NEW ENGLAND LEGAL FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Corporate Counsel / Delhaize America Shared Services Group, LLC
Ben Robbins has been an attorney at NELF since September of 2002. He has filed several amicus briefs in cases before the United States Supreme Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and in other state and federal appellate courts, addressing a wide range of legal issues that determine the rights of businesses and property owners.
Ben's diverse caseload has involved such disparate legal arenas as the Federal Arbitration Act, the Massachusetts Wage Act, the First Amendment, the limits of personal jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause, and the common law of corporate separateness. Ben approaches each brief for NELF as a new legal adventure, which requires equal measures of intellectual rigor, imagination, and stamina in order to develop novel and persuasive arguments that will hopefully command the attention of the court. Ben attributes his fondness for the demanding legal genre of the amicus brief to his passion for the endurance sports, in which he must draw upon similar skills to complete a demanding trail run or an open water swim. Ben has also written articles for the legal press, such as the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, and has been interviewed and quoted many times in that publication, along with other legal publications at both the local and national levels. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Ben was a judicial law clerk for Justice Herbert P. Wilkins of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He then worked for several years as an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth, within the Administrative Law Division of the Government Bureau, where he defended state agencies in challenges to agency decisions, regulations and statutes. Ben also worked in private practice at a litigation boutique, in order to gain experience and familiarity with the array of issues that are unique to commercial litigation.
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- Partner / Foley & Lardner, LLP / Financial Services and Insurance
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- Vice President & General Counsel / Connecticut Business & Industry Association
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- Partner / Holland & Knight
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- Partner / Carmody & Torrance LLP
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- Partner / Pierce Atwood LLP
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- Development Associate
- Executive Assistant to the President
Camaryn serves as Executive Assistant to the President and as administrative support to other senior staff in our downtown Boston headquarters. Before joining NELF, Camaryn worked as Executive Assistant to the CEO of No Limit Enterprises Inc., a technology start-up based in Chicago, IL. Camaryn holds a B.S in Strategic Communications from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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- Partner, Assurance Services / Ernst & Young LLP
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- Partner / Dentons LLP / Maine
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- Chief Executive Officer
- President
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- COO, Equalizer Institute / Executive Director, Beantown Beanfest
Christina M. Knowles has over fifteen years of experience in high level fundraising, legislative advocacy, electoral work, and public sector executive management, including serving at the helm of several organizations. Christina has worked extensively with businesses to fund and support social and economic justice initiatives and has subject matter expertise on a variety of gender equality and workforce development issues. Christina is a past and present board member at a number of nonprofits and is a proud and active alumna of Umass Amherst, where she received her undergraduate education, and UMass Boston, where she received her graduate education.
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- General Counsel / Angelo, Gordon & Co., L.P. New York
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- General Counsel and Head of Strategy
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- General Counsel / Cummings Properties, LLC
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- Senior Counsel / Rocheleau Legal Services PLC
Dan Winslow joined the New England Legal Foundation in October 2021 after serving as a law partner or counsel in small and large law firms, as Chief Legal Officer of a publicly-traded software support company, and at a senior level in all three branches of state government.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Counsel / U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
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- Founder / McKenzie & Associates
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- Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary / Vermont Gas Systems Inc
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- Partner / Verrill Dana LLP / Connecticut, Healthcare and Bioscience, Professional Services
Dusty Hecker is a firm believer in free markets and free expression, both of which provide tremendous benefits for everyone in New England (and elsewhere). He therefore is delighted to be a part of NELF's mission. Before retiring from the active practice of law in 2023, he was a trial lawyer for 40 years. Dusty remains active as a commercial arbitrator and mediator and member of NELF's Massachusetts Advisory Council.
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- Executive VP, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Secretary / American Tower Corporation
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- Retired - of Counsel / Masterman, Culbert & Tully LLP / Florida
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- Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer / RxAnte, Inc.
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- Senior Fellow / Pioneer Institute
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- Director, Membership & Events
Elizabeth has a varied career as a paralegal from Supreme Court litigation under Laurence Tribe, to working with boutique law firms for entrepreneurs and ultimately with enterprise organizations including Thermo Fisher Scientific and Apple, Inc. Leaving the corporate arena to work directly with startups, she has become a strong community facilitator for entrepreneurs across the globe. She joins NELF bringing her community building skills and legal background to focus on the members who serve the greater legal community advocating for inclusive economic growth and economic liberties.
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- Partner / Pierce Atwood LLP
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- Professor of Law / Boston University
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- Retired - Executive Vice President and General Counsel / Fleet Boston Financial Corporation
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- Counsel / Cabot Corporation / Manufacturing
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- Associate General Counsel / Lifespan Corporation / Healthcare and Bioscience, Professional Services, Rhode Island
Herbert Holtz - Chief Legal Officer, EVP
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- General Counsel
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- Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary / Wex, Inc. Financial Services and Insurance
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- Partner / Sidley Austin LLP / Financial Services and Insurance
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- Partner / Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch & Ford, LLP
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- Partner / Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP
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- Deputy General Counsel / CIRCOR International, Inc / Manufacturing
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- Partner / Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
- Partner / Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP / Financial Services and Insurance
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- President / Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire / Manufacturing
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- Shareholder / Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C. Professional Services, Rhode Island, Technology
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- Co - Chair - Regulated Entities, Government & Public Affairs Director - Montpelier / Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC / Professional Services, Technology, Vermont
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- Retired - General Counsel
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- General Counsel / Hologic, Inc.
