member of Order of the Coif.
Partner
Milbank LLP
55 Hudson Yards
New York, NY 10001-2163
Phone: (212) 530-5346
Email: jgrushkin@milbank.com
Trey Harwell received a BA from Vanderbilt University in 1992, and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1995. He then served as a law clerk to The Honorable Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr. and thereafter, joined Neal & Harwell PLC in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is now a member. His principal areas of practice are complex civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, corporate independent investigations, and crisis management. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Commissioners for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.
Member
Neal & Harwell PLC
1201 Demonbreun Street, Suite 1000
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 238-3526
Email: tharwell@nealharwell.com
Scott Hastings received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1997. Before becoming a partner at Locke Lord LLP, he was a law clerk to Judge John Minor Wisdom, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. He received his BS from Louisiana State University. He is an active member of the American Law Institute, and has written numerous publications concerning the Supreme Court. He lives in Dallas, TX with his wife, Jodie, and their two children.
Partner
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
2200 Ross Avenue, Suite 2800
Dallas, TX 75201
Phone: (214) 740-8537
Email: shastings@lockelord.com
Chris Howard received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1991. He retired from Acadia Healthcare Company in 2023.
1010 Foxwood Drive
Nashville, TN 37215
Phone: (615) 651-0427
Email: chris.howard525@gmail.com
Justin R. Ishbia is a founding partner of Shore Capital, a microcap private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Justin is responsible for investment sourcing and valuation, transaction structuring, the securing of acquisition financing, fundraising and all administrative activities. Justin is the Chairman of Chicagoland Smile Group and EyeSouth Partners; past Chairman of Sirona Infusion, Michigan Rehabilitation Specialists/Excel Rehab, and ClearPath Diagnostics. Justin sat on the board of Florida Autism Center. Justin currently sits on the board of Southern Veterinary Partners, Innovia Medical, SpecialDocs, Argentum Medical, Southstar Urgent Care, Mission Veterinary Partners, Nova Health, Preferred Podiatry Group and Navia Benefit Solutions.
Prior to being a founding partner of Shore, Justin worked as an investment professional at Valor Equity Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Prior to joining Valor, Justin was an attorney in the private equity group of Kirkland & Ellis.
Outside of the office, Justin is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and Vanderbilt University Law School Advisory Board, as well as a Trustee of Rush University Medical Center. Additionally, Justin has been a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Business, Loyola University of Chicago Law School and the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Justin received his Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2004. Justin also earned a Certificate of Law and Business from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University. He is a member of the State Bar of Illinois and a Certified Public Accountant.
Managing Partner
Shore Capital Partners, LLC
One East Wacker Suite 2900
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 348-7579
Email:
jishbia@shorecp.com
Soraya Keskey
received a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2017. Prior to attending law school, she received her undergraduate degree from Boston University in 2011, where she was a recipient of the Trustee Scholarship. Soraya received her master’s degree in Public Health in 2013 from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. During and after graduate school, Soraya worked with the Attorney General of Vermont and spent time conducting policy research. While at Vanderbilt, Soraya was the Symposium Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review, and also held leadership roles in the Law and Business Society, Intellectual Property Association, and the Legal Aid Society. Soraya served as the Chair of the Public Interest Stipend Fund Auction during both her 2L and 3L years. She was an associate in the health law practice group at Hogan Lovells in NY, then joined Greenberg Traurig's Phoenix office as an associate in their health group. She is currently Regulatory Counsel for hims & hers, a telehealth platform focused on stigmatized conditions. She is married to Mike Keskey, JD ’16, who is general counsel at Item Nine Labs.
Regulatory Counsel
hims & hers
2269 Chestnut Street, Suite 523
San Francisco, CA 94123
Phone: (602) 885-9911
Email: skeskey@forhims.com
Kendra Key received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 2015. She currently serves as Senior Vice President, Community Affairs, with the Birmingham Black-Owned Business Initiative of Regions Bank. Previously, Kendra was Senior Vice President of Community and Economic Development with HOPE, and practiced law at a corporate firm in Birmingham, Alabama where she was a member of the Public Finance and Real Estate practice groups. In that capacity, she represented lenders, borrowers, purchasers and sellers in affordable housing, new markets tax credit, municipal bond and real estate transactions. Her practice also included land use planning and economic development.
