Aba leadership. Meet the Candidates

• Author: Amanda Robert
• Pages: 63-67

ABA Insider | ABA LEADERSHIP

ABA LEADERSHIP

Meet the Candidates

BY AMANDA ROBERT

We asked all of the candidates for leadership positions the same ve

questions: Why did you decide to serve the ABA in this new role?

What would you like to accomplish during your term in ofce? Why

did you become a member of the association and what changes have

you seen since you joined? And nally, what positive experiences have you had with

the association? For the candidates’ full responses, go to ABAJournal.com.

Reginald M. Turner

PRESIDENT-ELECT NOMINEE

Executive committee member of Clark

Hill in Detroit. Member of the House of

Delegates since 2008. Chair of the Rules

and Calendar Committee (2016-2018)

and vice-chair of the Committee on Is-

sues of Concern to the Legal Profession

(2010-2012) and Steering Committee

of the Nominating Committee (2009-

2010). Vice-chair of the Section of Civil

Rights and Social Justice Education

Committee. Chair of the Commission

on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the

Profession (2011-2014) and Commis-

sion on the Lawyer’s Role in Assuring

Every Child’s Right to a High-Quality

Education (2016-2017). President of the

National Bar Association (2005-2006)

and State Bar of Michigan (2002-2003).

Chair of the Fellows of the American

Bar Foundation (2018-2019). Received

JD in 1987 from University of Michi-

gan Law School.

Reason to serve:

“I had a number of mentors who

suggested that I consider seeking more

responsibility over time. I can truthfully

say that, at least for the past 10 years,

I have had really great relationships

with our presidents of the American Bar

Association.

“There are so many past presidents

who have taken time to sit down with

me, talk with me and encourage me

with my work at the American Bar

Association. They have been shining

examples of the best in our profession.”

education through methods that are

convenient for them.

He also hopes during his term to

continue to support the member value

proposition and its aim to build a

more engaged and nancially stable

association.

“The organization realized it needed

to be more innovative in seeking and

retaining members, and the progress is

promising,” he says. “That initiative is

bearing fruit, and that’s exciting news.”

Turner was nominated in February

at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Austin,

Texas. He will face a vote in August

by the House of Delegates at the ABA

Annual Meeting, after which he will

become the president-elect.

Patricia Lee Refo is currently serving

as president-elect and will assume her

one-year term as president at the close

of the annual meeting.

She will pass the gavel to Turner

after the 2021 ABA Annual Meeting

in Toronto.

The close of the 2020 ABA Annual

Meeting will mark the end of Mary L.

Smith’s three-year term as secretary and

William R. Bay’s two-year term as chair

of the House of Delegates.

Pauline A. Weaver, the owner of the

Law Ofce of Pauline A. Weaver in

Fremont, California, was nominated to

assume Smith’s position.

She has previously served as a

member of the Board of Governors and

House of Delegates, and as the chair

of the Government and Public Sector

Lawyers Division.

Barbara J. Howard, principal at Bar-

bara J. Howard Co. in Cincinnati, was

nominated to succeed Bay as the next

chair of the House of Delegates.

She has served as chair of its Com-

mittee on Issues of Concern to the Legal

Profession, Select Committee and Com-

mittee on Credentials and Admissions.

Michelle A. Behnke’s three-year

term as treasurer also will end after the

annual meeting. Kevin L. Shepherd,

a partner with Venable in Baltimore,

was nominated to assume her position.

He has been a member of the Board

of Governors since 2016 and serves as

chair of its Finance Committee. Q

Reginald M. Turner,

ABA president-elect

nominee.

Photos by Danny Duran

ABA JOURNAL | JUNE–JULY 2020

63