About Us > BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Board of Directors

Jack Drake
Betty Gartman
David Gary
Richard Izzi
Mary Jones
Jagdesh B. “Bob” Kirpalani
David Langum
Wanda McNeil
Bill Messer
Martha Morgan
Anil A. Mujumdar
Joseph M. Openshaw
Lisa Robinson
Sigfredo “Freddy” Rubio
Flo Schneider
Bobby Segall
Henry “Hank” Sherrod III
Larisa Thomason
Janetta Whitt-Mitchell
Jennifer Wiggins Smith

JACK DRAKE is a senior partner with the law firm of Whatley & Drake in Birmingham. Jack has a long association with civil rights law and the ACLU. Along with others, Jack was the attorney for the plaintiffs in Wyatt v. Stickney, the landmark mental health right-to-treatment case. He represented the ACLU of Alabama in the Lynch v. Baxley, which established procedural and substantive due process rights for subjects of involuntary commitment to mental illness facilities. In 2003 Jack and his firm settled Bailey v. Sawyer with the Alabama Department of Mental Health, and as a result the scope and method of delivery of mental health services to the deaf and hard of hearing were significantly expanded and improved. Jack has also served as chair of the Alabama Ethics Commission. He first joined the ACLU Board in 2004.

BETTY A. GARTMAN and her husband, David, were represented by the ACLU and People for the American Way in the 1986 “Secular Humanism” case, which went to the Supreme Court. Betty has used her experience as a community activist and her grassroots connections to enhance her service on the board, which she joined in 1995.She currently serves as Vice-President of the board in addition to several committee assignments. As Chair of the Development Committee since 2002, Betty has led the affiliate’s annual fund drive. She is especially proud to have served on the Nominations Committee since 2004, helping the organization to attain its Affirmative Action goals for state-wide diversity. Betty lives in Mobile with her husband and their two daughters.

DAVID GARY joined the ACLU Board in 2007 after active involvement in various social justice groups supporting advocacy work for the poor and gay rights.  An internal bank auditor for more than 20 years, Gary is an Alabama native who graduated Auburn University's School of Journalism in 1982.  His call to activism was prompted by what he terms, "an appalling lack of accountability by people of influence and power as the condition of Alabama's poor and powerless rapidly declined over the past decade." Gary's specific interests include death penalty issues, prison reform, the intersection of church and state and full equality for the LGBT community. He serves as convener of Integrity Alabama, an Episcopal-based LGBT ministry and served on the founding board of Equality Alabama.  In 2006 he received the Equality Alabama President's Award for his dedicated service.

RICHARD IZZI, an Alabama native, has been in private practice as an attorney in Birmingham for more than16 years. Prior to beginning his practice, he served in various capacities on the administrative staff of the Birmingham City Council, including intergovernmental relations work and lobbying duties for the City. Richard has been involved as a cooperating attorney for the affiliate in a number of cases over the years, including Harper V. Siegelman, institutional litigation which sought reform of Alabama’s education system. He has been an ACLU board member since 1991, President 2002-2006, and served as a member of the Legal Committee for six years. Richard is apast president of the Greater Birmingham Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (2000-2001), as well as a charter member of that organization.

MARY JONES is the Community Services Coordinator for Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM), a post she has held since 1997. In this position, she coordinates the Women as Strength Program, the education project, and ex-felon and senior citizens projects. Prior to her work with GBM, Mary was the Administrative Assistant to Mayor Richard Arrington. In her work with the City of Birmingham, Mary implemented a Young Mothers Program in public housing, initiated the city’s domestic violence program, established The Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women and organized and managed at least 40 workshops and seminars on healthcare, child abuse and childcare. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a major in criminal justice in 1990. Mary has been a member of the Board since 2003 and serves as a member of the Nominating Committee.

JAGDESH B. “BOB” KIRPALANI focuses his law practice on advising entrepreneurs and established businesses on matters relating to international business transactions and economic development, concentrating on Indian companies doing business in the Southeast and domestic companies doing business in India and Asia.  Mr. Kirpalani also represents businesses and individuals in immigration matters.  He has served as a special assistant to Circuit Judge Tommy Nail, 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama (Criminal Division) and has extensive business experience in the publishing and retail industries.  For the past 25 years Mr. Kirpalani has also owned and operated Hong Kong Tailors, a family owned tailoring business in Birmingham that specializes in custom-made suits. He is a native of India, and is fluent in Hindi, Tamil and Sindhi.

DAVID LANGUM has been a Professor of Law at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham since 1985. David is widely published and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. His biography on the life of attorney William Kunstler was published in 1999. He is a member of the American Historical Association, Alabama History Association, Alabama Association of Historians and American Society for Legal History where he served as Program Chairman in 1991 and on the Board of Directors from 1992-1995. During his tenure on the ACLU Board since 1999, David has served as chair and co-chair on a number of committees. He also served as President from 2000 to 2002. He currently serves on the Executive Committee.

