Speaker Biographies
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Speaker Biographies Afia Asamoah ’05 Afia Asamoah is Senior Product Counsel at Verily Life Sciences, formerly Google Life Sciences. She leads the legal, compliance, and regulatory affairs teams responsible for advising all health-related products developed at Verily. She was the first lawyer hired by the Google[x] life sciences team and was the sole lawyer advising on FDA matters across Google. Previously, Afia was a regulatory attorney at Covington & Burling LLP, where she advised on a range of healthcare regulatory and compliance issues. From 2009-2011, Ms. Asamoah was also a Special Assistant in the Office of the Commissioner at the US Food and Drug Administration, where she received four awards, including the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation. In addition to her Harvard Law education, Afia holds a Masters of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a degree from Harvard University in Psychology. Werten F.W. Bellamy, Jr. Werten Bellamy is the President of Stakeholders, Inc., a company founded in 2007 that provides training and conference resources directed to the active career management needs of corporations and service firms. Stakeholders works in over 100 global law firms and law departments. Mr. Bellamy launched Stakeholders following sixteen (16) years of practice in both law firms and law departments. He completed his legal career as General Counsel of Celera Genomics. Werten is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law. Myma Belo-Osagie LL.M. ’78, S.J.D. ’85 Dr. Myma Adwowa Belo-Osagie served as a Managing Partner in Udo, Udoma & Belo- Osagie, a leading Nigerian corporate law firm. Dr. Belo-Osagie has been the Chairman of Africa Opportunity Fund Limited since February 28, 2014 and its Non-executive Director since June 2007. She serves as a Non-Executive Director of FSDH Merchant Bank Limited (Formerly, First Securities Discount House Limited), the African WildLife Foundation and is a member of Harvard University’s International Advisory Committee . She is a member of the New York, Ghana and Nigeria Bars and is a member of the American Bar Association. Dr. Belo-Osagie graduated from the University of Ghana with a LLB degree. She obtained a LLM degree and a SJD degree from Harvard Law School. Hon. Victor A. Bolden ’89 Victor A. Bolden is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Bolden served as the Corporation Counsel for New Haven, Connecticut, the chief legal advisor of and attorney for Connecticut’s second largest municipality. Before working for the City of New Haven, Judge Bolden was the General Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). He also practiced with the law firm of Wiggin and Dana LLP in New Haven, Connecticut, served as an Assistant Counsel with LDF as well as a Marvin Karpatkin Fellow and Staff Attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation's (ACLU) National Legal Department. Judge Bolden also has taught as an Adjunct Professor at New York Law School and conducted seminars on constitutional law in South Africa and Brazil. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University. Sheryll D. Cashin ’89 Sheryll Cashin, Professor of Law at Georgetown University, is the author of Place Not Race, The Agitator’s Daughter and The Failures of Integration. She is a frequent commentator on law, race, and race relations, appearing on NPR, CNN, ABC News, and MSNBC. Her commentaries have also appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Salon, and The Root. She is working on a new book that explores why interracial love was prohibited in the United States and how, since the landmark Supreme Court case of Loving vs. Virginia declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, a new culturally dexterous class of ardent integrators is emerging and will influence politics. Teresa Clarke ’87 Ms. Clarke is one of 15 private sectors leaders in the United States appointed to President Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She serves on the board of Cim Financial Services Ltd, a public company domiciled in Mauritius and Singapore, with over $150 billion under administration. She was named one of the Top 25 Influential Women in Business by the Network Journal, and has been honored twice by the South African government for her contributions to education as the founder of the Student Sponsorship Programme of South Africa. She earned a BA in economics, cum laude from Harvard College, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a JD from Harvard Law School Gina Clayton ’10 Gina Clayton is Founder and Executive Director of Essie Justice Group (Essie). An award winning social entrepreneur, attorney, activist, and advocate for women, Gina launched Essie (named after her great grandmother, Essie Baily) in 2014 to support and empower women with incarcerated