Partnership Makes it Possible.
Partnership Makes Us Stronger.
Join us for a celebration honoring all of those who make pro bono possible! This live-stream event will shine a light on some of the wonderful things that have happened in the last year in our communities, and the nonprofits and volunteer lawyers that make this work possible. Our 24th anniversary year has been like no other, and it has also been hope-filled, with many examples of how pro bono work empowers nonprofits, and improves neighborhoods.
Meet the 2021 Pro Bono Champions:
Law Firm Honoree
Corporate Honoree
Meet the Gala Chairs:
Jonathan Mothner
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
Synchrony Financial
Board Chair, Pro Bono Partnership
Gala Host:
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
Chairman
Jonathan Mothner
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Synchrony Financial
Vice Chairman
Peter A. Gutermann
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary (Ret.)
Barnes Group, Inc.
Vice Chairman
John M. Liftin
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
(Formerly General Counsel and Managing Director, D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P.)
President
John L. Sander
Jackson Lewis P.C.
(Formerly Vice President & Associate General Counsel, Merck & Co., Inc.)
Secretary
Anahaita N. Kotval
Chief Executive Officer
Lifting Up Westchester
(Formerly General Counsel, RBS Securities)
Treasurer
Ann M. Kappler
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Sylvia A. Ayler
Director, Legal
Intellectual Property Group
Merck & Co., Inc.
Evan Charkes
Managing Director and Associate General Counsel
Global Wealth & Investment Management
Bank of America
Eric I Cohen
Executive Vice President & Corporate Secretary (General Counsel)
tsu Inc.
Una A. Dean
VP, Assistant General Counsel, Investigations
IBM
Burt M. Fealing
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Southwire Company
David Flavell
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
PepsiCo
John P. 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
Candace Kronholm
Vice President and General Counsel
Pratt & Whitney
Cathy Lueders
Assistant General Counsel, SVP – US Markets
Mastercard
Greg Nehro
General Counsel – Americas
BNY Mellon
Scott Posner
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Terex Corporation
Edward J. Sebold
Vice President and Assistant General Counsel: Watson Health and
Global Head of Litigation
IBM Corporation
Richard H. Walker
King & Spalding, LLP
(Formerly Vice Chairman, Deutsche Bank AG)
David Yawman
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary (former)
PepsiCo
Director Emeritus
Benjamin W. Heineman Jr.
Distinguished Senior Fellow
Program on the Legal Profession
Harvard Law School
PRESENTING SPONSOR
LEAD SPONSORS
BENEFACTORS
PATRONS
PARTNERS
Bartlit Beck LLP
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
Carpenter Lipps & Leland LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Dechert LLP
Emmet, Marvin & Martin, LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Jones Day
King & Spalding, LLP
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
McCarter & English LLP
Pitney Bowes
Strook & Strook & Lavan LLP
Verizon
Williams & Connolly LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
ADVOCATES
Africare
Baker Botts LLP
Baker McKenzie
Bank of America
Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP
Chubb
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
DLA Piper LLP
Diane and Rady Johnson
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Eve Konstan and Jonathan Mothner
Cathy Lueders
Mintz
Neal Gerber Eisenberg
Proskauer
Robinson & Cole LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
Venable LLP
ASSOCIATES
Alston & Bird LLP
Bruce and Veronica Bennett
Blank Rome LLP
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Butler Snow LLP
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Day Pitney LLP
Brian and Melissa DuPerre
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP
Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP
Ann Kappler and Mark Herlihy
Anahaita N. Kotval and Zubeen Shroff
Greg and Diana Nehro
Gwen and Del Renigar
Grace and John Sander
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
Steptoe & Johnson, LLP
Terex Corporation
CONTRIBUTORS
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Gail and Eric Cohen
Dentons US LLP
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Dun & Bradstreet
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
Figari and Davenport LLP
David and Effe Flavell
Katherine Lipton and Alex Lipman
Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP
Robins Kaplan LLP
Ed and Diane Sebold
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox
Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial, LLC
FRIENDS
Sylvia Ayler
Beveridge & Diamond PC
Mary Jane Brock
Cantor Colburn LLP
Catherine V. Curry
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
Evan Charkes and Juli Steadman
Patricia Ferrari and Andrew Janszky
John P. Frantz
Richard Grove
Gunster
Cynthia and Peter Gutermann
Leelee Smith Klein
Candace and Justin Kronholm
Sarah Monaghan
New Jersey Devils
Matthew Nimetz
Edward Pardoe
Paul Hastings LLP
Scott Posner
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Laura Sklar and Daniel J. Goldstein
Geoffrey Smith
TÖST Beverages
Thompson Hine LLP
Uría Menéndez
As of September 29, 2021
VICE CHAIRS
Sylvia A. Ayler
Merck & Co., Inc.
Neil Barr
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Joshua R. Cammaker
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Brian DuPerre
UnitedHealth Group
Rady Johnson
Pfizer Inc
Rachel Lieberman
Synchrony Financial
Michael Nonaka
Covington & Burling LLP
Steering Committee
Brian Boyle
O’Melveny & Myers, LLP
Ting S. Chen
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
David Flavell
PepsiCo
Matthew Ingber
Mayer Brown LLP
Frank R. Jimenez
Raytheon Technologies
Constantine Karides
Reed Smith LLP
Candace A. Kronholm
Pratt & Whitney,
a Raytheon Technologies Company
Kevin G. Lauri
Jackson Lewis P.C.
Cathy Lueders
Mastercard
Jami Wintz McKeon
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Gregory Nehro
BNY Mellon
Raymond N. Nimrod
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
Joseph L. Noga
Jenner & Block LLP
Edward J. Sebold
IBM Corporation
Geoffrey Sigler
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Drew Tulumello
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Steven J. Williams
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
GALA PLANNING COMMITTEE
Sylvia A. Ayler
Merck & Co., Inc.
Brian DuPerre
UnitedHealth Group
Daniel J. Goldstein
Pitney Bowes
Anahaita Kotval
Lifting Up Westchester
Volunteers of the Year
Dedicated volunteers are the reason Pro Bono Partnership is able to provide essential legal services to tristate-area nonprofits free of charge. We are thrilled to honor our 6 VOTY recipients and to share their inspiring stories at the Gala!
Pandemic Response Award Honorees
Nonprofits faced incredible challenges related to the pandemic. We are proud to have provided expert counsel to help so many nonprofits navigate the changing landscape. We are pleased to honor three outstanding partners with our Pandemic Response Award.
PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT NOW MORE THAN EVER.
Your generous contribution will help the Partnership continue to provide critical legal services to nonprofit organizations throughout the tristate region. It’s easy to pledge your support through Givergy, a trusted partner of some of the biggest charities in the U.S.
EXPLORE OUR WORK
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!