Wilson, Heidi. (Immigration Consultant) Ms. Wilson is a member of ACIP's Board of Directors, and worked as Corporate Immigration Manager for Sun Microsystems, Inc. for more than 25 years, with responsibility for managing U.S. Immigration Programs. She has been instrumental in developing the company's U.S. Immigration policy to ensure company compliance with U.S. Immigration regulations and corporate consistency in providing immigration benefits to employees globally. Prior to joining Sun, Ms. Wilson managed U.S. Relocation, International Assignments and U.S. Immigration for Intel and Applied Materials.
Rosenfeld, Michael. (The Walt Disney Company) Mr. Rosenfeld serves as Corporate Vice President and Counsel of The Walt Disney Company. He specializes in immigration, labor and employment law and serves as a member of several Boards of Directors, including: ACIP, the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans, and the Contract Services Administration Trust Fund.
Greenfield, Andrew. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Greenfield is Managing Partner of the Fragomen Washington, DC office. Mr. Greenfield practices exclusively in the field of corporate immigration and nationality law, providing multinational corporations, including leading technology, consulting and consumer goods companies, as well as financial and educational institutions, with strategic counseling on all matters of U.S. immigration and nationality law, regulation, policy and compliance.
Schauff, Tracy. (University of Michigan) Ms. Schauff is the head of the Faculty and Staff Immigration Services at the University of Michigan, with responsibility for processing all foreign national employee applications, including advising hiring units on proper visa categories and ensuring compliance with all regulations.
Cooper, Scott. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Cooper is Managing Partner of the Troy, Michigan offices of Fragomen. In practice for over 30 years, Mr. Cooper has served as a Chapter Officer of the Michigan and Greater Chicago Chapters of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Chair of the Michigan Chapter and he has served on AILA's National Board of Governors. Mr. Cooper has also been Chair of the Immigration and Nationality Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.
Fragomen, Jr., Austin T. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Fragomen is Chairman of the Board of ACIP and a member of his firm's Executive Committee. He served as Staff Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and International Law from 1968 to 1970. Mr. Fragomen is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Center for Migration Studies; on the Editorial Board of the International Migration Review; Chairman of the Practising Law Institute's Annual Immigration Institute; and Member, University Council, Case Western Reserve University.
Peters, Rebecca. (American Council on International Personnel) Ms. Peters has worked with ACIP for over six years, helping to advance highly educated and skilled visa relief and guard against unreasonable enforcement mechanisms to critical visa programs. She serves on the Executive Committee of Compete America. Prior to joining ACIP, Ms. Peters worked as an immigration attorney in a Washington D.C.-based law firm and also served as an attorney in an honors program at the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration Naturalization Service.
McCament, James. *(U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Office of Congressional Relations) In his current role, Mr. McCament oversees USCIS interaction with Members of Congress and their staff on matters of legislative development, immigration policy, USCIS operations and individual cases of interest. Before leading the Office of Congressional Relations, Mr. McCament served as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Field Office Director in Havana, Cuba. Additionally, from February 2006 to March 2008, Mr. McCament served as Senior Counselor to the Director of USCIS.
Jaddou, Ur. (Office of U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren) August of 2002, Ms. Jaddou joined the personal staff of Rep. Zoe Lofgren to provide counsel on immigration, trade, foreign affairs, tax and other issues. In January 2001, she became chief counsel to the Immigration Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Zoe Lofgren.
Fresco, Leon. (Office of Senator Charles E. Schumer) Mr. Fresco is currently serving as Chief Immigration Counsel to Senator Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Fresco practiced law with the firm of Holland & Knight where he represented corporations in products liability, commercial litigation, appellate litigation, and corporate immigration matters.
Majid, Jasmine. (American Council on International Personnel) Ms. Majid is the Director of Agency Liaison at ACIP. She is responsible for working with federal immigration agencies to improve employment-based immigration policies. Before joining ACIP, she provided review and advice regarding immigration policy and procedures to the University of Oklahoma. Prior to that, Ms. Majid was the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center and served the Georgia Department of Human Resources as both a Civil Rights Coordinator and State Refugee Coordinator. She has also worked on immigration-related issues in private legal practice.
Baldwin, Katherine. (U.S. Department of Justice - Office of Special Counsel) Ms. Baldwin has more than 30 years of experience enforcing federal employment discrimination laws. Currently, she serves as Deputy Special Counsel in the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, a position that she has held for over seven years. The Office of Special Counsel is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of citizenship status and national origin.