WANDA McNEIL, of counsel to Sirote & Permutt, practiced law with the firm of Shearman & Sterling in New York City and Los Angeles for several years before returning to her home state of Alabama in 1992 and joining Sirote & Permutt as a partner. She graduated from Birmingham-Southern College in 1971 with a BA in Religion and Philosophy before attending Vanderbilt Divinity School and graduating from Vanderbilt Law School in 1976. From 2000-2003 she served as Chief Operating Officer of Sirote & Permutt and is now of counsel to that firm, practicing in the areas of real estate law, secured financing transactions and municipal finance. She is President of the Huntsville Housing Authority Social Services Board, Treasurer of Madison County Democratic Women's Division, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Madison County Democratic Party. She is also on the North Alabama Community Council of Leading Edge Institute. She has two children: son Josh, 26, who is communications director for the re-election committee of Governor Bill Richardson (New Mexico) and living in Albuquerque, and daughter Bekah, 23, who is a budding playwright and director in the San Francisco area. Wanda was elected to the ACLU Board in 2006.

BILL MESSER has been a partner in the Montgomery law firm of Varley & Messer, L.L.P., since 1998. The firm has a general civil practice including state and federal litigation. For fifteen years before that, Bill worked with the Legal Services Corporation of Alabama, a statewide program providing free legal services to poor persons in non-criminal cases, ultimately serving as the program’s director of litigation. Bill graduated from Swarthmore College in 1979 with a double major in religion and economics and received his law degree in 1982 from the Duke University School of Law. Bill has been a member of the Alabama ACLU Board of Directors since 2002. He has been a member of the Legal Committee for approximately eight years. Bill is the Treasurer of the organization and serves as a member of the Executive Committee. He has also handled cases on behalf of the organization as a cooperating attorney, including the famous Ten Commandments monument case.

MARTHA MORGAN has been a member of the Board since 1985 and currentlyserves as the Alabama representative on the national ACLU Board of Directors. Shehas retiredfrom full-time teaching at the University of Alabama Law School, where shetaught constitutional law and civil rights legislation, but will continue;to pursueteaching, research, and service activities. Martha was a member of the legal team in Harper v. Siegelman, a systemic reform education equity case. She does research and writing about international human rights and the women’s rights struggle in Latin America.

ANIL A. MUJUMDAR earned a B.A. in English from Birmingham-Southern College in 1997, a J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2000, and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Alabama in 2001. Followinglaw school, Anil taught undergraduate courses in American Studies and Anthropology at the University of Alabama as a teaching assistant.He is presentlyan associate with the law firm of Whatley Drake, LLC, in Birmingham. His practice is focused in the areas of white collar criminal defense, employment discrimination, and nursing home litigation. Prior to joining Whatley Drake, Anil worked as astaff attorney with theUniversity of Alabama School of Law's disability rights clinic oncivil rights issues affecting persons with psychiatric disabilities, persons living with HIV and AIDS, andchildren with complex disabilities. He currently serves on the Governor of Alabama's HIV Commission for Children, Youth, and Adults; the Volunteer Lawyers Program committee of the Alabama State Bar; and the Board of Directors for AIDS Alabama.Anil has been on the ACLU Board since 2004 and served as the Affirmative Action Officer for one year just prior to being elected President of the Board in 2006.

JOSEPH (JOE) M. OPENSHAW is a semi-retired veterinarian living in Bessemer. At Auburn University, Joe earned a BS in Biological Sciences and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.He practiced large and small animal medicine in Jefferson City, Tenn. before returning to Alabama and opening Metro Cat Clinic in Hoover, the first feline only veterinary practice in the state. No longer in practice, Joe spends much of his time restoring the turn-of-the-century Victorian home that he shares with his partner and his daughter. Joe is interested in gay rights, civil rights, women’s choice, HIV/AIDS and religious freedom. In 2004, he sought and was appointed to Governor Riley’s Black Belt Action Commission, and currently serves on the Health Sub-committee of that commission. Joe joined the ACLU Board in 2005.

LISA ROBINSON is a sole practitioner specializing in Fair Housing Litigation. Prior to forming her own firm, Lisa worked for Legal Services of Metro Birmingham, afederally funded program that provides free legal services toindigent persons. Shewasthe managing attorneyof the Shelby County office for that program. Lisanow serves as board president for Legal Services Alabama, the newly formed statewide program that serves;the poor.; She;is also on theboard of the Access to Justice Commission, which is charged with statewide planning and coordinatingresourceswith all stakeholders who serveindigent clients in the state. Lisa joined the ACLU Board in 2004.

