Fisk University holds its Commencement on Monday, May 5, and the speakers will be Carla Harris, vice president and managing director of Morgan Stanley, and Charles Ogletree, the prominent legal theorist who has made an international reputation by taking a hard look at complex issues of law and by working to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution for everyone equally under the law.
Carla Harris is responsible for increasing client connectivity and penetration to enhance revenue generation across the firm at Morgan Stanley. In August of 2013, Harris was appointed by President Barack Obama to chair the National Women’s Business Council.
For more than a decade, Harris was a senior member of the equity syndicate desk and executed such transactions as initial public offerings for UPS, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Ariba, Redback, the General Motors sub-IPO of Delphi Automotive, and the $3.2 billion common stock transaction for Immunex Corporation, one of the largest biotechnology common stock transactions in U.S. history.
She is the chair of the board of the Morgan Stanley Foundation and sits on the boards of the Food Bank for NYC, executive leadership council, The Toigo Foundation, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), A Better Chance, Inc., The Apollo Theatre Foundation, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and Xavier University. Harris is co-chair of the National Social Action Commission of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
She is the recipient of many awards including the Women of Power Award given by the National Urban League, and the Women of Influence Award from The Links, Inc. Harris is also the author of the book, Expect to Win.
Harris received her MBA, ‘second year honors,’ from Harvard Business School and an AB in economics from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude. Ms. Harris is actively involved in her community and heartily believes that “we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to someone else.”
Charles Ogletree is the Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, and ‘founding and executive director’ of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, opened in 2005 as a tribute to the legendary civil rights lawyer and mentor and teacher of such great civil rights lawyers as Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill. The Institute has engaged in a wide range of important educational, legal, and policy issues over the past nine years.
Professor Ogletree is the author of several important books on race and justice and the recipient of many awards including the prestigious ABA Spirit of Excellence Award in recognition of his many contributions to the legal profession. He has also received honorary doctorates. Ogletree is a native of Merced, California, where he attended public schools. Ogletree earned an M.A. and B.A. (with distinction) in political science from Stanford University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
