Roberta S. Karmel is Centennial Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law at Brooklyn Law School. She was engaged in the private practice of law in New York City for over thirty years. She was a partner of Rogers & Wells from 1972-77 and from 1980-85, and then of counsel from 1985-86. From 1987 to 2002 she was a partner and then of counsel at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. She was a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1977-80, a public director of the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. from 1983-89, and a member of the National Adjudicatory Council of the NASDR from 1998-2001.

From 1994-2006 Professor Karmel was a director of the Kemper National Insurance Companies and from 1980-2000 she was a director of Mallinckrodt Group Inc. (and its predecessors International Minerals & Chemical Corporation and Imcera Group, Inc.). Also, from 2003-2006, she was a director of the National Association of Corporate Directors N.Y. Chapter.

She was born May 4, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois. She received a B.A. cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1959 and an LL.B. cum laude from New York University School of Law in 1962.

Professor Karmel is a Trustee of the Practising Law Institute. She is an Advisor to the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association, and is a member of the ABA Presidential Task Force on Financial Markets Regulatory Reform. She is a member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and on the Boards of Advisors of Securities Regulation and Law Report, The Review of Securities and Commodities Regulation, and the World Securities Law Report. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 1991-92.

Her honors include membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Iota of Massachusetts at Harvard College (Hon.) 2009, the American Bar Association Women Lawyers of Achievement Award 2008, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities, Kings College 1998.

Professor Karmel is the author of over 50 articles in books and legal journals, and writes a regular column on securities regulation for the New York Law Journal. She is a frequent lecturer on financial regulation. Her book entitled Regulation by Prosecution: The Securities and Exchange Commission vs. Corporate America was published by Simon and Schuster in 1982.

Helene L. Kaplan is of counsel to the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. She represents not-for-profit institutions and individuals with substantial philanthropic interests.

Mrs. Kaplan has served in the not-for-profit sector as counsel or trustee of many scientific, arts, charitable and educational institutions and foundations. She is the first trustee to serve a second term as chair of the board of Carnegie Corporation of New York, and upon her retirement on March 1, 2007, she became the first chair to be elected an honorary trustee. Mrs. Kaplan is also a trustee of The American Museum of Natural History. She is trustee emerita and chair emerita of Barnard College and a trustee emerita of The Institute for Advanced Study, The Commonwealth Fund and The J. Paul Getty Trust. She is a member and a former director of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Mrs. Kaplan has served as a director of ExxonMobil Corporation (Mobil 1989-1999 and ExxonMobil 1999-2004); MetLife, Inc. and Metropolitan Life Insurance (1987-2008); May Department Stores Corporation (1985- 2005); JPMorgan Chase and Company and its predecessor companies (1987- 2004); and Verizon Communications, Inc. and its predecessor companies (1990- 2003). Mrs. Kaplan also has served as a trustee of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the MITRE Corporation and the New York Foundation, and was chair of the New York Council for the Humanities and vice-chair of the New York City Public Development Corporation. She has been a member of the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government and chaired its Task Force on Judicial and Regulatory Decision Making. From 1985 to 1987, Mrs. Kaplan was a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on South Africa, and from 1986 to 1990, she served as a member of New York Governor Cuomo’s Task Force on Life and the Law, concerned with the legal and ethical implications of advances in medical technology.

Mrs. Kaplan is the recipient of numerous awards. Her alma mater, Barnard College, has honored her with the Barnard Medal of Distinction, and Columbia University awarded her an honorary doctorate of laws in 1990. In May 2001, Mrs. Kaplan received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She has been named by Directors’ Alert as one of corporate America’s 10 outstanding directors.

Siri S. Marshall is a Director of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Presiding Director), Equifax, Inc., Alphatec Holdings, Inc. and BioHorizons, Inc. She retired as the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Governance and Compliance Officer of General Mills Inc. in 2008, a position she held since joining General Mills in 1994. She was also a member of the Corporate Management Committee.

Prior to joining General Mills, Ms. Marshall was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Avon Products, Inc. in New York and a member of the Corporate Management Council. Before joining Avon, she was a corporate associate with the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York.

Ms. Marshall is also a Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Corporate Law, a member of the Dean’s Council at Yale Law School, a Distinguished Advisor to the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in Malibu, California and a Trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

She has served as a Director of NovaCare, Inc., Jafra Cosmetics International, Snack Ventures Europe, the American Arbitration Association, the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, and the Yale Law School Fund. She has also served as a member of the New York Stock Exchange Legal Advisory Committee.

Ms. Marshall received her undergraduate degree with honors from Harvard University and is a graduate of the Yale Law School.

Each year DirectWomen awards the Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Award to women lawyers who have served with distinction as independent directors of public companies and have worked to advance the value of diversity in board positions. This award is named for Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. An innovator and pioneer, she became the first woman justice in the Supreme Court’s history. Now, this award is honoring women lawyers who are breaking boundaries of their own and who have contributed to the advancement of women lawyers as corporate directors. A selection committee chooses recipients who epitomize the spirit of DirectWomen and honors them and the companies on whose boards they serve for their achievements and commitment to promoting board diversity.

The Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Award is awarded to a woman who…

• has earned a J.D. or L.L.M. degree,
• has served with distinction on the board of a public company and
• has advanced the value of diversity in the workplace.

Deadline for Nominations

Please check back this fall for the 2012 nomination deadline.

2011 Luncheon

The Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Awards Luncheon was held on February 11, 2011 at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. 

We are currently in the planning stages for our next luncheon, which will be held in Spring 2013. Please check back for updated information on how to purchase 2013 Tribute Book ads and individual tickets to the 2013 Luncheon.

Download 2011 Tribute Book
(Large File Size – 6MB)

Download 2009 Tribute Book
(Large File Size – 10MB)

Download 2008 Tribute Book
(Large File Size – 24MB)

Download 2007 Tribute Book
(Large File Size – 17MB)

Suzanne Nora Johnson currently serves on the boards of Visa, Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Intuit, Inc. and the American International Group, Inc.

Ms. Nora Johnson’s community activities include service on the boards of The American Red Cross, the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Markle Foundation, RAND Health, Technoserve, The University of Southern California and Women’s World Banking. She also currently chairs the Global Agenda Council on Systemic Financial Risk for the World Economic Forum and co‐chairs the Trade Advisory Council for the Mayor of Los Angeles.

She is retired Vice Chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., where she served as a member of the management committee responsible for economics and investment research. She also served as chair of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, she was associated with the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York.

Ms. Nora Johnson is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Southern California. After graduating from Harvard, she clerked for the Honorable Francis Murnaghan, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Mrs. Michelson began her career as a member of the Executive Training Squad at Macy’s New York. She became Assistant to the Labor Relations Manager in 1948. Serving successively in management positions, she became Vice President for Employee Personnel in 1963; and Senior Vice President for Labor and Consumer Relations in 1970 and a member of the Macy’s New York Executive Committee and Board of Directors. In 1972, Mrs. Michelson assumed the responsibility of Senior Vice President for
Personnel, Labor and Consumer Relations. In November 1980 she was elected Senior Vice President for External Affairs for R.H. Macy & Co., Inc. She retired from the Company in September 1992 and served the Company as a Senior Advisor and Member of the Board until December 31, 1994, at which time the company merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc.

Mrs. Michelson is Chairman Emerita of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University; formerly director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Rand Corporation; Honorary Trustee Spelman College, formerly Chairman of the Markle Foundation; formerly a Director of the United Way of Tri‐State, formerly Vice Chairman and Director of the New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. Michelson was formerly a Member of the New York State Financial Control Board; Deputy Chairman of
the New York Federal Reserve Bank; a Member of the National Commission on the Public Service; a Director and Member of the Executive Committee of the American Arbitration Association; Director of Work in America Institute, Inc., Director of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York.

She was president of the Board of Overseers at TIAA‐CREF and was a member of the Board of Governors of the RAND Graduate School. She was formerly a member of the Mayor’s Committee on Appointments and served on the Mayor’s Council of Economic Advisors. She was previously a member of The Board of Visitors of Columbia Business School.

Mrs. Michelson previously served as a Director of the General Electric Company, Irving Bank Corporation and the Irving Trust Company, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., the Discount Corporation of New York, The Quaker Oats Company, Federated Department Stores, Inc., The Stanley Works, The Chubb Corporation, The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and as a Public Governor of the American Stock Exchange.

Mrs. Michelson is Chairman of the Board of the Helena Rubinstein Foundation and is a member of Board of Visitors at Columbia Law School.

Mrs. Michelson is a member of the Economic Club of New York and The Women’s Forum.

Mrs. Michelson is the recipient of the honorary LL.D from Adelphi University, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from New Rochelle College, Honorary Doctor of Laws from Marymount Manhattan College, Honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Policy Analysis from the RAND Graduate School, the James
Kent Award from the School of Law, Columbia University, the Frederick A. P. Barnard Award from Barnard College, the Pennsylvania State University Alumni Fellow Award; the AWED American Women’s Economic Development Corporation Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women’s Economic Development; the Girl Scout Women’s Achievement Award; the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund Equal Opportunity Award; and the Catalyst Award for Contribution to Corporate Leadership and the Wein Award from Columbia Law School.

The late Horace Michelson was retired from the law firm of Moses & Singer.

She has a daughter, three granddaughters and resides in New York City.