Learn more about the 2024 Chief Marshal candidates!
Chief Marshal Candidates
House Affiliation:
Pforzheimer
First-Year Dorm:
Weld (a.k.a. the Greatest Dorm of All Time)
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, History, cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
Director, Harvard Club of Chicago for three years; volunteered as keynote speaker at many community events
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Director, Illinois Student Assistance Commission
Achievements and Honors:
I’ve been lucky enough to pursue my greatest passion since graduation, which is helping youth unlock their potential. I’ve written eight bestselling books, had Oprah call me one of her top 20 guests, and built a leading ed-tech social-emotional learning company that I sold to ACT in 2019. I’m continuing to empower kids through my new company Inner Heroes Universe.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
There is one word that defines Harvard for me: connections. I am deeply grateful to Harvard for connecting me with wonderful friends, confidants, advisers, and companions on my life journey. I arrived at Harvard as a first-generation immigrant from East Africa, and the first in my family to attend college. I had never visited Harvard. I had no way of knowing that relationships with close friends and acquaintances would be the greatest reward personally and professionally.
House Affiliation:
Currier House
First-year Dorm:
Matthews
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Social Studies, magna cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
During College: Let’s Go as a researcher-writer in Greece and Turkey and as editor of the Italy guide. Harvard University Choir at the Memorial Church for three years, including one in Morning Choir. One year of Radcliffe Pitches and one in Radcliffe Choral Society. Brief work-study jobs at a lab at Harvard Medical School, with Partners In Health, and on Harvard Business School Reunions.
After College: I could never have attended Harvard without a very generous financial aid package from the College, and I have tried to give back since graduation. I currently serve on the Harvard College Fund Executive Committee. I have been a member of the Gift Committee for each of our Reunions, eventually serving as a co-chair. My husband, Tom Kuo ’99, and I received the Roger Flather ’54 Award from the Harvard College Fund for our work on the 20th Reunion fundraising in 2019. I also interviewed Harvard applicants for about 10 years after graduation.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
In addition to volunteering with the Harvard College Fund, I am a trustee of the international health nonprofit Partners In Health, which has ties to Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and I serve on the Leadership Council of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School. I am also a trustee of the Learning Project Elementary School in Boston. Previously, while at the Stanford GSB for an MBA, I served on the finance committee of the Stanford University Board of Trustees. Professionally, after a career in investing at private equity firms and a hedge fund, I have been pursuing something entrepreneurial and mission-driven: building a women’s health business with the goal of reinventing the delivery of world-class fertility care to help working women simultaneously build their families and careers.
Achievements and Honors:
It is an honor to have been nominated as a chief marshal candidate, especially knowing some of the significant achievements and honors of my classmates.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
It is hard to describe the many ways Harvard is woven into my life. Tom and I met knowing we were going to Harvard. We were married at Memorial Church and our children were born at a Harvard-affiliated hospital. Our college friends are still some of our closest friends, but we have also made many new Harvard friends since graduation. My volunteer work has provided glimpses into the Law School, Medical School, and School of Public Health. My love of art was fostered by travel with the Harvard Art Museums and introductions to artists and galleries by their curators. Part of my career was with firms that helped to invest Harvard’s endowment, and currently I am building a women’s health business, working in collaboration with a Harvard-affiliated hospital. However, these are just a small number of interwoven threads in one person’s life.
Harvard is important: to individuals like me but, more importantly, to the world. There are very few institutions that can invest in research and scholarship with multidecade timelines and the related uncertainty. The world needs Harvard’s long-term perspective and constant pursuit of truth—and, especially when times are tough, Harvard needs us, too.
House Affiliation:
Currier House
First-year Dorm:
Thayer
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Government
Harvard-Related Activities:
- Work-Study: researcher, office clerk, referee, Dorm Crew, security (1995–99)
- JV Basketball (1995–96)
- Intramural Basketball (1995–99)
- Harvard Black Students Association, member, mentor (1995–99)
- Black Men’s Forum, member (1996–99)
- Mission Hill After-School Program, volunteer (1996)
- Suffolk County Prisoner Education Program, volunteer (1997–98)
- Actor (BlackCast production of Fences, 1997; two-person short play for Lithgow Arts First festival, spring 1998 or 1999)
- Malkin Athletic Center, Recreational Hoop Lord (1995–99) (just kidding!)