Senior VP, Community Affairs
Birmingham Black-Owned Business Initiative
Regions Bank
Birmingham, AL
Phone: (205) 886-7920
Email: kendra.n.key@gmail.com
Laurin Blumenthal Kleiman (Laurie) received a BA from Vanderbilt in 1980 and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1983.
Partner
Sidley Austin LLP
787 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
Phone: (212) 839-5525
Email: lkleiman@sidley.com
Tricia T. Lin was formerly Vice President, Associate General Counsel at Yahoo! Inc. She joined Yahoo! in 1999 and was responsible for overseeing Yahoo!'s consumer advertising, marketing and promotional standards and practices. In addition, Tricia's practice included global legal responsibility for Yahoo!’s privacy and data protection strategies and policies. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Tricia was Director of Business and Legal Affairs at Disney Interactive, the online and multimedia entertainment division of The Walt Disney Company. Tricia began her legal career as an intellectual property associate at Cooley Godward in Palo Alto. Since leaving Yahoo, she has served as an advisor to technology start-ups and is currently Head of Legal at Betterworks, Inc. Tricia received her JD from Vanderbilt in 1991 and her BA from Bowdoin College in 1987.
Head of Legal
Betterworks, Inc.
999 Main Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (408) 307 5114
Email: tricia_lin@yahoo.com
Aisha McWeay is a career public defender who currently serves as executive director at Still She Rises Tulsa, a legal nonprofit based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that focuses exclusively on representing mothers in the criminal and civil legal systems. Before joining Still She Rises in 2019, Professor McWeay worked with the Nashville Defenders, where she rose from assistant public defender to general sessions division chief and ultimately to deputy public defender. At Still She Rises, she leads a team that includes criminal, civil and family defense attorneys, investigators, attorneys focused on impact litigation and client advocates. She also serves in a number of training and mentoring capacities to support indigent defense and community organizations nationally. She was honored in 2017 for her career contributions to indigent defense with the Gideon’s Promise Stephen B. Bright Award. She is currently an adjunct professor of law at Vanderbilt. Aisha received her JD from Vanderbilt in 2009.
Executive Director
Still She Rises
608 East 46th Street North
Tulsa, OK 74126
Phone: (205) 368-8498
Email: amcweay@gmail.com
James B. Miller, Jr. has served as Chairman of Ameris Bank since July 2019. Prior to Ameris Bank, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Southern Corporation since its inception in 1979. He is a board member of American Software, Inc., Interface, Inc., and the Atlanta USO. Mr. Miller received his BA from Florida State University in 1961 and his LLB from Vanderbilt Law School in 1964. After graduating, he served as a lawyer for the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal Facility in Alabama and clerked for Justice Thomas of the Florida Supreme Court. He became Staff Counsel to the Florida Legislature and Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Florida from 1966 to 1968. Mr. Miller then served as a Stockbroker for Bache & Company (1968-1969) and later as an Investment Counselor for C&S National Bank (1969-1971). In 1971, he became President of Ageka Wohnungsbau GmbH and Mudrack Eisfabrik in Berlin, Germany, until 1977. He serves on the Boards of the Carlos Museum at Emory University (past Chairman), The Buckhead Coalition (past Chairman), the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, the Atlanta Jr. League Advisory Board, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, the Atlanta Opera, and the Florida State University College of Business Board of Governors. He and his deceased wife, Karina L. Miller (VU PhD.), have three children, including Elizabeth (VU BA), and six grandchildren. He is currently an emeritus member of the Board of Advisors.
Ameris Bancorp Chairman
Ameris Bank
3490 Piedmont Road, Suite 1550
Atlanta, GA 30305
Phone: (404) 240 1501
Email: Jim.Miller@amerisbank.com
Matt Minner received his JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1996. He is an attorney for Minner Vines Moncus Injury Lawyers in Lexington, KY.
Attorney
Minner Vines Moncus Injury Lawyers PLLC
325 West Main Street #210
Lexington, KY 40507
Phone: (859) 550-2900
Email: matt@mvmlaw.com
David Mitchell, JD'13 is Deputy General Counsel, Labor and Employment at Balyasny Asset Management. He was selected as a 2017 New York City Bar Associate Leadership Institute Fellow and a 2019 Council of Urban Professionals Fellow. He is a board member of My Brother’s Keeper / My Sister’s Keeper, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting fellowship in support of Black attorneys. David is also a founding member of the Black BigLaw Pipeline, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of Black associates who successfully navigate BigLaw. He earned his undergraduate degree in 2010 in politics at New York University. He lives in NYC with his spouse Kristen Rexroat, JD'13.
