• Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

    High school speech and debate changed my life. I came from a blue collar background. My father worked in the Pennsylvania Railroad freight yards and moonlighted as a bartender. But he wanted more for his children. When he saw that our school had a debate program, he insisted (with limited enthusiasm from me) that I try out.

    The moment I began to participate, it was like a light switch went on. A world of ideas opened for me. I began to imagine doing things and going places of which I previously hadn't dreamed. I learned essential skills: critical thinking, logic, research, the ability to see both sides of complex issues and how to speak in public. Perhaps more important, speech and debate taught lessons of character: hard work and personal responsibility, delivering on deadlines, working as a team, and learning to compete in pressure situations.

    Through all of this, my confidence soared. Moreover, I was surrounded by kids experiencing the same transformation. By swimming in a sea of other awakening young minds, I benefited from their experiences and gifts rubbing off on me through competition, collaborative work and just bull sessions. In this way, social interaction among speech and debate participants leads to geometric growth in skills and understanding. It also creates deep, lifelong friendships.

    I went on to college, law school, worked on law review and became a partner at a large national law firm. None of these experiences were as important an educational experience as the cornerstone of high school speech and debate When I see shy, uncertain students blossom into confidence, competence and self-motivation, I think back to how doubting and scared I was when I started, and I marvel at the transformational power of the activity.

    It is for these reasons that I feel so strongly about SVUDL and what it can do. Speech and debate - by providing actual portable skills transferable to professions, business and academia - provides a singular opportunity for students to learn to operate effectively within a wide variety of settings and institutions. Having those skills will enable students to fulfill their potential, achieve their aspirations and to work to shape society in accordance with their values.

    In short, SVUDL is the best educational chance for kids who are woefully underserved in our society. For just a little output in time and resources, we can change students’ lives for the better and those lives in turn will create ripples of hope and good for their families, for others throughout their community and our country. I hope everyone who reads this will think about that and support SVUDL in its noble task.

  • Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Founder Think Fast Talk Smart LLC

    I believe in the transformative power of communication. I have seen time and time again how learning to confidently tell stories, argue persuasively, and share ideas can fundamentally change how people perceive themselves, affect their friends, families and communities, and influence their work and school. As a high school student, I competed in speech and debate and won first place in California in Original Advocacy. In my undergraduate and graduate studies, I did research into communication and persuasion. I saw firsthand the impact of communication when I worked in high tech in senior leadership roles for software companies. I left high tech for teaching where I began by teaching high school English and Speech while helping coach one of California's largest and most recognized Speech and Debate programs (Leland High School). I then "graduated" to teach Communication at De Anza College for 15 years where I worked with thousands of students from a variety of backgrounds. For the last eight years, I have taught Strategic Communication and Effective Virtual Communication at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Finally, my book Speaking Up without Freaking Out is in its 3rd edition. I am thrilled to be part of SVUDL!

  • Former Educator and Community Volunteer

    Alison Elliott's noteworthy career includes extensive experience encompassing a wide variety of backgrounds:  middle school classrooms; large NYC banks; Silicon Valley software startups; the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Business School and more. An author of books on software for children, she has consulted with both nonprofits and companies.

    Since retiring, Alison has served as a Board member and Board Chair for a number of local nonprofits including the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, Alpha Public Schools, Peninsula School, and Pie Ranch.  

    She believes that the best educational experiences broaden a young person’s world view and help each person to learn to think for themselves.   Alison is passionate about creating opportunities that combine public speaking, analytical skills and the ability to see alternative perspectives.  She greatly values how SVUDL offers local students and schools a powerful addition to their education.

  • Judge of the Superior Court, Santa Clara County

    Judge Julia Alloggiamento was born and raised in San Jose. After receiving her undergraduate and law degrees, she secured a clerkship in the Federal District Court of Los Angeles for her first year and then practiced as a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster, LLP. After several years of practicing civil law, Julia realized that her true passion was to use her education and skills to work in court on issues affecting the community. As a result, she returned to San Jose in 1998 to become a prosecutor for the District Attorney’s Office. Julia believed her role as a Deputy District Attorney was to seek the truth, protect the community and ensure justice for all. She was particularly honored to be chosen as a Community Prosecutor where she worked directly in the community to prevent and intervene in criminal conduct by collaborating with community based organizations, educators, neighborhood associations, task forces, law enforcement, behavioral health and more. Julia was sworn in as a Superior Court Judge in Santa Clara County in January 2011. Continuing her commitment to the community, Julia has served as Chair of the Court’s Community Outreach Committee since January 2012.

