We are very excited to welcome four new board members this month. Their collective legal experience and passion for women’s rights will be a valuable addition to our Board of Directors.
They join a dedicated group of legal experts, business leaders, and communication gurus, led by newly elected Board Chair Drucilla Stender Ramey. Drucilla is a prominent leader of the legal community and fierce advocate for civil rights and social justice. Read more about her experience and involvement with ERA here.
Colleen Bal is a partner and litigator in the San Francisco office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Colleen sits on the board of directors of the WSGR Foundation and is a member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. She was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the “Top 100 Women Lawyers in California” for 2015. Since joining ERA’s Honorary Steering Committee in 2015, Colleen has been actively involved in ERA’s Strong Girls Initiative.
Eve Cervantez is a partner at Altshuler Berzon LLP, where she represents workers and consumers in class action lawsuits, with a particular emphasis on civil rights, employment discrimination, wage and hour, and privacy cases. She has prosecuted several class action lawsuits for women challenging discriminatory hiring, promotion, and compensation policies, and has also assisted female professors vindicate their right to a discrimination-free tenure process. Eve is a longtime supporter of ERA, and has served on its Luncheon and Litigation Committees for several years.
“I have been attending, and been inspired by, the annual ERA luncheon since I started working as an associate at a San Francisco law firm in 1995, and am thrilled to be invited to join ERA’s Board so that I can continue to contribute to ERA’s important mission of assuring equality for women and girls,” said Eve.
Mari Overbeck is a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. She focuses her practice on general civil litigation and employment law, and also maintains an active pro bono practice providing assistance to minors in school disciplinary matters (in conjunction with Legal Services for Children), and serving as co-counsel with the ACLU in a lawsuit against the Department of Defense challenging its policy excluding women from combat service.
“I’m thrilled to join ERA’s Board of Directors and look forward to assisting in the advancement of its laudable missions,” said Mari. “It is my great pleasure to work alongside the other Board members and staff to support and continue the fight to achieve that which is long overdue—equality for women and girls in this country.”
Shirley Gee is the Founder and Managing Partner of Angel Plus LCC, a third-party validation firm operating in Silicon Valley and San Francisco for later stage, start-up corporations looking for capitalization. She was a past Executive Senior Member and Department Head for Stanford University’s international research laboratory, where she provided technical guidance to 200 senior managers in the area of equal employment, employee relations, and affirmative action. Her duties included pre-litigation investigations into discrimination issues and administering programs that promoted diversity in the scientific and technical field. She is committed to mentoring women CEOs and working with organizations supporting the advancement of women as CEOs and Board Members, and has served on a number of corporate Boards in the life science and medical device sectors and numerous non-profit Boards, including the League of Women Voters, working on public policy and governance issue.
“ERA is so honored to welcome Colleen, Eve, Mari, and Shirley to our Board of Directors,” said Executive Director Noreen Farrell. “I am confident that their exceptional experience will further galvanize the work of ERA securing important wins in the fight for gender equality. This is just the A-Team.”
Please join us in welcoming Colleen, Eve, Mari, Shirley!
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