Norma Jackson selected for 2021-2022 Class of Leadership St. Louis
June 7, 2021
FOCUS St. Louis has announced that Thompson Coburn’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Norma Jackson has been selected for the 46th Leadership St. Louis program (LSL), a prestigious nine-month program for leaders who are committed to improving the St. Louis region.
Leadership St. Louis is one of six leadership programs offered by FOCUS St. Louis to achieve its mission of educating and connecting leaders to work cooperatively for a thriving St. Louis region. The LSL curriculum explores such issues as economic development, racial equity, education, poverty and social services, arts and culture, and the criminal justice system. More than 2,500 leaders have graduated from the program since its inception in 1976.
Norma, who has been with the firm since August 2018, leads diversity and inclusion efforts at the Firm. She has expanded attorney affinity groups and pipeline programs, launched new and improved diversity-centered training programs for Firm personnel, and created a library of diversity awareness materials for internal and external use. She also enhanced existing professional development offerings and created new opportunities for attorney to advance in their careers. As a result of these efforts, the Firm was selected as the 2019 recipient of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s (MCCA) George B. Vashon Innovator Award, a recognition for organizations that have made extraordinary strides to support diverse attorneys.
Thompson Coburn is home to several LSL alumni including Don Dorwart, Ali Rafferty, Ryan Russell Kemper, Bill Bay, Lori Jones, Jarrod Sharp, Ed Cohen, David Dick, Laura Jordan, Cherie Stephens Bock, Larry Friedman, Gayle Mercier and Sara Melly.