Kronheim, Jonathan. (Department of Labor) Mr. Kronheim is the Counsel for Trial Litigation in the Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor.
Gordon, Howard. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Gordon is a Partner at Fragomen's offices in New York and Washington, DC with responsibility for leading the firm's government relations practice group. Before joining the firm, Mr. Gordon was Director of Information at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) from 1992-1999, and he was in private immigration practice for several years prior to joining the AILA staff.
Kamenshine, Wendy. (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of the Ombudsman) Ms. Kamenshine is the Deputy Ombudsman for the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman’s Office. She has been with this Office since May 2005. As Deputy, she helps to lead the office in resolving individual case problems with USCIS, identifying systemic issues, and recommending ways to improve identified problems. Prior to joining the Ombudsman’s Office, Ms. Kamenshine practiced international trade law with the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington, DC.
Neufeld, Donald. *(United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) Mr. Neufeld is currently the Associate Director, Service Center Operations Directorate with USCIS. In this role, he oversees all activities at USCIS? four service centers and 85 field offices throughout the United States, as well as its application support centers, call centers, card production facilities and the National Benefits Center. Mr. Neufeld has 25 years of experience with USCIS and legacy INS, and has held various leadership positions at USCIS/INS Headquarters, the Los Angeles and Miami Districts, and the California Service Center.
Pearl, Julie. (Pearl Law Group) Ms. Pearl is the Managing Attorney of Pearl Law Group, and serves as Chair and General Counsel for Tracker Corp. Ms. Pearl formerly served as Deputy Attorney General in California before joining with Alan Nelson to found Pearl Law Group in 1995. A founding member of the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers and former Vice Chair of the American Bar Association's Immigration Subcommittee, Ms. Pearl has spoken on immigration topics to dozens of human resources, legal, accounting, and other business and professional organizations.
Cogswell, Patricia F.S. (Department of Homeland Security) Ms. Cogswell is the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the DHS Office of Policy (Screening Coordination). Ms. Cogswell's experience includes setting policy and discretion in order to bring together the many DHS screening programs and investments, including many immigration reform efforts. Prior to her current position, Ms. Cogswell has served as Chief Strategist for DHS' US-VISIT Program, and as the Director, Immigration Services Modernization at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Hunt, Brian. (Department of State) Mr. Hunt is the Deputy Chief, Legal Advisory Opinions, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs.
Dugan, Maureen. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) Ms. Dugan serves as the Assistant Director, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations.
Wucker, Michele. (World Policy Institute) Ms. Wucker is currently Executive Director of the World Policy Institute, the global think tank and publisher of World Policy Journal. Ms. Wucker lectures frequently about immigration, the global economy, and Latin American politics. Ms. Wucker is an advisor to the Batey Relief Alliance and the Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring (DREAM) Project. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, PEN, Authors Guild, and Foreign Policy Association.
Rahmani, Denise. (Oracle Corporation) Ms. Rahmani serves as U.S. Immigration Manager and is responsible for the overseeing of all of the company's immigration programs. She joined the ACIP Board of Directors in 2007. Prior to her position with Oracle, Ms. Rahmani was employed as an Immigration Specialist at several of the Silicon Valley's largest technology companies, including Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Agilent and SAP.
Carlson, Bill. (Department of Labor) Mr. Carlson is the Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor Certification for the Employment and Training Administration. He has held this position since June 5, 2006. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Carlson served as the Region 1 Administrator for the Employment and Training Administration.
Schiron, Peter. (Deloitte LLP) Mr. Schiron serves as Assistant General Counsel with Deloitte LLP in New York City where he provides strategic legal advice and counseling to the organization on a wide range of immigration and employment law matters, with a specific focus on global business immigration and employment issues. Mr. Schiron is a regular speaker on topics relating to business immigration and employment law practices.
Lange, Cynthia. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Ms. Lange is Managing Partner of the Northern California office of Fragomen and co-chairs the firm's IRCA compliance practice group. She is a frequent lecturer on immigration law and has written articles on business immigration law matters for numerous publications. Ms Lange has been an adjunct professor of law at Southwestern University School of Law from 1988 to the present, and she was formerly a trial attorney with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Ryan, Brendan. (Fragomen Global) Mr. Ryan is currently Managing Director, Operations for Fragomen Global. In this position, he holds senior executive responsibility for the global operations within the United States and for operations spanning all continents. He also shares responsibility for the management of Fragomen's expansive network of 100+ co-counsel firms in countries around the world and is a member of Fragomen's Global Executive Committee. Mr. Ryan has contributed to various policy and legislative reviews for governments, including preparing testimony for the U.S. Congress.
