Leadership

The work of the Coalition brings together managing partners, general counsel and lawyers and other legal professionals employed by our members in various positions and at all levels, ranging from brand new hires to senior practitioners.

The Coalition is led by a 12-person board of directors and an executive director. In addition to ad hoc committees put together around particular and time-limited goals, it has three standing committees reflecting the three key imperatives of the Coalition’s work: Recruitment, Retention, and Community Building.

The Board

Chair

Eric Cottle
Partner
K&L Gates

Vice Chair

Frances Woodward
Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
Highmark Wholecare

Secretary

Joseph Milcoff
Vice President of Litigation and Risk
FedEx Ground

Treasurer

Peter Russ
Shareholder, Pittsburgh Office
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

April M. Barton
Dean and Professor of Law
Duquesne University School of Law

Dawn Beighey
Senior Assistant General Counsel – Litigation
U.S. Steel

Donald C. Bluedorn II
Managing Shareholder
Babst Calland

 

Catherine Garfinkel
Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics, Compliance and Privacy Officer
Alcoa

Haider Ala Hamoudi
Interim Dean and Professor of Law
University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Jennifer S. Park
Shareholder/Director
Director of Diversity & Inclusion
Cohen & Grigsby, P.C.

Tony J. Thompson
Counsel
Dollar Bank

Keith Whitson
General Counsel and Office Managing Partner
Schnader

The Executive Director

Ena Lebel, a corporate attorney for over a decade (most recently for Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Gefsky) and a project consultant for Common Impact, Inc., also serves as the President and Board Chair of Healthy Start, Inc. She has extensive volunteer experience with efforts around diversity and inclusion, and holds a passionate belief that we can inspire, empower, and connect people to change the world.

Communications Director

Megan Edwards has spent the last decade and a half managing communications and public relations for nonprofits, education, and health care; most recently for the University of Pittsburgh and prior to that, the Moon Area School District. She believes that being invested in an organization’s mission is vital to success, and looks forward to spreading the word about the Coalition’s important mission.