The Next Phase of DEI: Overcoming Today's DEI Leadership Challenges & Recommitting to Your DEI Goals

As UB Greensfelder’s Director of Diversity Initiatives and Civic Engagement, Carmen helps the firm attract, develop, and retain a diverse pool of attorneys and legal professionals. Working to promote an inclusive work environment that fosters equity and belonging, she researches, strategizes, implements, and measures the effectiveness of the firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. She also leads the firm’s community outreach efforts and facilitates civic engagement opportunities for the firm’s attorneys and staff.
Combining her vast experience in the legal industry with previous experience developing, implementing equity, and human rights policy initiatives, Carmen works to achieve meaningful and impactful change within the firm, the legal industry, and the community. Before joining UB Greensfelder, Carmen developed and implemented equity and human rights efforts as a municipal policy analyst for the city of Tacoma, Washington. In this role, Carmen led an initiative that resulted in the establishment of the city’s Office of Equity and Human Rights, increased diversity in hiring, and improved service delivery to residents belonging to historically marginalized groups. She also previously served as a junior policy staff member for a United States Senator in Washington, D.C. and as a Management Fellow for the city of San Antonio, Texas.

Jess has been an in-house counsel at bp since 2004. She is the Managing Counsel of a team of US attorneys who support the environmental, health, and safety regulatory compliance issues across most of bp’s US businesses, as well as commercial issues generally at bp’s US refineries, terminals, and pipelines. All of her work requires strong communication skills, team-building capabilities, and the management of diverse business, technical, and legal interests. She is currently the co-Chair of the bp Legal America’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Committee. She is also a core member of the Chicago chapter of the bp Women’s Network (bp WIN), where she has primary responsibility for distributing the chapter’s communications.
Outside of bp, she seeks to give back to the Latino community, especially the Latino lawyers coming up through the ranks. She is currently the Chair of the Selection Committee for the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois (HLSF), leading the team that reviews the applications and conducts the interviews of current law students seeking financial support for law school education. She was featured in the March/April 2016 and Q1 2019 editions of Hispanic Executive, where she spoke of her family background, her fortuitous educational opportunities, and the soft skills necessary to be successful in a large corporate environment.
Prior to joining bp, she was an Associate at Winston & Strawn LLP. She earned her law degree from Stanford Law School, where she was the Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review and the co-President of the Environmental Law Society. She earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s School of Public and Internal Affairs. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and the product of the Chicago Public Schools “gifted program” elementary curriculum. She is an active member of several of her alma maters’ alumni associations, including Princeton Diversity Discussions, Princeton Prize in Race Relations, and the Princeton Club of Chicago’s Director of Diversity Initiatives.

Payal Shah is Senior Counsel at Vituity, a multispecialty healthcare and physician partnership with offices around the nation. She has been practicing healthcare law for over 10 years. She focuses her practice on regulatory guidance, transactions, Medicare and Medicaid, and payer and provider relations. Prior to joining Vituity, she was in-house counsel at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and prior to that, for a large nursing home company. She started her career as an attorney in the Illinois Senate and has worked closely on matters dealing with the Affordable Care Act, EMTALA, and Anti-Kickback and Stark laws.
Located in Chicago, IL, Payal was a former board member of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum for many years, and currently volunteers at local Chicago community organizations and mentors law students and recent law school graduates. She has also served on the SABA Chicago Board for several years. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, baking, trying out new restaurants, and watching sports. Payal received her B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and a J.D. from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

Vanessa Richmond is the Senior Counsel at Chicago Trading Company, a proprietary trading firm with long-term vision. In her role, Vanessa is a proven business partner that advises the operations, technology and data teams. She also provides legal guidance on business strategies and commercial transactions.
In addition to her corporate practice, Vanessa is committed to DEI in the legal profession. She is an active member of the inaugural Employee Resource Group, Black @CTC at her company, where she develops and implements strategies to promote a more inclusive and diverse work environment.
Prior to joining Chicago Trading Company, Vanessa was an associate attorney at a law firm specializing in Mergers and Acquisition and Healthcare law. Vanessa holds a Juris Doctor from the Marquette University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.