Meet Our Team

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. 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 was recently named to the DirectWomen Board Institute Board of Directors. 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 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

Kevin Shults is an experienced finance and data professional who has been with Syracuse University for over 10 years. Before joining Syracuse University College of Law, Mr. Shults worked as a Financial Aid and Scholarship Analyst for the Syracuse University School of Information Studies where he developed digital systems and workflows to increase efficiency and productivity of financial databases, while focusing on compliance regarding policies and regulations throughout multiple projects.

Prior to joining SU, Mr. Shults was the Assistant Director of Financial Aid at Onondaga Community College where he guided students through their application process, analyzed and provided counseling for award eligibility, and planned strategies for meeting financial objectives. Mr. Shults received his MSIM from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies with a Certification of Advanced Study in Information Security and holds a B.A. in Business Economics from SUNY Cortland.

kjshults@syr.edu

Barry Weiss brings over three decades of hiring and career development experience as Administrative Officer for the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office and broad and deep networks in the Upstate NY area and across the country. Mr. Weiss will assist with counseling and advising students on job search strategies and will support both students and alumnae in reaching their employment objectives.

Mr. Weiss has taught undergraduate honors courses at Syracuse University. He received his dual degrees in Political Science and Journalism from Syracuse University and his Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs.

bsweiss@syr.edu

Samantha Hemingway is an experienced administrative professional. Prior to joining Syracuse University College of Law, Mrs. Hemingway worked as an Administrative Assistant II at Syracuse University’s Falk College. She received her B.A. from SUNY Empire State College and is currently working toward her Master’s at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, specializing in Public Relations.

sheming@syr.edu