Over the past 25 years, Appleseed has had the honor to host an array of incredibly successful individuals on our board of directors. These individuals' careers have ranged from heads of fortune 500 companies to partners in prestigious law firms.
Beverly Allen, Inovalon​
Beverly Allen is the General Counsel, Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary at Inovalon, a technology company that provides cloud-based platforms empowering data-driven healthcare. In this role, Ms. Allen is responsible for the planning, management, execution and oversight of all legal, corporate governance, compliance and privacy matters for Inovalon and its subsidiaries. Previously, Ms. Allen was the Chief Integrity Officer at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., a nationally recognized healthcare provider, and has held various other leadership roles at Booz Allen Hamilton, SRA International, Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Education.  Ms. Allen also serves on the board of directors of Intapp (a provider of cloud-based software for the professional and financial services industries) and My Sister’s Place. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, Legal Ethics Committee and a Vice-Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Health Law Network.
Robert Bachner, Philips Nizer (Founder)
Robert L. Bachner, Founding Member, is Senior Counsel at Phillips Nizer LLP in New York City, concentrating in real estate and trust and estate matters. Mr. Bachner is also a member of the National Council of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Mary Benton, Alston & Bird
​Mary Benton has more than 20 years of experience advocating for taxpayers, negotiating with revenue departments and litigating in court to obtain the best resolution for her clients. She is a frequent speaker at national SALT conferences and symposia. Mary also serves as Alston & Bird's pro bono partner, leading all pro bono and community service efforts firmwide.
Sharie Brown, Troutman Pepper, Retired
Sharie is a trusted advisor, ethics/compliance thought leader, writer, speaker, former international financial fraud/anti-bribery investigator and M & A due diligence reviewer, and a former law firm partner/ practice group leader representing global companies and organizations. She enjoys mentoring students and young lawyers, serving in leadership and board roles for the DC Bar, the University of Pennsylvania, and other organizations; she also enjoys tennis, travel, and the performing arts. Sharie is married to Daniel Taylor and is the proud mother of Paul Taylor.
Brian Boyle, O’Melveny and Myers
Brian Boyle, a partner in O’Melveny’s Washington, DC office, represents financial services companies in class action and other litigation seeking to aggregate consumer and other economic injuries. Mr. Boyle is Chair of the Firm’s Financial Services Practice and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Health Care and Life Sciences Practice. ​​
Pete Davis, Democracy Policy Network
Pete Davis is a civic advocate from Falls Church, Virginia. He is the cofounder of the Democracy Policy Network, a state policy organization focused on raising up ideas that deepen democracy, and the author of Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing.
Lisa Dewey, DLA Piper
Lisa Dewey became DLA Piper's first full-time Pro Bono Partner over 20 years ago. Until 2021, Lisa was the director of New Perimeter, DLA Piper's nonprofit affiliate that provides long-term pro bono legal assistance in under-served regions around the world to support access to justice, social and economic development and sound legal institutions with an overarching focus on women’s advancement. Lisa frequently presents on pro bono and access to justice. She has been a regular speaker at the Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference and has presented at the Equal Justice Conference, the International Bar Association annual meeting, Canadian National Pro Bono Conference, Pyxera's International Corporate Volunteerism Conference, DC Bar Pro Bono Center sessions and at various law schools.
Daniel Dominguez, Latham & Watkins
Daniel Dominguez is Local Co-Chair of the Litigation & Trial Department in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins and a partner in the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice.  Mr. Dominguez’s practice focuses primarily on white collar defense, internal investigations, and enforcement actions by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  He previously served as Associate Counsel to President Barack Obama in the Office of the White House Counsel.  Mr. Dominguez also serves as the Co-Vice Chair of the Firm’s Diversity Leadership Committee.
Gail Erickson, W.R. Grace & Co., Retired
Gail Erickson previously served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of W.R. Grace & Co., a multinational chemical company. Ms. Erickson is currently engaged in civic and philanthropic activities. She retired as a vice chairman of Citizens Union, a good government organization in New York City, a director of Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy, a musical training institution in Brooklyn, and treasurer of Lemur Conservation Foundation, a reserve and research facility in Florida.
