Nonprofit Bootcamp for Directors and Senior Professionals

Kate Andrias is Patricia D. and R. Paul Yetter Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. 

Kate teaches and writes in the fields of constitutional law, labor law, and administrative law. 

Her scholarship probes the failures of U.S. law to protect workers’ rights, examines the efforts of historical and contemporary worker movements to transform legal structures, and analyzes how labor law and constitutional governance might be reformed to enable greater political and economic democracy. Drawing from constitutional law, administrative law, and legal history perspectives, she also has explored the relationship between law and the perpetuation of economic inequality. She frequently provides advice on policy initiatives to legislators and workers’ rights organizations and works on related litigation. Andrias is a co-director of the Columbia Labor Lab and the Columbia Law School Center for Constitutional Governance.

Prior to law school, Andrias worked for several years as an organizer with the Service Employees International Union. After receiving a J.D. from Yale Law School, she clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59 on the U.S. Supreme Court. Andrias practiced political law at Perkins Coie and served as associate counsel and special assistant to President Barack Obama and as chief of staff in the White House Counsel’s Office.

She joined the faculty of Michigan Law School in 2013 and was the recipient of its L. Hart Wright Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2016. She joined the faculty of Columbia Law School in 2021 and also has served as an academic fellow at Columbia Law School and taught American Constitutional Law as a visiting professor at L'Institut d'Études Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris. Andrias served as a commissioner and the rapporteur for the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, is a member of the American Law Institute,  and sits on the Board of Academic Advisors of the American Constitution Society.

Victoria B. Bjorklund is a Retired Partner at the international law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she founded and for 30 years headed the Firm’s Exempt Organizations Group advising nonprofits, their boards, and donors.  After Simpson, she continued to teach non-profit law courses at Harvard Law School for 9 years.  She is the co-author with Daniel Kurtz, James Fishman, and Karen Love of the treatise New York Nonprofit Law and Practice (3rd Ed.).  Victoria was awarded the ABA’s first Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award, the ABA Vanguard Award for Lifetime Achievement,  and the IRS Commissioner’s Award, among other honors.

In 1989, Victoria helped found Doctors Without Borders USA as its first US volunteer and pro bono lawyer, and she continues today as Chair of its Board of Advisors.  She is also a long-time director of the Robin Hood Foundation, where she led the 9/11, Superstorm Sandy, and COVID-19 Relief Funds.  She is a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Friends of Fondation de France, and, until recently, American Friends of the Louvre, Nutrition Science Initiative,  Princeton University and The Louvre Endowment in France.

Victoria graduated in 3 years from Princeton University, where she was in the first class of women, Princeton’s first woman basketball player, and among the first women elected to Phi Beta Kappa there.  She earned her Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale and her law degree in 1983 from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Stone Scholar, an editor of the Transnational Law Journal, and a SIPA Legal Fellow. 

Victoria currently co-chairs the Institute for Advanced Study Audit Committee and the DEI Committee and serves on the Institute's Executive, Nominating and Governance, and Endowment Draw Committees.  At Robin Hood, Victoria currently chairs the Relief Committee and serves on the Executive, Audit-Finance-Budget, Endowment Steering, and Adults and Household Supports Committees.  At Doctors Without Borders/MSF USA, she currently chairs the Board of Advisors and previously served on the Board of Directors and as Secretary of the Corporation for 13 years. 

As a medievalist, Victoria specialized in manuscripts of the little-studied Anglo-Norman dialect spoken in Norman France by Viking invaders.  Through DNA tests and Scandinavian genealogical research, Victoria was delighted recently to learn that she is descended from Vikings who spoke Anglo-Norman. While at Columbia law, she was asked to assist Torts professors by translating tort manuscripts from Anglo-Norman to English.

