Board of Advisors Directory

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 

Ginger Appleberry ’03 is Senior Vice President, Deputy Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Caris Life Sciences in Dallas, TX. She is responsible for the oversight of Caris’s Compliance Program and provides legal support to various business units. While at VLS, Ginger received the Scholastic Excellence Award; was a Harry Phillips American Inn of Court Member; and was awarded the highest individual score in the Mock Trial tournament 2003.

Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Caris Life Sciences
750 West John Carpenter Freeway, Suite 800
Irving, TX 75039
Phone: (214) 740-8459
Email: gingerappleberry@hotmail.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. 

Co-Practice Group Leader of the Product Liability and Mass Torts Practice Group
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 Chief Investments Counsel of Corebridge Financial, Inc. He is also an adjunct professor of law at Vanderbilt. Before joining Corebridge (AIG) 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. 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
30 Hudson Street, 16th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Phone: (201) 324 6363
Email: gbressler@corebridgefinancial.com

Kristy McAlister Brown received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1993 and her B.S. in Business Administration and Management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990. Kristy is a partner in Alston & Bird's Litigation & Trial Practice Group in Atlanta, GA and leads the Privacy & Cybersecurity Litigation Team. She currently serves as chair of the firm’s Partners’ Committee.

Kristy has particularly deep experience in class actions and government investigations involving cybersecurity and privacy. She has defended clients in hundreds of class actions and in multidistrict litigation arising out of some of the biggest data breaches in history and is nationally recognized as a leader in this space. She has been recognized by Chambers USA in the Litigation: General Commercial (Georgia) and Privacy & Data Security: Litigation (Nationwide) areas.

Kristy is also a proud Vanderbilt parent—daughter Maisey was admitted to Vanderbilt for fall 2024.

Partner
Alston & Bird
One Atlantic Center
1201 West Peachtree Street, Suite 4900
Atlanta, GA 30309
Phone: (404) 881-7584
Email: kristy.brown@alston.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. 
 
James W. Cuminale
Senior Advisor
PJT Partners
280 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (646) 724-1446
Email: jim@jwcuminale.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 CEO for Creative Mint Inc., and lives in San Francisco with her two daughters, Ryan and Alex, and her son, Beckett. 

Founder and CEO
Creative Mint, Inc.
San Francisco, CA
Phone: (415) 215-0004
Email: rana@creativemint.io

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 

Trey Ferguson ’24 (MBA ’24) of Nashville, TN is a Private Equity Associate at Warburg Pincus. Trey graduated magna cum laude from Villanova University (’20), where he received his B.A. in Economics. During his time at VLS, Trey was the Senior Notes Editor of the VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW and President of the Black Law Students Association. Additionally, he serves as an Advisory Board Member of Afro Scholars, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to diversifying the legal profession. In 2023, Trey also published a book, A[mateur] to B[arrister], which equips incoming students with a toolkit to excel during their first year of law school.

Private Equity Associate
Warburg Pincus
450 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Email: trey.ferguson@warburgpincus.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 

David Freeman ’87 is Chief Executive Officer at Three Six Venture Capital LLC in Nashville, TN. He founded Predators Holdings in 2007 and is currently a co-owner of the Nashville Predators. Previously, David founded Commodore Medical Services, which grew into the second largest medical waste company at the time of its sale to Stericyle in 2007. Previously, David practiced law as a mergers and acquisitions attorney in Dallas (Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell) and Nashville (Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis).

CEO
36 Venture Capital LLC
835 Tyne Valley Court
Nashville, TN 37220
Phone: (615) 397-6218
Email: dfreeman@36venturecapital.com

Sarah Gabriel currently works with her family's company, B&L Partners. Previously, she was the Chief People Officer at Shore Capital Partners in Chicago; 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.

B&L Partners
Nashville, TN
Phone: (407) 385-9932
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 retired as a partner in the New York office of Milbank LLP in 2024. 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. 

(ret.) Partner
Milbank LLP
New York, NY
Email: jay@jaygrushkin.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 as a member. He is currently a partner and Crisis Management Team Leader at Adams & Reese. 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.

Partner and Crisis Management Team Leader
Adams & Reese
1600 West End Avenue, STE 1400
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 259-1028
Email: Trey.Harwell@arlaw.com

Chris Howard received a JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1991. 
 
(ret.) Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc.
Nashville, TN
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, a proud “Double Dore,” earned her BA in English and Psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1980 and her JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1983. Laurie spent her entire legal career at Sidley Austin LLP and its predecessors, retiring in 2023. At Sidley, Laurie advised a broad range of financial institution clients, including domestic and international investment funds and managers. She served as global co-leader of Sidley’s investment management practice, overseeing a team of approximately 130 corporate, securities, and derivatives lawyers across major financial hubs worldwide.