Markus Green, Pfizer
Markus Green serves as an Assistant General Counsel for Pfizer, Inc., the world’s largest Pharmaceutical Company. At Pfizer, Mr. Green helps lead the Government Litigation Group of the Legal Department. As part of Government Litigation, Mr. Green works with local, state and federal prosecutors both nationally and internationally in an effort to defend Pfizer’s interest in government initiated litigation and investigations. Mr. Green is also responsible for several special initiatives at Pfizer including Civil Justice Reform, managing the Attorney General Outreach Program and handling Congressional Inquiries and Investigations. Prior to joining Corporate America, Mr. Green spent nearly a decade in public service.
Joseph Hoang, Ankura Consulting
Joseph Hoang, a Senior Managing Director in Ankura Consulting’s Washington, DC office, works with a diversified set of clients across the legal, healthcare and private equity industry, providing data and analytics-driven consulting services on matters involving operations, performance, compliance, and investigations.  Mr. Hoang is part of the Firm’s Data & Technology Practice and specializes in analytics and data strategy services.
Martha Hodgesmith, The University of Kansas, Retired
Martha Hodgesmith is Kansas Appleseed's representative to the National Board. Martha is a retired Professor at the University of Kansas specializing in laws and policies around disabilities and health-related topics. She also served as the Associate Director of the Research and Training Center on Independent Living
David Hurtaldo Badiola, Juaregui y Del Valle, S.C.
David Hurtado Badiola is Mexico Appleseed’s representative to the National Board and Partner at the law firm of Jauregui y Del Valle, S.C. Mr. Hurtado specializes in international trade (including antidumping and countervailing duties regulations), customs law, antitrust, corporate law, commercial law and foreign investment regulations. He has also been a Professor of Administrative Law at the Escuela Libre de Derecho since 1985.
Richard Jerome, Deputy Monitor, NYPD Stop & Frisk Case
Richard Jerome is a civil rights lawyer and expert in police accountability and currently the Deputy Monitor for the NYPD Stop and Frisk case. He has worked with police departments and community groups to audit police departments, review officer-involved shootings and implement best practices. Jerome has also worked at the Pew Charitable Trusts, helping states advance fiscally sound, data-driven sentencing and corrections policies. From 1997 to 2001, he was Deputy Associate Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice, overseeing the work of the Civil Rights Division and the Community Relations Service, as well as coordinating DOJ’s efforts to promote police integrity.
Rob Katz, Latham & Watkins
Robert Katz is a partner in the Corporate Department and member of the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practices. Katz has significant experience advising clients on both negotiated and unsolicited public and private M&A transactions, including tender and exchange offers, leveraged buyouts, takeover defense strategies, joint ventures, divestitures, and cross-border transactions. 
Eric Koenig, Microsoft, Retired
Eric Koenig retired as a lawyer in Washington, DC with expertise in litigation, intellectual property law, and nonprofit management. Mr. Koenig worked for Microsoft from 1991-2001 as a senior attorney in the company’s European office in Paris, France. His responsibilities included intellectual property, antitrust, litigation, trade, and management of legal and corporate affairs in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe.
Rory Leraris, Cravath, Swaine & Moore
​Rory Leraris is a partner in Cravath’s Litigation Department. Her practice focuses on antitrust, M&A, securities and derivative litigation, and other complex commercial disputes. She has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation for her work. She joined Cravath in 2008 and became a partner in 2017. Ms. Leraris holds a JD from Chicago Law School.
Curtis Lu, FTI Consulting
​Curtis Lu serves as FTI Consulting’s General Counsel and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Lu is responsible for all FTI Consulting legal affairs and has 20 years’ experience in senior in-house positions in the internet, financial services, media, and wireless industries.  He began his career at Latham & Watkins as a litigation partner.
Tom McCoy, Strategic Advisor
​Tom McCoy specializes in counseling senior executives and boards of directors at the intersection of high-profile business, legal, regulatory and political challenges and opportunities.  With 40 years of experience as a trial lawyer, public company executive and board member, he most recently served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of CH2M Hill Companies, Ltd.
