JENNIFER BENNET has dedicated her career to organizations with a focus on social and economic justice. She is currently Executive Director of The Family Van in Boston, MA. The Van provides free and anonymous testing, screening education, and counseling to thousands of Boston residents each year who lack healthcare. Prior to joining The Family Van she served as the Chief Development Officer at the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE). Jennifer was at CWE for six years and initially founded the Community Entrepreneurs Program. This program has successfully trained hundreds of low-income women in basic business, economic literacy, and the life-management skills they need to launch their own micro-enterprises. Jennifer’s diverse background also includes positions in operations, community relations, business development, management, and crisis intervention at both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. She holds a certification in mediation from UMass Boston and a bachelor of arts in women’s history from Williams-Smith College.
SHILPA PHADKE currently serves in the Obama Administration as Deputy Director for Legislative Affairs at the Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ) within the Executive Office of the President. Prior to joining CEQ, she served as a Senior Legislative Policy Advisor for the Department of Homeland Security, as a Policy Advisor on the Obama Biden Presidential Transition Team, and as a member of the Paid Media and Opinion Research Team for Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency. Shilpa also worked at the Glover Park Group, a strategic communications firm headquartered in Washington, DC, where she provided strategic counsel to both corporate and non-profit clients pursuing policy, legislative, or reputational goals. Shilpa began her career working for Congressman Marty Meehan on Capitol Hill, where she played a key role in Meehan’s advocacy for September 11th families. Her policy experience includes economic development, education, energy, environment, health care, homeland security, immigration, technology, and women’s issues. A native of Massachusetts, Shilpa received a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a bachelor of arts from Boston College.
DEBORAH ZALESNE is a tenured professor of law at the City University of New York School of Law where she teaches in the area of corporate and commercial law. She earned a BA degree from Williams College, a JD from the University of Denver College of Law, and an LLM from Temple Law School, where she was an Honorable Abraham L. Freedman Fellow. Prior to teaching, she practiced law with a firm in Denver, Colorado, and clerked for a Colorado Supreme Court Justice. She also served as an advisor to the Russian Commission on Securities and Exchanges, where she helped to draft sections of the Russian Corporate Code under a USAID grant, and was an advisor to the Women’s Legal Center in Cape Town, South Africa, where she reviewed drafts of Equality Legislation introduced to Parliament. She is a member of the board of Iris House, a nonprofit that addresses the unique needs of women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. She has published numerous articles on sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and poverty law in such journals as the Harvard Women’s Law Review, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Women’s International Net, Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review, and South African Journal on Human Rights.
FATIMA GAILANI lives in Kabul and provides the global media with frequent updates on the status of widows. Fatima was a member of the drafting committee for the Afghan Constitution and a member of the Afghan Loya Jirga. She is an advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan and is frequently featured on CNN and the BBC. Beyond the 11th is fortunate to have Fatima’s support.
