Faculty
Randy Young (’92), Partner, Kean Miller
Energy Regulatory Law
Randy Young is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He joined the firm in 1992 and practices in the areas of energy, telecommunications, utility regulation, pilotage regulation, and also in environmental litigation. Randy has 25 years of experience in electric utility regulation and environmental law. He has represented industrial manufacturing, refining, and related companies before the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He has represented independent generation companies and power marketers in matters before the LPSC and has represented a telecommunications company in multi-state regulatory complaint proceedings. Randy has also represented industry associations in matters before the Louisiana Pilotage Commission. Randy has extensive experience in complex toxic tort litigation, class action proceedings and settlements, insurance claims litigation, and he has represented clients in connection with environmental remediation and Superfund/CERCLA issues and litigation. Randy is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and was elected to The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White, Inc) in 2007-2020 by his peers. He was named by Best Lawyers as a Baton Rouge Lawyer of the Year in Administrative/Regulatory Law for 2018. Randy is also listed among the top energy & natural resources lawyers in the State of Louisiana by Chambers USA in 2011 – 2019.
Randy earned his B.S. in 1983 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana where he received Outstanding Graduate honors. He earned his J.D. in 1992 from the LSU Law Center where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, Academic Hall of Fame, Phi Kappa Phi, and recipient of the Jules F. Landry Scholarship Award for 1991 – 1992. He also attended the summer law program at Universite’ d’Aix Marseille III in Aix en Provence, France.
Carrie Tournillon, Partner, Kean Miller
Energy Regulatory Law
Carrie Tournillon is a partner in the New Orleans office of Kean Miller. She joined the firm in 2012 and practices in the utilities regulation, oil and gas, and pipeline groups. She is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and Texas and has eighteen years of experience in administrative and public utility law. Carrie has represented industrial manufacturing, refining and related companies before the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC), Louisiana Pilotage Fee Commission (LPFC), and City Council of New Orleans. She has been involved in advising companies with respect to generation projects to ensure their compliance with Federal and state energy regulatory law. Carrie has also represented companies in transportation permit matters and has assisted telecommunications companies, liquids intrastate pipeline companies, local distribution gas utilities and water and sewerage utilities in regulatory matters and contract disputes. Her private practice in Texas has included representation of clients on utility regulatory matters before the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), the Railroad Commission of Texas, the State Office of Administrative Hearings, and in district court. Prior to entering private practice in Texas, Carrie served as a Staff Attorney for the PUCT, where she represented the Commission in a variety of electric and telecommunication proceedings, rulemaking proceedings, and ERCOT protocol enforcement cases. Carrie also worked on the PUCT’s Emergency Management Response Team during Hurricane Ike.
Carrie earned her BA from the University of Alabama and her JD from Loyola University of New Orleans.
Caroline Blitzer Philips (’96), Partner, Latham & Watkins
Mergers &Acquisitions Workshop
Ms. Blitzer Phillips is a partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins. She advises clients in mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, and general corporate and securities matters. She has substantial experience with clients throughout the energy industry, including oil and gas exploration and production, transportation and midstream, power, oilfield services, coal, and renewables and clean energy. In September of 2015, Ms. Blitzer Phillips was named to the New York Metro Super Lawyers List. Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, she clerked for The Honorable Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Ms. Blitzer Phillips holds a B.S. from Duke University and a J.D. from LSU.
Stacie Lambert Diblieux (’04), Principal, Salim Beasley, LLC
Complex Litigation and Antitrust
Stacie is a principal at the Salim Beasley, LLC. Prior to joining Salim Beasley, Stacie joined the Louisiana Department of Justice as an Assistant Attorney General. She soon began representing the State in some of its largest and most complex plaintiff cases against big business interests such as the pharmaceutical, insurance and auto industries. With a focus on consumer protection and antitrust enforcement, Stacie became Section Chief of the DOJ’s first Complex Litigation Unit, often working hand-in-hand with other state and federal enforcers and leading efforts on behalf of forty or more states. Stacie has served as the lead attorney for Louisiana in a variety of complex litigation matters, including all Katrina-related cases against the insurance industry, auto cases such as Toyota unintended acceleration and Volkswagen diesel emissions, antitrust multidistrict litigation cases involving the delayed generic entry of Suboxone as well as the price fixing of generic pharmaceuticals, and the State’s cases against Facebook and Google. Most recently, Stacie headed the State’s lawsuit against the opioid drug manufacturers, was a member of the 13-state committee negotiating the national $26 billion settlement with Johnson & Johnson and opioid distributors and served on the ad-hoc committee for the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy matter related to the national opiate litigation.