For the past two decades Ms. Ewenstein has provided legal advice to nonprofit organizations and social entrepreneurs on issues related to tax-exempt status, governance, and general corporate and intellectual property matters. She is the co-founding partner of Ewenstein & Roth LLP a boutique law firm focused on non-profit and tax-exempt organizations. She advises a wide range of organizations, from small family foundations to large multinational public charities, on both individual projects and on-going matters. She frequently works with start-up organizations, helping to secure tax-exempt status and shape legal strategies for new and innovative initiatives. (However, her first client at the firm was a nonprofit founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743!) She has been instrumental in developing the firm’s expertise in the intersection between nonprofit and intellectual property laws, and frequently provides counsel to organizations engaged in scholarly communication, digital publishing, documentary film, educational media and the creation of digital archives on tax-exempt issues as well as the licensing and distribution of intellectual property under both fee-based and open access arrangements.

Prior to co-founding Ewenstein & Roth, Ms. Ewenstein was the Assistant General Counsel of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, one of the largest private grant-making foundations in the United States. In that capacity, she provided legal analysis and guidance to the Board of Trustees, management and program staff on all aspects of the Foundation’s operations, including grant-making and research programs, employee benefits, investments, and intellectual property matters, and drafted and negotiated a broad range of contracts for the Foundation. From her work at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ms. Ewenstein brings to Ewenstein & Roth an expertise in the legal aspects of domestic and international grant-making from both the donor and grantee perspective. At Ewenstein & Roth, she has also worked with the Mellon President Emeritus on a variety of initiatives related to strengthening and improving elementary and higher education, and the use of technology in higher education.

Prior to her work at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ms. Ewenstein was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in the corporate and intellectual property departments, drafting and negotiating merger, joint venture and licensing agreements and advising on copyright and trademark matters. Ms. Ewenstein also participated in the firm’s trusts and estates practice, serving as counsel to a variety of private foundations, operating foundations and public charities engaged in grant-making activities, program-related investments, and the operation of charitable programs.

Ms. Ewenstein graduated from Harvard College (AB 1987) and Columbia University School of Law (J.D. 1998). She is the recipient of prizes from the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), and the New York Intellectual Property Law Association for her written work on copyright issues. She serves on the board of  All Our Kin and the Y.H. Mirzoeff & Sons Foundation, is the past co-chair of the New York City Bar Association Committee on Nonprofit Organizations, and serves on the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York’s Government Relations Committee. 

Ms. Ewenstein is admitted to practice in New York.

Ellen V. Futter is currently the Interim President of the Markle Foundation and Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group. She served as the President of the American Museum of Natural History from November 1993 through March 15, 2023, when she was elected President Emerita. Previously, Ms. Futter served as the President of Barnard College, and prior to that was a corporate attorney at the law firm of Milbank (formerly known as Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy). She also previously served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

Ms. Futter is a trustee of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., a director of Consolidated Edison, Inc., and a member of the board’s Executive Committee and its Safety Environment, Operations and Sustainability Committee. She is a Director of Evercore, where she serves on the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Ms. Futter is also a Trustee of the Brookings Institution, where she chairs the Nominations and Governance Committee and is a member of the board’s Executive Committee. She is a Governing Trustee at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she serves as a member of the Joint Nominating and Governance Committee and a Trustee of the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School. Ms. Futter is also a Trustee of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where she serves on the Nominating, Education, and Compensation Review and Advisory Committees. She is an ex officio Director of New York City Tourism and Conventions. Ms. Futter graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, from Barnard College and earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Lee Goldman is an American cardiologist, researcher, and educator at Columbia

 University, where he is the Cournand and Richards professor of medicine at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, and dean emeritus of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine. From 2006 to 2020 he served as executive vice president and dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine, chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor of the University. He moved to Columbia from the University of California, San Francisco, where he was chair of the department of medicine and associate dean for clinical affairs. Before then, he was a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. He received his B.A., M.D., and M.P.H. degrees from Yale University.

Goldman’s research has focused on risk stratification and on strategies of care for patients who have common cardiologic signs, symptoms, or abnormal test results.  He also established the first academic hospitalist program in the U.S. He is the lead editor of Goldman-Cecil Medicine.

Goldman is former president of the Association of American Physicians, the Association of Professors of Medicine, and the Society of General Internal Medicine.  He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, as well as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received the John Phillips Award from the American College of Physicians, the Robert Williams Award from the Association of Professors of Medicine, the Blake Award from the Association of American Physicians, the Glaser Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine, and two honorary degrees.

