Our Board
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Dayna Karram
PRESIDENT
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James Buchanan
Vice President
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KURT L. GROSSMAN, Esq.
SECRETARY
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John Stein
TREASURER
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Emily R. Cashell, Esq.
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Prince Ellis
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Janine Gage
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Karin Goitman, Esq.
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Jennifer Grubbs, Ph.d.
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MICHAEL W. HAWKINS, ESQ.
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JULIE LEFTWICH, ESQ., FOUNDER
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WALTER E. SPIEGEL, Esq.
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SIMON SVIRNOVSKIY, ESQ.
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Sarah Topy, Esq.
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Judge Tyrone K. Yates
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HON. MARILYN ZAYAS
Directors Emeritus
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DARLENE KAMINE
CO-FOUNDER
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John E. Pepper, Jr.
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SANDRA SPINNER
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Emily R. Cashell, Esq.
Taft
Emily is an attorney in Taft’s Employment and Labor Relations practice, focusing on immigration law. She advises clients across industries on a wide range of immigration matters, including temporary visas, permanent residence, and U.S. citizenship.
Prior to joining Taft, Emily practiced immigration law in Toronto, Canada. Active with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), she serves as the Department of State Liaison Junior for the U.S. Consulate in Toronto.
Emily earned her J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. She received her B.S., magna cum laude, in psychology from The Ohio State University.
Prince Ellis
Associate Professor of Business, Finance, and Economics at University of Cincinnati Clermont
Dr. Prince Ellis is a tenured Associate Professor of Business, Finance, and Economics at University of Cincinnati Clermont and a distinguished leader in education, community service, and advocacy. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration with a concentration in International Business from Argosy University, where his dissertation explored the impact of corporate eLearning on employees. He is the author of Corporate eLearning: Impact on Employees. He also earned a Master’s in Applied Economics from UC and both a Bachelor’s in Finance and a Master’s in Information Systems from Northern Kentucky University. Known for innovative eLearning, he co-leads UC's Ghana Study Abroad program and champions global engagement.
Dr. Ellis currently serves as the Chair for the UC Clermont Faculty Senate. He has received several teaching awards, including the Excellence in Teaching Award, and was inducted into the University of Cincinnati's Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning (AFTL).
In addition to his academic roles, Dr. Ellis is the President and Co-Founder of APNET, where he also acts as Executive Director, and the President/CEO of PERN Consulting. He was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine as a Commissioner with the Ohio New African Immigrant Commission and serves on the Board of the Village Life Outreach Project. His contributions have earned him multiple awards, including the 2022 Community Leader Award by Cincinnati Compass and the 2024 African Diaspora Cultural Preservation Award, underscoring his impact on both academia and the community.
A dedicated family man, Dr. Ellis is married to Ruth Ellis, and they have three children: Prince Jr., Marie, and Asher. His work reflects a commitment to empowering communities, advancing education through innovation, and fostering global collaboration.
Janine Gage
former Procurement & Supply Chain Executive
Janine Gage was born in Mexico City. She grew up in the border town of Tijuana and immigrated to New York City with her mother and brother in 1995. She is a former Procurement & Supply Chain Executive with over 20 years of experience in global ingredient sourcing, supply chain management, negotiation and risk management across the food and beverage industry. During her tenure at Consumer Product Goods (CPG) & Business to Business (B2B) companies such as Kraft, Mondelez and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Janine developed a reputation for driving transformation, fostering innovation, and leading complex global sourcing and supply chain initiatives.
A passionate advocate for lifelong learning, Janine holds an MBA in International Agri-Food Management from ESSEC Business School, in Paris France, and a BA in Political Science from New York University. She is also a Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) and has earned several continuing education certificates, including those from Harvard Business School Online in Business Strategy, Global Business, and Finance and a Women in Leadership Certificate from Cornell University.
Outside of her professional achievements, Janine is deeply committed to community service, volunteering with organizations such as La Soupe and the Freestore Foodbank. She is currently part of the Elderly Services Program Advisory Council for Council on Aging (COA) and she is also on the Board of Women in Flavor and Fragrance Commerce (WFFC), Cincinnati Chapter. She is a former member of the Hamilton County Commission on Women and Girls.