- Deshaun Hill & Harvard Stephens Scholarship Fund, Co-Founder & Board Member (2006–08)
- Harvard Forward, Supporter (2020–Present)
- Harvard Alumni for Climate and Environment, Lurking Member (2020–Present)
- 20th Harvard Reunion, climate change symposium, co-creator & co-facilitator (2019)
- Volunteer-only Virtual Conversation about undergraduate safety and well-being as well as free speech, academic freedom, and civil discourse led by Danoff Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh, and Dean of Students Tom Dunne (2023)
- 25th Harvard Reunion, climate change symposium, co-creator & co-facilitator (2024)
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
- Ecological Citizen’s Project, Board Director (2016–Present)
- PlanetFWD, advisor (AI-powered decarbonization platform) (2020–Present)*
- Code Nation, board director (2013–23)
- St. Paul’s School, trustee (2016–22)
- St. Paul’s School, Climate Action Task Force chair (2021–22)
- Justice For Families, Development & Communications volunteer (2010–16)*
Achievements and Honors:
- John D. Barnwell Award, Currier House award for the senior “who, with energy and enthusiasm, contributed to Currier House life” (1999)
- DonorsChoose.org, co-founder ($1B+ philanthropic crowdfunding platform)*
- American Constitution Society (co-drafted amici curiae brief: In Re: Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003)
- ABA Law Student Division Annual Editorial Award, nominated (2002–03)
- Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs (2004–05)
- Values in Action Award for outstanding legal counsel, Kraft Foods Global Inc. (2010)
- Really Cool Stuff Award for above-and-beyond innovative work in the legal dept., Kraft Foods Global Inc. (2010)
- Values in Action Award for outstanding legal counsel, Kraft Foods Global, Inc. (2012)
- Social Enterprise Alliance, member, appointed SEA Attorney Ambassador (2011–12)
- En-Roads Climate Ambassador (2021–Present)*
- Named a “Rising Leader” and selected for company-funded Jeff Immelt–led leadership acceleration program, Sila Nanotechnologies (2023–Present)
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Amid childhood poverty in Brooklyn, suddenly losing my mother and only parent in 1993, suffering through a mysterious narcolepsy-like condition, and incessantly couch surfing because I had no permanent home, merely attending Harvard should have felt like a dream.
It didn’t.
With no safety net, I felt anxiously unsure about how to construct a life and career given my desires fomented by hardship: help others and address human-caused injustice. I’ve managed to do so, yet, regardless of whatever grit (or luck) I possessed to reach this point, an unsurprising truth frames my life’s construction: it’s about the humans!
One surprise: the Harvard community comprises a supermajority of humans affecting my life’s construction by sharing their joy, turmoil, and wisdom with me while supporting me through mundane, strategic, and exigent decisions regardless of whether we were Annenberg breakfast buddies or met for the first time 20 years after graduation. Hunting for “community” since relocating to California a third time, I’m sometimes stupefied that I built the majority of my community in Cambridge.
A proud member of this community of strivers, caretakers, servants, leaders, and innovators, I hope we continue to serve and invest in our community for the greater good.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske
The Washington Post national reporter
House Affiliation:
Eliot
First-year Dorm:
Wigglesworth
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Social Studies, magna cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
The Harvard Crimson, Diversity & Distinction, Catholic Student Assn., OCS mentoring, assisting with past reunion panels/organizing; volunteering/interviewing for Harvard Clubs in West Palm Beach, FL, Raleigh, NC (board member), Los Angeles, and Houston.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
WriteGirl
Achievements and Honors:
Class Speaker
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
You classmates shaped my Harvard experience. You are what’s kept me returning to every Reunion so far, even when I didn’t have a job or a partner or achievements to share (this year I have a big one: baby girl Rose Lynn!). I’ve enjoyed reunion panel discussions, but also chance conversations. Your work is inspiring. So are your career and life changes. After 25 years, you still surprise me with your insight. I believe the greatest resource we have is each other, and that this Reunion is an opportunity to reflect on what that really means. At a time of great division in our country and the world, I think it’s important that we all feel welcome at Reunion: heard, seen, celebrated, and supported. Take care of yourselves and each other, and I look forward to seeing you in Cambridge!