    “Through the course of my career, both trying cases and presiding over them, I have seen the power of persuasive speaking, supporting arguments with evidence, and presenting a position with passion and professionalism. SVUDL’s mission to provide youth, who otherwise may not have access to such opportunity, with a forum to learn and apply these skills is one that is critical for the youth’s development. Teaching these youth how to effectively find and use their voice opens doors that will change their future, but may also change our world. I feel privileged and honored to be able to work with these youth who are certainly destined to be our future leaders.”

  • General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Moloco Inc.

    Iris will soon be joining Moloco Inc., a private company that provides machine learning-based performance marketing platform and services, as its General Counsel & Corporate Secretary. Prior to joining Moloco, Iris spent four years at Airbnb Inc. as a Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, where she led a team of 50+ attorneys and legal professionals that support Airbnb’s product, commercial and marketing functions across the company’s Product, Engineering, Marketing, Communications, Creative Production, Supply Growth, Trust & Safety, Community Support and Airbnb.org teams, as well as managing the company’s trademark and copyright matters. Prior to joining Airbnb, Iris spent over 14 years with Google as a Vice President in the Legal Department where she led a team of 145+ legal team members responsible for supporting global product development and all commercial transactions in North America and EMEA for Google’s advertising, commerce, payments, search, research, health, geo and supporting infrastructure services. Iris is experienced in leading and developing legal teams and advising executives across product, engineering, sales, business development and other functions. Before joining Google, Iris was a corporate associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (2001-2004) and then Ropes & Gray (2004-2006) as an associate in the firm’s investment management practice. Iris is a graduate of Yale College and Columbia Law School.

    In addition to SVUDL, Iris serves on the non-profit board of the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. She is an advisory committee member of PracticePro and also serves on Columbia Law School’s Alumni of Color Committee. She is an avid runner and baker, and lives in the Bay area with her husband, three daughters and three cats.

    Iris has been a champion for diversity and inclusion initiatives at both Google and Airbnb and believes SVUDL’s mission and work can bring more diversity to the legal profession and give students lifelong communication and critical thinking skills needed to thrive in any profession.

  • Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP

    Sahil Bhardwaj has been active in Speech and Debate since his teenage years. He is a firm believer in the powerful role of Speech and Debate in fostering new ideas, supporting a strong democracy, building a better world and a better self. When he learned of SVUDL's mission, experienced the passion of its team and saw SVUDL's impact in the Bay Area, he knew this was a mission that he wanted to be a part of.

    A Principal (Partner) with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, he brings over 20 years of professional experience focused on driving significant client impact. He has implemented growth strategies and operational model transformations across a range of technology companies. Prior to consulting, Sahil worked at Cisco Systems as a product manager and software engineer. Sahil received his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Roorkee where he was awarded the President's Gold Medal.

    He looks forward to supporting the empowerment of Bay Area youth through Speech and Debate with SVUDL this year and into the future.

  • Attorney, The Office of Andrew Gold, Esq.

    Andrew Gold is an attorney in private practice, working primarily with clients in the technology, data center, and real estate industries. He has also served as in-house counsel for a number of fast-growing companies, most recently as General Counsel and SVP of Corporate Development at Infomart Data Centers.

    Andrew first became involved in competitive debate and speech as a high school student in St. Louis. He continued his involvement at Emory University in Atlanta, where he received the Alben W. Barkley Merit Scholarship for Debate. Andrew competed in policy debate all four years at Emory until he graduated in 1988. Following his time at Emory, he briefly served as an Assistant Debate Coach at the University of Iowa. From 1989-1990, Andrew was the Debate Coach and a Lecturer in Public Speaking at Stanford University.

