Board of Directors | FBA San Diego

FBA San Diego - Board of Directors (2023)

Mary Cile Glover-Rogers

President of Board

Mary Cile Glover-Rogers is an Assistant United States Attorney, where she is assigned in the Civil Division. She previously served as Career Law Clerk to the Hon. Ruth Bermudez Montenegro and litigated in private practice for several years. Mary Cile is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and the University of Missouri School of Law. Mary Cile is an active member of her community, previously serving as an attorney coach for a high school mock trial team, board member of Sun Community Federal Credit Union, and committee member for the Imperial County Lawyers Association.

Blake Currey

President-Elect

Blake Currey is a Career Judicial Law Clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Elected to the San Diego FBA's Board of Directors in 2020, Blake served as the Vice President of Public Relations in 2021 and 2022. In that role, he oversaw the FBA's website, authored its Monthly Update Series, and chaired the Public Relations Committee—which produced the organization's Member Spotlight Series, Judicial Profiles, and other feature articles. Previously, Blake served on the Special Events Committee and the Law Clerk Committee in 2019 and 2020. Born and raised in San Diego County, Blake earned his B.S. in finance from San Diego State University and received his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law. While in law school, Blake served on the editorial board of the San Diego Law Review and the executive board of the school’s appellate moot court program. He also was a finalist in the FBA’s 17th Annual Thurgood A. Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition held in Washington, D.C.

Sanjay Bhandari

Treasurer

Sanjay Bhandari is a white collar defense and intellectual property trial lawyer at Buchalter. He is Co-Chair of the firm’s White Collar and Investigations Practice. He spent many years in public service in San Diego, as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Napoleon A. Jones, Jr., and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he focused on corruption, securities fraud, and other white collar offenses. He also served in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and Cornell Law School.

Courtney Strange

Secretary

Courtney Strange is an Assistant United States Attorney in the General Crimes Section of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office. Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Ms. Strange was an Associate Attorney at the Law Offices of James F. Holtz, where she primarily practiced business and tort litigation in federal and state court. Ms. Strange earned her bachelor’s degree from California State University San Marcos and her juris doctorate from California Western School of Law. Ms. Strange externed for the Hon. Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt. Ms. Strange has been an active member of the San Diego legal community including as a member of the Federal Bar Association San Diego Chapter’s Membership and Public Relations Committees, Co-Chair of the Lawyers Club of San Diego’s Human Trafficking Collaborative, member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers San Diego Chapter, and member of the Louis M. Welsh American Inn of Court.

Kim Gregg

Vice President of Legal Education

Kim Gregg serves as Career Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Anthony J. Battaglia, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of California, assisting primarily with his civil caseload. Prior to clerking for Judge Battaglia, Kim joined the U.S. Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program as an Attorney Advisor for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Miami Immigration Court. There, she conducted research and drafted written decisions for 26 immigration judges concerning noncitizens’ removability and eligibility for relief from removal from the United States. Kim was born in the Philippines and raised in Harlingen, Texas, but has called San Diego home since her family’s move there in 2011. Kim earned her law degree and graduated valedictorian from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2017. In addition to her role with the FBA, she is an active member of the Filipino American Lawyers of San Diego and the Louis M. Welsh Inn of Court.

Armilla Staley-Ngomo

Vice President of Professional Advancement

Armilla Staley-Ngomo is a trial and appellate attorney at Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. As a federal public defender, she represents both pretrial and post-conviction clients charged with committing criminal and immigration-related offenses before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to joining Federal Defenders, Ms. Staley-Ngomo worked as a federal public defender in the Central District of California and the District of Nevada, and as a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP and Caldwell Leslie & Proctor, PC (now King & Spalding LLP). She also served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California.

Ms. Staley-Ngomo earned her B.A., magna cum laude, in Political Science and Spanish, from Whittier College. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and was an editor of the California Law Review and the Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy. Ms. Staley-Ngomo is active in the San Diego legal community as a Lawyer Representative for the Southern District of California, Co-Chair of the Lawyers Club of San Diego’s Diverse Women’s Committee, and former board member of the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association and the Latina Lawyers Bar Association.