A partner in the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Litigation Department, a member of the firm’s Management Committee, and co-chair of the M&A Litigation Practice Group, Jaren Janghorbani is an experienced trial lawyer who focuses her practice on general commercial litigation with an emphasis on mergers & acquisitions litigation and large-scale torts, including environmental disputes. Jaren has tried multiple multibillion-dollar cases, and has favorably settled many more. Clients have described Jaren as having “an amazing understanding of the law, tactical strategy and trial lawyering skills,” and as being “extremely effective in oral argument."

Jaren has been repeatedly recognized for her trial and litigation achievements by leading publications and legal directories. The National Law Journal named Jaren a finalist in the “Winning Litigators” category for 2021, highlighting her significant trial victories during the year. Lawdragon has named Jaren to its “500 Leading Lawyers in America” guide for several years and named her to its inaugural “500 Leading Litigators in America” guide for 2022. The American Lawyer named her a “Litigator of the Week” following a resounding trial win in Delaware on behalf of Channel Medsystems in its litigation to enforce a merger agreement. Jaren was also recognized twice by The American Lawyer in its “Litigation Daily” column for significant victories on behalf of QAD defeating a stockholder preliminary injunction motion that allowed for its multibillion-dollar sale to Thoma Bravo to proceed, and Nuance Communications securing the dismissal of a shareholder lawsuit and related motion for attorneys’ fees brought in connection with its multibillion-dollar acquisition by Microsoft. The New York Law Journal recognized Jaren as a “Rising Star” for 2017. She is also recognized by Chambers USA in the Litigation: General Commercial (NY) category and by The Legal 500 US in both the General Commercial Disputes and M&A Litigation: Defense categories.

In addition, Jaren has advised companies and individuals facing a broad variety of commercial, criminal and regulatory matters. She has advised Advance Publications, Alere Inc., ILG Inc., the special committee of the board of directors of CBS Corp, and the special committee of the board of directors of Expedia Inc. in connection with M&A-related concerns.

Jaren also has extensive experience with dispositive motion and appellate practice, in various state and federal jurisdictions including the United States Supreme Court. She was a key member of the Paul, Weiss litigation team representing Edie Windsor, pro bono, through all of the stages in the successful challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that resulted in a victory when the Supreme Court struck down DOMA as unconstitutional in United States v. Windsor. Jaren maintains an active pro bono practice, which includes the representation of an individual incarcerated on Alabama’s death row, among other criminal habeas petitions.

Jaren was a Hamilton Fellow and Kent Scholar at Columbia Law School, where she was also Essay and Review editor for the Columbia Law Review. Following her clerkships, she did a semester-long post-doctoral fellowship at Columbia Law School, focusing on federal jurisdiction and sentencing issues.

Gillian Lester is Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. 

As Columbia Law’s 15th dean, she has led the faculty in recruiting more than two dozen full-time professors, establishing six new law clinics, and strengthening and expanding the Law School’s intellectual and scholarly depth. 

Through landmark investments in student financial aid and loan repayment assistance—and initiatives such as the Max Berger ’71 Public Interest/Public Service Fellows Program—Dean Lester has dramatically expanded access to a Columbia legal education, as well as students’ ability to choose a career in the public interest. Under Dean Lester’s leadership, the Law School created a new Executive LL.M. in Global Business Law degree program and has undergone a transformation of its physical and digital campus infrastructure. In addition, she has spearheaded programs dedicated to lawyer-leadership, organizational character, science and technology policy, and constitutional democracy. Dean Lester has also guided the Law School in its successful five-year Campaign for Columbia Law, which exceeded its goal by raising more than $325 million.

Prior to joining Columbia in 2015, Dean Lester served on the faculty of the University of California, first at UCLA and later at Berkeley Law School, where she was interim dean from 2012 to 2014. Her scholarship focuses on income inequality, public finance policy, workplace law, and the design of social insurance laws and regulations. Dean Lester obtained a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia, an LL.B. from the University of Toronto, and a J.S.D. from Stanford Law School.

Dean Lester is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute. She served on the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools from 2017 to 2020 and is a founding board member of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. For her service on Columbia's COVID-19 Task Force, Dean Lester was recognized in 2022 with Columbia’s Nicholas Murray Butler Gold Medal for distinguished contributions in academic administration.