Biondi, Kate. (Motorola) Ms. Biondi is the Global Immigration Program Manager at Motorola. She has over 16 years of experience in the U.S. and Global immigration fields combined, including over 13 years with Motorola. Ms. Biondi is responsible for developing, implementing, and reinforcing immigration policies, programs, and strategies globally to support Motorola's business objectives and compliance with local immigration regulations. Ms. Biondi manages Motorola's in-house immigration team as well as the immigration component of any mergers, acquisitions or divestitures initiated by Motorola.
Hedrick, Nicole. (IBM Corporation) Ms. Hedrick is the HR Manager of Global Immigration Services in IBM's Talent Deployment and Mobility organization. In this capacity Ms. Hedrick is responsible for shaping the role of immigration as part of IBM's strategic transformation from a traditionally structured multi-national organization to to a 'globally integrated enterprise'. In this capacity she consults with global leadership on immigration strategy and manages or oversees the various teams providing immigration support for IBM employees working in over 170 countries.
Mayorkas, Alejandro. (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) Director Mayorkas was nominated by President Obama, unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and on August 12, 2009, was sworn in as the third director of USCIS. Prior to this appointment, Director Mayorkas served as Partner with the law firm O'Melveny & Myers. From 1998 until 2001, Director Mayorkas served as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California. Additionally, from 1989 to 1998, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. Director Mayorkas and his family fled from Cuba when he was barely one year old. In 2008, he was named as one of the "50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America" by the National Law Journal.
Blackwell, Ayesha C. (Amazon.com) Ms. Blackwell currently serves as Sr. Manager, Immigration at Amazon.com, Inc. She is experienced in all aspects of employer-sponsored immigration law. Prior to joining Amazon.com, Inc., Ms. Blackwell was Counsel for Bristol-Myers Squibb where she headed the Immigration Department. She began her career in immigration as an Associate for Epstein, Becker and Green PC in New York.
Cohen, Susan. (Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo PC) Ms. Cohen is the founding Chair of the Immigration Department at Mintz Levin. In addition to serving AILA, she is also Co- Chair of the Immigration Committee of the ABA's Section of International Law and Practice. Ms. Cohen is listed in Best Lawyers in America, Chambers Global Guide and the International Who's Who of Corporate Immigration Lawyers.
Maltby, Stephen J.O. (Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty, LLP) Mr. Maltby heads Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty, LLP's Immigration Practice Group and is responsible for the oversight of all client immigration matters. Mr. Maltby is personally involved in the design and implementation of strategic immigration programs for businesses, providing best practices for regulatory compliance and customized solutions to their particular needs. He represents clients in a broad range of industries and has many years of experience representing clients from around the world.
Atkinson, Ronald. *(United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) Mr. Atkinson is the Chief of Staff of the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate. Mr. Atkinson joined the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1993 as an Immigration Examiner in the New York District Office. As an Examiner, he adjudicated immigration applications and petitions to ensure that those seeking benefits were qualified. In 2005, Mr. Atkinson moved to Washington to accept a position as an Immigration Law Analyst with the CIS Ombudsman, and in 2007, he returned to the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate as a Supervisory Adjudications Officer.
Koplewski, Diane. (Department of Labor) Ms. Koplewski serves as the Immigration Team Leader, Office of Enforcement Policy, Wage and Hour Division, Employment Standards Administration.
FitzGerald, Scott. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP) Mr. Fitzgerald is currently Managing Partner of the Boston, Massachusetts office of Fragomen, and a Managing Director of Fragomen Global, with specific responsibility for the firm's India operations. Mr. FitzGerald has previously served as the Managing Partner of the firm's Washington D.C. and Vienna, Virginia offices, as well as an Associate in the firm's New York office.
James, Saju. (Fragomen India) Mr. James is the Managing Director of Fragomen Immigration Services India Private Limited (Fragomen India), which currently operates out of offices in Bangalore and Kochi, with representative offices in Hyderabad & New Delhi since December 2006. Mr. James has more than 18 years of experience in Human Resources and Global Immigration. Mr. James worked with Tata Consultancy Services, the largest IT services and solutions organization in Asia, for 13 years.
Schiron, Peter. (Deloitte LLP) Mr. Schiron serves as Assistant General Counsel with Deloitte LLP in New York City where he provides strategic legal advice and counseling to the organization on a wide range of immigration and employment law matters, with a specific focus on global business immigration and employment issues. Mr. Schiron is a regular speaker on topics relating to business immigration and employment law practices.
