Featured Speakers - Learn all about them

LAW DAY SYMPOSIUM FEATURED SPEAKERS

Phil Armstrong

Project Manager of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission and a native of Ohio, Phil Armstrong has made Tulsa his home for more than 20 years. Armstrong has a varied background in the corporate sector and as an entrepreneur in the restaurant business and has been actively engaged in the community by serving on several non-profit boards, including the Barthelmes School for Music, Community Service Council, Reading Partners of Tulsa and as chairman of the board for the Greenwood Cultural Center. Armstrong holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Akron. Phil will work with the Commission, its subcommittees and key Greenwood District organizations to execute plans for the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Hannibal Johnson, Esq.

Hannibal B. Johnson is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He did his undergraduate work at The University of Arkansas, where he completed a double major in economics and sociology. Johnson is an attorney, author, and independent consultant specializing in diversity & inclusion/cultural competence issues and nonprofit governance. Johnson has also served as an adjunct professor at The University of Tulsa College of Law (legal writing; legal ethics), Oklahoma State University (leadership and group dynamics; business law [MBA Program]), and the University of Oklahoma (ethics; cultural diversity; race & reason; The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot; nonprofit leadership & management). Johnson serves on the federal 400 Years of AfricanAmerican History Commission, a body charged with planning, developing, and implementing activities appropriate to the 400th anniversary of the arrival, in 1619, of Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia. He chairs the Education Committee for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. Johnson is past president of Leadership Tulsa, the Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League, and the Northeast Oklahoma Black Lawyers Association. He served as chair of the board of directors of The Community Leadership Association, an international leadership organization, during 2001 – 2002, is a founding director of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and is past chair of the board of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. He has also served on the Oklahoma Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Johnson directed Anytown, Oklahoma, a statewide human relations camp for teens, for more than a decade, and served on the Advisory Board of the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest. Johnson served as chairman of board of directors of The Rotary Club of Tulsa, 2015 – 2016, chaired the Club’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee during that same period, and served as the Club’s President during 2018 – 2019. He has served on the Institutional Review Board for Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences and is past chair of the board of directors of the Foundation for Tulsa Schools. He has also served as a member of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Humanities Council. He served on the Programs Committee for the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation and organized the Center’s annual symposium for several years. In 2004, Johnson graduated with the inaugural class of the national “Connecting Community Fellowship Program” based in Richmond, Virginia. Johnson’s honors include: the 2016 Whitney M. Young, Jr., Service Award from the Boy Scouts of America; the 2015 National Philanthropy Day Award for Diversity and Inclusion from the Association of Fundraising Professionals; the 2013 “The Inclusives” diversity award from Tulsa’s Young Professionals; the 2012 “Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Diversity Award” from the Oklahoma Bar Association; the “Don Newby/ Ben Hill” award from Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry; the “Keeping The Dream Alive” award from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Society; the “Outstanding Service to the Public Award” from the Oklahoma Bar Association; the “Ten Outstanding Young Tulsans” award from the Tulsa Jaycees; the “Distinguished Leadership Award” from the National Association for Community Leadership; the 2005 “Ralph Ellison Literary Award” from the Black Liberated Arts Center; the 2006 Oklahoma Human Rights Award from the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission; induction into the 100 Black Men of Tulsa, Inc. “Hall of Honor” in 2007; and the “Goodwill Appreciation Award” from the Islamic Society of Tulsa in 2008

Dana & Keith Cutler

Award-winning trial attorneys Keith and Dana Cutler are partners in the law firm of James W. Tippin & Associates in Kansas City, Missouri, practicing in the areas of civil defense litigation, education law, and small business representation. Dana has served in several positions of bar leadership during her career, including being the first woman of color elected as President of The Missouri Bar, in 2016. Her numerous bar-related awards include three President’s Awards from The Missouri Bar; a President’s Award from the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association; the Ronda F. Williams Spirit of Diversity Award; and the Sly James Diversity and Inclusion Award, just to name a few. She has been recognized as a Missouri Super Lawyer since 2014 and was honored as the 2018 Woman of the Year by Missouri Lawyers Weekly at their Annual Women’s Justice Awards Luncheon. Dana’s practice is concentrated in Education Law with a focus on charter schools and general liability defense. She has tried more than twenty bench and jury trials. Dana received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with honors, from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and her J.D. degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. In more than 30 years of practice, Keith has firstchaired over 80 civil trials in addition to arguments before the Courts of Appeals in Missouri and Kansas, the Missouri Supreme Court, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is also very active in the Bar -- he has served as president or chair of several bar associations and bar committees, is an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law, and is a frequent seminar speaker on trial practice, ethics, and professionalism. His awards include the Lewis W. Clymer Award from the Jackson County Bar Association, the Decade Award from the UMKC School of Law, and the prestigious Lon O. Hocker Memorial Trial Award, given annually to three lawyers across the state of Missouri under the age of 36 who have demonstrated unusual proficiency in the art of trial advocacy. Keith received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and his J.D. degree from UMKC. When not practicing law, Dana and Keith are co-judges on the two-time Emmy-nominated, nationally syndicated daytime television courtroom show “Couples Court with the Cutlers,” which features couples who are having conflicts, complications, or disagreements in their relationships. The show, distributed by MGM’s Orion Television, is seen daily in over 85% of the United States. The Cutlers have been married for over 30 years and have three adult sons.

Tom Vincent

As an attorney, Tom focuses his practice on legal issues involving cybersecurity, data privacy, compliance, and corporate governance. As a former banking manager and executive, he brings a process and business-oriented approach to best serve clients from a preventive standpoint. This blended experience has equipped Tom to better understand the mechanics of companies from the angle of a business strategist and legal counsel. He began his career working for financial institutions serving in key management and compliance roles at both small and mid-sized financial institutions, including BSA/AML Compliance Officer for a bank and Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary for a broker dealer. He advised on commercial and consumer banking, fiduciary and trust, broker-dealer and investment advisory, BSA/AML, FCPA and CRA. He also served on various ethics and compliance committees for the Boards of Directors to develop and implement compliance policies and assess compliance efforts. In 2014, he joined GableGotwals, where he represents clients on matters involving data security and privacy, compliance, risk management, HIPAA/HITECH, security assessments and protections, investment advisory, and trust and fiduciary. He has assisted clients both in preventing and in responding to security breaches and have led corporate governance projects including the development and implementation of new policies, procedures, and customer agreements, and have represented a bank as an expert witness. Currently, he serves as the Co-Chair of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Committee. In this role, he trains associate attorneys and staff on networking, business development, and professional narratives with a focusing on creating environments where they can be empowered to achieve and enhance their professional and personal success.

Candice Pace

Candice Pace graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor’s in Journalism and Mass Communication and a minor in Sociology. She began her career as the Vice President of Development at the United Way of Norman. Then she worked as a Marketing Consultant at OPUBCO Communications before starting as the Director of Development & Communications at the Oklahoma Bar Foundation in 2015. She serves as the Communications Chair and Board of Trustee for the National Conference of Bar Foundations and is also a certified Pilates and Barre Instructor. She currently lives in Oklahoma City with her husband Jim, 2 Jack Russell Terriers, rescue dog and cat.