Janine's international perspective is enriched by her multilingual abilities, speaking fluent English and Spanish, with working knowledge of French and Italian. She is an enthusiastic traveler and foodie with a keen interest in history of art, music, and international relations. She is currently pursuing a degree in Culinary Arts from the Midwest Culinary Institute. She currently resides in the West Side of Cincinnati where she lives with her husband Scott, her mother Patty, and their dog Kramer.
Jennifer grubbs, ph.d.
Antioch college
Jennifer Grubbs is a social justice activist and cultural anthropologist who has been engaged in community organizing, communications and outreach for nearly two decades. Her academic work reflects a deep commitment to engaging with and working to dismantle structures of violence through participatory-action research. Professionally, Jennifer has supported non-profits with the development of interpersonal and print communication, community engagement, and strategic initiatives.
Jennifer has worked extensively to support communities that face structural inequality. Her portfolio of nonprofit work includes a variety of local, national, and global organizations, including Annunciation House, Bethany House, Farm Sanctuary, Grace Place, Hope Border Center, Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati, Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, Antioch College’s Books to Prisons Project, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA).
Jennifer is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Antioch College. Additionally, teaches courses inside Dayton Correctional Institution and works closely with people who are incarcerated that are working toward college degrees. She serves on several editorial boards and is a core member of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Collective with the Great Lakes College Association.
JULIE LEFTWICH, ESQ., Founder
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Julie Leftwich is the Founder of IRLC and served as its Executive Director from 2017-2024. She is currently Director of International Peace and Security Initiatives at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Julie is a passionate human rights lawyer who has extensive experience working with immigrants and refugees. She has worked locally, nationally, and globally to advance human rights and gender equality, especially in conflict affected countries, and has a deep understanding of the issues facing these communities. She is a recognized expert in gender, peace and security. Julie has developed initiatives and managed programs related to gender justice, women’s rights, and the rule of law in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and has advised, trained, and published extensively on gender, peace and security, women’s rights, international human rights law, gender-based violence, refugee and asylum law, and human trafficking.
Julie has worked with many nonprofit organizations including the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Freedom House, the U.S. Institute of Peace, Women in International Security (WIIS), Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND), One Earth Future Foundation/Our Secure Future and the International Association of Women Judges, and locally with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, End Slavery Cincinnati, and the World Affairs Council.
Julie previously held faculty appointments at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Korbel School of International Affairs at the University of Denver.
WALTER E. SPIEGEL, Esq.
Standard Textile
Walter is Vice President/General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer of Standard Textile Co., Inc., the leading global manufacturer and provider of reusable textile products for the healthcare and hospitality markets. He manages Standard Textile’s global legal and compliance functions as well as the company’s government relations efforts. Mr. Spiegel was previously employed as Senior International Trade Counsel for a Fortune 500 technology company and as a partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm.
Walter received his law degree from The University of Michigan Law School and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Emory University. He clerked for Judge Richard Freeman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He was a co-founder of the University of Cincinnati College of Law’s Institute for the Global Practice of Law and is a past President of the Southwest Ohio Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.
Walter is a past President of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Cincinnati and continues to serve on the JCRC board. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and has served on numerous other boards including the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, Rockwern Academy, and Camp Livingston.
Sarah Topy, esq.
Proctor and Gamble
Sarah Topy is an Assistant General Counsel and Director in the Legal Division at Procter & Gamble. In that role, she is the North America counsel for Oral Care and Health Care businesses. Sarah is also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. She is on the Board of the Cincinnati Bar Foundation and Bigger than Sneakers. Sarah has also co-chaired United Way and ArtsWave community campaigns in 2021 and 2022. She is also a chair of this year’s Niehoff Gala for the Mercantile Library. Sarah is a former Women of the Year candidate with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a Cincinnati Business Courier 40 under 40 recipient. She also serves as a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Sarah is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law where she was the Executive Editor of the Law Review and graduated summa cum laude and Order of the Coif. She earned her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University with honors in Liberal Arts and with distinction in Political Science. She currently lives in Mount Lookout.
