ACG NJ WOL Path to Board Breakfast Program

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Moderator, Yelena Dunaevsky, SVP, National Leader, SPAC Practice, Gallagher
Yelena is a securities attorney and M&A and D&O insurance broker with over 20 years of experience in law, publishing and insurance industries. Her areas of expertise include representations and warranties insurance (RWI) and D&O insurance for public companies and companies going public through an IPO, including SPACs and De-SPACs.

Yelena is a frequent speaker and author and has been featured in many publications including S&P Global, Yahoo Finance, Reuters, Investment News Today, Business Law Today, Law360, CFO.com, Business Journal, Deal Flow and Bloomberg. 

She is the M&A Executive Editor of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Today and from 2020 to 2026 was the Executive Editor of the SPAC Notebook, a blog series that covered SPACs and SPAC risks. She also serves on the advisory board of ACG NJ and co-chairs its membership committee.

In 2022, Yelena was named in Insurance Business America's "Hot 100," which lists top professionals whose contributions have helped shape the insurance industry. Yelena also received the JD Supra “Readers’ Choice” and “Top Read Article” Awards for her M&A articles in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. 

Prior to Woodruff Sawyer, Yelena practiced as a senior capital markets associate at Clifford Chance and a corporate associate at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae (later Dewey & LeBoeuf) and earned her BS in Economics from Cornell University and her JD from Fordham University School of Law.

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Melissa Skrocki, Shareholder, Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, P.C.

Melissa is a shareholder in our Corporate and Intellectual Property practice groups.   Her blended practice allows her to counsel business clients through various corporate transactions with an eye towards protecting, leveraging and maintaining IP assets of the company. Melissa's business law practice includes the representation of clients in mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, contract negotiations, confidentiality agreements, organization and formation of business entities, shareholder agreements, operating agreements and general contract negotiations. Melissa has expertise in assisting women and minority owned business clients with state, federal and private M/WBE certification and renewal. 

In connection with the firm's Intellectual Property and Technology practice, Melissa advises clients with regard to state, federal and international trademark matters such as availability searches, registrations and maintenance of trademarks. She also counsels clients with regard to domain name disputes, privacy and use policies and other Internet related matters. She is well versed in the intricacies of federal copyright law and licensing agreements.

Having a broad reach of corporate law along with intellectual property knowledge, Melissa believes in a value-added approach to her practice and often works closely with the various practice groups within Giordano.  Melissa is the chair of the Associate Mentor Program at GH&C and serves on the boards for the Association of Corporate Growth of NJ, Business Law Section of the New Jersey Bar Association and EasterSeals NJ.  She was the recipient of the 2017 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award, which is awarded to an individual who demonstrates excellence in their profession, devotes time and energy to community outreach and provides mentorship to others.