Sarah Hurwitz
Author, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life—in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There)
House Affiliation:
Quincy
Freshman Dorm:
Thayer
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Social Studies, magna cum laude; JD ’04, cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
- Undergraduate Council
- Fresh Pond Enrichment Program (PBHA after-school program)
- Women’s Leadership Network
- Fellow, Institute of Politics, Kennedy School (2017)
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
- Volunteer Hospital Chaplain, Virginia Hospital Center
- Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
- Board Member (former), United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)
- Member, USHMM Committee on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust
- Member, Advisory Committees: Repair the World, Institute for Jewish Spirituality, The Den
- Member, New Leadership Council, Jewish Democratic Council of America
Achievements and Honors:
- Chief speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama (2011–17)
- Senior Speechwriter for President Barack Obama (2009–11)
- Chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential Campaign (2007–08)
- Named by The Forward as one of 50 Jews who impacted American life (2016, 2019)
- Finalist, Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature
- Finalist, National Jewish Book Award
- Senior Fellow, Schusterman Foundation
- Public Fellow, American Jewish University
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
I still cannot believe I had the extraordinary privilege of attending Harvard. I’m endlessly grateful for the professors and TFs who pushed me to wrestle with complex realities and painstakingly consider diverse points of view. I cherish the friendships we built over those long dining hall meals and late-night common room sessions, conversations that have continued for 25 years. And I find such joy in watching classmates’ lives unfold—scrolling through photos of your gorgeous families on social media, reveling in news stories about your achievements. Even if we barely knew each other in college, I’m still out here cheering you on.
As for the Harvard of today, I’m worried. I worry about students and others rejecting critical thinking and expertise for a handful of simplistic ideologies—including antisemitism. This feels terrifyingly familiar, a neural groove that has been worn into the Western world’s psyche for thousands of years. I appreciate Harvard’s efforts to respond, though I fear that something very old and very dangerous has been unleashed. I hope that when we come together this spring, we can recapture some of the magic of Harvard from 25 years ago, and I look forward to seeing you all then.
House Affiliation:
Currier
First-year Dorm:
Weld
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Environmental Science and Public Policy, magna cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
After nearly 30 years, it’s harder than expected to recall the activities that I did at Harvard. There were so many things happening, big and small, that I forgot all the things I wanted to do, tried to do, and even what I actually did. Some of my best memories come from the years I sang with the Opportunes, making music and also serving a stint as president. I also dabbled with the JV hockey team (as a seriously underqualified goalie) and loved the camaraderie and joy of playing with some incredible athletes and people. My skills were far better suited as a volunteer with PBH’s “learn to skate” program, and I also had a great time helping with putting on a variety of house activities in Currier and less fun (but character-building and money-making) times delivering the Sunday paper for the Crimson, working dorm crew, and babysitting children of the “old” alumni attending their 25th Reunion. The best Harvard job I had was as the summer assistant to Manny Casillas, the longtime Currier House building manager, and enjoying Cambridge without classes.
After school, I’ve continued to stay actively involved by serving in Harvard College Fund leadership roles at each of our milestone Reunions. I’ve also had the privilege of helping to lead recruiting efforts at Harvard for all the places I’ve worked. Most recently, I was lucky enough to join as a guest speaker in an undergraduate course that, for someone who didn’t always find class easy, was quite a trip to be asked to help teach something!
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
I’ve been lucky to have had the ability to focus much of my time on supporting organizations that are doing important work to improve the world and make people’s lives better. I currently serve as the chair of the board for Teach for America in Massachusetts and for Mighty Earth, a global environmental advocacy group that works to protect nature through strategic engagement with industry and governments to tackle some of the most urgent threats to climate. I’m also on the board of the Community Music Center of Boston, a 113-year-old program originally founded to serve immigrant communities that is now the largest provider of arts education to Boston Public Schools and is doing pioneering work in arts equity. I also serve as a trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
More broadly, after 20 years in mainstream private equity and finance, I recently left that work to focus on using for-profit investment as a tool to help advance social change. I cofounded A-Street, a mission-based private equity firm born out of the Walton Family’s philanthropic efforts in K–12 education. Our aim is to provide long-term (>15-year) investment and help from a team comprised mostly of education experts, to companies that are transforming K–12 public education to make it more effective and equitable. With three-quarters of American eighth graders who cannot read or do math at grade level, the problem is one of national and moral urgency. I’m also active in broader efforts to improve the way capital is used and structured for social good, including as a board member of Gratitude Railroad, a community of investors, foundations, and family offices focused on moving capital toward authentic impact.
