Illinois Legal Aid Online's Board of Directors is a diverse group of leaders and innovators who are passionate about using technology to help people in Illinois seek justice and resolve their legal problems.
Our Board's substantial work is performed via its standing and ad hoc committees. Interested in joining? Contact Executive Director Teri Ross.
Renee McMahon, Chair
Vice President, Charles River Associates
Renee is Vice President in the Finance Practice at Charles River Associates, a leading global consulting firm that offers economic, financial, and business management expertise to major law firms, corporations, accounting firms, and governments around the world. Renee holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois and an MBA with honors from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Karim Basaria, Vice-Chair
Partner, Sidley Austin, Sidley Austin LLP
Karim is a partner at Sidley with a focus on representing companies, individuals, and public accounting firms in civil litigation, regulatory matters, and internal investigations. Karim has a B.S. in Accounting from University of Illinois at Chicago, and a J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Previously he was a CPA focusing on financial statement audits of public entities.
Tim Smith, Tresurer
General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at LanzaJet
Tim is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at LanzaJet, a leading alternative fuels technology and engineering company committed to accelerating the global transition to sustainable aviation fuels. In this role, Tim oversees all legal matters and leads the company's Legal Department and related functions. Before joining LanzaJet, Tim served as Managing Director and Chief Counsel of Corporate Transactions at CME Group Inc. He also spent several years as a partner at Winston & Strawn LLP. Tim holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Purdue University and earned his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.
Heather Russell, Secretary
TransUnion
Heather is Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at TransUnion. She is an accomplished legal executive with more than 20 years of diverse experience across the global financial services sector. In her role at TransUnion, Heather has created and launched a pro bono program to provide free legal services to those most in need in the Chicago community.
David Hambourger, Past Chair
Chief Information Officer, Chapman and Cutler LLP
Dave is Chapman and Cutler LLP’s Chief Information Officer. A law firm technology veteran, he has spent the last 17 years developing comprehensive and strategic technology initiatives at large law firms designed to increase productivity, collaboration, efficiency, and profitability. Dave holds degrees from Northwestern University, Loyola University College of Law, and University of Illinois.
David Ader
Strategy & Operations Senior Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers
David is a Senior Manager for Strategy&, the global strategy consulting arm of PwC. He has a decade of experience specializing in technology-led transformations and capability-driven digital engagement strategies. As part of the Customer Transformation practice, he supports a range of leading health plans and financial service organizations, developing high-impact solutions to address the complex challenges endemic to highly regulated industries. Before PwC, David was part of Deloitte Digital, ThreatMetrix (a LexisNexis Risk Solutions company), The Online Trust Alliance (an Internet Society initiative), and the King County Prosecutors office.
Kourtney Baltzer
Kirkland & Ellis LLP Partner
Kourtney represents clients in intellectual property litigation matters. Kourtney focuses her trial and appellate practice on patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation matters, including jury trials, Section 337 proceedings before the U.S. International Trade Commission, appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and petitions for inter partes review before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. She also has experience with European Patent Office opposition proceedings and has assisted clients in drafting and negotiating licensing and settlement agreements. Kourtney is also actively involved with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and its Election Protection program, the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition. Kourtney has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University.
Benjamin Bradford
Jenner & Block Partner
Benjamin Bradford is a Partner at Jenner & Block in Chicago, specializing in patent litigation, technology disputes, and intellectual property matters. A former programmer with degrees in mathematics and computer science, he leverages deep technical expertise to handle complex cases involving patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and software licensing. Benjamin represents global corporations across various industries, successfully leads trials and negotiations, and negotiates multi-million-dollar licensing agreements.
Christopher Comerford
Director of Platform Operations, Planet Labs PBC
Chris is the Director of Platform Operations at Planet Labs PBC, where he leads the software engineering infrastructure organization to enable Earth data delivery at scale. Chris has served in multiple technology leadership roles in the academic, nonprofit, and private sectors over the past twenty years, including four years as VP of Enterprise Strategy & Solutions and CIO at the Adler Planetarium. He holds his bachelor's and MBA degrees from the University of Chicago.
