PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP
25th ANNIVERSARY GALA
Thursday, September 22
6:30 PM Cocktails | 7:30 PM Dinner
Cipriani 42nd Street, New York City
Celebrating Stronger Nonprofits & Communities
With the RETURN of the Pro Bono Partnership Gala!
For 25 years the 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 this milestone possible!
We are excited to welcome you back to the year’s most magical celebration of pro bono at Cipriani Midtown on September 22. In addition to seeing friends and colleagues in person, we will hear from nonprofits that have been the beneficiaries of this important work, and how legal assistance—always a necessity—became an integral part of continuing to provide critical services during the pandemic.
Tickets, tables, and sponsorships are available now, and many opportunities have limited availability. To reserve your seat and help us honor our Pro Bono Champions and the Partnership’s work, secure your spot today!
25th Anniversary
Pro Bono Champions
Law Firm Honoree
Eric J. Friedman
Executive Partner
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Corporate Honoree
IBM Corporation
Law Department
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
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)
Infinite Reality, Inc.
Una A. Dean
VP, Assistant General Counsel, Investigations
IBM
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
Cathy Lueders
Assistant General Counsel, SVP – US Markets
Mastercard
Greg 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
King & Spalding, LLP
(Formerly Vice Chairman, Deutsche Bank AG)
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
Centerview Partners
Crowell & Moring LLP
Davis+Gilbert LLP
Dentons US LLP
Alan and Kim Hartman
Hueston Hennigan LLP
Jackson Lewis P.C.
Jenner & Block LLP
King & Spalding, LLP
Eve Konstan and Jonathan Mothner
Latham & Watkins LLP
Mastercard
Pitney Bowes
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
WilmerHale
PARTNERS
Anonymous
Arnold & Porter
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Bartlit Beck LLP
Bressler, Amery & Ross
Cerussi & Spring PC
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Covington & Burling LLP
Day Pitney LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Dechert LLP
Deloitte
Desmarais LLP
DLA Piper LLP
Emmet, Marvin & Martin, LLP
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
FTI Consulting
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Gladstone Place Partners
Holland & Knight LLP
Innisfree M&A Incorporated
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Diane and Rady Johnson
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
McCarter & English LLP
Nasdaq
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Grace and John L. Sander
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Verizon
Winston & Strawn LLP
Yetter Coleman LLP
SUPPORTERS
Accenture
Bank of America
Blank Rome LLP
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Chubb
Gail and Eric I Cohen
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
EPIC
Epiq
Effe and David Flavell
Chris French
Eric Friedman
Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP
Ann Kappler and Mark Herlihy
Kilpatrick Townsend
Anahaita N. Kotval & Zubeen Shroff
LexisNexis
Terri and John Liftin
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP
Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
Suiter Swantz IP
Terex Corporation
Thompson Hine LLP
Venable LLP
Yawman Family Foundation
John Zecca
SPONSORS
Cynthia and Peter A. Gutermann
Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore
Littler
Cathy Lueders
Alicia Perrault
Diane and Edward J. Sebold
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Laura Sklar and Daniel J. Goldstein
Gregory Nehro
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Juli Steadman and Evan Charkes
Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox
ASSOCIATES
Mark Abate
Jeff Arnold
Beveridge & Diamond PC
Butler Snow LLP
Tracey L. Chenoweth
Chuhak & Tecson, P.C.
Susan Corcoran
Una A. and Andrew Dean
Deutsche Bank
Dun & Bradstreet
Epstein Becker Green
Faegre Drinker
Getz Balich LLC
Gibbons P.C.
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Thomas Quinn
Stephanie Pendall and John P. Frantz
David Rievman
Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner, P.A.