Achievements and Honors:
Not a long list for me … but I was honored to have received (alongside my wife, Alexandra DeLaite ’99) the Roger Flather ’54 Award for young alumni fundraising efforts from the Harvard College Fund.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
When I arrived on campus from Utah, a child of immigrants who did all they could to set me up for success, I was lucky just to have been admitted. In all honesty, getting in was probably the main goal at the time. While at Harvard, I was more focused on keeping up with the work and finding a path to life after college rather than reflecting on Harvard and its impact on my life. Only after graduation, and now with the benefit of 25 years, am I beginning to truly understand the depth of how Harvard has changed my life and how fortunate I am to have been a student. Particularly at this moment when Harvard is being pushed to do better as an institution, I realize how exceptional our classmates are, not only in what they have accomplished, but also in who they are and what they stand for. Even in the smaller moments and conversations about raising kids, caring for parents, or just getting through life, I am forever grateful for the impact of the decades-long friendships and connections that were born out of our time together at Harvard.
Quaime V. Lee
Assistant Dean, Center for Co-op and Career Development, Northeastern University School of Law
House Affiliation:
Lowell
Freshman Dorm:
Greenough
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Classics (Latin), cum laude in field (1999); MTS ’11
Harvard-Related Activities:
Harvard Commencement marshal (2023); alumni interviewer (1999–2000, 2014–present); Harvard Divinity School Alumni/ae Council (2019–22)
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
New England Seafarer’s Mission, Board of Trustees, member (2015–23), vice president (2016–18), clerk (2018–23); Suffolk University, Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Initiative, leadership team member and discussion group facilitator (2020–22); Massachusetts Bar Association, Tiered Community Mentoring Program, Steering Committee, law school liaison and member (2015–20); Highrock Brookline Covenant Church, overseer (2016–18), board of ministry leaders chair (2017–18)
Achievements and Honors:
Northeastern University School of Law, Administrative Employee of the Year (2013); U.S. Department of Labor, Employee of the Year (2006)
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
My memories of my time at Harvard are of varied textures. As a first-generation student, I was in college at the same time as my mother. So much was new and alien to me and I was overwhelmed by the sheer scale of so much around me and the wealth of unparalleled experiences at our fingertips. Luminaries who would be commencement speakers elsewhere were just another Tuesday night at the Institute of Politics or in a Monday afternoon lecture or section. When I had the chance to return a decade later as a graduate student, I vowed to enter with all my senses open and better aware.
And yet I also remember fondly the little communities I found: my roommate and myself with our motley circle of weekday breakfast friends discussing the news of the day over bacon and hash; my delightful colleagues in the very eclectic Classics Department; my three years as a work-study student in the IT Department of the College Library system, where I prided myself on visiting all of the key libraries on campus and discovering so many of the hidden gems of Widener Library; and Quincy House dinners with my two high school buddies.