Dr. Shireen Meer, Berkeley Research Group
Dr. Shireen Meer is an economist and a Director at the Washington DC office of Berkeley Research Group. She applies rigorous economic analysis to litigation and consulting matters.
Dr. Meer has more than 19 years of research, teaching and consulting experience. She is a testifying expert and has submitted multiple expert reports in state and federal courts. Her work has earned her recognition by Who’s Who Legal for four years running. She also has served on arbitration panels for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). 
Mary Morningstar, Lockheed Martin
Mary Morningstar is Associate General Counsel for environmental law with Lockheed Martin Corporation for 24 years. Ms. Morningstar manages much of Lockheed Martin’s existing or potential toxic tort litigation and provides legal counseling and support to the energy, environment, safety, and health department in Bethesda, Maryland.
Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate, Lawyer  (Founder)
Ralph Nader, Founding Member, first made headlines in 1965 with his book, Unsafe at Any Speed, which documented the production of unsafe vehicles by the auto industry. He is responsible for at least eight major federal consumer protection laws, the recall of millions of defective motor vehicles, and a number of other advances in areas of safety, health, pollution control, access to government, and freedom of information. The largest of the organizations which Mr. Nader founded is Public Citizen.
Ralph Petersberger, McDermott, Will & Emery, Retired (Founder)
Ralph Petersberger, Founding Member, is retired from McDermott, Will & Emery’s Washington, DC office, where he specialized in corporate federal tax matters. He now performs legal services for a number of charitable organizations on a pro bono basis.  He has served on the board of trustees of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda.
Bert Pogrebin, Littler Mendelson (Founder)
Bertrand B. Pogrebin, Founding Member, is a shareholder of Littler Mendelson in New York, where he advises and represents many public and fortune 500 private sector employers throughout the country on labor relations and employment law issues. Mr. Pogrebin focuses his practice on corporate compliance related to anti-discrimination laws, the National Labor Relations Act, Title VII, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Jim Rogers, Cars.com
Jim Rogers is the Chief Legal Officer at Cars.com. Prior to joining Cars.com, Jim had General Counsel posts at Orbitz Worldwide and TLC Vision, following a 28-year career as a corporate partner at Latham & Watkins. He holds degrees from Yale, Princeton and Columbia Law School, where he served on the Law Review.
David Schrodt, Chapman and Cutler, Retired
David Schrodt is Chicago Appleseed's representative to the National Board and a former attorney at Chapman and Cutler LLP. David counseled bank legal departments and debt capital markets departments on regulatory and legal risk matters and in designing creative, solution-based, risk appropriate financing structures for different credit and loan market segments and for a wide-variety of industries. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and serves as pro bono counsel for several organizations.
Marc Sherman, Alvarez & Marsal
Marc Sherman is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Disputes and Investigations in Washington, D.C. He specializes in financial fraud, white collar investigations, compliance and governance, M&A and quantum of damages, and has worked across a broad range of industries. Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Sherman was a global practice leader with a publicly held consulting firm and was National Partner-in-Charge of forensic services, Compliance and Ethics, and Regional Partner-in-Charge of Corporate Transactions and Professional Practice Partner for KPMG.
Jonathon Walcoff, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Retired
Jonathan Walcoff is New York Appleseed’s representative to the National Board.  Until his retirement, he was Managing Director & Associate General Counsel of JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he practiced securities, banking and finance law and spent nearly a decade in the Hong Kong and Tokyo offices. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Columbia Law School.
Megan Wright, Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather
Megan Wright is Nebraska Appleseed’s representative to the National Board and Attorney at Cline Williams. Ms. Wright’s litigation practice focuses on complex commercial cases, securities, energy, trademark and intellectual property disputes. Ms. Wright has also represented clients in real estate disputes, including eminent domain and partition proceedings and cases involving internet defamation.
Philip Zeidman, DLA Piper (Founder)
​Philip F. Zeidman, Founding Member, is a partner with DLA Piper US LLP Washington, DC, where he specializes in franchise law. He was a lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission, general counsel of the Small Business Administration and special assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Mr. Zeidman also serves Appleseed as its General Counsel.