Kristen Boike is the Office Managing Partner of Honigman’s Chicago office. Kristen focuses her practice on advising clients on a wide array of transactional real estate matters, including joint ventures, development, senior housing, commercial leasing, acquisitions and dispositions, mixed-use developments, sale leaseback transactions, and corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Kristen also has extensive experience representing both landlords and tenants in office, retail, data center, warehouse and industrial leases. She counsels both publicly held and private companies, as well as universities, in connection with their institutional real estate matters. Additionally, she has been a member of numerous multidisciplinary firm teams representing key clients in a variety of transactions.

Joanna K. Horsnail is the Office Managing Partner of the Chicago office of global law firm Mayer Brown LLP. Joanna’s law practice focuses on complex construction transactions and project finance. Joanna is recognized by Chambers USA for Construction and ranked as one of the “Leading Lawyers” by Legal 500 for Construction in the United States. A leader in diversity, equity, inclusion and talent development, Joanna has served on Mayer Brown's Diversity Steering Board (past Chair), Partner Promotion Committee, Recruiting Committee (past Chair), Chicago Women’s Forum (past Chair) and global Women’s Leadership Committee (past Chair). Joanna was a 2015 Fellow in Leadership Greater Chicago, and was a recipient of Mayer Brown’s 2015 Diversity Champion Award, was named a 2007 Women in Public Finance Woman of the Year Award and was named by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of the 2018 “Notable Women Lawyers in Chicago.” Joanna currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cabrini Green Legal Aid and the Misericordia Women’s Board. 
 

Elisabeth Pennix began her practice of law in 2004 as an officer in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps. She served for 8 years on active military duty including a deployment to Iraq during the surge of forces in 2006-2007 and a Reserve deployment to Guantanamo, Cuba with the Military Commissions from 2015-2016.

Since joining the Navy Reserves in 2011, Elisabeth has worked in various full-time civilian roles: as an Account Executive at Relativity, as General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and as Assistant Chief Counsel with the Department of Homeland Security. Since 2021, she has been the Deputy General Counsel at Sloan Global Holdings where she manages the labor, employment, ethics, compliance, and litigation portfolios. In her Navy Reserve role, Elisabeth currently serves as a Commander, Appellate Judge, and Executive Officer for the Navy Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (NMCCA).

Elisabeth is actively engaged with multiple non-profit organizations, including one she co-founded, Operation HerStory, which is dedicated to making women veterans visible. She is also engaged with Business Executives for National Security (BENS), the Pritzker Military Museum & Library (PMML), and the Navy League, Chicago Council.

Elisabeth is passionate about raising amazing children with her husband Sidney Pennix, a U.S. Army and Chicago Police veteran; and creating beautiful pieces of art.

Ayesha Ahmed
General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources
Nexus Pharmaceuticals

Ayesha Ahmed is General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources at Nexus Pharmaceuticals. Nexus is a US based, family-owned, minority-led pharmaceutical company that focuses on developing, manufacturing and commercializing specialty and generic injectables drug products.  After graduating from law school in 2006 Ayesha began her career at a boutique litigation firm. She then went on to clerk for the Honorable Moshe Jacobius at the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. In 2011 Ayesha joined Nexus as in house counsel and is now a member of the executive leadership team.  In her twelve years at Nexus, Ayesha has lead both legal and HR teams to cultivate a work culture that strives to help employees grow their careers, prioritize continuous learning and feel valued by the organization. Ayesha also serves on the board of the UMMA Center, a non profit organization located in Waukegan, Illinois that empowers underserved communities throughout Lake County and is a member of the advisory council of the Pro-Bono Network which provides free legal assistance to individuals throughout the Chicagoland area. Ayesha received her Bachelor of Arts from Case Western Reserve University and her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.