NCRA Business Summit - Speakers

Keynote

Griffin, a triple-graduate of Florida State University, honed her entrepreneurial skills for 13 years at a prominent Florida corporate law firm, where she served as a law clerk and then attorney from 2006–19. During the last five years of her work there, she was an equity shareholder and the Tampa office managing partner. In 2019, Melanie joined Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP, an Am Law 200 firm that is the largest law firm in Tampa Bay, as senior advisor, business-to-business relationships. Full bio.

Rebecca J. Bandy serves as the director of the Florida Bar’s Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism. She joined the center as assistant director in March 2017. Prior to joining the Florida Bar, Bandy was an associate attorney at the Law Offices of Thomas L. Powell in Tallahassee, where she litigated in the areas of family and criminal law. She most recently taught college-level courses at Lawton Chiles High School, where she helped establish the school’s award-winning mock trial team along with the Hon. Mark Walker, the Hon. David Frank, and attorney David Grimes.

Bandy previously served as the director of Alumni Relations at the Florida State University College of Business and as the assistant director of alumni and development at the Florida State University College of Law. She earned her Juris Doctor from the Florida State University College of Law. A native of the tiny town of Hilliard in Nassau County, Fla., she earned her bachelor’s in communications with honors from Jacksonville University and her teaching credentials at Georgia Southern University.

Since becoming director, Bandy has attended the National Legal Mentoring Symposium in Columbia, S.C.; the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute at Georgetown University; and the National Mindfulness Summit in Washington, D.C. She has received a Mental Health First Aid certificate. She currently serves on the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Professionalism. She regularly speaks to legal professionals, law school students, and Florida Bar staff on general professionalism, mindfulness-based emotional intelligence, the impacts of loneliness, mentoring, networking, gratitude, resilience, interpersonal communications skills, active listening, implicit bias, and team building.

Bandy is active in her church, is a community volunteer at an area elementary school, and she has supported causes including the March of Dimes, Epilepsy Association of the Big Bend, the Holocaust Education Resource Council (HERC), The Kearney Center, and Honor Flight Tallahassee.

Rosanna Catalano is the founder and president of Rocket Ship Consultants, a company that works with clients looking to change their professional trajectory through business consulting, career coaching, and video podcasting. Her varied background as a lobbyist, trial attorney, television news producer, professor, university dean, career coach, and chief agency administrator allows her to provide her clients with a unique perspective and skill set for solving problems, storytelling, and creating successful strategies.

For more than two decades, she has advocated on behalf of clients and organizations and made hundreds of presentations. She has extensive experience in making introductions for clients, Florida administrative law and compliance issues, higher education management, state budgets, procurement, litigation, and strategic planning. As a result, she is able to create a path for her clients and leverage her strong connections throughout Florida government and across industries to assist clients with getting the right door opened at the right time with the right message.

She is currently the chair of the development committee for the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, vice-chair of the Florida Bar Governmental and Public Policy Advocacy Committee for lawyer lobbyists, and associate with Capitol Access. She produces and hosts The Floridaville podcast and three live video shows, Take Off Monday, Launch Pad, and Connect at the Capitol.

 

Jones began her legal career in 1987 as a legal assistant in Detroit, Mich., working for the long-established law firm of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn. In 1998, the attorney for whom she worked, decided to form his own firm — Wasinger, Kickham and Hanley — and Ginnie transitioned with him and became the office manager and litigation paralegal for the firm until Wasinger’s retirement in 2003.

A native of Florida, Jones returned home in 2004 where she has continued to work as a paralegal. She currently works for Jackson Lewis P.C. in their Jacksonville office. She assists in all phases of litigation, from inception through discovery and trial. She assists with document examination and management, drafting of pleadings, fact development, deposition preparation, and trial preparation. Jones became a Florida Registered Paralegal in 2009.

Jones has more than thirty years of experience working as a paralegal with experience in the areas of commercial litigation, civil litigation, worker’s compensation, and employment law.