Gordon D. Polozola (’95), Partner, Kean Miller
Energy Regulatory Law
Gordon Polozola is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He rejoined the firm in 2020 and practices with the utilities regulation group. Prior to rejoining the firm, Gordon served as vice president and regional general counsel for a major independent power producer in the Southeast, and as executive vice president and general counsel to a private equity infrastructure firm located in Houston, Texas. Gordon has over twenty-five years of expertise in electricity, natural gas pipelines and telecommunications, including tariffs and ratemaking, power & commodity sale/purchase agreements, EPC agreements, wholesale energy markets, NERC regulation and compliance audits, asset dispositions, O&M contract negotiations, ad valorem tax disputes and litigation, FERC wholesale transmission and interconnect agreements, and environmental regulations and compliance.
Stephanie Beaugh, Access to Justice Projects Counsel, Louisiana State Bar Association
Serving the Public and the Profession
Stephanie Beaugh currently serves as Access to Justice Projects Counsel at the Louisiana State Bar Association where she is the liaison to the ATJ Commission’s Self-Represented Litigation, Technology, and Accessibility Committees, and she assists with the Justice for All Project. A native New Orleanian, Stephanie graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy and Criminal Justice Minor. Prior to entering law school, Stephanie worked as a legal assistant in a small litigation firm for over 8 years. Thereafter, she earned her law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. While attending law school, Stephanie had two articles published in the Loyola Law Review, and she served as a Casenote/Comment Editor on Loyola Law Review and as a Moot Court Staff Member. After passing the Louisiana Bar Exam, she served as a law clerk in Orleans Parish Civil District Court and in Louisiana’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. Prior to joining the LSBA’s Access to Justice team in 2020, Stephanie was the Program Director at Louisiana Appleseed.
Rachael Mills (’15), Access to Justice Projects Counsel, Louisiana State Bar Association
Serving the Public and the Profession
Rachael Mills graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in History. After graduation, she moved to Louisiana as an AmeriCorps disaster relief volunteer. She completed three terms of service with AmeriCorps, primarily with nonprofit organizations focused on rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, before initially joining the LSBA’s Access to Justice Department. After a three-year hiatus to attend LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Rachael re-joined the Access to Justice Department as ATJ Special Projects Counsel. Currently, she works with the Access to Justice Department to manage, administer and direct various projects of, or facilitated by, the ATJ Program which strengthen relationships and foster coordination among Louisiana’s civil justice community members and partners.
As part of those duties, she staffs numerous committees and subcommittees of both the Access to Justice Committee and the Access to Justice Commission. In particular, she staffs the Pro Bono and Disaster Response subcommittees of the ATJ Committee. In her role as staff liaison with the Disaster Response Subcommittee, she facilitates coordination of the subcommittee and the ABA/YLD Disaster Response Hotline. For the ATJ Commission, she serves as staff liaison for the Funding Committee which explores various ways in which to increase funding for civil legal aid. In addition to those duties, she oversees the ATJ Developing Leadership Intern Program which provides a unique opportunity for 1Ls to learn about Louisiana’s civil justice network and she is the local administrator of LA.FreeLegalAnswers.org, the online pro bono program created and supported by the ABA.
Abboud Thomas, (’93) Partner, Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC
Managing the Personal Injury Case
Abboud Thomas a partner in the Baton Rouge law firm of Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens. He is a veteran trial lawyer who has handled many jury trials throughout the State of Louisiana. He is a true trial lawyer’s trial lawyer and is a Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a prestigious group whose membership is limited to the only the best and most experienced trial attorneys. His practice centers around serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, including automobile and trucking accidents, products liability, industrial accidents, and medical malpractice.
