JOIN US FOR THE
PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP
26th ANNIVERSARY GALA
Wednesday, September 27
6:00 PM Cocktails | 7:00 PM Dinner
Cipriani 42nd Street, New York City
Gala Countdown
Build a Brighter and Bolder Future With us at the Pro Bono Partnership Gala!
For more than 2.5 decades Pro Bono Partnership has been providing free legal help to nonprofits throughout Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Please join us for a celebration honoring those who have made our mission possible!
Please join us for the year’s most magical celebration of pro bono at Cipriani Midtown on Wednesday, September 27th. In addition to seeing friends and colleagues, you will hear from nonprofits that have been the beneficiaries of this important work, and how legal assistance enabled them to continue meeting needs in our neighborhoods.
Tickets, tables, and sponsorships are available now, and many opportunities have limited availability. Reserve your seat and help us honor our Pro Bono Champions and the Partnership’s work by securing your spot today!
2023 Pro Bono Champions
Corporate Honoree
Chubb North America
Legal & Compliance
Law Firm Honoree
McCarter & English, LLP
Dinner Chairs
Richard Hernandez
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
New York Football Giants
Joseph F. Wayland
EVP, Chubb Group
General Counsel
Jonathan Mothner
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
Synchrony Financial
Board Chair, Pro Bono Partnership
Gala Host:
Gala Program
Get Jazzed!
NEW for 2023, old-school live jazz with the Vance Camisa Jazz Quartet! Vance is not only a talented musician, he’s also a talented volunteer lawyer. When he’s not cranking out toe-tapping rhythms or working at his high-profile in-house attorney day job, Vance makes time to support the Partnership through pro bono work.
Gala guests will be able to experience the Vance Camisa Jazz Quartet’s musical magic at the cocktails and dessert receptions!
Football, Hockey, and Theater Fans:
Make Some Noise at the Silent Auction!
Shop for a great cause! Something for sports fans and theater lovers…whether for yourself or as a gift for someone special, these items will surely be met with applause!
Autographed memorabilia from:
Saquon Barkley
Daniel Jones
Jerome Bettis
P.K. Subban
Damon Severson
Nico Hischier
Broadway enthusiasts:
Two orchestra tickets to SIX The Musical!
Meet Our Supporters
Meet Our Supporters
Chairman
Jonathan Mothner
Executive Vice President,
General Counsel and Secretary
Synchrony Financial
Vice Chairman
Peter A. Gutermann
Corporate Vice President,
Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer
United Technologies (retired)
Vice Chairman
John M. Liftin
Senior Counsel
Fried Frank
President
John L. Sander
Principal-NY Metro
Jackson Lewis P.C.
Treasurer
Ann M. Kappler
Executive Vice President and
General Counsel
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Secretary
Anahaita N. Kotval
Chief Executive Officer
Lifting Up Westchester
Sylvia A. Ayler
Director, Legal
Intellectual Property Group
Merck & Co., Inc.
Evan Charkes
Managing Director and
Associate General Counsel
Bank of America
Eric I Cohen
Corporate Secretary
Infinite Reality, Inc. (retired)
Una A. Dean
VP, Assistant General Counsel
IBM
David Flavell
EVP, General Counsel and
Corporate Secretary
PepsiCo
John Frantz
Senior Vice President &
General Counsel
Verizon Business Group
Daniel J. Goldstein
Executive Vice President,
Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
Pitney Bowes
Rady Johnson
Executive Vice President,
Chief Compliance and Risk Officer
Pfizer Inc.
Cathy Lueders
Assistant General Counsel,
SVP – Global Government Contracting
Mastercard
Gregory Nehro
General Counsel – Americas
BNY Mellon
Alicia Perrault
Vice President and General Counsel
Pratt & Whitney
Scott Posner
Senior Vice President,
General Counsel and Secretary
Terex Corporation
Edward J. Sebold
General Counsel
Kyndryl
Richard H. Walker
Partner
King & Spalding
Director Emeritus
Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr.
Distinguished Senior Fellow
Program on the Legal Profession
Harvard Law School
PRESENTING SPONSORS
LEAD SPONSORS
BENEFACTORS
PATRONS
BNY Mellon
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Davis+Gilbert LLP
Dentons US LLP
Hueston Hennigan LLP
Jackson Lewis P.C.
Jenner & Block LLP
Kennedys Law LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
London Fischer LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
McCarter & English, LLP
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
PepsiCo
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Verizon
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
PARTNERS
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Bartlit Beck LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Cozen O’Connor P.C.
Day Pitney LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Dechert LLP
Deloitte LLP
Demarais LLP
DLA Piper LLP (US)
Emmet, Marvin & Martin, LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
IBM Corporation
Jones Day
King & Spalding LLP
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Mastercard
McGuireWoods LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Pitney Bowes
Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga, LLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
White and Williams LLP
Williams & Connolly LLP
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
SUPPORTERS
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Baker McKenzie LLP
Clyde & Co
Covington & Burling LLP
Duane Morris LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
Diane and Rady Johnson
K&L Gates LLP
Ann Kappler and Mark Herlihy
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Eve Konstan and Jonathan Mothner
SPONSORS
Baker Botts LLP
Bank of America
Barclay Damon LLP
Jim Berry and Kate LaQuay
Blank Rome LLP
Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C.
Brown Rudnick LLP
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Gail and Eric Cohen
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Una Dean
Epiq
Effe and David Flavell
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP
Fredrikson & Byron P.A.
Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP
Goodwin Procter LLP
Cynthia and Peter Gutermann
Anahaita Kotval and Zubeen Shroff
LexisNexis
John M. Liftin
Cathy Lueders
Mullen Coughlin LLC
Munck Wilson Mandala LLP
Gregory Nehro
Mark and Joni Nordstrom
Scott Posner
Grace and John L. Sander
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Spotify
Juli Steadman and Evan Charkes
Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox PLLC
Terex Corporation
Thompson Hine LLP
Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Venable LLP
Richard H. Walker
Wotton + Kearney
ASSOCIATES
Association of Corporate Counsel New Jersey
Deutsche Bank
Dun & Bradstreet
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Getz Balich LLC
Lee and Li
Littler Mendelson P.C.
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Stephanie Pendall and John Frantz
Alicia Perrault
Laura Sklar and Daniel J. Goldstein
CONTRIBUTORS
Alexi Assmus
Avidd Community Services of New Jersey
Sylvia A. Ayler
Robin Davies-Small
Hudson Pride Center
Christopher Miller
Martey Rhine
Steven Wolfe
As of 9/20/23
DINNER CHAIRS
Richard Hernandez
New York Football Giants
Joseph F. Wayland
Chubb Group
VICE CHAIRS
Sylvia A. Ayler
Merck & Co., Inc.
Rady Johnson
Pfizer Inc.
Raja Maharajh
RTX Corporation
James McGuire
Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP
Jonathan Mothner
Synchrony Financial
James Rouhandeh
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Scott Sanpietro
Chubb North America Legal & Compliance
Steering Committee
Lorie E. Almon
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Spiro Bantis
London Fischer LLP
Joseph T. Boccassini
McCarter & English, LLP
Joshua R. Cammaker
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Arlene Chow
Latham & Watkins LLP
Peter Eyre
Crowell & Moring LLP
David Flavell
PepsiCo
John Frantz
Verizon
Andrew Gerlach
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Sandra Hauser
Dentons US LLP
John Hueston
Hueston Hennigan LLP
Matthew D. Ingber
Mayer Brown LLP
Constantine Karides
Reed Smith LLP
Brad S. Karp
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Matthew M. Kelly
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Kevin G. Lauri
Jackson Lewis P.C.
James R. Levine
Davis+Gilbert LLP
Gregg F. LoCascio
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Lori A. Martin
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Jami Wintz McKeon
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Gregory Nehro
BNY Mellon
Joseph Noga
Jenner & Block LLP
Kristen Perkins
Kennedys Law LLP
Jonathan Rosenberg
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Richard I. Werder, Jr.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
Jonathan Youngwood
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
GALA PLANNING COMMITTEE
Eric I Cohen
Infinite Reality, Inc.
Una Dean
IBM Corporation
Daniel J. Goldstein
Pitney Bowes
Rady Johnson
Pfizer
Ann Kappler
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Jonathan Mothner
Synchrony Financial
Volunteers of the Year
Special thanks to our Volunteers of the Year (VOTY)! We are proud to celebrate the dedication and commitment of outstanding volunteers from each of our program areas in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. These longtime Partnership volunteers have collectively addressed hundreds of nonprofit legal matters that have made tremendous impact on our communities.
Congratulations VOTY Honorees
Marvin Campbell
Senior Vice President & Chief Business Development Counsel
Synchrony Financial
Day Pitney LLP
Terri Freeman
Assistant General Counsel for Compliance
Employment & Privacy, BASF
Michael F. McNamee
Director & EAC Compliance & Operational Risk Manager
Bank of America
Michele Vaillant
Partner
McCarter & English, LLP
Ann Zucker
Partner
Carmody, Torrance, Sandak, & Hennessey LLP
Congratulations VOTY25 honorees:
Mark Benevenia, Esq. & Vance G. Camisa, Esq.
Merck Legal Department
Susan M. Corcoran, Esq.
Jackson Lewis P.C.
George Nichols, Esq.
The Ferguson Library (Retired)
With Your Support,
Pro Bono Partnership
Can Continue to
Strengthen Nonprofits!
Make a Donation in Their Honor
Did you know that you can make a donation to Pro Bono Partnership in honor of one of our Pro Bono Champions, a volunteer, or another deserving person in your life? Thank you for supporting the Partnership’s mission!
Jonathan Mothner is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF), a premiere consumer financial services company with more than $140 billion in sales financed and over 80 million active accounts. Synchrony Financial spun off from GE Capital in 2014. Prior to 2014, Mr. Mothner served in various legal roles at GE Capital including General Counsel for GE Capital’s North American retail finance business, Chief Litigation Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for GE Capital’s global consumer finance business and Chief Litigation Counsel for GE Commercial Finance. Prior to joining GE Capital, Mr. Mothner served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. Prior to joining the government, Mr. Mothner was an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York and Tokyo. Mr. Mothner serves on the Board of Directors of Synchrony Bank, the Synchrony Foundation and the Pro Bono Partnership and is a member of the American Law Institute. He received a B.A. in Economics from Hobart College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. He and his wife, Eve Konstan, the General Counsel of Spotify, live in Greenwich CT.
Ari Melber, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, writer, and attorney, is the host of “The Beat with Ari Melber” on MSNBC. We are honored to have Mr. Melber hosting the Gala again this year!