Career Services Staff

Lily Yan Hughes, Assistant Dean of Career Services

Lily Yan Hughes is an executive expert in M&A, governance, corporate finance, and securities with experience working for highly regulated financial services companies and banks, real estate operating and development companies, and global technology companies, and as a member of the Global Board of Directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Hughes brings to the Office of Career Services fresh and timely leadership and global perspectives.

Most recently, Hughes was Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary for Arrow Electronics, Inc., a $29 billion, Fortune 150 company. At Arrow, she was a member of the Executive Committee and led the company’s global legal, trade risk, and compliance teams.

From 2015 to 2019, Hughes was Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Public Storage, an S&P 500 and FT Global 500 company. From 1997 to 2015, she served in roles of increasing responsibility, including her last role as Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Corporate, M&A, and Finance of Ingram Micro Inc., the world’s largest wholesale information technology and mobile devices distributor (and a former Fortune 100 company). Prior to that, Hughes was an Associate Director in the Property Management Department of nationwide leader in cancer treatment and research City of Hope, and a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. She began her legal career as an associate at McKenna, Conner & Cuneo in Los Angeles.

Hughes received the National Diversity Council Power 50 (Women in the C-Suite) award in both 2021 and 2020. She also received American Law Media’s National Women in the Law award as General Counsel of the Year for 2018. Most recently, Agenda—The Financial Times publication focused on board and governance—named Hughes to its Diversity 100 list, a directory of 100 board-ready director candidates from groups historically underrepresented in the boardroom. Hughes also was invited to join the DirectWomen Board Institute program for 2019. She received her J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law and holds a B.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley.

lyhughes@syr.edu

Dafni Kiritsis '97, Director of Externships and Career Services

Dafni Kiritsis is an experienced employment law attorney who joined Syracuse Law from Syracuse University’s Office of Human Resources, where she held the position of Senior Human Resources Business Partner. In this role, Ms. Kiritsis provided counsel to the most senior leaders at Syracuse University across the full range of human resource issues and served as the escalation point for unit leadership on employee relations matters.

From 2010-2018, Ms. Kiritsis worked as an attorney in the Department of Veteran’s Affairs’ Office of General Counsel providing advice, counseling, conflict resolution services, and legal representation to VA Medical Center facilities across the Northeast. She represented the VA to address formal complaints filed by employees with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Merit System Protection Board.

Prior to that, Ms. Kiritsis was an attorney with Green & Seifter Attorneys PLLC (now Bousquet Holstein PLLC) where she practiced civil litigation and employment law. Ms. Kiritsis received her J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University and holds a B.A. from Syracuse University.

dkiritsi@syr.edu

Virginia (“Ginny”) C. Robbins, Special Advisor with the Office of Career Services (former Interim Assistant Dean of Career Services)

Virginia chaired Bond Schoeneck & King’s environmental and energy practice from 2000 to 2016 and was a member of the firm’s management committee from 2014 to 2015 and 2004 to 2005.

She is experienced in advising clients on state and federal regulatory compliance issues, particularly in the areas of air and water pollution control and solid and hazardous waste management. Virginia has experience in the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act, for example, major and minor source permitting strategies, negotiation of special conditions establishing emission caps, Title V applicability and operational flexibility, and new source review issues. She has advised owners and operators of solid waste management facilities, many of which include landfill gas-to-energy plants, on a variety of air quality and solid waste compliance matters, particularly in the context of facility siting and expansions.

vcrobbin@syr.edu