Panel Discussion: Leaders in Gender
Equality and the Law

Senator Amanda Cappelletti represents the 17th Senatorial District in Montgomery and Delaware Counties. The district encompasses Radnor and Haverford in Delaware County and nine municipalities in Montgomery County from Lower Merion into Norristown and Blue Bell. Senator Cappelletti is a born and raised advocate for Pennsylvania. Through her upbringing and career, Amanda has put helping others first. Whether it was a service project in junior high or stepping up to protect reproductive rights in Pennsylvania, Amanda will lend a hand to those who need it most. An attorney with a Master’s in Public Health, Amanda has worked in Harrisburg to advance progressive policy. She worked with Representative Donna Bullock and as a Fellow for the ACLU of Pennsylvania. She was a member of the first group awarded the William Penn Fellowship through the Governor’s Office: first as an advocate for children at the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, and then at the Department of Human Services as a policy specialist tracking legislation to assess implementation. Most recently, Amanda served as Director of Policy for Planned Parenthood advocating for reproductive health. In 2017, Amanda was elected to East Norriton’s Board of Supervisors, where she led the conversation in police reform and successfully decriminalized marijuana. A life-long resident of Pennsylvania, Amanda grew up in Boyertown and graduated from Boyertown Area Senior High. She attended Chestnut Hill College for her undergraduate degree, and received her law degree and Master’s in Public Health from Temple University. She currently resides in East Norriton with her husband, Gregory McQuiston, a U.S. Navy veteran.

The Honorable Ida K. Chen is a judge on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Judge Chen is the first Asian American female judge to serve in Pennsylvania and the first Asian American to serve on the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission (PHRC). Additionally, she previously served as a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and as a member of the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial & Ethnic Fairness (from 2005-2010), promoting the equal application of the law for all individuals throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Doneene Damon’s extraordinary leadership includes her roles as the immediate past president of Richards Layton and chair of the Corporate Trust and Agency Services Group.

Doneene focuses her practice on formation and operational issues relating to Delaware statutory trusts and Delaware and New York common law trusts in all types of commercial and business transactions, representing issuers, underwriters, investors, and trustees. Doneene advises clients on the use of common law trusts, statutory trusts, owner trusts, master trusts, series trusts, and titling trusts in connection with capital markets transactions.

Considered “terrific” and praised as “experienced, careful, smart and very personable” (Chambers USA), in 2021 alone Doneene was named among the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Diversity Leaders in Business, the News Journal’s Most Influential Delawareans, Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers, and a Women, Influence & Power in Law Managing Partner of the Year.

Her practice includes representing banks and trust companies in connection with their trust and agency services under Delaware and New York law in various commercial transactions, including their roles as trustee, collateral agent, verification agent, custodian, master servicer, depository agent, securities intermediary, paying agent, registrar and transfer agent, and exchange agent.

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A public-interest attorney, journalist, and entrepreneurial  leader, Kolbert has been recognized by The National Law Journal as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” In 1992, Kolbert made her second appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing Planned Parenthood v. Casey.  This landmark case was widely credited with saving Roe v. Wade with what has called “one of the most audacious litigation strategies in Supreme Court history.”

In June, 2018, Kolbert retired from her position as the Constance Hess Williams ’66 Director of the Athena Center for Leadership at Barnard College, an interdisciplinary center dedicated to the advancement of women’s leadership, which she founded in 2009.  She was also a Professor of Leadership Studies and the Co-Founder of the Athena Film Festival. She continued to serve as the Producing Director of the Athena Film Festival until July 2020.

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