Rubenstein, Sunday. (Ernst & Young LLP) Ms. Rubenstein (CRP, GMS, GHR) serves as an Associate Director within the Center for Mobility Services (CMS) for Ernst & Young's U.S. firm. She is responsible for Visa and Immigration and International Human Resources management. Prior to her current roll she was responsible for international policy administration. Ms. Rubenstein also has experience working as an international auditor in Mexico, Japan and the UK.
DiPaula-Coyle, Michael. (U.S.-India Business Council) Mr. DiPaula-Coyle currently serves as Director at the U.S.-India Business Council. In this role, he oversees a broad management and policy portfolio, including digital economy, insurance and pensions, and media and entertainment. Prior to joining USIBC, Mr. DiPaula-Coyle served as Chief of Staff at the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Prior to that, Mr. DiPaula-Coyle served as Special Assistant and Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Industry and Security.
Malpert, Rodney. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Malpert specializes in all aspects of business-immigration and related laws, with emphasis on corporate reorganizations, pre-hire processes/discrimination, consular practices and security advisory opinions, lobbying and legislative analysis, constitutional/preemption issues and non-immigrant statuses. Prior to joining Fragomen in 2008, Mr. Malpert was a shareholder for Littler Global, where he managed the U.S. immigration practice. He is an Adjunct Professor of Business Immigration Law at Arizona State University Law School.
Jones, Margie. (Intel Corporation) Ms. Jones serves as American Immigration Manager at Intel Corporation. She has worked for Intel Corporation for the last 21 years, 18 of which have been in immigration. Her responsibilities include managing the U.S. immigration function, working closely with outside counsel on outsourcing and on special projects with the international sites.
Padilla, Diane. (JPMorganChase) Ms. Padilla is Executive Director & Assistant General Counsel with JPMC's Legal and Compliance Department where she manages its immigration practice. She provides legal advice for JPMC on securing work authorization, international travel permits and permanent residency for foreign-born professionals as well as ensuring I-9 compliance for JPMC. Prior to joining JPMC, Ms. Padilla was an attorney with the Fragomen firm.
Gardsbane, Anne. (Harvard International Office) Ms. Gardsbane is Assistant Director in the Harvard International Office, a position she has held for over ten years. She is primarily responsible for both nonimmigrant and immigrant visa processing for faculty at both the University and its affiliated hospitals, as well as outreach to University administrators. Anne also maintains a small private practice in which she assists both companies and individuals with Immigration matters, and represents minors at judiciary hearings involving Constitutional Rights. Anne is active on two liaison boards for ACIP.
Portnoy, Dana. (Robert Half International, Inc.) Ms. Portnoy currently serves as Manager of Global Immigration Programs at Robert Half International Inc., the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm. She is responsible for global program development and strategy as well as ensuring compliance with government regulations and policy. She is currently the President of WINGs (Western Immigration Networking Group) and served as Secretary from April 2007- March 2009.
Alexander, James. (Maggio & Kattar, P.C.) Mr. Alexander is a Managing Shareholder at Maggio & Kattar, P.C. in Washington, D.C. He is a nationally recognized expert in immigration law including corporate compliance, I-9 compliance and E-Verify. Mr. Alexander is a frequent lecturer at events for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the District of Columbia Bar Association as well as other important industry organizations. In addition to his extensive public speaking and teaching commitments, Mr. Alexander has authored and been quoted in numerous important publications within the immigration law community.
Lindemans, Annelies. (Freddie Mac) Ms. Lindemans is the Immigration Manager at Freddie Mac in McLean, Virginia. Ms. Lindemans is responsible for overseeing the company's immigration program as well as its I-9 program. Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Ms. Lindemans was the Senior Immigration Specialist for Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara, California, where she oversaw all nonimmigrant visa activity and green card sponsorship for new hires.
Thomas M. Barnett, J.D. (Scripps Research Institute) Mr. Barnett serves as Director of the International Office at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), which ranks fifth in terms of the largest number of foreign scientists/visa holders in the country. The International Office processes between two and four thousand visa transactions per year. As Director, Mr. Barnett is in charge of the Office's operations, which offers assistance to the 800 to 1,000 international scholars that TSRI hosts each year as well as the principal investigators with whom they work.
