Executive Branch Updates | Admissions Transparency: What the ACTS/IPEDS Overhaul Means for Your Institution

Scott Kelly is a Shareholder at Ogletree Deakins. He is a nationally recognized leader in equal employment opportunity law, pay equity, and legally compliant diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, regularly advising and counseling employers on matters including employment discrimination, compliance programs, government contracting, affirmative action obligations, and workplace-related crises. His practice focuses on proactively advising clients in C-suite, senior leader, managerial, talent acquisition, and compensation executive roles in the financial services, media and entertainment, healthcare, higher education, retail, manufacturing, and technology industries—in addition to federal contractors and federal grant recipients. 

He advises and counsels employers on the full spectrum of workplace related matters. Scott also provides advice regarding the proper validation of employment selection procedures to ensure compliance with Title VII and other applicable employment laws. Drawing on years of strategic litigation, Scott has represented employers in connection with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) systemic pattern or practice investigations, as well as litigation involving challenges to hiring, compensation, promotion and other practices alleged to cause class-wide disparate impact or disparate treatment discrimination. He is skilled in evaluating damages assessments that impact systemic enforcement actions, litigation defense, and settlement options. 

Scott leads the firm’s workforce analytics and compliance team of more than 30 multidisciplinary attorneys and analytics professionals. Combining expertise in employment law and data analytics, Scott advises organizations on policies affecting all stages of the employment life cycle, including 

• sourcing and recruitment,
• selection,
• career advancement and promotions, and
• retention

With experience in designing and defending compensation systems, Scott has led numerous proactive pay equity analyses across various industries.

Private, public, and non-profit employers call on Scott for his practical advice and counseling and to provide training in all aspects of employment law and leadership skills. He frequently speaks on national employment law issues and has published articles and papers on employment law issues in publications around the country. 

Scott is a fellow in College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Thomson Reuters named Scott a Stand-Out Lawyer in 2025, based on client feedback that he provides “great responsiveness and client service,”and“his advice … helps you formulate strategies that are effective for your business in your context.” 

The Best Lawyers in America® has included Scott in every edition since 2016. He is currently recognized in the Employment Law – Management and Litigation – Labor and Employment categories. Scott is also a fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and the Birmingham Business Journal named him Best of the Bar in 2019. 

Scott is admitted to practice in Alabama, Georgia, as well as in various federal courts. 

Lisa O’Connor serves as Associate General Counsel at Northern Arizona University. In this role, Lisa provides support and strategic advice to NAU leadership across myriad, complex legal issues arising in the higher education environment. Lisa’s broad and evolving portfolio includes student affairs, employment, athletics, research, contracts, regulatory compliance, risk management, and litigation matters.   

Prior to joining NAU in 2021, Lisa spent several years in private practice, representing primarily business clients in complex commercial and employment disputes. Lisa also has experience as an executive leadership consultant, delivering individualized assessment, succession planning, and team optimization services for both global, publicly-traded and privately-owned companies.   

Lisa holds a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, where she served on the Executive Editorial Board of the Arizona Law Review, as well as a B.A., magna cum laude, in Business Economics from Wofford College, where she served as a captain of the NCAA Division I volleyball team. 

Paul F. White is a Partner of Resolution Economics, LLC, an economics, statistics, forensic accounting, and economic damages consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York, and Charlotte. He has a Ph.D. in Labor and Health Economics and an M.E. in Economics from North Carolina State University, as well as a B.S. in Economics from James Madison University. Dr. White also served as an adjunct member of the graduate school faculty at Florida State University from 1996 through 2002.

Dr. White is a labor economist with significant and distinguished experience in all aspects of the application of labor economics and statistical methods to problems involving labor and employment issues. He has extensive testimony experience, and his practice areas cover all aspects of employment discrimination cases, including compensation, hiring, promotion, and termination. Dr. White’s labor and employment practice also includes EEOC investigations, OFCCP compliance for federal contractors, AI bias audits, proactive monitoring of compensation and employee selections, FLSA wage and hour cases, economic damages (single-plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and class actions), union contract negotiations, and NLRB hearings. Additionally, Dr. White has conducted analyses on mutual fund trading practices, asbestos exposure, and prescription drug pricing.

In addition to his consulting work, Dr. White has published papers in the Journal of Forensic Economics and the Journal of Applied Business Research, has served as a referee for the Journal of Forensic Economics, Litigation Economics Review, and Contemporary Economic Policy, and often makes presentations to legal and human resources audiences, as well as to various economic associations.