2024 Leadership Award Honorees

Alicia Wilson, Esq. is the Managing Director and Head of Regional Philanthropy for North America for JPMorgan Chase. At JPMorgan, Alicia oversees the local philanthropic strategies across 40+ markets in North America, collaborating intentionally with senior leaders across the firm’s corporate responsibility and business units to drive meaningful impact across JPMorgan’s business footprint in the U.S. and Canada. This includes helping to steward the $2 billion philanthropic commitment as part of the firm’s broader Racial Equity Commitment.

Prior to joining JPMorgan, Alicia served as Vice President of Economic Development for Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System and Associate Professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland. At Johns Hopkins, Alicia led a core cross-institutional team focused on developing and implementing Hopkins’ institution-wide strategies and initiatives as an anchor institution in and around its campuses both within the United States and abroad. Alicia spearheaded the elevation and expansion of Hopkins signature commitment to its communities through investments in real estate, economic and neighborhood development, healthcare, and education.

Alicia is actively involved in civic and charitable organizations. She currently serves on the boards of Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland School of Law Board of Visitors, the CollegeBound Foundation, Kennedy Krieger Institute, and the France-Merrick Foundation. She is also co-founder of the Black Philanthropy Circle at the Baltimore Community Foundation. Alicia is also Chair of the CollegeBound Foundation and as such is the first CollegeBound Foundation alum, first woman, first African-American and youngest Board Chair in the thirty history of the organization. Alicia also serves as Parliamentarian within the Harbor City Chapter of the Links, Incorporated and is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

For her accomplishments and public service, Alicia has received over fifty professional awards and honors. Most recently, Alicia was recognized as the 2024 Voice of Justice Honoree by the University of Baltimore School of Law, as one of the Power 50 Women of Influence for 2024 by the US Black Chamber of Commerce the 2023 Sally Michel Honoree by the Parks and People Foundation, and the 2023 Change Maker of the Year by the William & Lanaea Featherstone Foundation. .

Her professional and civic leadership have propelled her to the forefront of local and national media attention. Most recently, Alicia was recognized as one of the 15 Black Marylanders to Watch for 2023 by the Baltimore Sun. In mid-2022, Savoy Magazine recognized Alicia as one of the “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America”. She was also named a 2022 “Women Who Wins” and Newsmaker of the Year for 2021 by the Afro-American Newspaper.

As general counsel and chief of government affairs, Adriana leads the company’s regulatory and policy efforts at the federal and state level and provides legal counsel to the company and its board of directors.

Adriana has more than 11 years of legal counsel experience, and prior to joining UScellular she served as general counsel and vice president of regulatory and external affairs for AT&T Mexico. In this role, she was responsible for legal and regulatory matters, external affairs, and corporate social responsibility for a business with approximately 20 million customers and more than 19,000 employees. She previously was legal counsel for DirecTV Latin America and was an attorney at a global firm where she counseled public and privately held businesses on a broad range of topics.

Adriana is currently on the Board of Directors of Pro Mujer, one of Latin America’s leading organizations committed to the empowerment of women. She earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and holds a juris doctor from Duke University Law School in Durham, N.C.

Julie Kearney is the first Chief of the Space Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Launched in April 2023, the Space Bureau plays a key role in advancing the Commission’s Space Innovation Agenda to meet the needs of the next generation Space Age. She serves under Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the first woman in history confirmed to lead the FCC.

As a globally-recognized leader/lawyer/board member in the technology and telecommunications field, Julie has been working for more than 25 years with governments, industry, and the public sector around the world to promote legal and regulatory frameworks and policies that enable life-changing technologies. Prior to the FCC, she held senior roles at Loon (an Alphabet company), Twilio Inc., the Consumer Technology Association, National Public Radio, MCI, and private legal practice.

Julie is a past president of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA – The Tech Bar) and she also served as chair of the FCBA Foundation. She was a long-serving member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee and also served on its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. Other Board positions include USTelecom and the United States Technical Training Institute (USTTI).

Julie earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a J.D. from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, with a certificate from its Law and Technology Institute. She recently completed a 3.5 year term on the Columbus School of Law’s Board of Visitors. A trained singer, she has sung with choruses in the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC area, most recently with Schola Cantorum (CA) and the Choral Arts Society of Washington (DC). Julie and her husband are the proud parents of a teenage daughter.