Kristina Hendricks
Partner, Jones Day
Kristina is Partner in Jones Day's Chicago office in intellectual property, with a primary focus on patent litigation. She has substantial experience litigating cases in a variety of technology areas, including both electronics hardware and software. Kristina has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Kenneth Jennings
President, Gridiron Alliance
Kenneth Jennings is the CEO of Gridiron Alliance a non-profit organization, a peer-mentor at Lifecenter at Shriley Ryan AbilityLab, a football coach, an advocate, motivational speaker, poet, he does 2 podcasts, he works for a California company named Neuralink, on the board of Bright Promises Foundation and lastly soon to be author of his own book titled How 8 Seconds Change My Life.
Elizabeth Khalil
US Chief Privacy Counsel, CIBC
Elizabeth is CIBC’s US Chief Privacy Counsel and also serves as Associate General Counsel, overseeing consumer regulatory compliance and subpoena response for CIBC Bank USA. She is deeply involved in CIBC’s US initiatives on inclusion and diversity, internships, and continuing education. Elizabeth has spent her career regulating and advising financial institutions, as a federal banking regulator in Washington, DC at the OCC and FDIC and at the law firms of Hogan Lovells and Dykema. She also has a journalism background and is the author of a forthcoming treatise on financial privacy. She has also served as a Legal Content Volunteer for ILAO. Elizabeth graduated from the University of Michigan Law School and Georgetown University.
Anand Mathew
Vice President, Litigation Support Services
Anand Mathew is Nextpoint Law Group’s Vice President of Litigation Support and has a formidable background in legal, technology, and business matters. He has nearly 15 years of experience with law firms of all sizes. Drawing on his technology background, Anand is skilled at harnessing data to benefit his clients’ positions, as well as keeping costs down. He believes the practice of law is decidedly technology-driven and is a fierce advocate for working efficiently to minimize client costs and maximize productivity. Clients appreciate Anand’s big-picture approach and ability to think and act strategically when advising on legal issues.
Jacqueline McLaughlin
Founder and Principal, J. McLaughlin Legal
Jackie is the founder and principal of J. McLaughlin Legal which provides strategic counsel on matters related to IPO and M&A preparedness and execution, corporate governance, legal operations, and crisis management. Prior to founding J. McLaughlin Legal, Jackie was the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of UL Solutions where she led UL's Legal, Brand Integrity, Ethics and Investigations, Government Affairs, Communications and Security teams during all or part of her tenure there. Prior to Jackie's position at UL, she was a partner at Winston & Strawn LLP.
Chris Petrini-Poli
Executive Chairman, K2 Services
Chris serves as the executive chairman of K2 Services, advising the executive team on strategic direction, thought leadership and the evaluation and incubation of joint ventures and acquisitions. With a deep commitment to consistently exceed client expectations, Chris formerly held the role of CEO for HBR Consulting and has held leadership roles at Hildebrandt Baker Robbins, Hildebrandt International, Thomson Reuters, Huron Consulting Group and Arthur Andersen.
Elysia Solomon
Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel, Albertsons’ Pharmacy and Health Division
Elysia is Group Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel for Albertsons’ Pharmacy and Health Division, where she provides solutions-based advice to retail pharmacies, clinical service providers and digital health developers. She also leads the company’s mergers and acquisitions legal team. Elysia has a broad range of experience including: head of litigation, internal investigations and privacy at Humana; counsel at O’Melveny and Myers handling complex litigation; public defender and law clerk in the Republic of Palau; and staff attorney at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Elysia received both her undergraduate and law school degrees from the University of Chicago, and is on the Alumni Advisory Council for the University’s Law School.
Jennifer Woods
Associate General Counsel, Kraft Heinz
Jenn currently serves as associate general counsel at the Kraft Heinz Company in Marketing & Data Privacy. She handles intellectual property and related matters, including trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, unfair competition, antitrust counseling, and information security and privacy.