Deputy Counsel, Labor and Employment
Balyasny Asset Management
767 5th Avenue, 35th Floor
New York, NY 10153
Phone: (302) 584-6843
Email: dwdmitchell@gmail.com
John-Paul Motley is Partner at Cooley LLP. Previously, he was Chair of O’Melveny’s Capital Markets Practice as well as on the firm's Policy Committee and Managing Partner of the Los Angeles office. John-Paul has experience in securities law matters, mergers and acquisitions, and other general corporate law matters. He represents issuers and underwriters in equity offerings, such as initial public offerings, private placements, and secondary offerings, as well as debt offerings, from high-yield offerings to investment grade issuances. In addition, John-Paul advises public companies and their boards with securities law compliance, disclosure issues, and corporate governance matters. John-Paul received his JD/MBA from Vanderbilt University in 1999 and earned his undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Memphis in 1995. JP is currently president of the Board of Advisors (July 2023 - June 2025).
Partner
Cooley LLP
1333 2nd Street, Suite 400
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Email: jpmotley@cooley.com
W. Patrick Mulloy received a BA in 1974 from Vanderbilt University, where he majored in history, economics and philosophy and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society, Omicron Delta Kappa Society, and the Raven Society. He attended Vanderbilt University Law School as a Patrick Wilson Merit Scholar and also served as the Executive Articles Editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review. After receiving his J.D. in 1977, he practiced law in Louisville, Kentucky until 1996, serving two years from 1992 to 1994 as the Secretary of Finance for the Governor of Kentucky. Since 1996, Mr. Mulloy has served as President and CEO of three senior housing companies and also as CEO of a publicly traded medical waste company. Mr. Mulloy is the Board Chair of University of Louisville Health and currently serves as the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Mulloy is Of Counsel to the law firm of Wyatt Tarrant & Combs. Mr. Mulloy resides in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife Francie O. Mulloy (B.S.'75, M.S.'77). They have two children: Patrick and Mollie (B.A. 2005) and four grandchildren, Wip, Duncan, William, and Francie.
Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Louisville, KY
CEO
Sharps Compliance Corp.
9220 Kirby Drive, Suite 500
Houston, TX 77054
Phone: (502) 693-2185
Email: pmulloy2@gmail.com
Julie A. Ortmeier is Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of Washington, D.C.-based CARFAX, Inc., responsible for the strategic direction, risk management and operation of Carfax’s legal matters in the United States, Canada and Europe and leading a team that provides support in the areas of commercial transactions, data acquisition, litigation, intellectual property, insurance, regulatory compliance, employment, privacy and security. Prior to joining CARFAX, Julie was with the American Red Cross as Senior Counsel, also serving as Corporate Secretary for the Board of Governors Finance Committee and managing counsel to Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies Inc., a for-profit biotechnology joint venture undertaken by the American Red Cross in partnership with a Montreal-based company. Julie began her career at McGuireWoods in 1998 until leaving in 2000 to join Boston-based client Enermetrix.com, Inc., one of the earliest entrants in the e-commerce marketplace for energy. Julie received her JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1998.
Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
CARFAX, Inc.
5860 Trinity Parkway Ste 600
Centreville, VA 20120
Phone: (703) 934 2664 x4298
Email:julieortmeier@carfax.com
J. Robert Paulson Jr., JD’85, is president and chief executive officer of Sonex Health. Previously, he was president, CEO and a director of the VentureMed Group. Paulson has more than twenty-three years of medical device leadership experience, including serving as president, CEO and a director at NxThera and Restore Medical, and in a variety of executive leadership roles at Endocardial Solutions, Advanced Bionics and Medtronic. Prior to joining the medical device industry, he held a variety of senior marketing, business development, legal and finance positions at General Mills, and as an attorney with the law firm of Lindquist & Vennum. Paulson received a BA from Luther College, with majors in Accounting, Economics and Political Science and his MBA from the University of St. Thomas before earning a JD from Vanderbilt in 1985. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors at VentureMed.