J. Cullens, (’94) Partner, Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC
Managing the Personal Injury Case
J. Cullens is a partner in the Baton Rouge law firm of Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, Louisiana trial attorney, J. Cullens, represents clients in commercial litigation in state and federal courts across the nation. Mr. Cullens has achieved several multi-million-dollar jury verdicts, including obtaining the sixteenth largest trial verdict in the nation rendered in 2005 ($180 million) according to VerdictSearch.com while serving as lead counsel for the insurance receivers of Louisiana and Oklahoma in a complex commercial fraud case against a Fortune 500 company, an international law firm, and a Big Five accounting firm. This verdict was later affirmed by a unanimous Louisiana Supreme Court in 2011. In July 2017, he obtained a jury verdict in excess of $20 million on behalf of a bankruptcy trustee in a breach of fiduciary duty suit in Texas federal court against the directors and officers of a publicly traded corporation allegedly being run as a pump-and-dump by billionaire John Paul DeJoria, the owner of Paul Mitchell Studios and Patron Tequila. In 2018, based in large part to these jury verdicts, Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC was one of five (5) law firms in the nation nominated by the National Law Journal for the most outstanding achievement in the business tort category.
Kristen D. Amond (’16), Mills & Amond, LLP
Making Your Case. What Makes Judges Read and Hear What Lawyers Say
Kristen D. Amond is a founding member of Mills & Amond LLP. She served as a clerk to the Honorable Judge Susie Morgan of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana. In law school, she served as an intern for the Honorable Judge Brian A. Jackson of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. Kristen graduated magna cum laude from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 2016. In law school, she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Louisiana Law Review, Chair of the SBA’s Ethics Board, 3L Representative of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and team member of the greatest LSU Law Powderpuff Football team to grace PMH’s halls. Before law school, Kristen taught second and third grades in New Orleans charter schools and has been an advocate for public education ever since. Kristen has a special commitment to Louisiana’s economic development, its culture, and particularly its underserved communities. As a member of the Eastern District of Louisiana’s civil pro bono panel, she regularly volunteers her professional time to the representation of plaintiffs in civil rights cases. Kristen is the current Chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division. Kristen also serves on the boards of the New Orleans Federal Bar Association Younger Lawyers Division and Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans. She is a member of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute’s Class of 2021 and a recent alumna of Council for a Better Louisiana’s Leadership Louisiana program. Kristen is currently an adjunct professor at Tulane University, teaching a class on the First Amendment and the media.
David Fleshman (’11) Partner, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP
Sports Law/NIL Experience
David is a partner in the firm of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson law firm. The primary focus of David’s practice has been a blend of general litigation, business transactions, construction law, sports law, and contract law. In addition to representing individuals and private companies, David has also represented several Louisiana governmental entities, including the Ernest N. Morial Exhibition Hall Authority (the New Orleans Convention Center), the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, Ascension Parish, LSU Board of Supervisors, and the New Orleans Aviation Board. Through this representation, he has extensive experience in matters involving public bid and procurement law, open meetings and public records law, public bid protests and disputes, construction contracts, and public-private partnerships for the construction of large public projects in Louisiana, such as the new North Terminal at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. David also represents professional and amateur athletes, coaches, agents, venue owners, and businesses in the wide-ranging and rapidly evolving arena of Sports law, including in matters involving name, image, likeness (“NIL”) contracts and compliance, interpretation, and enforcement of NCAA and LHSAA rules, food, beverage and concession agreements, facility use agreements, coaching contracts, business and estate planning, and sports-related injury and business litigation. David currently serves as an Adjunct Law Professor at LSU where he teaches Sports Law.
Ashley Clare-Kearney Thigpen, Associate AD/Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, LSU
Sports Law/NIL Experience
Ashley Clare-Kearney Thigpen is the LSU Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and has played an integral role in shaping LSU’s name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) program. As one of LSU’s all-time most highly decorated gymnasts and a Louisiana licensed attorney, Thigpen is uniquely positioned to assist LSU student-athletes navigate the complex and every-changing world of NIL. Ashley is a two-time national champion and former gymnast for LSU, and she enters her 10th season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Tigers. Clare-Kearney received her bachelor’s degree from LSU in 2008, earned her master’s at LSU in 2010 and earned her law degree from Southern University in 2013. A five-time First-Team All-American during her career at LSU, Clare-Kearney handles all choreography for floor and beam routines, and she assists in coaching all four events. Clare-Kearney is considered one of the top choreographers in the nation and her influence in Baton Rouge cannot be underscored. LSU’s floor performers consistently produce big floor scores each season from start to finish.
