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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is pleased to announce that three new members have joined its Board of Visitors. The new members include Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. “Mimi” Rocah, two distinguished Haub Law alumni, Caesar Lopez ’12, and Felipe Paez ’96.

“Our Board of Visitors is comprised of thought leaders in the legal community who serve as reliable advisors to and advocates for the law school community,” said Dean Horace E. Anderson Jr. “At Haub Law, we strive to reflect our current student body, our alumni, and the ever-changing legal climate through our Board of Visitors members. Each of our new members bring tremendous value to our Haub Law community—a broad range of expertise, diversity in the legal field, and a commitment to furthering the best interests of our law school. I am proud to welcome Mimi, Caesar, and Felipe to the Board and look forward to working with them to ensure the continued success of Haub Law.”

Miriam (“Mimi”) E. Rocah is the Westchester County District Attorney. Leading the largest prosecutorial agency in the state of New York outside New York City, DA Rocah has dedicated her life to pursuing justice for victims, keeping our communities safe, and working for a fairer criminal justice system for all.

Before winning her election as Westchester DA in November 2020, DA Rocah was the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University’s Distinguished Fellow in Criminal Justice, a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for 16½ years. She oversaw the prosecution of organized crime, gun traffickers, corrupt public officials, narcotics dealers, sex traffickers, and child predators. She is a recipient of the 2016 Women in Federal Law Enforcement Leadership Award.

Prior to her career as a federal prosecutor, DA Rocah clerked for Judge John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and Judge Chester J. Straub of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She was also a litigation associate at the law firm Cravath, Swaine and Moore, and a paralegal at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, DA Rocah is a graduate of Harvard University and New York University School of Law. She is also an alum of the nationally-acclaimed NYC Urban Fellows Program, a public policy fellowship where she completed her program with the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs.

Caesar Lopez is the Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel for the Orlando City Soccer Club of Major League Soccer, Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League and Exploria Stadium. In his role, he oversees all legal and business affairs, strategic projects, human resources, facilities and operations, administration and external/government affairs.

Prior to joining the team side in Orlando, Lopez spent time at Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing where he provided strategic counsel to multiple MLS Clubs, U.S. Soccer Federation and the Mexican Federation on all commercial deals and player transactions. Recently, Lopez was named Orlando Business Journal’s Top 40 under 40 and received the 2020 SPORTYS award for Best in Business Operations. He was honored as a Rising Star at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University’s 2021 Law Leadership Dinner.

Lopez is an Orlando native and in 2022, he was selected to serve as the Chairman-Elect of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission after his work on the 2022 FIFA World Cup Host Committee bid. He has deep ties to the Haub Law community and for years, he has been active as an elected member of the Haub Law Alumni Board. He received his BA from University of Connecticut and earned his JD from Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in 2012.

Felipe Paez is Global Lead Counsel at Ernst & Young (“EY”). At EY, he is the Partner/Principal leading Global Data Protection and serves as the EY Network’s Global Privacy Leader.

Paez has broad global experience advising strategic leaders and leading legal and risk management teams in highly complex government and corporate organizations. Prior to joining EY, Paez spent nearly 8 years at General Electric, first as Chief Compliance Officer/Counsel and most recently was Chief Counsel, Information Protection and Cyber Security. Before that, he spent 4 years at Dell, as Chief Investigations Counsel and then as Director, Federal and Public Sector Compliance.

Paez received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Michigan and his JD from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, with Certificates in International Law and Environmental Law, graduating in 1996. Paez also served as a Colonel in the US Marine Corps Reserves.

The Board of Visitors furthers the interests of the Law School by involving alumni and friends in significant issues of concern to the School, and by building a sense of community that fosters pride and participation. The Board is also dedicated to fostering a strong interest in the mission of the Law School by helping to recruit outstanding students, hiring graduates and encouraging financial support from public and private sources. The Board is currently co-chaired by Alfred E. Donnellan '81, Managing Partner, DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, LLP and Kathleen Donelli ’85, Partner, Goldschmidt & Genovese, LLP

Pace University Professor of Biology Nancy Krucher, PhD, has received a three-year $400,241 grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study new methods to combat cancer cell development of resistance to targeted treatments.

“Cancer is a major health concern in our country and throughout the world,” said Professor Krucher. “Currently, much of cancer research focuses on identifying specific mutations or abnormalities in tumor cells and creating drugs that target them. These targeted therapies have exhibited a great deal of success in some cancer types. Unfortunately, while targeted therapies usually work for a few months or a few years, cancer cells often develop resistance to these agents.”

Targeted therapies­—which involve certain drugs used to specifically target the ways in which cancer cells grow, divide, and spread—are becoming more common in cancer treatment. However, cancer cells can acquire resistance to the targeted agent, making the treatment less effective. ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) is a critical enzyme in cancer cell growth that can be activated as a response to targeted therapies, particularly in treatment of breast cancer and melanoma, often resulting in poor prognosis.

In February 2020, the FDA approved a new ACLY inhibitor, and another was recently developed. In this project, these agents are predicted to have anti-cancer activity. Krucher’s research aims to investigate the hypothesis that targeting ACLY with these inhibitors can reverse resistance in breast cancer and melanoma.

Because the newly developed ACLY inhibitors that will be used in this study have largely not been tested on cancer cells to date, Krucher hopes her work can provide new insight for cancer treatment, including the development of novel drug combination regimens. Additionally, Krucher’s work will employ an in vivo model of cancer metastasis in melanoma as well as three-dimensional cancer cell cultures, an innovative and effective approach to studying the physiological tumor environment.