President and CEO
Sonex Health
950 Blue Gentian Road
Eagan, MN 55121
Phone: (651) 755-4664
Email: bpaulson@sonexhealth.com
Les Payne received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in 1989 and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1992. Since then, his practice has focused on the prosecution and defense of actions at the trial and appellate levels, with a heavy emphasis on patent infringement litigation in Federal Courts throughout the country. He is a founding partner of Heim, Payne & Chorush, LLP in Houston, TX, which focuses on intellectual property and antitrust litigation.
Partner
Heim, Payne & Chorush, L.L.P.
1111 Bagby, Suite 2100
Houston, TX 77002
Phone: (713) 221-2003
Email: lpayne@hpcllp.com
Robert S. Reder had over 33 years of experience in transactional practice as a New York-based partner of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, where he practiced in the firm's mergers and acquisitions and corporate groups from 1978 until his retirement in 2011. He became a partner in the firm in 1987 and was co-leader of the firm's global corporate practice group from 2005-09. Bob represented clients from a variety of industries, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and technology, in M&A and capital market transactions, and advised them on a variety of corporate governance matters.
Bob is an editorial advisor and a frequent contributor to The Corporate Counsel, a professional journal, and to BNA Corporate Accountability Report. He is a member of the American and New York State Bar Associations.
While earning his J.D. at Vanderbilt Law School (class of 1978), he was an articles editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Following his retirement from Milbank, Bob was named a Professor of the Practice of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, where he teaches courses in transactional M&A practice, corporate governance and commercial drafting.
Professor of the Practice of Law
Vanderbilt Law School
131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 322-2615
Email: robert.reder@Law.Vanderbilt.Edu
Nicole Restivo received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 2002.
Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Keysquare Capital Management
650 Madison Avenue, Fl 18
New York, NY 10022
Phone: (212) 624-0042
Email: nicole.restivo@gmail.com
Justin Riess received a BS in Biology from Vanderbilt University in 1996 and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 2001. Justin is a Partner at Haynes Boone LLP in Charlotte, NC. Justin works with financial institutions, lenders, investors and borrowers in leveraged finance and debt financings, as well as other secured and unsecured lending transactions. In particular, Justin works on private equity backed acquisition financings in numerous sectors including healthcare, franchise and general industrial companies. In addition to his legal practice, Justin serves as the Charlotte Office Administrative Partner, the Charlotte Office Hiring Partner and Co-Chair of the firm’s Attorney Integration Committee.
Justin has been ranked by Chambers USA since 2017 and was included in The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, Inc. for Banking and Finance Law in 2021-2022.
Prior to law school, Justin worked as a due diligence analyst for Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg, FL.
Justin and his wife (Amanda Riess, JD ’01) live in Charlotte, NC with their two boys, Xander and Austin Riess.
Partner
Haynes and Boone LLP
620 S. Tryon Street Suite 375
Charlotte, NC 28202
Phone: (980) 771-8234
Email: justin.riess@haynesboone.com
Steve Rodin is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Aadi Bioscience, Inc. He served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of The Medicines Company until its acquisition by Novartis in 2020. He began his legal career as a corporate attorney with Proskauer Rose LLP in New York. Mr. Rodin is a graduate of Georgetown University (1997) and Vanderbilt Law School (2002).
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Aadi Bioscience, Inc.
611 Ridgewood Road
Maplewood, NJ 07040-1112
Phone: (973) 980-1953
Email: srodin@gmail.com
Sabrina Rose-Smith received her JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 2003. She is Chair, CRED for Goodwin Procter in Washington, D.C.
Chair, CRED
Goodwin Procter LLP
901 New York Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: (202) 346-4185
Email: srosesmith@goodwinlaw.com
James F. Sanders, a senior Member of the Nashville, Tennessee law firm of Neal & Harwell, PLC, earned a J.D. from Vanderbilt School of Law in 1970, and a BA in 1967. Among highlights of Jim's Vanderbilt years was his participation in Vanderbilt Commodore Football as a split-end and flanker. Jim has been an active Vanderbilt alum by serving as a lecturer-in-law, as well as on various advisory Chancellor-appointed boards, and on reunion committees. Prior to joining Neal & Harwell in 1978, this Johnson City, Tennessee native, served judicial clerkships for the Honorable William E. Miller, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1970), as well as the Honorable Frank Gray, Jr., Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (1972-'75). Thereafter, he became a trial attorney in the felony section of the Seattle-King County Washington Office of the Public Defender (1975-'77). He also served in the United States Army (1971-'72). Concentrating his law practice on trial work, both civil and criminal, and the defense of white collar criminal investigations, Jim has handled matters and tried cases, primarily in the federal courts, throughout the continental United States and Alaska. His more publicized trials include the defense of John Landis in the "Twilight Zone" trial and Exxon Shipping in the Exxon Valdez proceedings. He has been involved in several multi-month civil trials, defending Exxon Mobil Corporation, in Maryland state court. Jim is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is also a Fellow of the Tennessee and Nashville Bar Foundations as well as a Member of the American, Tennessee & Nashville Bar Associations and Supreme Court Historical Society. His community involvement includes serving as Chairman of the Franklin Road Academy Board of Trustees from 1999-2001. Jim has been listed & recognized by, among others, The Best Lawyers In America, Corporate Counsel Magazine, Chambers USA, Mid-South SuperLawyers Magazine, Tennessee Lawyer Magazine, Business Tennessee Magazine, and Nashville Business Journal Best of the Bar. His clients include individuals as well as several Fortune 500 companies. Jim and his wife, Cheryl, reside on Cold Saturday Farm in Brentwood, Tennessee. They are the proud parents of Vanderbilt alumni Courtney Sanders Muse, Ph.D., Isaac Sanders, J.D., and Nathan Sanders, J.D., as well as the devoted grandparents to Madeline Rose Muse, Jameson Wolff Muse, James Lincoln Sanders, Luke Patton Sanders, and Elizabeth Ann Sanders. He is currenly an emeritus member of the Board of Advisors.
Member
Neal & Harwell, PLC
150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 2000
Nashville, TN 37219
Phone: (615) 244 1713
Email: jsanders@nealharwell.com
Mark Schein received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1991. He currently serves as Managing Director, General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer at Madison International Realty. Prior to this position, he was Managing Director and the Chief Compliance Officer for Värde Partners, and was the Chief Compliance Officer at York Capital Management for close to 16 years. Schein began his career as a prosecutor in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office prosecuting organized crime and police corruption. He spent 5 years as an Enforcement Attorney and Trial Counsel at the New York Stock Exchange’s Enforcement Division. He ran broker-dealer compliance for US Trust Company and was the Director of Anti-Money Laundering for Schwab Capital Markets.
Managing Director
General Counsel
Chief Operating Officer
Madison International Realty
New York, NY
Phone: (917) 428-7888
Email: mark.schein@madisonint.com
Mike Shulman received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1993. After 26 years at Shearman, he is now Head of Tax at Fidelity.
Head of Tax
Fidelity
25 East 86th Street #8D
New York, NY 10028
Phone: (202) 236-5584
Email: michaelbshulmantax@gmail.com
Bob Stark earned his JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1995. For nearly 30 years, he has played a leading role in many of the nation’s largest and most complex corporate restructuring cases, including SunEdison, Atlantis Resort and Casino, Millennium Labs, Pier 1 Imports, McDermott International, BlockFi, Cheseapeake Energy, Washington Mutual, Tribune, LTL Management, Revlon, and Washington Prime Group. He is regularly cited as one of the top bankruptcy lawyers in the country, with lead rankings in Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers in America, LawDragon 500, Legal 500, and Who’s Who Legal. His first-chair trial and appellate work have resulted in numerous opinions of high precedential value. He has written and edited books, treatise chapters and influential law review articles on various restructuring topics, and lectures regularly at top-tier law and business schools around the country.
Partner and Chair of the Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Practice Group
Brown Rudnick LLP
Seven Times Square
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 209-4862
Email: rstark@brownrudnick.com
Gregory Thomas Stevens, BA’87, JD’90, is Senior Counsel at Bass Berry & Sims. He has more than 25 years of experience serving in general counsel, chief compliance officer and other key executive leadership roles at both public and private equity-owned companies within the healthcare and technology industries, including executive management roles at Change Healthcare (formerly Emdeon Inc.), Spheris Inc., Luminex Corporation, and ENVOY / Quintiles / WebMD. Earlier in his career, Greg was a transactional corporate attorney, with an emphasis in securities law and mergers and acquisitions, at Bass, Berry & Sims. He is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, and Nashville Bar Association, and the Association of Corporate Counsel.
