Lia Mandaglio Parifax (she/her) is an attorney and social justice activist. She directs centralized Learning, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Knowledge Management at the Arcus Foundation and plays a legal and governance role. Prior to joining Arcus, Lia served as Managing Director, Global Initiatives at Out Leadership, an advisory firm specializing in LGBT business and talent development. In 2011, she co-founded Athlete Ally, a nonprofit advancing LGBTQI+ rights through sports. In this capacity and as a current trustee, Lia has strategized groundbreaking social justice initiatives in sports for which she was named to Vanity Fair’s Hall of Fame by Congressman Barney Frank. Lia has been published in several leading peer-reviewed rhetoric and legal journals, including the American Bar Association’s Public Contracts Law Journal, the Italian American Bar Association’s Digest, the California International Law Journal, and the International Journal of Law in Context of Cambridge University Press. She has contributed to several opinion pieces in outlets like The Huffington Post and CNN, and she served as an editor of the book, Keys to College Studying: Becoming an Active Thinker, Prentice Hall (2nd ed.) Lia practiced structured finance law at Alston & Bird LLP in New York City, received her juris doctor from The George Washington University Law School, and graduated first in her class from Lafayette College.
