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About the Keynote Speakers

Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson

Picking Cotton

Photo of keynote speakers With a story that is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting, Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton demonstrate that we are all capable of compassion and change, no matter how dire the circumstances.

After suffering a brutal rape as a 22-year-old college senior, Jennifer Thompson provided eyewitness testimony that sent an innocent man to prison for life. Eleven years later, DNA testing exonerated that man, Ronald Cotton, and identified the true perpetrator. Upon Ronald’s release from prison, the two met and formed an unlikely friendship founded on the healing power of forgiveness. 

Together, they co-authored the New York Times best-selling memoir, Picking Cotton, in which they recount the tragedy that brought them together, and underscores the importance of reforms to alleviate the errors that can result from the fallibility of eyewitness testimony and the human impact of wrongful convictions.

On stage, Jennifer and Ronald blend their experiences to tell their unforgettable story of two individuals victimized by one crime, discussing the breadth of suffering caused by injustice, the possibility of redemption and the roles that apology and forgiveness play in individual happiness and growth.

Through their powerful and transformative message of overcoming adversity, audiences walk away inspired, enlightened and exposed to the need for criminal justice reform.

Charlotte A. Burrows

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Photo of keynote speaker Charlotte A. Burrows was initially nominated to serve as a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2014 and then re-nominated in 2019. By unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed her to a second term ending in 2023.

At the Commission, she has advocated for strong federal enforcement of employment laws –focusing in particular on pay equity, as well as initiatives to combat harassment and retaliation and to promote diversity in employment.

Before joining EEOC, Commissioner Burrows served as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Obama Administration, where she worked on a broad range of civil and criminal matters, including employment discrimination, voting rights, and implementation of the Violence Against Women Act. Earlier in her career, she was a litigator in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Commissioner Burrows is also a veteran of Capitol Hill, where she worked for the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy on a variety of high-profile legislative issues, including the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which restored the time period for employees to pursue a legal remedy for pay discrimination.

Burrows is a former judicial clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.