2026 Planning Committee

Executive Committee Members

Chair
Christina Roupas
Cooley LLP

Vice Chair
Eric Orsic
McDermott Will & Schulte LLP

Members
Patrick Belville
Formerly Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, ANSYS, Inc., Dublin, OH

C. Stephen Bigler
Richards Layton & Finger, PA, Wilmington, DE

Cathy Birkeland
Latham & Watkins LLP

Jessica Garascia
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, AAR Corp.

Robert Goedert
Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Alexander May
Jenner & Block LLP

Pravin Rao
Perkins Coie LLP

Brandon Smith
Executive Vice President and General Counsel, CHS Inc., St. Paul, MN

Thuy Vo
Chief Counsel, Corporate, Securities and M&A, and Assistant Secretary, Archer-Daniels-Midland Company

Andrew Weil
DLA Piper LLP (US)

Richard Witzel Jr.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Steering Committee Members (Former Institute Chairs)

Claudia Allen
KPMG

Andrew Brownstein
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, New York City

Keith Crow
Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Thomas Desmond
Vedder Price

Brian Fahrney
Sidley Austin LLP

Bradley Faris
Latham & Watkins LLP

Joseph Gromacki
Jenner & Block LLP

Robert Hayward
Kirkland & Ellis LLP

John Kelsh
Sidley Austin LLP

Charles Mulaney Jr.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Amy Seidel
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Minneapolis

Jodi Simala
Mayer Brown LLP

Planning Committee Members

Ismail Alsheik
Chief Legal Officer, Vantage Data Centers, Denver

Peter Barack
Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP

Tom Bohac
Troutman Pepper Locke LLP

Karessa Cain
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York City

Patrick Daugherty
Foley & Lardner LLP

Michael DeFranco
Baker McKenzie

Jessica Fairchild
Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres LLC

Hannah Fregolle
Jones Day

Michael Froy
Dentons

Karl Groskaufmanis
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, Washington, DC

David Kaufman
Thompson Coburn LLP

William Kucera
Mayer Brown LLP

Christine Long
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Indianapolis

David McHugh
ArentFox Schiff LLP

Ryan Morrison
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c, Milwaukee

Dotun Obadina
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York City

Andrea Reed
Sidley Austin LLP

Julie Rizzo
K&L Gates LLP

William Rowe
Baker McKenzie

Alyse Sagalchik
Alston & Bird LLP

Jeffrey Shuman
Winston & Strawn LLP

Lisa Stark
Delaware Corporate Counsel, Wilmington, DE

David Stone
Crowell & Moring LLP

Kristofer Swanson
Vice President and Practice Leader, Forensic Services, Charles River Associates

Courtney Tygesson
Cooley LLP

Carol Ward
Consultant

Michael Wilson
Sheppard Mullin

Jeffery Wolters
Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell, Wilmington, DE

Unless otherwise indicated, all members are located in Chicago.

Planning Directors

Shilpa Gokhale
Assistant Dean, Executive Education, Office of Executive and Professional Education, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

Maryann Wou
Director, Professional & Continuing Legal Education, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law