Paula Boggs is the founder of Boggs Media, LLC, a business that manages her music, speaking, and other creative business activities. She is a Philanthropist, Fundraiser, Public Speaker, Lawyer and Musician. She is also a Board Member of numerous for-profit and non-profit organizations. Paula Boggs served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Law and Corporate Affairs at Starbucks Corporation from 2002 to 2012. Her prior professional experience includes serving as Vice President, Legal, for Products, Operations and Technology at Dell Computer Corporation, and as a partner at the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP. She also had a 14-year career in public service, including serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and in various capacities as an attorney for the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Legal Counsel. She served eight years as a Regular Officer in the United States Army, and earned Army Airborne wings and a Congressional appointment to the US Naval Academy – among America’s first women to do so.
Paula Boggs is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), and earned a bachelor’s degree in International Studies (economics, energy policy) from Johns Hopkins University. She was also an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law.
Since leaving Starbucks, Paula Boggs has volunteered for a presidential campaign as a national surrogate, serves on for-profit and non-profit boards, and raises and gives money in support of causes she champions. In 2013, President Obama appointed her to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
Paula Boggs has written and recorded two music CD’s (16 songs), and owns the U.S. Copyrights. She is also a Voting Member, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Pacific Northwest Chapter.
Her current civic and professional activities include:
Current Boards: Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (2014-Present); Avid Technology, Inc. (2015-Present); KEXP (Public Radio Station licensed by University of Washington) Advisory Council & Board (2007-Present: Board Secretary, Co-Chair, Capital Campaign); Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Business Programs Advisory Board (2016-Present).
Past Boards: Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees (1998-2016): Past Chair, Audit & Insurance Committee, Chair, Student Life Committee; member of Executive and Academic Affairs Committees, Co-Chair, JHU Legacy Society, Member, JHU Capital Campaign Executive Committee, member, Peabody Institute National Advisory Board member); American Red Cross National Board of Governors); Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ); White House Council for Community Solutions; School of Rock LLC; Premera Blue Cross: Chaired, Investment and Compensation Committees; Pinnacle Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ); Seattle Art Museum; Association of Corporate Counsel; Georgetown (TX) Economic Development Commission: Chair, 2001-2002; Georgetown (TX) Public Library Foundation; Vice-Chair 1998-2000; Greater Seattle YMCA); Vice-Chair, Washington State Equal Justice Coalition; Legal Aid for Washington (LAWFUND) Board President 2006-2008.
Other: Johns Hopkins University Emerita Trustee (2016-Present); Johns Hopkins University Peabody Institute and Carey Business School Dean Search Committee Member; NAACP Life Member; Donor and Creator, The Boggs Fellowship, 1998-Present (Given to HBCU graduates or underrepresented persons of color who pursue graduate studies in the physical, biological or engineering sciences at Johns Hopkins University); Loren Miller Bar Association Member; American Bar Association House of Delegates (1993-Present); Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Docket Editorial Advisory Board; Lincoln Center Institute 2010 Imagination Award Advisory Panel; Co-Chair, Washington State Campaign for Equal Justice; Mentor, Guiding Lights Weekend; Presidential Classroom for Young Americans, Volunteer Instructor; Chair, Law & Government Cluster, Greater Seattle YMCA Black Achievers Program.
Paula Boggs’ professional honors include:
U.S. Army Infantry Parachute Badge (Airborne, 1980); Defense Meritorious Service Award (1987); Presidential Service Badge (President Ronald Reagan, 1988); U.S. Department of Justice Special Achievement Award (“for sustained superior performance of duty;” 1990, 1991); Who’s Who Among Rising Young Americans (1992); Secretary of Defense Award For Excellence (Secretary William Perry, 1994); Selectee, Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” (1995); Recipient, 1998 Boalt Hall Alumni Association Recent Alumnus Award; 2003 King County Bar Association Pro Bono Firm of the Year, Starbucks Legal Department; ABA 2006 Spirit of Excellence Award; 2006 Sergeant Shriver Award for Equal Justice; Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle 2006 “Spirit” Award; 2007 Corporate Counsel Women of Color Diamond Award Honoree; 2008 Asian Bar Association of Washington President’s Award; Honoree, 2008 National Bar Association Wiley A. Branton Award; 2008 Honoree, Council on Legal Education Opportunity 40th Anniversary West/Northwestern Region, Individual Leadership Award; named NASDAQ’s 2009 Top General Counsel; 2009 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumnus(a) Award ; Honoree, Puget Sound Business Journal 2010 Women of Influence; 2011 Loren Miller Bar Association President’s Award, Designee, 2012 WNBA Seattle Storm Woman of Distinction; Designee, 2013 American Bar Association “Notable Member,” Seattle Girls School 2014 Grace Hopper Award for Lifetime Achievement Honoree; 2016 Upstanding and Financial Times US/UK Executive Power List for Diversity Leadership.