Samara Penn Savary is Senior Counsel, Litigation, at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.  Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ms. Penn Savary was a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.  Ms. Penn Savary has always had an interest in educational equity and a passion for education reform. As a student, she conducted independent research on various issues facing New York City public schools, and mentored and tutored high school students.  As an attorney, she has represented more than a dozen charter schools in high-stakes litigation challenging charter school openings and co-locations in district school buildings. She also worked on a team that obtained a critical victory for a group of New York City public charter schools by securing dismissal of a class action lawsuit asking the court to compel the Department of Education to collect more than $100 million in rent from the schools.  Ms. Penn Savary holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, and an A.B. from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.