Michael H. Reed, Esq., Chair, is senior counsel in the Philadelphia office of Troutman Pepper, where he is a member of the firm’s Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group. He is a member of Temple University’s Board of Trustees and the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Mr. Reed is a 1969 graduate of Temple University (B.A., Political Science) and received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1972. He was associated with the firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP as an associate, partner, and counsel from 1972 until 2020 when the firm became Troutman Pepper by merger. Mr. Reed is a past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and previously served on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and as the state delegate for Pennsylvania in the ABA’s House of Delegates, having previously served on the ABA’s Board of Governors. He currently chairs the ABA’s Standing Committee on Constitution and Bylaws. Mr. Reed was previously a member of the Pennsylvania Judicial Inquiry and Review Board and chaired the Professional Guidance (Ethics) Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Prior to being selected as Chair, Mr. Reed served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Ethics. He is currently serving his final term on the Board that will end in November 2025.
Ellen Mattleman Kaplan was Philadelphia’s Chief Integrity Officer from 2016 through 2020, during Mayor Jim Kenney’s first term. Prior to that, she served as the Vice President and Policy Director at the Committee of Seventy, a non-partisan organization promoting ethical and effective government. Her career has also included roles as the Managing Director of Public Policy and Communications at Greater Philadelphia First, a business a civic-leadership organization; as the Associate Director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a statewide non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to reforming Pennsylvania’s judicial system; and as a Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney. Ms. Kaplan has also served as a private consultant focusing on ethics, media communications, and policy research and analysis.
Ms. Kaplan earned a J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University, majoring in History and Russian Areas Studies.
Her term on the board runs until November 2027.
Dr. Valerie Harrison is the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Impact at Temple University. Dr. Harrison came to Temple as a member of its in-house legal team after more than a decade in corporate private practice. As an attorney, Valerie enjoyed a legal career as an associate at the Morgan Lewis firm and in-house counsel at Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. and ARCO Chemical Company. Valerie also served as general counsel at Arcadia University and Lincoln University, and as acting president at Lincoln. In both her legal and administrative roles, she has advised and managed portfolios responsible for compliance, specifically investigations and resolution of complaints involving a variety of federal, state, and local regulations and laws.
Dr. Harrison is a Philadelphia native and graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia, a juris doctorate from Villanova University School of Law, and a master’s degree in liberal arts and a doctor of philosophy degree in African-American Studies, both from Temple University.
Dr. Harrison has been appointed to complete the term of JoAnne Epps which runs until November 2024.
Jim Engler is a trusted, analytical, and insightful leader with experience developing and managing strategic initiatives in highly matrixed organizations.
Mr. Engler currently serves as Chief of Staff in the Office of the CEO of Jefferson, one of the 15 largest health systems in the United States with 32 hospitals and 65,000 employees. Previously, he served as Chief of Staff to the President and CEO at ChristianaCare, a leading health system in Delaware. He has also served in leadership roles in local government, including as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Legislation, and Chief of Staff to Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.
Mr. Engler is a graduate of Villanova University and Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.
Mr. Engler has been appointed to complete the term of Brian McCormick, Esq. which runs until November 2026.
The Honorable Nelson A. Díaz is a distinguished lawyer, respected jurist, successful partner, exceptional public servant, Fortune 100 corporate director, activist, columnist, and author. In 1972, he graduated from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law and in 2021 he created the endowed Honorable Nelson A. Díaz Professorship in Law at Temple. Presently, he is a member of Temple University’s Board of Trustees, of Counsel at Dilworth Paxson, and co-founder of a national non-profit, Hispanics in Energy.
Judge Díaz was the first Latino attorney to pass the Pennsylvania bar, the first Latino judge in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the first person of color to be selected Administrative Judge in the Court of Common Pleas, the first Puerto Rican White House Fellow serving Vice-President Walter Mondale, the first Puerto Rican Japan Society Fellow, and the first minority General Counsel at United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He is a co-founder of the Black American Law Student Association (BALSA) at Temple University Beasley School of Law and co-founder of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania. Judge Díaz served on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Procedure Rules Committee and the Committee on Racial and Gender Bias.
Judge Díaz monitored elections in Latin America; he was the first American judge to sit on a Japanese court as a Japan Society Fellow; he fought for the human rights of Soviet Jews in the USSR and he taught the American legal and jurisprudence system in Albania, Peru, Columbia, and China. As a co-founder of the Latino-Jewish Coalition of the American Jewish Committee, he promoted stronger collaboration between the two communities. A Fullbright Scholar, Judge Díaz has received five Honorary Doctorate Degrees and numerous awards in recognition of his legal contributions including the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award. The Legal Intelligencer awarded 100 of Pennsylvania’s most influential attorneys with a Lifetime Achievement Award, including Judge Díaz.
Judge Díaz’s term on the Board runs until November 2028.