( New York, February 9, 2015 ) — Lambda Legal announced it has elected three new leaders to serve on its Board of Directors, including: Dr. Beth Meyerson, Assistant Professor of Public Health Policy & Administration at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN; Roderick Hawkins, Vice President of External Affairs with the Chicago Urban League; and David de Figueiredo, Senior Vice President and Risk Management Manager with Well Fargo Bank in San Francisco.
Chicagoan Stephen Winters, former general counsel for BP America, has been elected co-chair of the national board.
"We are grateful that Stephen will take on this role as co-chair after several years of service on the board. We are also tremendously pleased to welcome these three new members to our board," Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart said. "David, Beth and Roderick bring an exciting breadth of knowledge and talent to Lambda Legal, specializing in banking and investment, health policy research and administration, and non-profit communications. We greatly appreciate their willingness to volunteer their time and service."
A self-described "pracademic," Dr. Beth Meyerson is both a member of the faculty of the Department of Applied Health Science at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington and co-director of the Rural Center for HIV/STD Prevention, a collaborative of Indiana University, the University of Kentucky and the University of Arizona. She is also Policy Director for Cervical Cancer-Free Coalition, an international effort of governments, researchers and communities targeting the elimination of cervical cancer. Prior to joining the faculty at Indiana University, Beth served for 13 years as president of Policy Resource Group, LLC, and before that was state AIDS/STD Director for the State of Missouri. She currently serves as Technical Research Advisor to the Indiana HIV Prevention Community Planning Group and is a member of the Indiana Cancer Consortium. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, holds a Masters of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis and a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis and Administration from Saint Louis University.
"I am pleased and honored to join the Board of Lambda Legal because it has for so many years been in the trenches doing the necessary legal and policy work of LGBT civil liberties with specialized focus on HIV and health access," Meyerson said. "I have thoroughly enjoyed my work as co-chair of the Indiana Lambda Legal Benefit, and am proud to continue and expand my affiliation with an organization that is doing such important work."
Stephen R. Winters was born in Wichita, Kansas and received his J.D. degree from Kansas University in 1975. He attended the Executive Program at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business in 1996. Winters became an attorney in Amoco Oil Company's ( subsequently BP America ) Kansas City office in 1975, and relocated to the company's worldwide headquarters in Chicago in 1980. From 1989 through his retirement in 2008, Winters held US and international management positions, and from 2004 was the General Counsel for BP America. Winters has served on Lambda Legal's National Board of Directors since March 2012, and since December, 2013 has been a member of the Board's Executive Committee.
"I'm honored to serve as co-chair of the Board of Directors for Lambda Legal, the nation's largest and most successful organization at the forefront of the movement to win equal justice for the LGBT community and people living with HIV," Winters said. "Lambda Legal's work has an enormously positive impact on peopIe's lives and I am thrilled to be able to take a leadership role to support its work during this historic time in the LGBT civil rights movement."
David de Figueiredo has worked for more than 30 years in financial services industry in multiple capacities. He served as Chief Credit Officer for the Specialty Finance Division of Greater Bay Bank. Wells Fargo purchased Greater Bay Bank, and David now oversees all aspects credit, operational and compliance risk at Wells Fargo Practice Finance, a $1.5-billion division of Wells Fargo Bank. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and sits on the Board of Lincoln Child Center in Oakland.
"I have always appreciated the work Lambda Legal does to support LGBT youth, in school and in their communities," de Figueiredo said. "I have served on Lambda Legal's National Leadership Council, and am tremendously honored to be invited to join the Board at this incredibly exciting time in fight for equal rights for LGBT individuals, couples and families."
Roderick Hawkins has been a senior staff member with the nearly 100-year-old Chicago Urban League since 2007, overseeing the communication, marketing and external relations of the city's largest civil rights organization. Prior to joining the Chicago Urban League, Hawkins served as Deputy Press Secretary for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and as Director of Communication for the Louisiana Recovery Corps, managing communications and media relations both during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Audience Architects and the Illinois Literacy Foundation and serves on the Chicago History Museum OUT at CHM Advisory Committee and the iHeart MEDIA Chicago Local Advisory Board. Roderick is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Hawkins also served as a member of the steering committee for Illinois Unites for Marriage, the coalition who successfully worked to pass legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry in Illinois.
"For more than 40 years Lambda Legal has made a tremendous impact on the nation through its litigation, advocacy and outreach on behalf of the LGBT community and those impacted by HIV," Hawkins said. "I believe in their work and am honored to join the board of directors to ensure that Lambda Legal's vision of full recognition of the civil rights of the LGBT community and all who experience discrimination is realized."
