Deb has had a successful career in academic administration, serving as Dean, Vice Provost, and Provost of SUNY Empire State College, the statewide SUNY institution designed for adult students. She is currently Professor of Social Science at the college, teaching online in LGBTQ studies and anthropology. She has an extensive scholarly record in anthropology, and spent 20 years studying Swahili and conducting research in East Africa. She is an internationally recognized expert on gender and sexuality in Africa, and she is the recipient of many awards for her scholarship, teaching and service. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Emily joined Brown & Weinraub after several years representing and advocating for a broad range of clients before the New York State legislative and executive branches. Emily’s work focuses on hospital systems, corporations, not-for-profit organizations, and professional associations, with a particular focus on health care. She has advised clients on procurements and helped secure economic development funding for projects. Emily previously served as associate counsel in the New York State Senate Majority Counsel’s office where she advised the Majority Leader and Conference on Insurance and Banking issues. In this role she negotiated legislative and budget priorities with the New York Assembly and Governor’s Office. Her New York State government experience also includes work with the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Division of Parole, and she has spent time working in the nonprofit sector and private legal practice.

Kristen is a partner and Practice Leader of the Professional Excellence Division with The Bonadio Group, the largest public accounting firm in Upstate New York and the 40th largest firm in the US. She has spent her career focused on the audit and accounting needs of a wide variety of clients, specializing in healthcare, not-for-profit organizations and closely held businesses. In addition, she is highly experienced in the areas of quality control, continuing Professional education for CPAs, leadership development, and risk management issues for our professional services firm.

Mishka has worked with Farrell Fritz representing individuals and organizations in legislative and administrative matters. Her clients include organizations involved in health, education, technology and finance. Prior to joining Farrell Fritz, she worked at Shenker Russo and the Healthcare Association of New York. She was a judicial intern in the U.S. District Court and in the US Attorney’s Office in Albany. She has worked in the Health Bureau of the NY Attorney General and has an Advanced Certification in Bioethics from Clarkson University.

Maureen has worked in and around NYS government for the past 26 years. In those years, spent over 13 years working for the New York State Legislature and was recruited to be the Assistant Secretary for Appointments for the Executive Chamber. During her tenure with the New York State Legislature she held myriad positions, progressively advancing her career in the area of policy and management. Maureen has served in a number of key positions including Assistant Secretary for Appointments in the Executive Chamber, Chief of Staff-Democratic Conference NYS Senate, Policy Director-NYS Senate, Vice President of Government Relations for the AMERIGROUP Corp, as a lobbyist with Bolton St. Johns and as Deputy Budget Director for the New York State Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Junior is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who has been working with traditionally marginalized groups and people of color in both the United States and the United Kingdom for the past 17 years. He has worked in the criminal justice, medical, and now educational systems. In some capacity, all of his roles have involved serving those in need. Currently, he is a 4th-year Ph.D. student and adjunct faculty at the University of Rochester's Warner School of Education. He is the current Project Director for Monroe Community College (MCC) in the Academic Services Division. A large part of his role is to remove barriers to student success by creating synergy between existing systems and resources. Junior’s current research focuses on culturally affirming asset-based practices that ameliorate educational struggles that are developed across the life course. His research makes connections between Cultural Capital, Life Course Perspective (LCT), and non-cognitive predictors of academic success.

Mr. Elkowitz has been with the Long Island Housing Partnership since 1989. Mr. Elkowitz is responsible for the overall operation of Long Island Housing Partnership and its Affiliates. He holds a Master of Science Degree in Policy Analysis and Public Management. In June 2002, Mr. Elkowitz completed the Senior Executives Program in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also received the Harry Weiner Distinguished Alumni Award in 1995 and the Governor’s award for Excellence in Housing in 1994. He is a member of the 2007 Class of The Energeia Partnership – The Academy for Regional Stewardship at Molloy College. Currently, he serves on the board of New York Housing Conference, Inc. Mr. Elkowitz served as Chair to the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Affordable Housing Advisory Council and was a former member of the Long Island Regional Planning Council. Mr. Elkowitz now serves as Treasurer on the Board for The National Community Land Trust Network dba Grounded Solutions Network. Mr. Elkowitz was honored as top CFO in 2011 and in 2016 was honored as top CEO by the Long Island Business News.

