SUNY Board of Trustees Announces Anta Cissé-Green as Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and General Counsel
April 6, 2021
Accomplished Legal Strategist, Operations Partner, and Nonprofit Executive is the First Female African American Appointed to the Role in SUNY History
Cissé-Green’s Photo Available Here
Albany, NY – State University of New York Board of Trustees today announced Anta Cissé-Green as Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and General Counsel. The accomplished legal strategist, operations partner, and nonprofit executive, recommended by Chancellor Jim Malatras to the Board of Trustees, will be the first female African American to be appointed to the role in SUNY history. The appointment was announced by SUNY Board of Trustees and SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras, and is effective May 13, 2021.
"Anta Cissé-Green has it all: brilliant legal mind, infectious energy, strategic thinking, impeccable credentials, and a long track record of leadership and legal advocacy in higher education," said Chancellor Malatras. "She works tirelessly for the organizations she serves, including in her position as President of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, which advances equity by ensuring that people of color can succeed in the legal profession. Anta’s enthusiasm for the law and for issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion is contagious and will be invaluable as SUNY works to close racial equity gaps across our system. We are excited to have her join the SUNY team."
"Anta Cissé-Green is an extremely talented lawyer who can swiftly navigate the complexities of the law. She has been a leader of high-functioning teams and has mentored numerous law students throughout her career," said SUNY Board Trustee Edward Spiro. "We are pleased to have Anta join the SUNY team, and we look forward to our work together."
"SUNY is an institution that provides hope and a path to a stronger more prosperous future for students that come from the types of neighborhoods I grew up in and families like mine with big dreams for their young people as they send them to the four corners of NY state," said Cissé-Green. "SUNY's commitment to young people and their families is one that I take seriously. It is not lost on me that being the first black woman to hold this post comes with an enormous sense of responsibility and frankly excitement. I look forward to working with the SUNY Board of Trustees and the entire SUNY System to support the leadership of our amazing Chancellor and to represent this institution as we continue to work through the challenges of a global pandemic and position our students to meet the challenges of the future."
About Anta Cissé-Green
Anta Cissé-Green is associate general counsel and director of legal operations at NYU Langone Health with primary responsibility for advising the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs on a variety of fundraising and tax-related legal matters. As director of legal operations for NYU Langone, Cissé-Green develops and drives the Office of General Counsel’s administrative priorities, leads key departmental projects, including selection and implementation of technology and efficiency of legal operations.
She has been awarded various accolades and honors in connection with her work in the legal profession including, being named by the New York Law Journal as a "Lawyer Who Leads By Example", in recognition of her many years of commitment to providing pro bono legal services to underrepresented New Yorkers; named to the National Black Lawyers Top 100 Attorneys; and as a New York Metro Area Rising Star by Super Lawyers in the area of tax and estate planning.
Cissé-Green is an active member of her community in her roles as president of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, the largest unified association of Black and other minority lawyers, in the New York metropolitan area, with a mission to advance equality and excellence in the pursuit of justice, aid the progress of Blacks and other minorities in the profession, address legal issues affecting the citywide community, and foster the study of law by encouraging the personal and professional development of young lawyers and law students.
Cissé-Green received her juris doctorate from Brooklyn Law School, summa cum laude, and her master of laws in tax from NYU School of Law.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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