loved ones. Gina saw the impact of incarceration on women both in her personal and professional life. As a housing attorney, Gina designed and implemented the Housing Defense Practice at The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) to represent women who were facing 2 eviction as the result of a criminal matter. During this work, she became resolved to further examine and expose the harmful impact of mass incarceration on women who have loved ones living behind bars. Gina grew up in Los Angeles, where she started as a youth organizer for the NAACP while studying at the University of Southern California. Under her leadership, the chapter became the largest in a nine state western region. She organized campaigns addressing campus policing, voter registration, and CA state sentencing laws. Her successes locally led to her election to the NAACP National Board of Directors where Julian Bond appointed Gina to the Executive Committee and the President/CEO Search Committee. Gina’s experiences as an organizer and civil rights activist in Los Angeles led her to pursue the law. Gina interned or studied under some of the country’s most respected criminal justice reform organizations and leaders, including the Southern Center for Human Rights, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, Charles Ogletree, Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr., and Soffiyah Elijah. After law school, Gina dedicated herself to working directly with low-income women and families impacted by the criminal justice system. In 2010, she was awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship for her work at NDS. In 2014 Gina won a Soros Justice Fellowship, an Echoing Green Global Fellowship, and a Harvard Public Service Venture Fund Seed Grant in support of her design and launch of Essie Justice Group. Gina was named “Top 14 Women Who Rocked 2014” by Colorlines, and in 2015 was named 2015 JMK Innovation Prize a San Francisco Magazine Soldier of Social Change in their "Women In Power Issue." Gina holds a BA in American Studies and Ethnicity, with a minor in Education, from the University of Southern California and a JD from Harvard Law School. Shelmun Dashan ’13 Shelmun Dashan is a Staff Attorney at Legal Assistance Foundation (LAF), the premier legal services provider for low-income residents of Chicago and its suburbs. Shelmun currently represents tenants in subsidized housing in eviction defense suits, affirmative suits, and to preserve clients' housing subsidies in administrative hearings. After graduation, Shelmun was awarded a Harvard Public Service Venture Fund Fellowship and served as a Fellow at LAF representing low-income clients in a range of consumer protection litigation and advocacy efforts. Shelmun was born in Indiana and lived with her family in Nigeria from ages six through 18. Cari K. Dawson ’93 Cari K. Dawson is a Partner at Alston & Bird LLP, where she chairs the Class Action Practice Team and is Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee. Cari is a creative problem solver, legal strategist and committed advocate, and has an established track record of successfully defending Fortune 500 companies as lead counsel in high-profile litigation nationwide. Cari has defended hundreds of class actions across an array of industries and regularly assists clients in commercial litigation, strategic counseling and crisis management. In 2015, Cari was named one of the country’s “Most Influential Black Lawyers” by Savoy Magazine and a “Woman Worth Watching” by Diversity Journal, and in 2013, the National Law Journal named her one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” In addition to her Harvard Law education, Cari is a graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. 3 Darryl L. DePriest ’79 Darryl L. DePriest is the seventh presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Chief Counsel for the Office of Advocacy. Prior to joining the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, Mr. DePriest was the Senior Consultant for Legal and Regulatory Communications for Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a position he held since 2008. Before joining Hill+Knowlton, Mr. DePriest served as the General Counsel of the American Bar Association from 1988 until 2006. From 1980 to 1988, Mr. DePriest was a litigation attorney at Jenner & Block, where he was named partner in 1987. From 1979 to 1980, he was a judicial law clerk for Judge Robert E. Keeton of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. DePriest has also served as a fellow, board member, and president of Leadership Greater Chicago, and as chair of the City of Chicago Board of Ethics. Mr. DePriest received an AB from Harvard University. Jenée Desmond-Harris ’06 Jenée Desmond-Harris is a John S. Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University, studying ways to enrich journalism about race in America.