Karen Ali to Help Lead Firm-Wide Diversity Initiatives
Philadelphia, Pa. (LAWFUEL) – September 16, 2008 – Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that Karen S. Ali has joined the firm as Director of Diversity. Ms. Ali, a lawyer and long-time advocate for women and minorities in the workplace, will help to lead Pepper Hamilton’s firm-wide diversity initiatives. She is the first person to assume this role for Pepper Hamilton, and she will complement and advance the work of the firm’s Diversity Committee. She is based in the Philadelphia office.
“For several years, enhancing the diversity of the firm has been one of our strategic goals, and we believe that having someone dedicated full-time to directing these efforts will assist us in achieving our objectives,” said Robert E. Heideck, Pepper Hamilton’s executive partner. “Karen has a long history of championing the professional development of women and minorities, and she brings tremendous energy and enthusiasm to this newly created position.”
“‘Diversity’ at Pepper is broadly defined to include the recruitment, support and retention of lawyers from diverse backgrounds, including people of different race, gender, national origin, religion, socio-economic status and sexual orientation,” said Ms. Ali. “I look forward to working with lawyers across the firm to ensure that we are employing best practices as we strive to meet our goals.”
Ms. Ali joins Pepper Hamilton from the New Jersey Hospital Association, a 115-member health care trade association in Princeton, NJ, where she was Vice President, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs. She also was a member of NJHA’s Diversity Task Force, which was charged with enhancing diversity within the health care industry’s governance boards and executive leadership.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Ali was a senior attorney with the Resolution Trust Corporation. There, her responsibilities included monitoring agency compliance with federal regulations governing contracting with small, women and minority-owned law firms in an 11-state region. She also conducted outreach presentations to national, regional and local bar organizations regarding RTC initiatives to increase utilization of minority and women partners and associates.
Before that, she served as general counsel of Technology Applications, Inc., a minority-owned high-technology corporation, where, among other things, she advised senior management on legal matters and managed compliance with affirmative action regulations governing federal contractors.
Ms. Ali is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (J.D. 1981) and Princeton University (A.B. in sociology, with a certificate of proficiency in Afro-American studies, 1978). She remains actively involved with Princeton, serving on the board of trustees of the Class of 1978 Foundation, the Selection Committee for The Princeton Prize in Race Relations, and the Council of the Princeton University Community, among other committees.