Olivia Nuss (’22), Head of Legal and Business Affairs, Student NIL
Sports Law/NIL Experience
Olivia Nuss works at the center of the ever-evolving landscape of student-athlete Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights. Olivia is currently the Head of Legal & Business Affairs at Student Athlete NIL and also oversees contracts for their annual event in Atlanta, GA, the NIL Summit. To date, she has personally written over $60 million in NIL deals, more than any single attorney in the country.
Olivia is a licensed attorney with authorization to practice in the state of Louisiana. She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, as well as a Degree in Comparative Law (D.C.L.), from the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center (class of 2022), all while pursuing a master’s in mass communication (M.M.C.) from the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication. Throughout her rigorous three-year program, she exhibited a passion for college sports, particularly in the non-traditional sphere of NIL. During this joint program, she was an avid writer, which led to the publication of her thesis titled “The Future of Name, Image, and Likeness in Advertising.”
During her time at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Olivia secured an externship with the LSU NCAA Compliance office and played a key role in establishing the legal research and educational initiatives for the foundation of LSU Athletics’ NIL initiative (NILSU) with current NIL Director, Taylor Jacobs. Beyond her academic achievements and foundational role with LSU Athletics, Olivia’s professional track record includes tenures at prominent entities such as Eccker Sports, Influential Co., and Hashtag Sports. In these roles, Olivia identified strategic partnerships, targeted specific sports markets, and created innovative campaigns for NIL partnerships.
In her current role, Olivia manages contracts and related legal matters for over fifty-five NIL collective entities associated with specific universities. Olivia has negotiated and drafted more NIL deals than any other attorney in the country. Her role combines creative thinking with the ability to identify issues in the evolving legal landscape. Olivia aims to remain a trailblazer in the world of student-athlete NIL rights and hopes to continue empowering student-athletes while working toward stability in this dynamic NIL environment.
J. Michael Monahan (’98), Principal, Astrolabe, LLC
Video Game Law
J. Michael Monahan is the principal of Astrolabe, LLC where he focuses on “soft IP law” — e.g., trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets – and other issues arising from technology and consumer-facing content. For over 20 years, he has helped businesses large and small with the establishment, development, and protection of intellectual property assets. His sub-specialty is the law of video games, including MMOs, and the intellectual property concerns and other special legal and business issues that arise in that space. Mr. Monahan is a 1995 graduate of Georgetown University and a 1998 graduate of the LSU Law Center. At LSU, he was a member of the Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. After receiving his law degree, Mr. Monahan was an associate at McGlinchey Stafford and Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein McAlister & Hilbert. In 2006, Mr. Monahan moved to Chicago and joined Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson where he became a partner prior to founding Astrolabe. Mr. Monahan has lectured extensively on intellectual property and videogame issues and teaches a seminar in videogame law at the Chicago Kent School of Law.
Joel Boussert, General Counsel, Stonehenge Capital
Community Development and Tax Policy
Joel Boussert’s responsibilities include transaction structuring and product development. Prior to joining Stonehenge, Mr. Boussert practiced with Gould & Ratner, LLP in Chicago, where he focused on a wide variety of tax matters for individuals and corporations. Prior to Gould & Ratner, LLP, Mr. Boussert was a corporate and tax attorney with Crowell and Owens, LLC in Alexandria, Louisiana. Before working for Crowell and Owens, Mr. Boussert clerked for the Honorable Judge Harry F. Randow in the Louisiana Ninth Judicial District Court. Mr. Boussert received an LLM in Taxation, with honors, from Northwestern University School of Law, a JD from Tulane University Law School, and a BA, magna cum laude, from Louisiana State University.
Nick LaCour (’15), Vice President, Stonehenge Capital
Community Development and Tax Policy
Nick is a Vice President on Stonehenge Capital’s Tax Credit Services team. Nick is based out of the New Orleans office and his main responsibilities include originations, project management, and legal counsel for Stonehenge’s renewable energy tax credit platform. Nick is a 2012 graduate of Louisiana State University (B.S. in Finance) and a 2015 graduate of the LSU Law Center. After graduation, he was as an associate attorney at Marionneaux Kantrow representing clients in the public utilities sector regulated by the Louisiana Public Service Commission. He then joined the Louisiana Recovery School District to manage to state agency’s real estate development efforts in the Historic and New Market Tax Credit fields.