Farrell, Louis. (Department of Homeland Security) Mr. Farrell is head of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Gonzalez, Enrique. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Gonzalez is Managing Partner of Fragomen's Coral Gables, Florida office. Mr. Gonzalez's practice is broad-based but he has particular experience managing the immigration programs for institutions of higher education, hospitality companies (including cruise lines), and entertainment companies. Since 2007, Mr. Gonzaelz has served as a Member of the President's Council at Florida International University. He also served as the Vice Mayor of the City of West Miami from 1994 to 2001.
D'Amico, Susan. (The George Washington University) Ms. D'Amico currently serves as the Associate Director of the International Services Office at The George Washington University. The ISO is responsible for immigration and support services for 2,500 international students and scholars. She serves as George Washington University's F-1 Primary Designated School Official and Responsible Officer for the J-1 Program. Ms. D'Amico has contributed to federal government advocacy on immigration issues affecting international students and scholars for more than two decades. She has presented sessions at State, Regional and National conferences.
Geary, Susan. (U.S. Department of State) Ms. Geary is the Director of the Office of Exchange Coordination and Compliance at the Department of State. She brings over 21 years of government experience. She served in a wide variety of roles at the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) prior to accepting the Deputy Director position with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) for the Department of Homeland Security in August 2003. Ms. Geary served as Director of SEVP from 2004 until 2007 with her acceptance of a position at the Department of State.
Klein, Darra. (American Council on International Personnel) Ms. Klein oversees the administration of ACIP's two J-Visa Exchange Visitor Program designations. Prior to joining ACIP, she was a Program Manager with the Association for International Practical Training (AIPT), where she managed the organization's J-1 training placement services. Ms. Klein is a member of NAFSA.
Patrick, Michael. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP) Mr. Patrick joined Fragomen as a partner more than 18 years ago after having been a founding partner of the general practice firm of Campbell, Patrick & Chin. Mr. Patrick has over 30 years of experience and is responsible for leading the firm's representation of a diverse group of clients across many industries. Prior to this, he served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Immigration Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he represented the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Department of State, the Department of Labor, and other federal agencies in the federal courts.
Nacheman, Jessica R. (ExxonMobil Corporation) Ms. Nacheman is Counsel for the ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) and ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc. (EMBSI) affiliates. She is responsible for all general legal issues including immigration, export controls, environmental, safety and health issues and antitrust matters for EMRE and EMBSI. She is also the Designated Responsible Officer of EMRE's J-visa program and serves as Assistant Secretary to EMRE.
Pennasilico, Suzanne. (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP) Ms. Pennasilico serves as Chief Human Resources Officer with the engineering firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP, and brings more than 20 years of experience in the field. Prior to SOM, Ms. Pennsilico was employed by Barneys New York, serving most recently in the position of Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations. She is a member of Society for Human Resources Management, American Society for Training and Development and participates in the American Institute of Architects Human Resources Large Firm Roundtable.
Lalli, Paul. (General Electric Company) Mr. Lalli has served as Corporate Labor Counsel for General Electric Company since November 2002. In this role, he supports Company Compliance in areas including traditional labor law, wage and hour, immigration, and human rights, and handles L&E-related matters in acquisitions and divestitures. Before accepting this position with GE, Mr. Lalli was a labor and employment law partner with the Atlanta-based law firm of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, where he worked for over thirteen years.
Vogel, Lisa. (New York University) Ms. Vogel is the Associate Director for faculty visa services in New York University's Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS), where she has worked for more than twenty years. She currently manages nonimmigrant and immigrant visa filing for the international faculty and research scholars at NYU.
Kaplan, Lance. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP) Mr. Kaplan is a Partner at Fragomen's office, in New Jersey and a Managing Partner of the firm's International Practice Group. Mr. Kaplan is responsible for directing the firm's non-US practices and has extensive experience in practice abroad. He was formerly the partner responsible for Global Immigration Services for a Big Four Accounting Firm.
Xia, Becky. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP) Ms. Xia currently serves as the General Manager for Fragomen offices in China and is based in Shanghai. She practices exclusively in China immigration law, primarily in employment-based immigration and investor visas. Prior to joining Fragomen, Ms. Xia was chief representative of a U.S. employment law firm in China where she headed the firm's China immigration practice. Previously, she led the immigration practice for a Chinese law firm.
Leung, Jared. (Fennemore Craig, P.C.) Mr. Leung practices in the area of immigration law. He has extensive experience in business immigration matters, such as immigrant and non-immigrant petition processing at USCIS, visa applications at U.S. embassies and consulates, and PERM applications with the Department of Labor. From June 2006 to October 2008, Mr. Leung managed the U.S. consulate practice for the Asia Pacific region in Hong Kong for a major immigration law firm, covering a large area from India to Japan.