During her 40+-year career, Laurie was recognized in numerous industry publications, including Chambers, The Legal 500, U.S. News & World Report, and Best Lawyers in America®. She was named to Crain’s New York Business inaugural list of “Leading Women Lawyers in New York City” and recognized as one of the “50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds” by The Hedge Fund Journal.

Currently, Laurie serves on the American Arbitration Association’s National Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators, overseeing commercial disputes. She is also a frequent contributor to the Practicing Law Institute, where she shares insights on a variety of topics, including investment adviser and fund law and regulation, effective mentoring, optimizing the associate experience, and retiring from BigLaw. Laurie also serves as an advisor to SmartEsq, an AI-driven platform that, among other things, supports investment managers in regulatory and compliance matters.

A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Laurie served as firmwide co-chair of SidleyWomen, leading initiatives to advance women in the legal profession. Under her leadership, Sidley received numerous accolades for its DEI efforts from Catalyst, Chambers, Seramount (formerly Working Mother Magazine), and the Women in Law Empowerment Forum, among others. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Adaptive Sports Foundation, which provides life-changing experiences for individuals with disabilities through adaptive sports.

(ret.) Partner
Sidley Austin LLP
New York, NY
Email: laurinkleiman@gmail.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

Lisa McLaughlin ’81 is Managing and Founding Member at MGD Law in St. Louis, MO, focusing on family estate and trust planning. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a Vanderbilt parent (son Scott graduated in 2013).

Managing Member
MGD Law, LLC
120 S. Central Avenue, Suite 1420
St. Louis, Missouri 63105
Phone: (314) 721-7778
Email: lmclaughlinmo@gmail.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: jmiller@berlinapex.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 Senior Deputy General Counsel 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.

Senior Deputy Counsel
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

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 

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 Managing 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.

Charlotte Office Managing Partner
Haynes and Boone LLP
650 S. Tryon Street Suite 700
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 

Greg Roussel ’98 is Partner at Latham & Watkins in Los Altos, CA, where he represents video game, software, and social media sector companies advising on their mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic investments. Greg has a BA in Economics and a BBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University.

Partner
Latham & Watkins
140 Scott Drive
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: (650) 470-2183
Email: greg.roussel@lw.com

Larry Rubin ’84 is Founder and Executive Chairman of Thnks in Nashville, TN. He previously co-founded and operated the PE-backed Cross MediaWorks family of companies. Larry is a graduate of Northwestern University and received a M.A. from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Founder and Executive Chairman
Thnks
231 Public Square #200
Franklin, TN 37064
Phone: (917) 250-4500
Email: lrubin@thnks.com

Ramon Ryan ’21 is Managing Associate, Supreme Court and Appellate, at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in Washington, DC. Prior, he was a Judicial Law Clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. and Associate Attorney at Williams & Connolly LLP. He has served as ex officio on the Vanderbilt Law School Board of Advisors. While at VLS, Ramon was active on the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law; won the Lightfoot Franklin & White Best Oralist Award; and won the Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Award in Legal Writing and Research II.

Managing Associate, Supreme Court and Appellate
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
520 Irving Street NW
Washington, DC 20010-2904
Phone: (202) 339-8606
Email: rryan@orrick.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 

Robert 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 

Courtney Stout ’92 is Chief Privacy Officer for The Coca-Cola Company, in Charlottesville, VA. In this role, she defines global privacy and legal personal data strategy; delivers strategic solutions to reduce privacy operational drag; and oversees global legal matters related to privacy and cybersecurity. Prior to Coca-Cola, she worked for S&P Global, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Bryan Cave, and Hunton & Williams. She earned her BA in Management Information Systems from The University of Georgia.

Chief Privacy Officer
The Coca-Cola Company
One Coca-Cola Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30313
Phone: (404) 227-4418
Email: costout@coca-cola.com

Wade Turner received his JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1997. He is the former executive vice president and general counsel for Academy Sports & Outdoors, one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the United States.  He now serves as senior vice president and general counsel for McNair Interests, a private investment and management company, and part of the McNair family of businesses that also includes the Houston Texans NFL Team.  

Senior Vice President and General Counsel 
McNair Interests 
109 North Post Oak Lane, 6th Floor 
Houston, TX 77024 
Phone: (713) 336 7847 
Email: wade.turner@mcnair.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 an 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, where he is a managing director and partner.  

Managing Director 
Tudor Investment Corporation 
200 Elm Street 
Stamford, CT 06902 
Email: bw90@me.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 

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