Jeffery Boudreaux, (’00) Partner, Kean Miller Law Firm
Construction Law
Jeff Boudreaux is a partner with Kean Miller, LLP. He has a regional practice representing clients in Louisiana and Texas state and federal courts, tribal courts, and in arbitration and administrative proceedings. Jeff’s practice is primarily focused on the design and construction of. He represents commercial developers, industrial owners, design professionals, contractors, material suppliers, product manufacturers, sureties, and lenders. Jeff frequently represents clients before the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors and the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board. Jeff earned his B.S. from Louisiana State University in 1996. He earned his J.D. in 2000 from the LSU Law Center where he was a member of the Order of the Coif. He is licensed to practice in Louisiana, Texas, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana Tribal Court, and the Tunica Biloxi Nation Tribal Court.
Kelsey Kornick Funes, (’97) Partner, Phelps Dunbar, LLP
Construction Law
Kelsey Kornick Funes is a partner with Phelps Dunbar, LLP. in the represents both plaintiffs and defendants in their disputes involving public and private construction projects. She has represented owners, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and design professionals in state and federal courts in Louisiana, as well as in mediations and arbitrations across the Gulf Coast region. Kelsey regularly speaks at seminars and briefings on construction-related topics. She is also the author of a number of published works relating to Louisiana construction law, the use of electronic documents in Louisiana and Louisiana’s rules of professional conduct. Kelsey earned her B.A. from Louisiana State University in Political Science and History in 1994. She earned her J.D. from the LSU Law Center in 1997 where she was a member of the Order of the Coif. She is involved in many professional and civic organizations including the National Association of Women in Construction where she has served on the Baton Rouge Chapter’s Board of Directors; the Federal Bar Association where she was elected National Young Lawyers Division President in 2008, and most recently she was recognized as a Construction Law Trailblazer by the National Law Journal.
Parker Layrisson (’02), Principal, Parker Layrisson Law Firm
Legal Communication
Parker Layrisson is a 2002 graduate of the LSU Law Center, where he graduated Order of the Coif and served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. He has served as a law clerk to Judge Stanwood Duval of the Eastern District of Louisiana, an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Louisiana, and as the Ponchatoula City Prosecutor. He built his own practice, first focusing on the representation of or corporate clients. Following an accident involving his mother, Parker
began to build a personal injury practice which now constitutes the bulk of his practice. He is the principal of the Parker Layrisson Law Firm. He has always been very active in his community and continues to be involved in local government charitable activities.
Ebony Morris, Foley & Mansfield, LLP
Legal Communication
Ebony S. Morris, an Attorney in Foley Mansfield’s New Orleans office, regularly handles general liability defense, workers compensation, mass tort and product liability, premises liability, and first party property damage matters. Her clients, which include educational institutions, Fortune 100 and 500 corporations, insurance companies, small businesses, and individuals, trust Ebony to successfully resolve matters which arise during business. Ebony has extensive experience in fact and expert witness discovery, motion practice, settlement, and mediation. Throughout the course of her career, Ebony has obtained summary judgments and favorable resolutions for her clients in workers compensation, general liability matters, mass tort and product liability, and premise liability matters. Prior to joining Foley Mansfield, Ebony was a Litigation Associate in the New Orleans office of a regional law firm where she gained additional experience handling all aspects of general litigation matters, from inception to resolution, in a variety of practice areas. In addition to her practice, Ebony is an active member of the Defense Research Institute (“DRI”) and serves as the 2023-2024 Chair of the Defense Research Institute’s (“DRI”) Women of Color Subcommittee and Vice Chair of DRI’s 2024 Diversity for Success Seminar. Ebony is also a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, an invitation-only organization of lawyers who focus their practice on the defense of civil claims and representation of insurers and corporations. Ebony also serves as a First Assistant Examiner for Constitutional Law for the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions.