Petal Modeste is the Associate Dean of Professional Advancement, Graduate Degree Programs and Executive Education at Columbia Law School. Petal began her legal career as an associate in the Finance Group at Shearman & Sterling, LLP and before joining Columbia Law School, she served as Senior Director and Strategic Advisor for Legal Recruiting at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP.

Petal received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Secondary Education, cum laude, from Andrews University, her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Howard University School of Law and her MBA from Columbia Business School.

Petal serves on the board of several non-profits dedicated to positively impacting the lives of families and children. She is married with two daughters. She and her family live in New York City and spend significant time with their immediate families in the Caribbean and Western Europe.

David Schizer is Dean Emeritus and Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law & Economics at Columbia Law School. He served as Dean from 2004 to 2014, and as CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a global Jewish humanitarian organization, from 2017 to 2019. Schizer is the author of How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps: Bringing Out the Best in Nonprofits. A co-chair of Columbia University's new task force on antisemitism, he also is a co-founder and co-chair of the Center for Israeli Legal Studies at Columbia Law School; co-founder and co-chair of the Richman Center for Law, Business, and Public Policy; and a Charter Trustee of Ramaz. He served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Alex Kozinski on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Henry Timms is President and CEO of Lincoln Center – the world’s leading performing arts center, encompassing the Metropolitan Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Juilliard, Film at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center Theater, the School of American Ballet, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. 

Under his leadership, Lincoln Center has been credited with a significant transformation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he created an entire outdoor performing arts center, with ten stages and performance spaces. This allowed over 70 NYC organizations to perform and rehearse safely. In all, over 300,000 people attended events during these challenging months. He has also significantly expanded the civic service of the organization. For example, he created crowd-sourced memorial concerts – featuring artists like Yo-Yo Ma – to allow people to recognize those they lost when regular funerals were not possible. He also turned Lincoln Center into a food bank, a blood drive, and a polling station: all efforts to serve the city during the pandemic. The Wall St Journal commented “If post-Covid urban tourism had an emblem, it might well be Lincoln Center…” 

In the face of the crisis, he also has led the acceleration – by two years – and completed the fundraising for the $550M David Geffen Hall project, to create one of the world’s greatest performance spaces. By building through the pandemic forces, the project created over 6,000 jobs, and over half-a billion dollars of economic activity. Of particular note, 40% of contracts for the project were with minority and women-led business enterprises, and over 50% of the workforce are from diverse backgrounds.

A signature of his tenure has been a commitment to diversity and inclusion. His executive team, senior staff and board of directors now benefit significantly from greater representation of diverse leadership, and he has transformed programming to feature a much wider showcase of artists from different backgrounds and perspectives. As the New York Times has noted “Lincoln Center is one of the few arts organizations to show substantial progress in bringing more diversity to its upper ranks”. 

He is the creator and co-founder of “Giving Tuesday”, a global philanthropic movement that engages people in close to 100 countries. Designed as a counterpoint to Black Friday, it has generated over $7 Billion for good causes in the US alone. By some estimates it is the largest and most diverse philanthropic movement in history. President Obama commented “The response to Giving Tuesday demonstrates the enormous potential we have to leave an enduring mark, not only in our communities but around the world”. The recent special Spring 2020 edition – supporting COVID-19 causes – catalyzed over $500M online. 

Henry is the co-author of the international bestselling book New Power, described by David Brooks in the New York Times as “the best window I’ve seen into this new world” and as a “must-read…a gift to our movements” by Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter. It was named as a Book of the Year by Bloomberg, Fortune, FT and CNBC. It was short-listed for the FT/McKinsey Book of the Year. 

Previously he was the President and CEO of 92NY, a leading NYC cultural and community center. Under his leadership, the 144-year-old institution was named to Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” list. 

In December 2022, Henry was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the Arts and to Philanthropy. He is a Hauser Leader at Harvard Kennedy School, a Senior Fellow at both Stanford University and the United Nations Foundation, a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the co-chair of the Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact at 92NY. He acts as a senior advisor to leaders across sectors including the C-suite of the world’s largest companies, university and philanthropic presidents, and government ministers.