Singh, Susan. (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) Ms. Singh is an International Assignment Services (IAS) Director specializing in expatriate tax compliance. She has over 20 years of experience consulting on tax compliance and planning, and on the policy and process aspects of international assignment programs.
Conway, Ellen. (Department of State) Ms. Conway serves as the Director of the Office of Public and Diplomatic Liaison, Visa Services. Prior to this position, she served as the Director of the Office of Children’s Issues, which deals with intercountry adoptions and international parental child abductions. Prior to Children’s Issues, Ellen spent three years as Consular Chief in Oslo. Her domestic assignments include Foreign Service Institute’s Orientation Division Deputy Director and Course Coordinator for new Foreign Service Officers; Poland/Croatia/Slovene Desk Officer, Watch Officer for Confidence Building Measures for (then) US-Soviet Arms Control and Verification, and a stint in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science handling international forest issues.
Walker, Carolee. (Department of State) Ms. Walker serves as a deputy in the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs in the office of Overseas Citizens Services with chief responsibility for countries in the Near East and South and Central Asia. Her team of country officers is responsible for monitoring and supporting the administration of emergency and non-emergency consular services to U.S. citizens residing in or traveling abroad in a country portfolio that includes India, Israel, Egypt, West Bank, Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and others. Ms. Walker recently served on the Haiti Earthquake Task Force and is a member of one of the Department’s Crisis Response Teams.
Alonso, Carmita. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Ms. Alonso specializes in corporate immigration law and is experienced in representing top global financial services organizations and leading law firms. She has significant experience in helping international businesses manage and better understand international assignments and the employment of professionals on both a temporary and permanent basis in the United States. Moreover, Ms. Alonso has extensive experience in advising clients in due diligence considerations related to corporate reorganizations such as mergers and acquisitions as well as complex post-transaction employment issues.
Pignatelli, Joe. (BlackRock) Joe Pignatelli is the Director of International Assignment & Domestic Relocation Services for BlackRock in NYC. Joe has been at BlackRock since 2006 and participated in the merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Quellos, R3 and most recently Barclays Global Investments ("BGI"). Joe has a staff of 3 and now after the BGI merger staffing has increased and the number of expats is over 200. Prior to coming to BlackRock, Joe ran all of the equity programs for AXA, worked global assignments/international benefits/compensation and severance at Merrill and was responsible for expatriate matters at Exxon. Prior to joining Exxon HR in 1986, Joe was in Exxon's international tax department. Joe is a lawyer with a masters in tax law from NYU Law School. Joe will be leaving BlackRock at the end of June.
Silke, Dundon. (Dell, Inc.) Ms. Dundon is the Global Immigration Manager under Dell's Global Mobility Program. Ms. Dundon joined Dell through the Perot Systems acquisition in 2009. Her in-house immigration team comprises of 12 professionals dedicated to providing immigration solutions to the foreign workforce supporting the business. Prior to Dell she served as the Immigration Manager at ACS, Inc. in Dallas. Ms. Dundon is a German native who came to the United States on an expat program through Deutsche Bank AG. She has been in the international HR field for over 10 years.
Church Jr. Robert. (BNP Paribas) Mr. Church is the Head of US Compensation, Benefits & Mobility for BNP Paribas, a global French bank. He has been at BNPP for 2 years and manages a mobility program that includes approximately 250 employees. The current population has been increased due to BNPP's acquisition of Fortis Bank and the purchase of Prime Brokerage business of Bank of America. Prior to this, Mr. Church was the Head of International HR at ABN AMRO in New York form 2002 - 2008. During his tenure there, he was responsible for managing the mobility issues related to the sale of ABN AMRO to Royal Bank of Scotland as well as several other corporate transactions. Before that, Mr. Church was US Manager of International Assignments at Merrill Lynch and was an AVP on International Assignments team at Lehman Brothers during it's dramatic growth in the late 1990's. His early career was spent working at the Big Four (then the Big Eight) accounting firms providing tax consulting services to expatriate employees.
Cadden, Michael. (Living Abroad LLC) Mr. Cadden began his career in the Global Mobility profession with Craighead Publications in 1995. In 2002, he became a Principal and Managing Director of Living Abroad LLC which acquired the legacy Craighead business in 2008. Mr. Cadden is a frequent speaker on mobility topics in the USA, Latin America and Europe. He was named "Man of the Year" in 2007 by Global HR News. Michael is also the creator of the industry's cartoon icon, "X Pat" Moose.