Ryan R. Brown (’07), General Counsel Lincoln Memorial University
Higher Education Law, Policy and Practice
Ryan Brown has been general counsel for Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) since 2020. LMU’s Office of General Counsel manages all legal matters affecting LMU and its undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. Mr. Brown advises LMU’s president and campus partners on a wide range of matters, including but not limited to contracts, employment law, and academic and student affairs. He is also an adjunct law professor at LMU’s Duncan School of Law, where he teaches Education Law, an upper-level seminar course. Before LMU, Mr. Brown worked for 12 years in private practice at a Louisiana law firm. Mr. Brown also worked in the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Mr. Brown obtained his Juris Doctor (2007) and Bachelor of Science in Information Systems and Decision Sciences (2003) from Louisiana State University. Mr. Brown is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and currently lives in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Winston G. DeCuir, Jr. (’98), Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel LSU
Higher Education Law, Policy and Practice
Winston G. DeCuir, Jr. serves as the Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel for Louisiana State University. In that role, he is the legal advisor to both the LSU President and the LSU Board of Supervisors. He provides counsel on a broad range of issues related to higher education, including tenure and promotion, terminations, academic policy, Title IX, compliance, and Division 1 athletics. He also handles a variety of issues that, while not limited to higher ed, are an integral part of running a major university – hospitals and medical schools, property and real estate, public safety, litigation, ethics, intellectual property, health care, research, and bond issues.
Winston has extensive experience advising public universities, charter schools, and other agencies in labor and employment disputes, governance, public meetings, and procurement. Prior to joining LSU, he was a partner in the firm of DeCuir, Clark & Adams, L.L.P., where he served as counsel to both the University of Louisiana System and the Southern University System. His litigation experience involves handling cases in the state and federal courts with an emphasis in defending employment litigation and federal civil rights violations. His practice also includes advising clients on publicly financed construction, energy management contracts, and media licensing agreements.
Winston earned a BA from Amherst College and his JD from LSU in 1998.
Mark W. Menezes (‘81) President & CEO of the US Energy Association
Energy Policy and Climate Change
Mark W. Menezes is the President and CEO of the United States Energy Association (USEA), the nation’s energy organization founded in 1924 to foster the advancement of scientific and technological energy knowledge and the adoption of sound policies to ensure the access of affordable, reliable, clean and resilient energy both in the U.S. and internationally. Its membership includes public and private companies, NGOs, trade associations and individuals involved in all aspects of the energy sector. U.S. Governmental partnerships include the USAID, State Department and the Department of Energy.
Mark W. Menezes is also the founder of Global Sustainable Energy Advisors LLC, a strategic advisory firm to energy, technology and defense organizations. Mr. Menezes is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law School teaching courses on energy law, policy, and climate change.
Maryam S. Brown (’00) President Southern CA Gas Company
Energy Policy and Climate Change
Maryam Brown is president of Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), the nation’s largest gas distribution utility. SoCalGas’ 8,000 employees serve over 21 million consumers in 500 communities from California’s Central Valley in the north to the San Diego County line in the south.
As president, Brown develops and executes SoCalGas’ strategic vision with a focus on SoCalGas’ aspiration to achieve carbon neutral operations and delivery of energy by 2045.
Brown started her career as an engineer in the petroleum refining sector and has 25 years of experience in the energy industry across engineering, legal, policy, and regulatory roles. She joined SoCalGas in 2019 from SoCalGas’ corporate parent Sempra, a diversified energy services company based in San Diego, where she was vice president, federal government affairs.
Prior to joining Sempra, Brown amassed a decade of legislative and policy expertise working on Capitol Hill, serving in senior staff roles in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. During this period, she served as chief energy counsel to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and subsequently as senior energy and environment counsel for two speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Prior to this, she was a corporate securities associate attorney in the San Francisco office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
Brown is chair of the American Gas Association Foundation, serves on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Petroleum Council, and is on the Board and Executive Committee of the California Chamber of Commerce.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and her law degree (Order of the Coif) from Louisiana State University.
Kyle Beall, Principal, Beall Law
Environmental Compliance
Since 1997, Kyle Beall’s practice has focused exclusively on environmental regulatory issues. Located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his practice handles most types of environmental matters, including permitting, compliance assurance, and enforcement actions, with a particular emphasis on air quality issues. Mr. Beall counsels clients before federal and state agencies, on release notification and response matters, and during environmental audits. Mr. Beall also has expertise and extensive experience in matters pertaining to property transactions and routinely advises clients on environmental investigations and remedial corrective actions. Additionally, he participates in rulemaking efforts at both the federal and state level.
Prior to opening his own legal practice, Mr. Beall was a partner at the Kean Miller Law Firm, and he began his career working for an environmental consultant. Kyle earned a BS in Civil Engineering from LSU in 1992 and a JD from the University of South Carolina in 1997. He attended LSU Law for his final year of law school.