SIGFREDO “FREDDY” RUBIO grew up in Puerto Rico and has lived in Birmingham for 15 years where he received an accounting degree at UAB. He is currently a student at the Cumberland School of Law where he is a member of the National Trial Team and director of Cumberland’s Hispanic Interest Law Student Association (HILSA), which seeks to promote student awareness of the issues that affect the local Hispanic community.  Freddy has worked with the United States Postal Service and as an accountant serving Hispanic Businesses. This summer he worked for Morris, Haynes & Hornsby, a plaintiff’s law firm, and the Montgomery District Attorney’s Office. Over the last few years, Freddy has been active with the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (HICA), the Hispanic Business Council, Interpreter and Translator Association of Alabama (ITAA) and the Alabama Hispanic Democratic Caucus. He is an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform and hopes to dedicate part of his time to constitutional issues affecting the immigrant community. Freddy is married to Isabel Rubio, Executive Director of HICA. They live in Birmingham with their two daughters, Amanda & Sofía.

FLO SCHNEIDER earned aBA degree in Psychology, with a minor in Philosophy, at the University of South Alabama.As a member of the staff of the ACLU of North Carolinain the 70s and 80s, she worked on fundraising, membership, special events, the affiliate newsletter and board/chapter activities.She was also the affiliate's representative to the N. C.Coalition for Choice.In North Carolina Flo volunteered as mediator for the Guilford;County;Mediation Center, served on the board for Greensboro Advocates for Children and Youth, and served on the state executive committee for the Democratic Party. In addition to service on the ACLU-AL board since 2002, Flo serves on the board of a local group,Citizens for Responsible Government, and has organized a group of civil liberties folks called People for the Bill of Rights. She is married, has two sons and four grandchildren and has lived in Fairhopemost of her life.

BOBBY SEGALL has been practicing law in Alabama since 1973 and has served on the ACLU Board since 2003. He is currently with the firm of Copeland, Franco, Screws and Gill in Montgomery, practicing in civil litigation, personal injury, corporate litigation and First Amendment law. Bobby has served as President of the Board of Legal Services Corporation of Alabama, the Montgomery County Bar Association and the Montgomery County Trial Lawyers Association. He has also been a member of the Alabama Board of Bar Commissioners. Bobby was the president of the Alabama Bar Association in 2005 and 2006. He has represented clients in numerous ACLU of Alabama sponsored lawsuits, including a case seeking reform of the state’s education system and various First Amendment cases. He represented the ACLU in James v. ACLU, otherwise known as the second Ten Commandments case. He is a member of the Legal Committee and the Chair of the Nominations Committee.

HENRY F. SHERROD III is a civil rights attorney in the Shoals area. He grew up in north Alabama and graduated summa cum laude from Birmingham Southern College in 1986. He graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt Law School in 1989 and then served as a judicial clerk in Dallas, Texas, for Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham. After his clerkship he practiced law with a large firm in Dallas before returning to Alabama in 1993. His practice is limited to representing individuals in employment discrimination, police misconduct, and other civil rights cases throughout north Alabama. His past support of the ACLU includes work as a cooperating attorney on behalf of a gay teacher who had been terminated from his position because of his sexual orientation. Hank joined the ACLU Board in 2004.

LARISA THOMASON, a seventh generation Alabama native, lives in New Market with her husband and daughter on a small organic farm they share with numerous cats, dogs, and horses. Larisa received her BSBA from UA at Huntsville in Management Information Systems. She is a self-employed writer and Web promotion consultant and does pro bono work for selected non-profit groups. Her articles on Web design and promotion have been published widely in both online and print publications. Larisa has held board positions at the Temple B’nai Sholom, Huntsville Hadassah, Madison County Democratic Women, and various professional organizations. She has an avid interest in politics and volunteered in New Hampshire for Al Gore in 2000 and for John Edwards in 2004. She has been a member of the ACLU since 1988 and joined the Board in 2004.

JENNIFER WIGGINS SMITH has been an associate at Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis LLP since 2000. The firm specializes in discrimination, consumer protection and employment law. In addition, Jennifer’s practice has focused on class action litigation involving consumer fraud, healthcare litigation, products liability and environmental pollution and contamination complaints. Jennifer graduated from Auburn University in 1997 with a major in psychology, and received her J.D. in 2000 from the University of Alabama Law School. Jennifer was elected to the ACLU Board in 2006.

JANETTA WHITT-MITCHELL, a native of Mobile, was educated in the Mobile County School System and at Tuskegee Institute, studied Fine Arts at Howard University and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and pursued studies in Accounting and Management at Texas A & M University. Now retired, Janetta was an executive assistant to the United States Senate, assigned to Alabama’s senior senator, Howell Heflin. Janetta is an aggressive advocate for the improvement of the human condition through social and political involvement. She has served as President or Chair of the Alabama New South Coalition (Mobile County Chapter), Blacks in Government (Port City Chapter), Human Relations Commissioner, City of Mobile, and Youth Empowered for Success. Janetta joined the ACLU Board in 2004 and serves as Board Secretary and Executive Committee member.

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