Stewart, Greg. (Mobility Leader) Mr. Stewart is a 27-year veteran of the employee mobility and workforce development fields. He spent 13 years building Coldwell Banker Relocation Services through its high-growth years as well as its global expansion. Mr. Stewart led Global Mobility Services at Crown Relocations headquartered in Hong Kong as President, and later was CEO of Aperian Global, the international consulting, training and web tools organization. Mr. Stewart's most recent endeavor has been the creation and building of Mobility Leader, the online community for professionals managing workforce mobility, the Mobility Leaders, and their service provider partners.
Vaidyamath, Umesh. (INSZoom) Mr. Vaidyamath is the founder and the CEO of INSZoom, a global immigration management solutions company. Since 1999, he has led the company in its high-velocity growth, driving product engineering, marketing, and sales. Prior to INSZoom, Mr. Vaidyamath led teams in software engineering and architecting state-of-the-art large scale e-commerce and client server applications at Hewlett Packard, Intel Corporation, Mervyn's California, JB Hunt, Vodafone and AT&T. He is a frequent speaker on information technology issues, and regularly contributes to leading Indian business magazines and newspapers.
Musich, Susan. (Passport Career) Ms. Musich is the managing director of Passport Career, which supports professionals seeking global career opportunities. She is also a Global HR & Mobility Consultant and has worked for 20 years with numerous international organizations. She co-developed the World Bank's first global mobility program to support staff and families transitioning to new countries and designed the World Bank's online country briefing center.
Bennhold-Samaan, Laurette. (Accenture) Ms. Bennhold-Samaan has been in the international mobility field since 1985. In 2006, she joined Accenture as their Sr. Manager of Global Mobility setting global mobility strategy and policy. Prior to Accenture, she co-created the Global Mobility department at The World Bank (part of the United Nations), supporting staff and families departing to over 100 countries. She has also served as Senior Associate for Expatriation and Repatriation Programs for the World Group.
Lindemans, Annelies. (Freddie Mac) Ms. Lindemans is the Immigration Manager at Freddie Mac in McLean, Virginia. Ms. Lindemans is responsible for overseeing the company's immigration program as well as its I-9 program. Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Ms. Lindemans was the Senior Immigration Specialist for Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara, California, where she oversaw all nonimmigrant visa activity and green card sponsorship for new hires.
Kaufman, Ethan. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Kaufman is a Partner in the New York office of Fragomen and a member of the firm's national Executive Committee. Mr. Kaufman served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable George P. Kazen, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas from 1989 to 1990. He specializes in corporate immigration law and is a Mentor in Employment-Based Immigration/Labor Certification for the American Immigration Lawyers Association's National Mentor Program.
Ehret, Debbie. (IBM Corporation) Ms. Ehret is the HR Manager of US Immigration in IBM's Talent Deployment and Mobility organization. In her role at IBM, Ms. Ehret provides leadership for an in-house team of over 40 immigration professionals dedicated to developing IBM's U.S. immigration strategy and providing operational support to foreign nationals, managers, HR professionals and executives.
Schiron, Peter. (Deloitte LLP) Mr. Schiron serves as Assistant General Counsel with Deloitte LLP in New York City where he provides strategic legal advice and counseling to the organization on a wide range of immigration and employment law matters, with a specific focus on global business immigration and employment issues. Mr. Schiron is a regular speaker on topics relating to business immigration and employment law practices.
Lange, Cynthia. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Ms. Lange is Managing Partner of the Northern California office of Fragomen and co-chairs the firm's IRCA compliance practice group. She is a frequent lecturer on immigration law and has written articles on business immigration law matters for numerous publications. Ms Lange has been an adjunct professor of law at Southwestern University School of Law from 1988 to the present, and she was formerly a trial attorney with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Nicolett, Leslie. (Immigration Policy and Government Relations, Hewlett-Packard Company) Ms. Nicolett has been with Hewlett-Packard (HP) for 18 years, the last 14 of which have been in the immigration function. Ms. Nicolett’s present activities are focused on Merger, Acquisition, Divestiture/Spin-off and Outsourcing activities and on immigration policy development for the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and the Latin America/Caribbean countries. She also provides U.S. Immigration content knowledge to HP’s Government Affairs and Public Relations Departments. She is a past President of the Western Immigration Networking Group (WINGS) and an active participant in the Compete America coalition.