Alison E. McManus
Former Senior Vice President, International Client Services, NMA Entertainment & Marketing; Current Community Volunteer and Philanthropist
House Affiliation:
Eliot House
First-year Dorm:
Wigglesworth
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Economics
Harvard-Related Activities:
- Appointed Director of HAA (2019–22)
- Reunion Co-Chair (15th, 20th, 25th)
- Class Chair, John Harvard Society (Planned Giving)
- Fort Worth Schools & Scholarships Committee Co-Chair and Interviewer (since 2005)
- Reunion Gift Committee
- HCF Gift Committee
- Class Webmaster
- Alumni-Student Mentor
- Harvard Club of Boston
- Harvard Club of Dallas
- Harvard Club of New York City
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Endowed Scholarships: Fort Worth Country Day School (TX), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY), St. Agnes School (NY), Suffolk University Law School (MA)
Planned Giving: Harvard University
Member, Contributor & Supporter: Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Arts Fifth Avenue, Fort Worth Botanic Garden, Fort Worth Historical Society, Fort Worth Zoo, Historic Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Lake Placid Center for the Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Trustees of Reservations
Achievements and Honors:
I began my career in finance as a sell-side equity research and equity capital markets analyst at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. I left Wall Street for Hollywood and the entertainment business joining a boutique marketing agency doing product placement in film and television. As senior vice president of international client services at NMA Entertainment & Marketing, I worked with consumer product companies, such as Capital One, Diageo, Double A Paper, Heineken, and Lenovo, to create global marketing campaigns cobranded with blockbuster films. Most recently I worked at Suffolk University in the Office of Advancement and was responsible for alumni engagement and donations for the law school. Currently, I am a community volunteer and philanthropist.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Attending Harvard was an exceptional opportunity and a truly transformative experience. I am extremely grateful for the education I received, the activities that I participated in, and the friendships that I made. I have so many special memories from my time on campus. I remain very close with many of my classmates and am thankful for their continued friendship and inspiration as well as for the relationships that I have developed with classmates and other alumni after graduation. It has been my pleasure and honor to serve the College and University as a volunteer. I have enjoyed cochairing our past three Reunions with record attendance, interviewing prospective students, fundraising, encouraging participation, and being class chair of the John Harvard Society. I had the great privilege of serving on the College Board of Directors and I treasured my time helping to strengthen, guide, and impact the greater alumni community. I have also enjoyed being involved in various alumni communities in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. I am deeply committed to Harvard and to improving and sustaining the institution and I am passionate about serving and supporting the Class of 1999.
House Affiliation:
Kirkland
Freshman Dorm:
Grays
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Biology
Harvard-Related Activities:
Caribbean Club, Black Students Association, Association of Black Radcliffe Women, Women in Science at Harvard-Radcliffe, Harvard admissions interviewer
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C.; Trinidad and Tobago Cultural Association of Delaware; American Academy of Pediatrics
Achievements and Honors:
Chief of Emergency Medicine, Medical Director of Emergency Preparedness, Washington Woman of Excellence Award—Sheroes of Health granted by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, National Biodefense Science Board, American Academy of Pediatrics board member
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
The greatest gift from Harvard is the close friendships and network of support that has been reinforced for the past 25+ years. I think about those four years between 1995 and 1999 and what I recall most is the importance of supportive relationships and the value of integrity and living your purpose. I didn’t know during those college years that I would become a pediatrician that subspecialized in emergency medicine and disaster medicine. I now lead a busy pediatric emergency department in D.C. and get to think about how we protect and rescue our children and teens from all sorts of threats. We’ve all been through a lot since 1999. The attacks on our well-being—be it conflict, climate, COVID, and many other crises—are daunting to say the least. I have led our hospital and regional systems through the pandemic, Zika, Ebola, mass casualty events, and more. I’ve advocated for our legislators to be better prepared for our children in disasters and supported disaster science and health equity research for our youth. I advise on biodefense and disaster management at all levels of government and academia. Most importantly, to be good at what I do, I lean on my Harvard network when times get tough. I will be forever grateful for that foundation of friendship.
House Affiliation:
Lowell House
First-year Dorm:
Thayer Hall
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Philosophy, cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
Black Students Association, Harvard Crimson, Harvard Computer Society, Phillips Brooks House, Black Men’s Forum, Signet Society, Dorm Crew
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Board member, Civics Unplugged; board member, Brooklyn Public Library; creator and host, How To Citizen podcast; host and executive producer, America Outdoors on PBS; human on Earth
Achievements and Honors:
Independent Documentary Award nomination, America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston; iHeart ICON Social Impact Award, How To Citizen with Baratunde; SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame Award; Emmy nomination for Spotify series Clarify; Council of Urban Professionals Thought Leader Award
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
The fact that I went to Harvard, graduated largely intact, paid off the financial debt, and still look at my time there fondly is miraculous. Many good, smart, and loved people never made it there. Others made it there but not through. Yet others made it through but not to today. Humility is in order along with a healthy serving of appreciation for the randomness of the universe. I'm Dorm Crew forever! To clean bathrooms at Harvard while being a student at Harvard is the encapsulation of Harvard, and possibly life, for me. An outsider’s edge with an insider’s degree. A recognition that labor is deserving of dignity. "In but not of," as wrote W. E. B. about Harvard then but perhaps the U.S.A. as well. So, we can love and criticize and love because we criticize. We can benefit from and challenge at the same time. Harvard helped me find and walk the line between recognizing my own value and remembering there are so many others who never get such recognition. At the end of the day, I'm grateful for the practice of being with people. Friends, family, loved ones, strangers. And knowing the line between these groups is an illusion.