Undergraduate biology students will also be closely involved in this research, carrying out a majority of the experiments outlined in the study, helping prepare them for careers in the biomedical research workforce.

“Professor Krucher is doing incredibly important work in the field of cancer research, an area of biomedicine that touches so many lives around the world,” said Tresmaine R. Grimes, PhD, dean of the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education. “Through this grant, Professor Krucher and our biology students have the opportunity to uncover critical information that could improve the effectiveness of these vital treatments.”

About Pace University

Pace University has a proud history of preparing its diverse student body for a lifetime of professional success because of its unique programs that combine immersive academics and real-world experiences. Pace is ranked the #1 private, four-year college in the nation for upward economic mobility by Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights, evidence of the transformative education the University provides.

About Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

Pace University’s liberal arts college, Dyson College, offers more than 50 programs, spanning the arts and humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and pre-professional programs (including pre-medicine, pre-veterinary, and pre-law), as well as many courses that fulfill core curriculum requirements. The College offers access to numerous opportunities for internships, cooperative education and other hands-on learning experiences that complement in-class learning in preparing graduates for career and graduate/professional education choices.

Emmy Award-Winning Producer and Third-Generation Alumna Rachel Skopp-Cardillo’s Success is Deeply Rooted at Pace

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You are a coordinator for field scheduling at NBC Sports, and recently, an Emmy-award winning associate producer for your work on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tell us how it felt to be recognized for this extraordinary achievement so early in your career.

I've always wanted to work with the Olympics and my family is very involved in sports. My father is a sports chiropractor, and my mother is a documentarian, who did documentaries about Olympic Swimming Trials and races across the Sahara Desert. She has three Emmys of her own, also for her work as a senior producer, so I’ve always known that I’ve wanted one and dreamed of having one with my own name on it. At a friend’s graduation party in high school, I was voted most likely to win an Emmy. Funny enough, I didn’t even know that I was nominated, but found out the following day when the press release came out and I searched my name. I screamed and ran all over my apartment. I first called my mom, saying “I think I am crying!” Then, I called my favorite Pace professor, Professor Maria Luskay!

Can you describe the work you did at NBC Sports that led to your Emmy win?

I worked in the Highlights Factory, which is something I will never forget. It's a huge room filled with shot selectors, production assistants, editors, producers, and directors. The operation ran 24/7, and it publishes highlights, compilations, interviews, and inspiring stories on NBC's YouTube channel and official website. So much footage was coming in, and, with the help of the shot selectors, it was my job to pick the best and share them with the producers and editors. I also directed the Blackmagic ISO [a type of camera] feeds of the Swimming competition all the way from Tokyo. It was a little stressful because the shot selected is on the feed forever. Once I got the hang of it, though, it was quite fun!

“Working on a Pace Docs documentary is one of the best ways to experience hands-on learning outside of the classroom at Pace. I was able to thrive as a filmmaker and gain confidence in knowing that this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life.”

You graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Digital Cinema and Filmmaking on the Pleasantville campus. What attracted you to pursue this course of study?

I have Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and dysgraphia [a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities], so it's really hard for me to write things down and to tell stories verbally. Instead, I feel like I can shine more visually. I love all aspects of production: pre-production, production, and post-production. It just felt natural to me.

How has your degree prepared you for your career and how did you get started? What internships did you have or other activities did you participate in on campus?

Professor Luskay and Professor Lou Guarneri's Producing a Documentary class influenced me so much. I learned all about teamwork and hard work through the making of two documentaries, Puerto Rico: Hope in the Dark (2018) and Hawaii: Living on the Edge in Paradise? (2019). Working on a Pace Docs documentary is one of the best ways to experience hands-on learning outside of the classroom at Pace. With roles as first assistant director and colorist, I was able to thrive as a filmmaker and gain confidence in knowing that this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life.

Also, the video editing classes I took with Professor La Rosa helped me become familiar with the Avid Media Composer editing system which I use daily at NBC, and Professor Luskay’s class really helped me with all of the planning aspects of my current role at NBC Sports as a coordinator in the scheduling department.

I had two internships as a student. The first was as a post-production intern with Creative Chaos, in which I assisted producers and editors with their footage needs. The second was as an engagement intern at American Documentary, an opportunity I received with the help of both President Krislov and Professor Luskay. In that role, I assisted in developing educational materials for teachers and students in grades 8-12 on the Season 32 documentaries airing on PBS for POV.

Why did you choose to enroll at Pace University?

It just felt like home. I came from a high school with a very small graduating class, so Pace was big enough for me and yet small enough that I could thrive. I am also a third generation Pace student. My grandmother, Irene Maruzella Cardillo, graduated from [then known as] Good Counsel College in 1951 in White Plains with a degree in Chemistry. My mother, Lauren Cardillo, graduated from the Pleasantville campus in 1980 with a degree in Literature and Communications, and also gave the commencement speech at her graduation.

What projects or goals do you have for the future?

My goals are to work the next Olympics and the Paralympics in Paris in 2024, whether through my office in Stamford, Connecticut or by actually going to Paris. To prepare for this possibility, I’ve been taking Duolingo lessons for French every day since June of 2022.

What advice would you give to our students as they navigate their college life?

If you're looking for an internship or you're looking to connect with other professionals in your area of interest, join a Facebook group or find a list serve that will help you with job listings. Also, go on every interview you are offered. You never know where it might lead.