Gibson, Bonnie. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Ms. Gibson practices at the intersection of U.S. immigration and labor law, bringing 25 years of California labor and employment experience. With her extensive I-9 and E-Verify experience, she counsels companies nationwide on developing and managing immigration compliance programs, including I-9 and E-Verify training and audits. Prior to joining Fragomen as a Partner in 2008, Ms. Gibson was a shareholder with Littler Mendelson.
Lotspeich, Katherine. (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) Ms. Lotspeich is the Deputy Chief for the Verification Division at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Lotspeich oversees the management of nearly 200 employees in ten branches which focus on providing eligibility information to participating employers for newly-hired employees, and automated status information to federal, state and local benefit-issuing agencies. The division's programs include E-Verify, and System Alien for Verification Entitlements (SAVE).
Sultan, Jennifer. (Department of Justice) Ms. Sultan is a Trial Attorney in the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC), in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. She investigates charges of discrimination as part of OSC's mandate to enforce the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and determines whether reasonable cause exists to file a lawsuit.
Malia, Katherine. (The Research Foundation of SUNY) Ms. Malia is a manager of corporate human resources administration. In this role, she provides HR leadership and operational support to Research Foundation locations at 30 State University campuses. Responsible for a number of HR functions, including immigration, Ms. Malia recently lead the implementation of E-Verify at the Research Foundation as a federal contractor. Ms. Malia has over 20 years Human Resources experience in higher education, non-profit and for-profit organizations.
Delafuente, Frances S. (Delafuente Law Group, P.A.) Ms. Delafuente has been practicing exclusively in the area of immigration and nationality law since 1991, representing clients of all scope and size throughout the United States. Ms. Delafuente regularly conducts training in all areas of immigration and nationality law and, in particular, in the area of regulatory compliance. Ms. Delafuente has been an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1990.
Hershfield, Fabiana. (Cartus) Ms. Hershfield joined Cartus in 2000, and has since held successively responsible positions in the consulting and supplier divisions. She currently serves in the position of Client Service Manager, and is responsible for the implementation and management of numerous outsourced global programs. Prior to her current position, Ms. Hershfield held an operational management position in Corporate Immigration law on multiple client portfolios, ultimately leading to her broad knowledge base of US and Global immigration law.
Portnoy, Dana. * (Robert Half International, Inc.) Ms. Portnoy currently serves as Manager of Global Immigration Programs at Robert Half International Inc., the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm. She is responsible for global program development and strategy as well as ensuring compliance with government regulations and policy. She is currently the President of WINGs (Western Immigration Networking Group) and served as Secretary from April 2007- March 2009.
Shen, Patrick. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP) Mr. Shen is a Partner at Fragomen and serves as the firm's Director of Global Compliance and as a member of the firm's Corporate Compliance Committee. Prior to his current position, Mr. Shen was appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate as Special Counsel for Immigration-related Unfair Employment Practices in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. He also has served as Policy and Planning Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security, and Chief Immigration Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Dreyer, Brett. (Department of Homeland Security) Mr. Dreyer is the Unit Chief of the Worksite Enforcement Unit at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Wolff, Jacqueline. (Covington & Burling, LLP) As a member of the White Collar Defense Group at Covington & Burling, LLP, Ms. Wolff's practice focuses on defending corporations and individuals in a wide array of regulatory based crimes including FCPA violations, healthcare fraud, securities fraud, FDCA violations, employer immigration crimes and tax crimes. Ms Wolff has consistently been named in New York and Corporate Counsel Super Lawyers. Prior to joining Covington, Ms Wolff was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Frauds Division and Environmental Crimes Coordinator for the District of New Jersey. In that role she tried numerous cases receiving commendations from the Attorney General of the United States, EPA, NRC and INS.
Cococcia, Amy. (Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP) Ms. Cococcia is a Partner in Fragomen's New York office. She has over ten years of experience in practicing corporate immigration law, and is responsible for managing client engagements for several large multinational companies. A member of the firm's Corporate Compliance Committee, Ms. Cococcia has extensive experience representing clients with employer sanctions and I-9 compliance issues.
Purcell, Cathy. (Ricklin-Echikson Associates, REA) Ms. Purcell is a professional career consultant and Team Leader with REA. She possesses a Master's Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and over 15 years of career counseling experience working with a wide array of clients ranging from students to executives. She facilitates goal identification, resume writing, job search preparation, and development of effective marketing tools. She also administers a variety of personality assessments and career interest inventories to help identify appropriate career paths. Established in 1981, Ricklin-Echikson Associates (REA) specializes in providing global transition assistance and career/life coaching services worldwide.
* Invited