    “I consider speech and debate as the single most important component of my education. From the age of 15, I learned how to research deeply into a topic, to structure an argument, to present a position clearly and concisely, and to be objective about the strengths and weaknesses of those positions. I also learned many of the lessons most often associated with organized sports – the value of practice and preparation, the joy of competition, teamwork, how to deal with a loss and how to be gracious in victory. SVUDL provides a platform to deliver these same opportunities for learning to students who might otherwise never be exposed to speech and debate.”
    Andrew graduated from the Washington College of Law at American University in 1995, and spent his 3rd year as a visiting student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He lives in Los Altos with his wife, Jocelyn Johnson.

  • Of Counsel to Lex Lumina PLLC

    Mark Lemley is of counsel to Lex Lumina, the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and is affiliated faculty in the Symbolic Systems program. He teaches intellectual property, patent law, trademark law, antitrust, the law of robotics and AI, video game law, and remedies. He is the author of eight books and 193 articles, including the two-volume treatise IP and Antitrust. His works have been cited nearly 300 times by courts, including 17 times by the United States Supreme Court, and more than 38,000 times in books and law review articles, making him the most-cited scholar in IP law and one of the ten most cited legal scholars of all time. In addition, Mark is a founding partner of Durie Tangri LLP. He litigates and counsels clients in all areas of intellectual property, antitrust, and internet law. Also, Mark cofounded Lex Machina, Inc., a startup company that provides litigation data and analytics to law firms, companies, courts, and policymakers. Lex Machina was acquired by Lexis in 2015.

    Mark debated in high school and founded the Stanford Debate Team and the Stanford high school debate tournament when he arrived as an undergraduate and discovered that Stanford didn't have a team. He attributes his success in life to debate.

  • Angel Investor and Startup Founder and Entrepreneur, Silicon Valley

    Born in the Bay Area at Stanford Hospital, I spent my early years traveling the globe to Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Tehran before my family returned to the South Bay when I was in junior high. Introduced to debate while a freshman at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, my partner and I had the chance to participate in Nationals my junior year and the Tournament of Champions as a senior. My debate partner and I went to UC Berkeley where we experienced even more success in Policy debate with multiple appearances in quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals during those years. We may well have set a record, having debated together all four years of high school and five years of college eligibility!

    After graduating from UC Berkeley, I had a lengthy career primarily in the video game industry. After returning to school to pursue and receive a joint MBA from Berkeley and Columbia University in 2010, I currently spend my time angel investing and working on a new startup idea. Outside of work, I am an avid road bicyclist and live with my wife in Los Altos.

  • Senior Counsel, Google

    Bryson is a Senior Counsel at Google, where he is a lead advisor on platform and mobile services. He previously worked as a law clerk in the Northern District of California, and as a litigator on a wide range of topics. Bryson graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and studied philosophy and government at the University of Texas. Bryson grew up in El Paso, Texas, where he competed in policy debate and extemporaneous speaking at Irvin High School. He also played sports, but was better at debate. Bryson is a long-time supporter of the UDL mission, and has supported SVUDL in various ways since its inception. When he's not working, Bryson is an avid surfer and poorly compensated chauffeur for his kids' sports teams.

  • Digital Infrastructure Executive

    Raised in St. Louis, John excelled at debate, where he and his partner won state championships and competed at the national tournament as seniors. With an MBA and a Master’s in Science in Engineering from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical & Computer Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, John is currently a Senior Advisor of GI Partners and leads the firm’s technology real estate acquisition and development activities.

    Prior to joining GI Partners, Mr. Sheputis was co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fortune Data Centers. Prior to Fortune, Mr. Sheputis founded and managed several Silicon Valley ventures, including roles at Totality, Solidcore, and BeVocal. John currently lives in the suburban peninsula south of San Francisco, where he is an active community volunteer, having served on several school committees, Cub Scouts, and a decade on the local little league Board of Directors where he has coached over 20 teams. John is married, and he and his wife Susie have two teenage boys.

  • Partner, Desmarais LLP

    A nationally recognized speaker, panelist, and author, Leslie is a registered patent attorney and IP litigation partner at Desmarais LLP.

