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Membership | Biographies | Debate Leadership Committee
Board Bios
John Sexton was named the 15th president of New York University in 2002, after serving as Dean of NYU’s School of Law for 14 years. President Sexton, who holds a BA and a PhD in Religion from Fordham University, graduated magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School in 1979. He is a scholar of the Supreme Court, the federal court system, and the First Amendment, with a special concentration on issues affecting church and state. He spent 10 years as Special Master Supervising Pretrial Proceedings in the Love Canal litigation. Having served as a Law Clerk to the late US Chief Justice Warren Burger, he joined NYU as an associate professor of law in 1981, was granted tenure in 1983, and now is the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus of the Law School. In addition to writing numerous books, articles, and Supreme Court briefs, President Sexton is co-author of a book on civil procedure that is the most widely used legal text on any subject. He has also written books on managing the federal court system, jury instructions, and a non-lawyer's guide to the Constitution. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and is Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of New York.
Bonnie Copeland is the Chief Executive Officer of Baltimore Public City Schools . A Baltimore resident for nearly 25 years, her work in public education has earned her local, regional, and national recognition as a leader in public school reform. From 1999 through 2003, Dr. Copeland served as President and Executive Director of the Fund for Educational Excellence, an organization dedicated to improving educational opportunities and student achievement in urban public schools. While President of the fund, she supported the establishment of the Baltimore Urban Debate League. From 1994 to 1999, Dr. Copeland served as Executive Vice President of the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), a public policy organization of business and civic leaders, whose mission is to improve the business climate of the Baltimore region. Prior to joining the GBC, Dr. Copeland spent four years as Deputy State Superintendent of Schools at the Maryland State Department of Education. Twice named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women, Dr. Copeland is an active member of the community. She sits on a number of volunteer boards, including the Hippodrome Foundation, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the University of Maryland (College Park) School of Education Advisory Board. From 1997–1999, Dr. Copeland served as Vice Chair of the New Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, appointed by the Governor of Maryland and Mayor of Baltimore City as a result of legislation to restructure the Baltimore City Public School System through a city-state partnership. Dr. Copeland earned her Ph.D. from St. Louis University, and her Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from Miami University Oxford, Ohio.
MichaelJ.Critelli, CEO of Pitney Bowes, graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s in communications and political science, before earning a JD cum laude from Harvard University. He has spent 25 years at Pitney Bowes in key capacities: Vice Chairman, President—Financial Services, Secretary and General Counsel, and Chief Personnel Officer. Since becoming Chairman in 1997, he has been instrumental in leading the $900 billion mailing industry’s efforts to articulate and promote its interests. Under Critelli’s leadership, Pitney Bowes has been honored repeatedly as a humane, ethical workplace: “Top 25 Companies for Executive Women”— Working Woman magazine; “100 Best Corporate Citizens”—Business Ethics magazine; “Green Lights Partner of the Year”—US Environmental Protection Agency; to name a few. Critelli has given advice on postal reform to the US House of Representatives and Senate, as well as to the President’s Commission on the Postal Service and the US Postal Service Transformation Plan, and has been awarded four US patents for mailing technology. In addition, he currently serves as chairman of the board for three non-profit organizations: the National Urban League Board of Trustees, the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21 st century, and Boston University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Advisory Board. Critelli will be award the Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa.
Lauri W. Sawyer is a litigation attorney for Simpson Thacher and Bartlett LLP. She has clerked for the Hon. Robert G. Doumar, U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Virginia, 1998-1999 and the Hon. Anthony A. Aliamo, U.S. District Judge, Southern District of Georgia, 1997-1998. She holds a BA from the University of Denver and graduated cum laude from the University of Washington with an M.A.I.S. She received her JD magna cum laude from the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law where she was on the Law Review and served as the Notes and Comments Editor, 1995-1997. Shee was a high school and college debater and has assisted a number of high school and college teams.
Robert M. Shrum , a longtime political strategist and speechwriter, is a senior fellow at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service where he is pursue teaching and writing. Mr. Shrum was Senior Advisor to the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004 and Gore-Lieberman in 2000. The May, 2004, Atlantic Monthly described him as “the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party.” As a consultant, he has served as a Senior Adviser to the British Labour Party in the 1992, 2001, and 2005 Parliamentary campaigns, to Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel, to the Prime Minister of Ireland and to the Presidents of Columbia and Bolivia. As a student Georgetown, he was named the nation’s top college debater, and at Harvard he was the winner of the Ames Competition for the best appellate advocacy at the law school. Mr. Shrum has been a fellow of the Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University and has taught at Yale and Boston College. Mr. Shrum was the principal speechwriter to Senator George McGovern in the 1972 Democratic campaign for President. Subsequently, he served as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. Mr. Shrum served as Press Secretary to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1980 to 1984, and he was the Senator’s principal speechwriter during and after the 1980 presidential campaign. As a journalist, Mr. Shrum’s work appeared in New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The New Republic, among other publications. He was a columnist for the Microsoft on-line magazine Slate. He has written for both political and commercial television, including “The Emmy Awards,” “The American Film Institute Life Achievement Awards” on CBS, and the Emmy Award-winning and Peabody Award-winning “Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts” on CBS. As a consultant, Mr. Shrum conceived and implemented the strategy fo advertising (T.V., radio, print) for twenty-six winning U.S. Senate campaigns; eight winning campaigns for Governor; the Mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, Dade County and San Francisco, and the Democratic Leader of the United States House of Representatives. Mr. Shrum also worked with President Clinton on his State of the Union messages and as a consultant during the 1998 mid-term election.