House Affiliation:
Pforzheimer House
Freshman Dorm:
Hollis North
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’99, Biochemical Sciences, cum laude in field
Harvard-Related Activities:
Ninth Annual Harvard Asian American Association Intercollegiate Conference Co-Director, Pforzheimer House Committee Secretary, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Volunteer
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Executive board member of USA for UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund); member of NYU School of Law Board of Trustees; President-elect and executive board member of the Federal Circuit Bar Association; and co-chair of the Asian American Bar Association’s Women’s Committee.
Achievements and Honors:
Jennifer H. Wu is a patent trial and appellate lawyer recognized for her “great advocacy skills at trials” and “outstanding work in cutting-edge biologics cases.” Jennifer has been widely recognized within the legal industry and the patent litigation bar for her achievements.
For her patent litigation work, Jennifer has been named to Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” list for 2023 and 2024. In 2022, she was recognized by Chambers USA as an “Up and Coming” lawyer in the Intellectual Property: Patent (NY) category. In 2019, Jennifer was named to Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under Hot List—Northeast.” In 2018, she was selected by the New York Law Journal as a “Rising Star,” an award that recognizes top attorneys under the age of 40. In 2017, Jennifer was a recipient of the “Best Under 40” award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). She is the president-elect of the Federal Circuit Bar Association (FCBA), and a former co-chair of the FCBA Patent Litigation Committee, the Mock Argument Committee, and the Rules Committee. She received the FCBA’s George Hutchinson Committee Award recognizing committee leadership in 2016 and 2018. Jennifer is also a member of the NYU School of Law board of trustees and a member of the advisory committee of the NYU School of Law Alumni of Color Association (LACA). While at NYU School of Law, she received the Vanderbilt Medal for service to the law school community and the President’s Service Award for leadership. Following law school, Jennifer clerked for the Honorable Alan D. Lourie ’56 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Jennifer also has an active pro bono practice and represents a number of Asian American victims of racially motivated violence and their families. She received the Pro Bono Service Award from NAPABA in 2023 and the New York Law Journal’s Diversity Initiative Award in 2022 in recognition of her pro bono work. In addition, Jennifer is a frequent speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She delivered the keynote speech, “Raising Our Voices for Equity: Good Leadership and Leading for Good,” at the Women in Law Section’s 18th Annual Edith I. Spivack Symposium during the New York State Bar Association’s Annual Meeting 2022. She is also a co-chair of the Asian American Bar Association of New York’s (AABANY) Women’s Committee and was named AABANY’s member of the year in 2022. And she is an executive board member of USA for UNFPA, which supports the life-saving work of the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency, the United Nations Population Fund.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
At Harvard, I led the ninth annual Harvard Asian American Association Intercollegiate Conference while also volunteering with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center and serving on House Committee at a time when we were debating the content of unmoderated distribution lists such as Pfoho-Open. Those experiences prepared me for a role that I never saw coming as a Big Law patent lawyer: becoming a civil rights lawyer in the COVID-19 pandemic after bearing witness to a dramatic surge in anti-Asian hate. I represent pro bono nearly every victim of anti-Asian violence who died in NYC, as well as coauthoring two reports on anti-Asian hate. I have spoken at sentencing hearings, advocated before police and prosecutors, held press conferences, worked with community leaders and elected officials on hate crime legislation, and testified before the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights. Whether I am going to meet the district attorney or going to One Police Plaza to retrieve the items carried by the victim who was pushed to death in the subway, the work I’m doing now is an extension of the work I did at Harvard. Now, as I did then, I pursue justice by giving voice to those without one.