Tech & Society: Leadership in an Era of Rapid Change

Katherine Adams is Apple’s general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Global Security, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. Kate serves on the company’s executive team and oversees all legal matters, including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation and securities compliance, global security and privacy. Kate joined Apple from Honeywell in 2017, where she worked for 14 years, most recently as senior vice president and general counsel. At Honeywell, Kate was in charge of the organization’s global legal strategy across more than 100 countries.

Prior to joining Honeywell, Kate was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP in New York. Earlier in her career, she served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; as trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice, Appellate Section, Environment and Natural Resources division; and as law clerk for Stephen Breyer, then chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Kate earned a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

Cara has deep experience scaling HR operations, recruiting, and learning & development at fast-moving, global companies. Prior to joining Lattice as Chief People Officer, she was SVP of People at both Udemy (UDMY) and Planet Labs (PL) and previously served in HR leadership roles at Pinterest (PIN), Efficient Frontier - now Adobe, Young and Rubicam, and Knight Ridder, among others. Cara is also co-founder of PeopleTech Partners, a group of HR leaders working to bring new HR/recruiting technologies to market. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kentucky, holds a master's degree from the University of San Francisco, completed graduate studies at Stanford University and is finishing her Master's degree in Leadership and Ethics at the University of Chicago.

Bharat is a senior technology leader focused on delivering technology-enabled IT transformation solutions globally. As a member of executive steering committee leadership teams, he partners with CIOs/ CTOs / CDOs to build strategies, develop business models, and implement technology solutions. He leads enterprise-level IT infrastructure setup from greenfield design, build & operations for large organizations. 

He has been recognized with President Awards at Wipro, a leading technology services and consulting company. He received his bachelor’s degree from Cochin University in India. Before joining the IT industry, he conducted research to create models for the early detection of cancer at the Indian Institute of science in Bangalore. He is on the Advisory Board of Swakshatra, a non-profit for child rights organization, providing post-trauma care and rehabilitation of children at risk.

Seth Green was appointed Dean of the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies on July 1, 2021. You can contact Seth at sethgreen@uchicago.edu.

Before joining Graham, Green served as Founding Director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility at Loyola University Chicago. During his tenure, the Center launched a top-ranked specialty MBA program, a globally significant award for social innovation in business, and an array of educational programs that annually engage more than 4,000 learners. Green also served as an Executive Lecturer in Loyola’s Quinlan School of Business, teaching classes on social entrepreneurship and receiving recognition as the Mission-Driven Faculty Member of the Year in 2021.

Prior to Loyola, Green led Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.), a nonprofit organization that prepares low-income youth for post-secondary and life success. At Y.O.U., Green oversaw the fourfold expansion of programs and a $16.4 million fundraising campaign to build a state-of-the-art youth center. He also spearheaded two strategic planning processes, resulting in an enhanced program model and deepened impact. Alongside Y.O.U., Green taught courses on nonprofit management as an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University.

Earlier in his career, Green worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, guiding private sector clients through strategy development and change management. A recipient of McKinsey’s Community Fellowship, he spent one year of his time at the firm supporting nonprofit clients, including the Gates Foundation and United Way.

Green speaks and writes on social innovation. His commentaries and research have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Fortune Magazine, the Journal of Business Research, and the Social Innovations Journal, and he serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Business and Society Review. Green has been a featured guest on Slate Podcasts, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, MSNBC, and CNN, and his efforts have been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2008, Utne Reader named him one of 50 “Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.”

Green is civically engaged in Chicago, serving on the Campaign Cabinet of the United Way of Metro Chicago, the Impact Investing Advisory Council of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, the Advisory Board of Concordia Place, the Reception Committee of the Economic Club of Chicago, and the Advisory Board of the Executives’ Club of Chicago.

A Marshall Scholar, Green holds a J.D. from Yale University, a master’s in women’s studies from Oxford University, a master’s in development studies from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University.

Daniel Moerner is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Chicago. His interests extend broadly across the history of philosophy. He specializes in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European philosophy, particularly the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza.