Jenna Schiappacasse
President
Director of Client Development, Rosenberg Martin Greenberg
Jenna is currently in a market-facing role focused on connecting the firm's clients with its attorneys, driving new business to the firm, executing on the firm’s client feedback program, and coaching and supporting her attorneys in their business development initiatives. She also oversees the firm's positioning and exposure in the marketplace, brand awareness, pitches and proposals, and individual attorney and practice group-wide business development efforts.
Jenna joined LMA in 2010 as a member of the Capital Chapter and Baltimore City Group, and served as chair of the Baltimore City Group from 2013-2016. She was a member of the Capital Chapter Communications Committee and the Baltimore City Programming Committee. In 2017, Jenna served as Treasurer on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Board, and in 2018 served as President-Elect and as an adjunct member of the LMA Advocacy Advisory Council.
Jenna spends her free time traveling, running, singing, and enjoying good food (and good wine) with good friends. She lives in Annapolis, MD with her husband, Mario, and their rescue puppy, Afton.
Debbie Leitner
Immediate Past President
Practice Management and Operation, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
At Katten Muchin Rosenman, Debbie is in a practice management role working with firm leadership regarding the management and operations of practice groups to drive the strategic and profitable growth of the Firm.
Debbie served on the Capital Chapter board for two years and was involved in committees prior to joining the Board. She has been an LMA member since 2010 when she entered the legal marketing industry, and quickly became involved by regularly attending programs, networking and volunteering. In 2012, a team she led won the National Your Honor Award for the Events category – a wonderful recognition.
Originally from New York, Debbie moved to DC to attend college at American University. She moved abroad and lived in London, UK for four years, earning a Master’s Degree and working in investment banking. She and her husband currently live in Chevy Chase with their two young children. They are avid travelers and try to escape outside the United States at least once per year.
Rachel Shields Williams
President-Elect
Senior Manager, Experience, Sidley Austin
Rachel Shields Williams is the Senior Manager, Experience Management at Sidley Austin. In her current role with the organization, she blends her marketing and business development experience with her passion for technology. She helps lawyers and marketers understand how they can apply technology to their business development and marketing activities in order to increase their effectiveness, operational efficiency and get results. With her experience in marketing and business development, she seeks to identify opportunities to take the pain out of the regular blocking and tackling tasks that marketers face each day and to help them create synergies in existing processes; that gives them more time to tackle the innovative projects that help grow the organizations bottom line.
Rachel is an active member of LMA and ILTA and has served in a variety leadership roles over the last five years. Most recently, she served as a national co-chair of LMA’s technology committee, and as a member of the ILTACON planning committee.
In her time away from the office, Rachel is an avid wander, from road trips through her home state of Maryland or globe-trotting with her husband Scott. When staying in place, she is can be found meditating, spinning, or organizing something and hanging out in DC with her family, friends and her fur-children – Boris, the mastador and two cats Sasha and Mischa. She also really enjoys bullet journaling just ask her about it.
Kara Kane
Secretary
Business Development, Venable LLP
Kara is the business development manager for the Government Division at Venable, where she helps attorneys develop and maintain their client relationships and grow new relationships through strategic initiatives, business development exercises, and marketing efforts. She has been in legal marketing for more than seven years, focusing on business development the entire time. “I think that the relationships we build with the attorneys and the relationships we help them to build with their clients is the key to success in this world,” Kara says, “and I love being a part of it.”
Kara joined LMA within three months of starting in this industry, which enabled her to build her network and increase her knowledge of the industry. She previously served as co-chair of the Future Leaders SIG and on the Events, Membership, and Nomination Committees, as well as Treasurer and Treasurer-Elect of the Regional Board. In her role as Secretary, she is excited to continue to make LMA a great resource for its members.
Kara is an avid traveler and takes a 2-3 week trip abroad every other year with mini-trips in between. She has been through most of Western Europe, a fair amount of Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Egypt, South America, and domestically has been focused on hitting up as many beaches along the Eastern Shore as she can. She is also a voracious reader and typically has more than one book going at a time. Kara is an animal lover and advocate of pet adoption – she adopted her cat, Ollie, this past December. She is also a lifelong Packers fan.
Amy Strope
Treasurer
Business Development Manager, Covington & Burling
As a business development manager at Covington and Burling, Amy supports the firm's Life Sciences Practice and Industry Groups. Amy joined LMA in 2017 as a member of the Mid-Atlantic Region. Prior to her career in legal marketing, she worked in professional services marketing and public relations in the commercial real estate and government contracting industries.
Amy studied public relations and corporate communications at Georgetown University and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for graduate and undergraduate school, respectively. In the community, she serves as an active member of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society and Junior League of Washington, and enjoys gardening in her spare time.
