Mary Ellen Kleiman
Mary Ellen Kleiman is Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel for Disability:IN. Prior to joining the Disability:IN team, Ms. Kleiman served as Senior Counsel for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and advised its related charitable foundation. In her tenure at NACDS, Ms. Kleiman provided strategic legal counsel and expert ethical guidance to its leadership and all departments on a wide range of non-profit business and policy matters, such as litigation, tax matters, and lobbying.
Before joining NACDS, Ms. Kleiman was an associate in the Washington, DC office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld, L.L.P. While at the firm, she worked on complex commercial litigation and government regulatory matters. Previously, Ms. Kleiman had worked on the staff of an Office of Independent Counsel and the Special Committee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs of the United States Senate.
Consistent with her passion for charitable mission driven organizations, like Disability:IN, Ms. Kleiman currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Bar Association Foundation of Washington, and previously served on the board of the American Pharmacy Law Society. Ms. Kleiman is a graduate of both Northwestern University and the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America. Ms. Kleiman is a member of the Bar of Maryland and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, as well as several other federal court bars. She is a very proud military spouse and parent of two adult neurodiverse sons, all of whom inspire her every day. Ms. Kleiman lives in the DC Metro area.