In her spare time, Jones enjoys spending time with her husband and eight-year-old son, her seven grandchildren, and her six grown children and their spouses.

Adriana Linares is a law practice consultant and legal technology trainer with her company, LawTech Partners. The firm's services include consulting and training for law firms, legal departments, legal aid groups, and legal technology startups.

Having spent her early career at two of Florida’s largest law firms, Linares went on to launch LawTech Partners in 2004. She is a frequent speaker at national technology conferences and a regular contributor to legal blogs and publications and speaks fluent Spanish. Linares has a bachelor’s degree in geography from Stetson University, a master’s in corporate communication and technology from Rollins College, and is an IAPP certified information privacy technologist. She is a 2013 Fastcase 50 honoree, which recognizes her as one of “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders.” She was profiled as a Legal Rebel Trailblazer by the ABA Journal in 2018. She served as chair of the American Bar Association TECHSHOW 2017. Linares has hosted the New Solo podcast on the Legal Talk Network since 2014.

While she continues her work helping law firms and legal organizations, she also serves as a technology consultant to the Florida Bar Board of Governors and is the member technology officer of the San Diego County Bar Association.

Korinne R. Morris, ACP, is an advanced certified paralegal in product liability and e-discovery. She is the senior paralegal at Harris Lowry Manton, where she has been employed in their Savannah office since 2009. Morris primarily works on personal injury cases including product liability, medical malpractice, and other complex litigation. She has been in the legal field since 1998 with more than a decade in real estate practice prior to joining Harris Lowry Manton. Morris leads a weekly certified paralegal study program, is Harris Lowry Manton’s lunch & learn coordinator, and leads her firm’s E-Discovery Task Force on best practices. She also currently serves as the ethics chair of NALA, The Paralegal Association and on NALA’s paralegal educator and school relations committee.

Randall Rust is an accomplished industry professional with expertise in the mobile applications, promotional products development, and print publishing industries. He recognized for his ability to deliver value and generate revenue. Experienced in business development, sales, marketing and product management functions, Rust is also a trusted advisor to clients delivering technology solutions aligned with the needs of the event and/or promotional campaign.

Jessica VanTroost is a regional administrator at McGlinchey Stafford and runs the Jacksonville, Fla., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Nashville, Tenn., offices. She has worked in the legal field for 15 years and has both small and large firm experience in multiple states.

VanTroost has been an active member of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) since 2008 and is affiliated with the Jacksonville, South Florida, and Middle Tennessee chapters. She has held various board positions over the years and is a past president of the Jacksonville chapter. She served ALA at the international level on the 2018 and 2019 ALA Nominating committees and currently serves on the ALA Membership and Development Committee. 

VanTroost also serves on the Florida State College of Jacksonville as a member of its paralegal advisory committee. She is a member of Kiwanis. Additionally, she is Legal Lean Sigma Institute White and Yellow Belt certified and has her Legal Lean Sigma Level 100 certification.
VanTroost is a native of western New York and relocated to Florida seven years ago. She is an avid baseball fan and loves to travel. 

Dave Wenhold has represented the court reporting and captioning professions as a lobbyist for more than 20 years. In his tenure as NCRA’s Director of Government Relations and Public Policy, he was successful in lobbying the Judicial Branch and the Executive Branch, and he has worked with Congress to earmark tens of millions of dollars for the court reporting and captioning professions.
He is co-founder of Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies, a full-service lobbying firm based in Northern Virginia. Wenhold is a past president of the American League of Lobbyists, and founder of the ALL Capitol PurSuit Drive, an annual clothes drive held on Capitol Hill to aid Americans trying to re-enter the workforce, for which he was presented with the U.S. President’s “Call to Service” award, the country’s highest award for citizen volunteerism.

In 2008, Dave was selected with three other lobbyists and named as one of the most effective association lobbyists in Washington by Association Trends. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Keene State College in Keene, N.H., the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives, and the Professional Lobbying Certificate (PLC) from the American League of Lobbyists.