Judge Tyrone K. Yates
Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge
Tyrone K. Yates is a Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge. He was elected on November 8, 2011.
Judge Yates is a former Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 33rd District from 2003-2010.[1]
Yates is a former assistant attorney general of Ohio and former Associate at White, Getgey, and Meyer Co., LPA.
He was selected twice to serve as vice-mayor of Cincinnati and served as a member of Cincinnati City Council from 1990 to 1999. In the 1997 election, he was endorsed by both the Democratic Party of Hamilton County and the Charter Committee of Greater Cincinnati.
While a trial counsel in the Juvenile Division of the Hamilton County Public Defender's Office (2000-2003), Yates served as chairman of Cincinnati's Citizens Committee on Youth (2002).
Yates is a former treasurer and president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and chairman of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. In 2008, Yates served as chairman of the Local Host Blue Ribbon Committee for the NAACP National Convention. He was elections chairman for the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP in 2008.
He is a two-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention (2004 and 2008). In 2008, Yates was a delegate pledged to United States Senator Barack Obama.
While in the Ohio House of Representatives, Yates served on the Finance and Appropriations, Ways and Means, Civil and Commercial Law, and Criminal Justice Committees. He chaired the Committee on Criminal Justice. He also served on the State Criminal Sentencing Commission. Yates was selected to serve as chairman of the eight-member bi-cameral Correctional Institution Inspections Committee. Yates served on the special legislative committee which was charged with recommending a distinguished Ohioan to be represented among the significant Americans in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. He is a former member of the Ohio Arts Council and a former adjunct associate professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati.
Hon. Marilyn zayas
JUDGE, OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
Judge Marilyn Zayas was elected to the First Appellate District in 2016 and re-elected in 2018. She was honored to be selected to sit on an Ohio Supreme Court case in June 2018. After her election, Judge Zayas created the “Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders” program, an educational program for high school students. The program invites students to the Court of Appeals to interact with judges and attorneys, learn about the law, and inspire them to dream big. Judge Zayas is committed to promoting accessibility and accountability through student outreach and community forums.
Prior to joining the First Appellate District of Ohio, Judge Zayas served the community as an attorney for nearly 20 years. In 2001, she founded a private practice and built a strong reputation by successfully handling complex cases. She has an extensive legal background including: investor, business and family immigration law; intellectual property; labor and employment; criminal; and juvenile law. Judge Zayas has practiced in numerous courts, including state and federal trial and appellate courts.
As an attorney, she partnered with several law enforcement agencies on victims’ advocacy issues to develop best practices so that foreign-born victims would overcome their fears, report crimes, cooperate with the investigation of crimes, and appear for court proceedings. She has also served as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, the University of Cincinnati College Of Law and provided legal training to judges, magistrates, attorneys, and the Cincinnati FBI.
She is one of the 2019 YWCA Career Women of Achievement award recipients. In 2017, she received the prestigious University of Cincinnati College of Law Nicholas Longworth, III Alumni Achievement Award, and was awarded the LULAC Women's National Convention Service and Commitment Award in 2014. She currently serves on the board of Beech Acres Parenting Center and Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Character and Fitness.
Judge Marilyn Zayas grew up in a tough New York City neighborhood. Her dad worked in a printing shop and her mom worked as a seamstress in a garment factory. Judge Zayas overcame numerous obstacles to earn a college degree in computer science. She made Cincinnati her home in 1988 when she came to work for Procter & Gamble. She left P & G in 1994 to pursue her dream to become a lawyer. Judge Marilyn Zayas's family includes her three adult children and two adopted rescue dogs, Thor and Sparkle Lou.
DIRECTORS EMERITUS
Darlene Kamine
Community Learning Center Institute
Darlene Green Kamine, co-founder of the Immigrant and Refugee Law Center, is the founding Executive Director of the Community Learning Center Institute, a not for profit agency which is dedicated to the development of all schools as community learning centers, responsive to the vision and needs of each school and its neighborhood. Previously she worked as a consultant to Cincinnati Public Schools to design, develop and implement the transformation of Cincinnati’s schools into community learning centers. Prior to her work with Cincinnati Public Schools, Kamine served for seventeen years as Magistrate of Hamilton County Juvenile Court where she organized the first dependency, neglect and abuse unit in the Court and overhauled practices and procedures which became the basis for new dependency law in Ohio.
Darlene is also the founder of ProKids, a nationally recognized child advocacy organization that provides volunteer guardians ad litem for abused, neglected and dependent children in the court system. She was also a co-founder of the Children’s Museum of Cincinnati and served as the president of their board. Her devoted voluntarism includes her service as President of the Junior League of Cincinnati, President of the American Bar Association Institute for Child Advocacy, and service on the boards of the Playhouse in the Park, Ohio Children’s Trust Fund Board, Brandeis University, Seven Hills School, and many other philanthropic organizations. She is also currently serving on the boards of Grad Cincinnati, MindPeace, Children’s Oral Health Network, and Growing Well Cincinnati.
Darlene is the author or editor of numerous publications and articles about the juvenile justice system and was an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law. She has received numerous honors for her lifetime of professional and volunteer efforts on behalf of children.
John E. Pepper, Jr.
Retired Chairman and CEO, The Procter & Gamble Company
Mr. Pepper spent a 40-year career in various positions at Procter & Gamble, including Chief Executive Officer and Chairman from 1995 – 1999 and Chairman of the Board from 2000 – 2002. He served as Director of Procter & Gamble from 1984 – 2003 and President from 1986 – 1995.
John E. Pepper, Jr. currently serves as Director Emeritus of the Board of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and was CEO from January 2006 – May 2007. Mr. Pepper served as Chairman of the Board of the Walt Disney Company from January 2007 through March 2012 and had served as a member of its board since January 2006. He also served as Vice President of Finance and Administration at Yale University from January 2004 to December 2005.
Pepper has devoted important effort over the past 30 years to Early Childhood and Youth Development. He is a former member of the Cincinnati Preschool Program Board of Trustees. He was a founding supporter of Every Child Succeeds (which provides home visitation to at-risk 0-3-year-olds), and was a co-founder and currently is an honorary member of the board of the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, one of the nation’s most successful mentoring and tutoring organizations.
Pepper graduated from Yale in 1960, where he served on the Board of the Yale Daily News. He served as Fellow of the Yale Corporation from 1995 – 2003, including two years as Senior Fellow.
A native of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Mr. Pepper holds honorary doctorate degrees from Yale University, Xavier University, Mount St. Joseph College, St. Petersburg University Russia), the Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati, and St. Joseph’s University.
Mr. Pepper and his wife Francie have four children and ten grandchildren and reside in Wyoming, Ohio.
Sandra Spinner
Former HIAS Executive Board
Sandra has extensive experience in refugee issues. From 1977 to 1999 she held a leadership role, locally and nationally, in a movement dedicated to allowing free emigration of Soviet Jews. She has testified in federal removal hearings on behalf of Ukrainian Jews seeking asylum in the U.S. and her reports have been accessed by Canadian, Australian and American immigration lawyers and were distributed to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
In 2005 Sandra became a founding Co-Chair of the Cincinnati Interfaith Coalition to Save Darfur. In 2006 she was elected to the Board of HIAS, an international refugee protection and resettlement agency, and currently serves on the Executive Committee. She has chaired their national and international programs oversight committee, traveling to Chad, Uganda, Kenya, Latin America, Ukraine and Europe as well as a Taskforce on Immigration. She has attended the annual United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) meetings with its implementing partners in Geneva Switzerland as a member of the HIAS delegation for several years.
Sandra has served on the boards of a number of philanthropic organizations and is a member of Xavier University’s 1812 Society, the Lion of Judah Society of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, and the Board of Isaac M. Wise Temple. In 2014 Sandra was appointed to Mayor Cranley’s committee to make Cincinnati a more immigrant-friendly community. Most recently, Sandra has been involved with Refugee Empowerment Initiative and Refugee Connect to serve the various refugee communities in our city.