Inna Kolomiytsev
Treasurer-Elect
Marketing Director, Niles, Barton & Wilmer, LLP
Inna manages the marketing communications and business development initiatives for Niles, Barton & Wilmer, a mid-size firm focused in commercial litigation, corporate, real estate and employment law. She focuses on individual attorney and practice group business development as well as leading continuous process improvement on projects including website management, marketing budget, CRM management, pitches and proposals, legal rankings, market research, client development, event planning, content marketing and external/internal communications. With a business background, she brings an analytical viewpoint, outside industry experience and the client-perspective to professional services marketing.
She joined the LMA Capital Chapter Future Leaders SIG as Co-Chair in 2012, and served as a member of the Baltimore City Group’s Programming Committee. She served on the LMA Baltimore Steering Committee as Board Secretary and Programming Committee Co-Chair in 2017. Inna is excited to continue to offer members programming that expands professional development and networking opportunities in her role as Director-at-Large, Programming and Marketing Communications, serving on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Board.
Jennifer Bonesteel
Director
Regional Business Development Manager, Littler
Jennifer has been in legal marketing for the past 11 years and currently works with an amazing team at Littler, where she has been for 4+ years. In this role, she works with attorneys at all levels across the firm’s DC, Tysons Corner, Boston, Providence and Portland, ME offices. She has been involved with LMA since she got started in the field and has held a variety of leadership positions in recent years, including Technology Chair and Treasurer (for the Capital Chapter) and Secretary in 2017 for the Capital Local Steering Committee. Jennifer is married to a journalist named Matt and they have an amazing daughter named Emma. She has lived in DC since 2003, but is a Southern California native who gets back there as often as she can (go Lakers!).
Rebecca Edwards
Director
Marketing and Business Development Manager, Williams Mullen
Rebecca leads the marketing and business development efforts for the corporate and tax departments at Williams Mullen. She has previously managed business development for litigation and government investigations and has held positions in marketing communications.
She became a member of LMA Virginias more than ten years ago, first joining the chapter’s programs committee. She went on to serve as Communications Chair, Programs Chair, Chair of the chapter’s first full-day conference, and then as Chapter President in 2014.
Rebecca is a lifelong Virginia resident and encourages everyone to come check out Richmond, or RVA as the cool kids say. She is a big sports fan, especially of the Miami Dolphins, and loves checking out art museums, parks and live music.
Tahisha Fugate
Director
Business Development Manager, Paul Hastings
Tahisha Fugate manages business development and strategy for Paul Hasting’s global Investigations and White Collar Defense, Complex Commercial Litigation, and Securities Litigation practices. In her role, she leverages 15 years of legal marketing experience to drive the firm’s business growth objectives through targeted business development, marketing, and branding efforts.
Tahisha has been a member of LMA since 2003, serving on a variety of regional and international committees including the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. She has also provided content for Strategy Magazine, Strategies+ Blog, and has served as a webinar presenter.
Tahisha resides in Maryland with her husband, two children, and dog. She is passionate about advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal industry, workplace balance and wellness, and education and career readiness for those in underserved communities.
Jacqueline Madarang
Director
Senior Marketing Technology Manager, Bradley
Jacqueline Madarang is senior marketing technology manager at Bradley, an AmLaw 200 law firm with over 500 attorneys in nine offices. She is based in the firm’s Washington, DC office. She oversees and manages the firm’s marketing technology stack, including the implementation of new tools firm-wide to assist in marketing and business development.
She leads the firm’s marketing technology team, its efforts in business development technology, marketing technology and digital marketing. She works with attorneys and practice groups across the firm and focuses on developing digital, social and communications programs that further business development objectives. She helps attorneys understand technology, social media and content marketing, and how they can apply these to business development and get results.
Jacqueline is a pioneer in defining the role of a marketing technologist in law firms. She is an active member of LMA and ILTA and has served in different leadership roles. In addition to her new board leadership role in the Mid-Atlantic region, she is also a member of LMA’s Educational Advisory.
When she is not traveling, she spends her time with her dog, friends and is a fan of the arts. She enjoys traveling for fun, wine, cooking and eating good food. She is a native Angeleno and sometimes misses the proximity of the beach from her current home.
Ed Perugia
Director
General Manager (USA), Law Business Research
Ed is a General Manager (USA) at Law Business Research. In 2018 he served on the Capital Local Steering Committee as the Communications Member-at-Large. Since moving to Washington, DC in 2016, Ed has been a weekly volunteer ESOL teacher at Washington English Center and ESLIM in Virginia. Before moving to DC, Ed co-founded and led an English-German language meet-up/exchange in Dusseldorf, where he organized the weekly socials for three years from 2011-2013. He enjoyed the opportunity to give like-minded people (mainly international newcomers to the city and locals who wanted to practice their English) the chance to meet and engage. LMA has enabled Ed to develop his network, which has been enjoyable socially and valuable in terms of career development and he looks forward creating those experiences for others.