Co-Founder/ Executive Director

From 1999-2003, DiCo competed on the Stuyvesant HS Speech & Debate Team, where they were a state finalist in Extemporaneous Speaking and a national finalist in Congressional Debate. After graduating with a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale, they joined Teach for America and started debate teams at the Frederick Douglass Academy and Achievement First Brooklyn High School. DiCo is a recipient of several teaching prizes including the Teach for America Alumni Award for Excellence. They have been named a Master Teacher by the Achievement First charter school network and a First Diamond Coach. In 2022, they were honored to receive the Brother Sterner Lifetime Service Award by the National Speech and Debate Association.

Co-Founder / Coach

From 2009-2011, Jonathan competed on the Frederick Douglass Academy Debate Team, where he competed at national tournaments such as the Yale, Columbia and Harvard Invitationals. After graduating with a B.S. in Respiratory Therapy from Stony Brook University in 2017, he started working for NYU Langone Medical Center as a Neonatal Pediatric Specialist. Jonathan is also a successful entrepreneur who has founded Conyers Real Estate, Conyers Media, and Conyers Production Company.

He is the author of “I Wasn’t Supposed To Be Here,” a memoir about his journey of resilience despite a challenging childhood.

Director of Programming

Joey competed at Stuyvesant High School from 2002-06, on a team that earned national recognition and with whom he won the NSDA national championship in prose reading. He’s been coaching ever since, and began teaching in 2017. Joey has a B.A. in Economics from Clark University and an M.A. in Education from Relay GSE. In a previous life with the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, he was commended for his work as a civil-military liaison, training officer, and WMD-detection platoon leader. If you count his year running an embassy-sponsored Pashto radio station in Afghanistan, this is his second nonprofit aimed at improving civic discourse.

Coach

Angie competed on the Cinco Ranch HS Speech & Debate Team in Houston, TX for four years. She won local and state tournaments in addition to breaking twice at NSDA Nationals and claimed the title of 2016 Texas State Champion in Senate Congress. She took her skills as an extemporaneous speaker and mock-senator to Columbia University, where she earned a B.A. in Philosophy at Barnard College in 2022. She forever remains a student of knowledge, learning everyday from both her debate students and her ongoing Islamic and Arabic studies. Coach Angie guides her debaters to use their collective and individual voices for good - and is constantly striving to be a model of such.

Director of Operations

From 2015 to 2016, Doucette taught Advanced Placement Biology at Achievement First, where she met DiCo. Jaimee later transitioned to the role of Student Services Manager, where she managed student enrollment and data, coordinated logistical aspects of student testing, and provided technical support to teachers using the Student Information System. Jaimee continued her journey at Achievement First as the Director of Operations from 2020 to 2022, overseeing operational aspects of the school.

Graphic Designer

Leah is new to the world of Speech & Debate, but joined BDL’s team after being inspired by the viral HONY story. She has a B.A. in Mass Communications from the University of South Florida and a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from Ringling College of Art + Design and has over a decade of experience working as a graphic designer and art director.

Chairwoman

Angela advises debtors, creditors, banks, hedge funds, lenders, asset purchasers and other strategic parties in a wide range of corporate restructuring matters. These include prepackaged and traditional bankruptcies, out-of-court workouts, debtor-in-possession and exit financing transactions, asset sales, bankruptcy litigation, cross-border insolvencies and liability management transactions.

Angela’s work has been widely recognized. Most recently, The Deal listed Angela among its 2023 “Top Women in Dealmaking” for restructuring. Global Restructuring Review named her to its “40 Under 40” list in 2022, and Law360 named her a “Rising Star” in energy in 2021. Turnarounds & Workouts listed her among 2020’s “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers,” and the American Bankruptcy Institute named her among the “40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders in Insolvency” in 2019. Angela was one of only three recipients nationwide of the 2019 IFLR “US Rising Star Award.”

Treasurer

Kathleen Lawler joined KKR in 2021 and is a Director on the Infrastructure team. Kathleen leads KKR's core infrastructure activities in North America as well as the Infrastructure team's utility investments in the Americas, among other sectors. Prior to joining KKR, she was an investment professional with J.P. Morgan's infrastructure investments group, where she was responsible for originating, structuring and monitoring investments in utilities, power and transportation. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Kathleen worked as an investment professional as well as a member of a portfolio company management team at ECP, and prior to joining ECP, was a member of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's power and utilities investment banking group. Kathleen holds a B.A. in Economics & Mathematics from Yale University, where she met DiCo on the rugby team.

Secretary

Martin Bell is a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, the global law firm based in New York, where he is a member of the firm’s Government and Internal Investigations group and leads its Civil Rights and Equity Reviews team. Having spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, he now represents companies, boards, and individuals in investigations and high profile disputes. An experienced trial lawyer, Martin’s pro bono practice also includes representing indigent criminal defendants as an appointee to the Southern District of New York’s Criminal Justice Act Panel.

Martin is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College. He is a member of the Boards of the Harvard Law School Association of New York City, the Office of the Appellate Defender, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and a former trustee of Regis High School, where he did Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Extemp, and Original Oratory many, many years ago.

Basha Rubin is the CEO and Co-Founder of Priori. Priori revolutionizes how legal teams find and engage outside counsel. Ranked a Chambers Tier 1 Global LawTech company and a Financial Times Intelligent Business, Priori’s cutting-edge technology powers two products: Scout, which surfaces insights about trusted outside counsel relationships to drive informed hiring decisions and D&I initiatives; and Marketplace, which connects legal teams with new talent from Priori’s vetted, global network of attorneys at firms of all sizes.

Basha writes and speaks extensively on how technology is changing and will change the marketplace for legal services. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Techcrunch, Entrepreneur and Corporate Counsel, and she has spoken at ABA Techshow, Women in Legal Technology Conference, Clio Cloud Conference, SXSW, Reinvent Law, SOLID Conference and Legal Geek. Basha has been named an ABA Journal Legal Rebel, Financial Times Top 10 Legal Business Technologist, LTRC Woman of LegalTech, Fastcase 50 award winner and is part of Baylor Law School's "The Braintrust." She holds a JD and BA from Yale University and is a member of the New York Bar.

Basha did Lincoln-Douglas debate at Stuyvesant High School, when she had the good fortune to meet DiCo.

Bill Harrington is a seasoned trial lawyer and appellate advocate. Chambers USA describes Bill as “an extremely quick study with a great mastery of complex detail and a lot of savvy,” “very smart, capable and trustworthy,” and as a lawyer who has “great style and manner with both client and with juries.”

Bill has a broad litigation practice, with a focus on government enforcement matters. Before he joined Goodwin in 2012, Bill served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he focused on corruption and fraud prosecutions. Bill also formerly served as co-chair of Goodwin’s Pro Bono Committee. He currently co-heads Goodwin’s practice groups on Financial Services Disputes & Investigations and Healthcare Government Enforcement.

Russell Capone is a partner in the Government Enforcement and Investigations practice at Cooley LLP in New York.  Between 2011 and 2021, Russell served as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  In addition to other roles, during his time in government, Russell was the Chief of the Public Corruption Unit and later Chief Counsel to the United States Attorney, helping to oversee some of the most consequential investigations and prosecutions in the Department of Justice during that time.  Russell lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.