Ona Alston Dosunmu, general counsel of the Brookings Institution, is responsible for managing the Institution's legal affairs, mitigating legal risk and advising the Institution's Trustees, senior executive team and staff on a wide array of legal, managerial and policy issues. Her work at Brookings covers matters ranging from foreign operations, conflicts of interest, political activity and internal investigations to alternative investments, policy development, compliance and training and board governance.
She currently serves on the Georgetown Law Alumni Board and is the former secretary and current vice-chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel's Nonprofit Organizations Committee. Previously she served on the boards of the Aidan Montessori School and the Washington Latin Public Charter School.
Ms. Dosunmu was named a "Most Valuable Player" by Inside Counsel magazine in its August 2008 issue. She was recognized as a "Woman of Distinction" for her service to the educational and non-profit communities by the Women's Leadership Council of the United Way of the National Capital Area at its inaugural Women of Distinction Luncheon on March 26, 2009.
Ms. Dosunmu has spoken to various groups across the country on a variety of topics, including non-profit governance, the role of non-profit boards and the utility of Sarbanes-Oxley to non-profits. Her public speaking engagements have also addressed the future of women and minorities in the profession and her own path to success.
Before joining Brookings in 2002, Ms. Dosunmu spent nearly seven years representing major corporations on multi-million dollar transactions-both domestic and international-in private practice with global law firms including Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. and Latham & Watkins. Immediately prior to becoming Brookings's general counsel in 2006, Ms. Dosunmu helped manage the Institution's Foreign Policy Studies program, where she helped the program grow from a $7.6 million, 80-person program to a $14 million, 130-person program.
She is a cum laude graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. Ms. Dosunmu also received an M.A. in sociology in 1992 and a B.A. in journalism in 1989, both from Howard University. She is married and the mother of twins-one boy and one girl.
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