Women Leaders in Labor Law

Gwynne Wilcox is a Board Member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), nominated by President Joseph R. Biden on May 27, 2021 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 28, 2021. Her term will last until August 2023. Most recently, Ms. Wilcox was a senior partner at Levy Ratner, P.C., a New York City labor and employment law firm. There, she served as Associate General Counsel of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and as a labor representative to the NYC Office of Collective Bargaining. Prior to joining Levy Ratner, Ms. Wilcox worked as a Field Attorney at Region 2 of the National Labor Relations Board in New York City. She holds a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark and a B.A. from Syracuse University.

Lauren McFerran is Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), named by President Joseph R. Biden on January 20, 2021. Previously, Ms. McFerran served as an NLRB Board Member from December 17, 2014 until December 16, 2019; her renomination was confirmed in 2020 for a term expiring in 2024. Before her appointment to the NLRB, Ms. McFerran served as Chief Labor Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP Committee). She began her work with the HELP Committee as Senior Labor Counsel for Senator Ted Kennedy and as Deputy Staff Director under Senator Tom Harkin. Before working with the Senate, Ms. McFerran was an associate at Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C., and served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She received a B.A. from Rice University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Jennifer Abruzzo is General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), appointed on July 22, 2021. The General Counsel, appointed by the President to a four-year term, is independent from the Board and responsible for the investigation and prosecution of unfair labor practice cases and for the general supervision of the NLRB field offices in the processing of cases. Ms. Abruzzo had previously worked for the NLRB for over two decades, including as Field Attorney, Supervisory Field Attorney, Deputy Regional Attorney, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, and Acting General Counsel. Immediately prior to her appointment as General Counsel, she served as Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for the Communications Workers of America.

Alexander Colvin, Ph.D., ’99, is the Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman ’75, M.S. ’76, Professor of Conflict Resolution at Cornell University’s ILR School.

Dean Colvin’s research and teaching focuses on employment dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on procedures in non-union workplaces and the impact of the legal environment on organizations. His current research projects include empirical investigations of employment arbitration and cross-national analysis of labor law and dispute resolution. Dean Colvin is the co-author of “An Introduction to U.S. Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations” (with T. Kochan and H. Katz) and of “Arbitration Law “( with K. Stone and R. Bales).

Dean Colvin received his J.D. in 1992 from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. in 1999 from Cornell University. He received the 2003 Outstanding Young Scholar Award from the Industrial Relations Research Association (IRRA) and the 2000 Best Dissertation Award from the IRRA for his dissertation entitled “Citizens and Citadels: Dispute Resolution and the Governance of Employment Relations.” Before joining the faculty of the ILR School, Dean Colvin taught at Penn State University from 1999 to 2008.

Donica Thomas Varner is Vice President and General Counsel for Cornell University. As the university’s chief legal officer, Ms. Varner represents and advises all Cornell boards, senior officers, other officials and units, and outside counsel. Prior to joining Cornell, she served as the vice president, general counsel, and secretary at Oberlin College and Conservatory. Her legal practice began with Detroit-based law firms representing public and private employers in the areas of employment and labor law. Ms. Varner left private practice to work inside higher education institutions, first joining the legal staff at Wayne State University, then serving as associate general counsel and practice group leader for the faculty, staff, and student legal practice group in the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel at the University of Michigan. She holds a B.S. from North Carolina State University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.