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- Partner / Ropes & Gray LLP
John Pagliaro is a Staff Attorney at New England Legal Foundation and has twenty-five years of experience in civil litigation. Before joining NELF in 2008, John had been an associate at Nixon Peabody and at several Boston boutique law firms.
As a trial lawyer, he represented corporations and individuals in all phases of civil litigation and dealt with a wide range of legal disputes, including breach of contract, business torts, securities law, trade secrets, noncompetes, close corporation law, construction law, and consumer class actions. At NELF John has filed amicus briefs in the courts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. His federal practice includes the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the First, Second, and District of Columbia Circuits. His briefs have dealt with such issues as Fifth Amendment takings of private property, federal preemption of state law, federal and state employment law, and insurance law. He frequently focuses on statutory interpretation, especially the significance of statutory silence and the Chevron deference courts grant to agency interpretations of federal statutes. John served in US. Army military intelligence and later received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he was a lecturer in the History and Literature Program for three years, and his J.D. from Boston College Law School.
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- Partner / Verrill Dana LLP
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- General Counsel
- Vice President
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- Associate General Counsel
- Vice President
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- Retired - Chair, Complex Tort and Product Related Litigation Group
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- National Life Group
- Senior Counsel / National Life Group / Financial Services and Insurance, Professional Services, Vermont
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- Vice President and General Counsel / ChemGenes Corp
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- Vice President & Deputy General Counsel / Textron, Inc. Manufacturing
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- Deputy General Counsel / Northeastern University
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- Finance
- Operations Director
- Operations Manager
- Director, Finance and Operations
Maria Karatalidis is the Finance and Operations Manager at the New England Legal Foundation. She has been a member of the NELF team since 1992. While she wears many "hats" at NELF, she takes pride in making sure the accounts are balanced and the office runs smoothly. She likes to think ahead and avoid any issues that might arise, but when they do, she is NELF's chief trouble-shooter. Prior to NELF, she had multiple years of experience working in CPA firms as an auditor and tax accountant.
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- Executive & Legal Review Committee / Partner
- Partner / Locke Lord LLP / Financial Services and Insurance, Professional Services, Rhode Island
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- Director, Litigation Department
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- Director, Litigation Department
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- Counsel / McCormack Suny LLC
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- Partner / Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP / Manufacturing, Professional Services, Rhode Island
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- Chief Legal Officer
- Vice Chair
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- Trustee
- Retired - Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Administrative Officer / Duke Energy Corporation
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- Co - Founder / Berluti, McLaughlin & Kutchin LLP
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- General Counsel
- Senior Vice President
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- Retired - Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer / Haemonetics Corporation
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- Partner / Sherin and Lodgen LLP
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- VP Global Corporate Legal Services, Head of Litigation / Wex, Inc
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- General Counsel / Critical Process Systems Group
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- Chairman - Litigation Practice
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- Partner / Holland & Knight
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- Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counselor / Liberty Mutual Group
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- Venture Development Manager
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- Retired - Senior Vice President and General Counsel
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- Partner / Pierce Atwood LLP / Professional Services, Real Estate and Development, Rhode Island
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- Partner / Looney Cohen & Aisenberg LLP / Financial Services and Insurance
Tara DeSisto is a fourth generation Bostonian who graduated from the University of Massachusetts - Boston where she was the elected student representative to the Board of Trustees. She comes to NELF after serving as the Director of Development for the Libertarian National Party based out of Alexandria, VA as well as building up a strong client base around the country in her own consultancy High Wire Strategies. Tara has worked on a wide array of fundraising and event management projects housed in universities across the greater Boston Area. Some of these successful projects include: The Forum for Cities in Transition and the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disaster, both housed at the McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston; The Center for Women and Business at Bentley University and The Future of Diplomacy Project out of Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Tara lives with her family in Newton and her greatest passion is being a football mom.
Tim Parilla - Chairman, Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Perspecta Trust LLC
- Principal / Perspecta Trust LLC / Financial Services and Insurance
Vincent Gritzuk is a second-year law student at Boston College Law School, where he is a member of the First Generation Professionals and Federalist Society groups, among others. As a first-year law student, he was a Negotiations Competition quarter-finalist. In the summer of 2023, he was a judicial intern for Judge Lisa Ann Grant in the Dorchester Division of the Boston Municipal Court. He also was an intern at the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts during the fall of 2023. In 2022 he graduated summa cum laude from Fairfield University as one of the university's first triple majors and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Vincent will be a 2024 summer associate at Jones Day in the firm's Boston office.
Job Titles:
- Director / Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC / Professional Services, Retail and Food Service, Vermont
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- Vice President and General Counsel / Sperian Protection USA, Inc.