Peter Serating
Nate Siegel
Snell & Wilmer LLP
Jeni Wallace
Earle Yaffa
CONTRIBUTORS
Gina Abramo
Umer Ali
America Amputee Soccer Association
Stephen Arcano
Avidd Community Service of New Jersey
Brian Ashby
Sylvia Ayler and Barry Porterfield
Jon Bancone
Christopher Barlow
Megan Barnhill
Roland Barral
Sarah Benowich
Charles Biener
Stacey Blaustein
Bryan Bortnick
Peter Brensilver
Wendy Butler
Erika Cagney
Holly Camisa
Marvin N. Campbell
Center for Great Expectations
Terri Chase
Erin and Alex Childs
Paul Clancy
Amanda Conway
Ken Corsello
Ron Crawley
Eddie Cruz-Desintonio
Meredith Curreri
Lauren Curry
Courtney Darts
Ricky Davis
Lee DeJulius
Danielle Do
Ed Donohoe
Jonathan Ira Ezor
David Fisher
Elizabeth Fountain
Jason Friedman
Tiff Gallagher
Jennifer Gibli
Rebecca Gilliam
Melissa Gold
Mark Goldstein
Edward Gramling
Anthony Grimaldi
Bob Guida
Elena Hadjimichael
Marcy Hart
Mary Ellen Hass
Katherine Hughes
Idealist.org
James Jones
Stephen Juris
Sudha Kantor
Joann Mazur Kielblock
Henry Klehm
Temi Kolarova
Eric Lamberg
David Lebowitz
Marcia Levy
Ryan Lewis
Daniel Loskove
Traci Lovitt
Jessica Markowitz
Isha McCalla
Hailey McDonnell
Ari Melber
Sean Mersten
Christina Montgomery
Priya Morganstern
Peter Moskowitz
Rachel Nash
Norwescap
Pause to Thrive
James Pierre-Glaude
Jamie Pierre-Louis
April Plana
Alison Plenge
Michele and Scott Posner
Matt Rich
Brian Riewerts
Katie Rogers
Jordan Romanoff
Bruce Rosenthal
Marc Rothenberg
Jennifer Stewart
Maurice Segall
Jim Shapiro
Roma Sharma
Leah Siesfeld
Ruthie Siesfeld
Laura Skrief
Deborah Sloan
Stamford Land Conservation Trust
Daniel Stoll
Jason Stoll
Rob Stone
Suffolk County Women’s Business Enterprise Coalition Inc.
Trauma Recovery
Jeremy Turk
Lisa Ulrich
Hank Walther
Dana Weisbrod
Mark Wincek
Joel Wolfson
Christina Woods
Kristina Yost
Michael Zeidel
Jill Zellmer
As of 9/7/22
DINNER CHAIRS
Michelle H. Browdy
Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, and General Counsel
IBM Corporation
Alan P. Hartman
Senior Partner
Centerview Partners LLC
John Zecca
Executive VP and Chief Legal Risk and Regulatory Officer
Nasdaq
VICE CHAIRS
Sylvia A. Ayler
Merck & Co., Inc.
Una Dean
IBM Corporation
David Flavell
PepsiCo
Eric J. Friedman
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Alan Hartman
Centerview Partners
Rady Johnson
Pfizer Inc
Jones Day
Raja Maharajh
Raytheon Technologies
David Marriot
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Jonathan Mothner
Synchrony Financial
Alicia Perrault
Pratt & Whitney
James P. Rouhandeh
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Steven J. Williams
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Steering Committee
James Brandt
Latham & Watkins LLP
Joshua R. Cammaker
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Crowell & Moring LLP
Brian J. Fahrney
Sidley Austin LLP
Daniel J. Goldstein
Pitney Bowes
Sandra D. Hauser
Dentons US LLP
Hueston Hennigan LLP
Kevin Lauri
Jackson Lewis P.C.
James R. Levine
Davis+Gilbert LLP
Cathy Lueders
Mastercard
Perry A. Napolitano
Reed Smith LLP
Gregory Nehro
BNY Mellon
Joseph L. Noga
Jenner & Block LLP
Howard M. Shapiro
WilmerHale
Drew Tulumello
Weil, Gotshal & Manges Manges LLP
Richard H. Walker
King & Spalding LLP
Richard I. Werder, Jr.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, 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
For the Partnership’s silver anniversary, we are thrilled to build on our Volunteers of the Year (VOTY) award to honor our VOTY25! Celebrating the dedication and commitment of one amazing volunteer (or volunteer team) from each of our program areas, the VOTY25 have collectively addressed hundreds of nonprofit legal matters that have had a tremendous positive impact on our communities.
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, VOTY25, or someone else
deserving in your life? Thank you for supporting
the Partnership’s mission!
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!