    Prior to joining the firm, Leslie was a partner in the IP litigation practice of an international law firm where she was also co-chair of the firm’s diversity committee. In that role, she learned about SVUDL through its Moot Court competition and legal career mentor program, and is currently an active mentor. Leslie also serves on the Legal Advisory Committee and sees enormous promise in SVUDL’s work to provide students the research, communication and critical thinking skills required for lawyering. SVUDL has a key role to play in efforts to diversify the Legal Career Pipeline.

    Prior to practicing law, Leslie worked as a software engineer for financial services and e-commerce companies and supervised the development of a smart card-based secure transaction system. Her IP litigation practice focuses on patent disputes involving a wide range of technologies, from digital media to Fintech, data networks to semiconductors.

  • Tech Entrepreneur and Investor

    Rick Tinsley is a technology entrepreneur with experience in semiconductor, networking, and software companies. He was founder and CEO of Turnstone Systems, leading the company through a successful IPO and later was CEO at Silver Peak Systems. Rick has served on boards of various public and private corporations, nonprofit organizations, and government commissions.

    As an active angel investor, Rick continues to participate in the startup ecosystem. He co-chairs Govern for California’s Santa Clara chapter advocating for the public’s interest in the California State Legislature and serves as a volunteer income tax preparer for low-income families.

    Rick received his MBA from the University of Dallas and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • Deputy Managing Partner, DLA Piper

    Carrie Williamson is the Deputy Managing Partner for DLA Piper’s Palo Alto office and a Partner in their patent litigation group. Carrie tries patent infringement cases in both district court and the International Trade Commission.

    Carrie first connected with SVUDL through her work as a member of the ChIPs Silicon Valley Advisory Board. ChIPs is a non-profit organization that connects and advances women in technology, law and policy. Carrie has led ChIPs Silicon Valley’s ALI (Advocacy, Leadership, Innovation) programs for female-identifying high school students to introduce them to different legal careers, areas of law and women leaders. Carrie also created a three-week summer program in 2014 for the Boys & Girls Club in East Palo Alto where high school students argued contract interpretation issues before Judge Koh in her courtroom in the Northern District of California.

    Carrie grew up in a small, rural town in Ohio and benefited immensely from two professors who changed her life in college by mentoring her and teaching her about critical thinking and public speaking. She is committed to similarly helping mentor students and developing opportunities for students so they can find career paths and opportunities they don’t even know exist.

  • General Counsel, International, The Coca-Cola Company

    I grew up in east San Jose where college attendance rates were lower than average for Silicon Valley; in fact, no member of my family had ever attended college. In high school I found debate, and it was through this activity I learned the advocacy skills that would help me navigate a path to college, law school and beyond. These same skills propelled me through a legal career that has led to executive roles at several iconic companies, IBM, Amazon and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. However, the legal community, along with virtually every other profession, continues to lack diversity, and it remains particularly challenging for youth in poorly resourced communities to advance.

    SVUDL is uniquely positioned to change this dynamic. They reach students in the right communities who need and deserve access to professional skills learned from debate. They reach the students at the right time in their lives when they are at a turning point in their own lives, ready to consider college and professional careers. They teach the students the right skills – analytical thinking, communication, argument – that will enable them to pave a path to success. I am proud to be a part of the mission that helps these young professionals cross the bridge from high school to a successful career, leveraging these important professional skills taught by SVUDL.

  • Director of Speech and Debate, Palo Alto Senior High School

    My commitment to SVUDL stems from first-hand knowledge of the transformative personal and political power of high school debate. My time as a debater in high school set me on a path to work in public policy, politics, and education for more than 30 years. Through all my professional work - from the Southern Poverty Law Center to the Children's Defense Fund, to Capitol Hill; from Planned Parenthood to Adobe, Inc. to Palo Alto High School - the skills, connections, and confidence I developed in debate made my success possible.

    When the chance came to spread debate to the many young people in need, I jumped at the opportunity, having been inspired by the many years of success of Urban Debate Leagues at bettering the lives of thousands of students nationwide. I first served on the founding board of the successful Bay Area UDL in Oakland and served as founding board chair of SVUDL. I'm also actively involved in training and supporting women candidates to run for public office and see debate as a way to build a pipeline of compelling, informed, diverse leaders who have a transnational focus and 21st century thinking skills.