Richard G. Garrett is a Principal Shareholder and serves as General Counsel to the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., where he is responsible for the world-wide legal affairs of the firm. For eight years he was Chairman of the Litigation Department. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Emory University, and his J.D., from Emory University School of Law where he served as editor of the Law Review. He has been a member of the law firm's Executive Committee. His legal career spans 31 years during which time he has handled complex commercial litigation practice, including matters before the United States Supreme Court.
Pam Spiliadis is the founding Executive Director of the Baltimore Urban Debate League. She earned her undergraduate degree from Brandeis University with a dual major in Psychology and African and African-American Studies. When Pam arrived as a transplant in Baltimore 15 years ago she decided to get to know the city and its young people by taking a job as a caseworker in Mark Shriver’s Choice Program. As Pam worked as round the clock mentor and advocate for young people inside the city’s schools and juvenile justice system she got to know first hand the devastation and destruction that poverty, drug addiction and lack of educational opportunities can have on neighborhoods and families. After Choice and upon receiving her Masters Degree from the University of Maryland’s School of Social Work, Pam had the honor of being the first student from her program accepted to the prestigious Presidential Management Fellows Program where she had an opportunity to explore her interest in public policy. In this position Pam worked for the Federal Government in the Health Care Finance Administration’s Medicaid bureau on issues of maternal and child health. In 1996 Pam left the federal government and returned to direct service taking a position as a school social worker in the Baltimore City Public School System. For the last 7 years Pam has very happily channeled her passion for social justice, education and community and youth development with the students and teachers of the Baltimore Urban Debate League, the most rewarding work she has ever done.
Denmark West has a proven track record of formulating winning strategies, investments and partnerships. He was most recently the Manager of Strategic Planning and Investment Governance and acting Chief of Staff for the Windows Client Division at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, WA. In that position, West supported the both the head of the Windows Client Business Group and its CFO, and played central roles in the analysis of investment opportunities and long range planning development. In his career at Microsoft, spanning six years, he held a number of positions in which he helped to drive a numerous of strategic initiatives, investments and partnerships to help Microsoft expand into and grow within new consumer avenues including console gaming, digital media and interactive TV. Prior to his work at Microsoft, West worked in Distressed Securities trading in the Fixed Income Division at Goldman, Sachs and Co. Prior to his work at Goldman, West worked in Investment Banking focused on Entertainment, Communications and Technology for Brenner Securities Corporation and Smith Barney. He received both an AB and an MBA from Harvard University.
Joyce Shortt is currently the Co-Director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College. Shortt directs and staffs several projects designed to improve the quantity and quality of out-of-school time opportunities for children in urban areas. Current projects include MARS: the Massachusetts Afterschool Research Study, a study linking afterschool program features and youth outcomes, an investigation of supports and opportunities in out of school time for high school youth, and participation in the America Connects project (connecting high school youth, schools and community technology centers). Shortt continues to facilitate the Cross-Cities Network for Leaders of Citywide After-school Initiatives and CityWorks. These two related projects aim to increase the knowledge base of leaders of large scale citywide after school initiatives and within those cities, to identify promising practices in the development of infrastructures that support after school programs. Shortt recently completed a strategic planning process to build a skilled and stable workforce for after school programs. These projects build on the MOST Initiative, a seven-year initiative to improve out-of-school time opportunities for low-income children in Boston, Chicago and Seattle, also directed by Shortt. Prior to1992 and working at NIOST, Shortt has held a variety of positions in the early childhood and out-of-school time fields. Her work has involved direct service to children and families, program planning, policy, administration and advocacy. Shortt holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.Ed. University of Massachusetts
Lawrence J. La Sala is the Assistant General Counsel for Textron, Inc. He graduated cum laude with a BA from Amherst College and cum laude with a JD from Fordham University. Larry clerked for the Hon. Alfred J. Lechner, Jr., U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey. In the early 1990s, he was admitted to both the New York and New Jersey bar associations. From 1993-2002, he worked on commercial litigation at the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP. His responsibilities include Commercial Litigation; Business Litigation; Products Liability Litigation; Toxic Torts.
Isaac D. Castillo has over eight years experience managing research and evaluation projects including both primary and secondary research and evaluation on effective methods to improve the lives of youth, and the quality of education provided to our nation’s high school students. He has completed evaluations for the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the State of Georgia’s Southeast Regional Mental Health, Developmental Disorders, and Addictive Diseases Office, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Youth Violence Prevention / Youth Development Initiative. Isaac also worked on an evaluation for a National Science Foundation project focused on improving science and mathematics education at the kindergarten through twelfth grade levels and as well as a study on successful superintendent practices to increase student achievement for the American Association of School Administrators. He worked closely with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health to gain a larger understanding of how states deal with public health issues that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority populations such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, infant mortality, homicide, suicide, and unintentional injuries.
Will Baker is the Chief Executive Officer of the IMPACT Coalition, an educational development nonprofit organization. His work with IMPACT has received accolades in the NY Times, US News & World Report, the Nonprofit Times and the Christian Science Monitor. As head of Baker Consulting Services International, he has provided management consulting services to foundations, corporations, United Nation agencies and nearly one hundred nonprofit organizations. He is a Past President of the Committee of Religious Non-Governmental Organizations at the United Nations and serves as the Alternate UN Representative for the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF). Will was elected president of the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA), the largest intercollegiate organization sponsoring policy debate. He is a former Assembly District Leader for the 27th District in Queens. Mr. Baker teaches argumentation and debate at New York University in the Culture & Communication Department of the Steinhardt School of Education and coaches the NYU Cross Examination Debate Association team. He has been honored as the top intercollegiate debate coach in the country with the Don Brownlee Award for Excellence in Coaching (1999) and the Lucy Keele National Debate Tournament Award (2004). He was a finalist in the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World competition and is a past winner of the Paul Slappy Award for Diversity and the Barkley Forum Award for Distinguished Service. He is listed in the Marquis Who's Who in the World.
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