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Doug Stockham
President
Emergency Assistance Foundation
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Doug Stockham is co-founder and president of Emergency Assistance Foundation (EAF), the oldest and largest standalone charity designed solely to administer global disaster and hardship relief funds, thereby providing grants to individuals in need around the world. At EAF’s founding, Doug conducted an in-depth assessment of more than 100 independent relief fund programs to determine relief fund industry best practices and benchmarks. As a result, EAF developed a unique approach to disaster response by remaining adaptable, harnessing technology, creating scalable platforms and procedures, and constantly evaluating processes for improvement opportunities. EAF’s resourceful and fearless approach ensures that financial assistance reaches individuals in need as quickly and efficiently as possible, no matter the unique circumstances. EAF now administers 300+ funds around the world, serving more than 10 million individuals. In 2020 and 2021 combined, the organization awarded more than $162 million in grants to 250,000+ individuals who were impacted by disasters and personal hardships. Doug is also the founder of Relief Fund Services Group (RFSG) and Emergency Relief Fund Education Group (ERFEG); is a member of the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF); and sits on the board of Emergency Assistance Foundation Canada (EAF Canada). Doug earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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David Lopez
Former General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Barack Obama Administration
Professor of Law and Professor Alfred Slocum Scholar, Rutgers Law School
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David Lopez is Professor of Law and Professor Alfred Slocum Scholar at Rutgers Law School. From 2018-21, David Lopez, served as Dean of Rutgers Law School-Newark campus.
During this period he has testified in front of Congressional Committees on issues including AI and Discrimination, Latino/s in the Entertainment Industry, and Equal Employment Opporunity Commission conciliation rule.
Prior to serving as Dean, he was the partner-in-charge of Outten and Golden, a plaintiff-side civil rights/class action firm, leading the firm's Washington D.C. Office. Until December 2016, he served for six years as the General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and thus acted as the lead lawyer for the nation's primary administrative agency charged with enforcing federal employment anti-discrimination laws.
He has a rich and deep background in public interest law and using the legal system to champion the principles of equality and opportunity. He has also taught at Harvard Law School and Georgetown Law Center.
Dean Lopez was twice nominated to the General Counsel position by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate. As General Counsel, he led the litigation program for the nation’s primary administrative agency charged with enforcing federal employment anti-discrimination laws and oversaw 15 regional attorneys and a staff of more than 325 people. This included leading high-impact litigation in federal courts nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court, addressing LGBTQ coverage under the anti-discrimination law, vulnerable immigrant communities, criminal background screens, disability rights, and religious freedom. As a General Counsel and in the private sector, Lopez argued several cases in U.S. appellate courts across the country and, previous with the EEOC, was lead attorney in several successful trials.
Prior to joining the EEOC, Dean Lopez was a senior trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division Employment Litigation Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C. Previously, he was an associate with Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP in Washington D.C.
Dean Lopez is a widely sought-after speaker who has made more than 50 speeches and presentations before the American Bar Association, state and local bar associations, and various advocacy, non-governmental organizations and universities. He also serves on the board of the National Women’s Law Center, the Impact Fund (an Oakland-based non-profit offering support to public interest lawyers and communities through training, co-counsel and grants to advance civil rights and social justice), Toward Justice, a Denver-based non-profit dedicated to advancing economic justice and advocacy, and formerly with the ACLU-DC.
Dean Lopez is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Attorneys. In 2014, The National Law Journal named him one of “America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsels.” Among the organizations that have recognized him for his work on social justice issues are: the International Religious Liberty Association, which gave him its National Religious Freedom Award, Liberty Magazine, the North American Religious Liberty Association, which cited his work on civil, religious, and employment rights; the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which gave him its Friend in Government Award in 2012.
He has been called a “Latino Luminary” by the magazine Diversity and the Bar and in 2011 Hispanic Business named him to its list of 100 “Influentials” in the Hispanic community. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.
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Sharon Fast Gustafson
Immediate Past General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Donald J. Trump Administration
Of Counsel, First Liberty Institute
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Sharon Fast Gustafson is the immediate past General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she enforced Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Ms. Gustafson is currently Of Counsel to First Liberty Institute, a public interest law firm committed to defending religious liberty in the workplace and in all aspects of American life.
Ms. Gustafson graduated with honors from Georgetown Law Center in 1991 and has concentrated her practice in employment law. She worked for four years in the labor and employment law group at Jones, Day in Washington, D.C. For 16 years prior to her time at the EEOC, she had a broad-based solo practice advising and representing employers and employees in handling all aspects of the employment relationship, in compliance with federal and state workplace laws, and in designing and implementing sound employment policies and practices.
Ms. Gustafson is an experienced litigator in federal and state courts; before administrative agencies, including the EEOC, state and local civil rights offices, and the Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division; and in mediation and arbitration. She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, and in the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Gustafson successfully litigated a pregnancy discrimination case, Young v. UPS, 575 U.S. 206 (2015), from EEOC intake to a successful outcome at the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2016, she received the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association’s “Lawyer of the Year” award “in recognition of outstanding dedication to Civil Rights, Equality, and Justice.”