Janet Cabral

Special Events Chair

Janet Cabral is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, having previously served in the Criminal Division of that office for more than 8 years. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2012, Janet was a Career Judicial Law Clerk in the Southern District of California for 18 years, clerking for the Honorable Anthony J. Battaglia, the Honorable David R. Thompson (Ninth Circuit), and the Honorable Irma E. Gonzalez (Ret.). She is a graduate of Wright State University (B.A. political science), and the University of Notre Dame School of Law. Janet also serves as Co-Chair of the Lawyer Representatives for the Southern District of California.

Hector Tamayo

Vice President of Fundraising

Hector Tamayo is a criminal defense attorney. He has been in private practice for 14 years and is a member of the CJA panel where he defends indigent clients charged with federal offenses. He is an active member of the Federal Bar Association and is also on the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Board. He attended San Diego State University where he majored in Political Science with a minor in Latin American Studies and Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Prior to becoming an attorney he served his country honorably in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Benjamin Cheeks

Vice President of Community Outreach

Benjamin Cheeks has been in private practice as a solo practitioner since 2013, specializing in criminal defense in federal court. Prior to opening his own firm, Benjamin served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California in the Criminal Division. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Benjamin worked as an Assistant District Attorney for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. He is an adjunct professor at California Western Law School and serves as a Lawyer Representative for the Southern District of California.

Melissa Holmes

Vice President of Membership

Melissa Holmes is the Assistant Chief Deputy County Counsel for the Torts and Civil Rights Litigation Teams at the County of San Diego Office of County Counsel. In addition to assisting with the management of litigation teams, Melissa defends civil cases brought against the County and its employees. Since joining the County in 2015, Ms. Holmes has served as lead defense counsel in eight jury trials and one bench trial venued in the United States District Court, Southern District of California. Prior to joining the County, Melissa worked for private firms representing public entities in the Bay Area and served as a Judicial Law Clerk for a United States Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of California. Melissa also serves as a Lawyer Representative for the Southern District of California.

Jenn French

Vice President of Public Relations

Jenn French is Of Counsel with Patterson Law Group, a San Diego based commercial litigation firm that focuses on complex class action litigation, including consumer protection, privacy, and employee rights. Jenn graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and earned her J.D. cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law. In addition to practicing law, Jenn is a freelance soprano soloist and a staff singer at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral.

Jenn is passionate about increasing access to justice and giving back to her community. She is serving her third year on FBA’s national Community Service and Outreach Committee and is the vice-chair of the California Lawyers Association’s Federal Courts Committee. Jenn also serves on CLA’s Executive Committee for the Litigation Section, as well as the Racial Justice Committee and is a member of the Editorial Board for the National Association of Women Lawyers' Women Lawyers Journal. She is an alumni in the Louis M. Welsh Chapter of the American Inn of Court and an active member of the San Diego County Bar Association. Finally, Jenn serves as pro bono counsel through Casa Cornelia Law Center, Free to Thrive, the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, and the Southern District of California's Pro Bono Panel.

Kelly A. Reis

Vice President of Professional Engagement

Kelly A. Reis is an Assistant United States Attorney in San Diego, where she is assigned to the General Crimes Section. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office through the Attorney General's Honors Program, Ms. Reis was a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Janis L. Sammartino. Ms. Reis earned her B.A., magna cum laude, in art history from the University of Nevada, Reno and received her J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of San Diego School of Law. While in law school, Ms. Reis served as the editor-in-chief of the San Diego Law Review and on the associate board of the school’s appellate moot court program.

Dylan M. Aste

Immediate Past President

Dylan M. Aste is an Assistant United States Attorney, where he is assigned to the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit and focuses on prosecuting matters related to opioids and health care fraud. He is also the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Opioid Coordinator and the Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee. Dylan was nationally recognized when he received the FBA Younger Federal Lawyer Award. He was also recognized with the San Diego State University Rising Aztec award, the University of San Diego School of Law Rising Star Recent Alumni Award, and San Diego Metro's 40 Under 40 list. Dylan serves on the Board of Directors of the University of San Diego Law Alumni Association. He graduated from University of San Diego Law and San Diego State University.