Prior to her current role as a consultant for organizational development and corporate leadership development, Nancy spent 12 years as the founding Director of The Energeia Partnership, launched in 2005. Also known as the Academy for Regional Stewardship at Molloy College, Energeia brings together proven and ethical leaders across Long Island to provide them with the information, support and the network necessary to help create change. Nancy designed the pedagogy, content and core curriculum for 12 – 15 dynamic workshops every year including: Energy, Land Use, Education, Institutional Racism, Criminal Justice, Health Care, Poverty, Transportation, Media and more. Nancy is the “master facilitator” and continually creates opportunities and parallel programs that teach groups how to work together more efficiently and effectively. Nancy has a diverse background in business, not for profit leadership and has a passion for building community. In addition to her consulting projects she serves as a member of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, the Long Island Community Trust and Pal O Mine Equestrian. With a heart for all people, through education and collaboration, we can all be agents for change.

Juan is currently a Senior Associate at KPMG’s consulting arm where he develops functional business analysis, evaluates IT integration projects and provides mitigation strategies on project risks. Prior to joining KPMG in 2015, Juan was a policy analyst for the New York State Assembly Codes Committee. He has also served as Assistant Press Secretary for Codes and was Committee Clerk for the NYS Senate Standing Committee on Insurance. Juan also worked for a short time with the Albany County Executive’s Office of Health and Human Services.

After clerking for the Honorable Michael A. Telesca in 2017, Daniel joined Harris Beach in 2018 as Senior Associate in the Business and Commercial Division. He is a litigator handling commercial matters and federal and state enforcement actions, prior to moving to Rochester, Dan was a Litigation Associate with Seward & Kissel in New York City where he handled a wide range of commercial matters. His pro bono work includes immigration work (including Special Immigrant Juvenile proceedings) and work with NYLAG on the response to Super Storm Sandy. Dan grew up on the South Side of Chicago and is the son of a former undocumented immigrant sheetrock worker and the first in his Mexican-American mother’s family to attend a university full-time and earn an advanced degree.

Ginette is the founding Director of YAM Community Resource Center on Long Island, a group she created to help community members navigate the world of health, Medicaid and social services benefit. YAM’s primary community focus is the Haitian population, persons with disabilities and seniors in need. Ginette is a founding member of the Long Island Language Advocates Coalition and participates actively in meetings with the Suffolk County Executive offices, county legislators, DSS Commissioners, and other governmental entities. Her work with Empire Justice also includes identifying, referring and working with one of the plaintiffs in our Karamalla law suit. Ginette a Registered Nurse (RN) by training and profession and is a prominent and well-respected member of the Haitian community.

Ms. Sherman is an attorney in the Albany office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where she focuses primarily on Medicaid policy and health care regulatory and compliance matters. Prior to working at Manatt, she served as a clerk for the Appellate Division, Third Department. Ms. Sherman graduated summa cum laude from Albany Law School in 2014 and received her undergraduate degree from SUNY New Paltz. She currently lives in Troy, New York with her husband and children.

Prior to opening his own law office, Dave was a partner in Nixon Peabody's Rochester office where he led the firm’s appellate litigation team and co-led the firm's Indian law and gaming team. He focused his practice in the fields of Indian law litigation and appeals, complex commercial litigation, products liability and insurance. His appellate work includes trial consulting in high-exposure cases, and “mooting” briefs prepared by other appellate counsel. Dave has argued appeals in the New York Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Ninth Circuit and Federal Circuit, and in all four Appellate Division Departments in New York.