Senior Counsel
Bass Berry & Sims PLC
150 3rd Avenue South, Ste. 2800
Nashville, TN 37201
Phone: (615) 742-7927
Email: greg.stevens@bassberry.com
Amanda Vaughn is Deputy General Counsel, Global Head of Litigation at Bank of America. Amanda is a member of the Bank’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Council and a member of the Bank of America’s Investing in Women Council. She serves on the board of NYC Outward Bound Schools. She received her JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1999.
Global Head of Litigation; Deputy General Counsel
Bank of America
50 Rockefeller Center
New York, NY 10020
Phone: (646) 855-0932
Email: amanda.vaughn@bofa.com
Bradford J. Williams III received a D from Vanderbilt Law School and a MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management in 1994. He has over 20 years of industry experience, including positions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Tudor Investment Corporation. He is currently Chief Business Officer for Graham Capital Management, L.P.
Chief Business Officer
Graham Capital Management, L.P.
40 Highland Avenue
Rowayton, CT 06853
Phone: (203) 899-3400
Email: bw90@me.com
Gregory L. Wilson founded Princeton Capital Partners in 2011 as a special project healthcare fund. He also founded Georgetown Capital Partners in 2008. GCP is a healthcare-focused fund designed primarily to leverage the operating experience of its partners while enhancing the strength of undervalued public companies. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director of Denali Partners. Denali Partners is a private equity firm primarily focused on healthcare, issues of aging and obesity, alternative energy, and special situations. Prior to that Mr. Wilson was Chief Financial Officer of Eclipsys Corporation (ECLP), a health information technology company providing clinical, financial, and administrative systems to hospitals. Mr. Wilson served in various roles and helped the company grow from a small startup to one of the nation's largest HIT companies with a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion and over $250 Million in revenue. Prior to that Mr. Wilson was a Vice President and Healthcare Equity Analyst at Lehman Brothers with a focus on healthcare services, providers, and information technology. Mr. Wilson earned an AB in Economics with Honors from Princeton University and a JD from the Vanderbilt University School of Law.
Founder
Princeton Capital Partners LLC
401 Worth Ave., #301
Palm Beach, FL 33480
Phone: (561) 379-2777
Email: glw@gpa3.com
John S. Wilson received a law degree from Vanderbilt in 1972.
His professional career has been primarily with automotive OEM’s including General Motors where he was regional counsel in Asia Pacific and Europe. From 2014 - March 2020, he was the Chief Legal Officer for Karma Automotive Company, a startup electric vehicle manufacturer located in Irvine California.
He began his career with the Chicago office of Kirkland and Ellis working principally in antitrust litigation.
Mr. Wilson is married with three adult children. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
CEO, John S. Wilson PLC
2830 South Main Street, Apt. 404
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Phone: (734) 883-2376
Email: john.spry.wilson@gmail.com
W. Weldon Wilson is Vice Chairman of Resolution Life, Inc. Resolution Life acquires and manages life insurance companies in the US and has operations in Chicago, Stamford, CT, and Lincoln, NE. Through 2009, Weldon was a member of the Executive Board of Swiss Reinsurance Company, where he was responsible for acquisitions and operations of life insurance companies in the US and the UK. His other roles within Swiss Re included serving as CEO of Swiss Re's North American life reinsurance business, and General Counsel for Swiss Re's international life operations. Weldon resides in Redding, Connecticut with his wife, Elaine, and their dogs Petey and Lizzy.
CEO
Resolution Life
1 Station Place, Suite 7
Metro Center, 7th Floor
Stamford, CT 06902
Phone: (203) 223-8530
Email: weldon.wilson@resolutionlife.co.uk
Marina Yousef graduated in the spring of 2023 with a J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School. She was born in Beni Suef, Egypt, and immigrated to Nashville, TN with her family in 2005. She received her B.A. in History from Trevecca Nazarene University in 2020. During her time at Trevecca she served as Student Body President, sat on the boards of Trevecca Nazarene University and the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature. Currently, Marina is a Healthcare M&A attorney at K&L Gates, Nashville office.
Healthcare M&A Associate
K&L Gates
501 Commerce Street, Suite 1500
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 609-3418
Email: marinamyousef@gmail.com
