I was thrilled to be appointed to SOGI last year on my first try for an appointment. I must say, SOGI makes you feel right at home and quickly finds you an assignment! I’ve been involved in the D&I space for decades. I formerly chaired the Business Law Section’s Diversity Committee. During that time I added an LGBT Subcommittee, and actively worked on the successful inclusion of LGBT lawyers in Business Law’s Fellows Program. I also previously served on the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession and the Commission on Women in the Profession. Given that background, I volunteered right away to be SOGI’s representative to the Pathways to the Profession Project, which grew out of the ABA Diversity and Inclusion 360 Commission. From there, I was appointed Chair of the Metric-Driven Bias Interrupters Project for LGBT Lawyers and Lawyers with Disabilities. This is a multi-year, ground breaking study, conducted by the Burton Blatt Institute, and it’s already been an education for me. I will be so pleased when this work is done and adds LGBT and disability to the research on bias interruption that has already been done on gender, race and ethnicity. I’m also excited about the Ally Toolkit revamp. I think it is so important to have solid training for Allies. In fact, I was just a panelist on a Verizon program for our first National Pride event, where I touted the SOGI Ally Toolkit and generated a great deal of interest from our senior management on Ally training. It’s great when my ABA and work worlds come together.
Happy 10th Anniversary, SOGI! So glad to be here!