Charisse R. Lillie is Vice President of Community Investment and Executive Vice President of the Comcast Foundation. She joined Comcast in 2005 as Vice President, Human Resources-Comcast Corporation, and Senior Vice-President, Human Resources-Comcast Cable. She was a partner in the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, in Philadelphia from January, 1992 to February, 2005. She was Chair of the Litigation Department from 2002 to 2005, and was a member of the Employment and Labor Law Group of the firm. Ms. Lillie’s law practice included the representation of employers and management in a wide variety of labor and employment matters, primarily in federal court. She served as an advisor to clients on diversity and anti‑discrimination issues. She is a frequent lecturer and panelist regarding talent management, recruitment and retention strategies, diversity and corporate board membership.

Lillie previously served as vice president of Human Resources for Comcast Corporation and senior vice president of Human Resources for Comcast Cable. She was a partner in the law firm of Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP from January 1992 to February 2005. During this time she served as chair of the litigation Department and also was a member of the Employment and Labor Law Group.

Her previous legal experience included positions as trial attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division; deputy director, Community Legal Services, Inc.; Villanova Law School professor; assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; general counsel to the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia; and city solicitor for the City of Philadelphia.

Lillie serves on the boards of Howard University, The Franklin Institute Science Museum, the American Arbitration Association, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and the Pyramid Club. She also is a member of the advisory board of PNC Financial Services Group of Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey. She served as a trustee of Friends Select School from 1994 to 2002, and 2003 to 2006 – serving as president of the board of trustees for two years and elected to membership in their executive leadership council in 2008.

She has been a member of many civic commissions including the Independent Charter Commission, the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Task Force, the MOVE Commission, and the Philadelphia Election Reform Task Force. She previously served as chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and vice chairman of the executive committee of the conference of chairmen of the Federal Reserve System.

A native of Houston, Texas, Lillie received a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, a law degree from Temple University and a masters from Yale Law School. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Seton Hill University in 2005.

VIA: National Public Radio

As Election Day nears, the national spotlight is on Maine, where the latest battle over same-sex marriage is under way. Campaign finance reports show that supporters of a ballot proposal to repeal the state’s gay marriage law are trailing significantly in fundraising. But polls show a tight race.

Same-sex marriage opponents are telling Maine voters in television and radio ads that failure to repeal the law will have consequences for their children at school.

In ads similar to those that ran in California, a Massachusetts couple says that after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, their son came home from school and said he was taught that boys could marry other boys.

“He’s in second grade!” the mother says.

The couple says he was read a fairy tale called King and King, which tells the story of a prince who falls in love with another prince and marries him.

In a separate TV spot, another book called Who’s in a Family? comes under fire. The children’s story includes illustrations and brief descriptions of different kinds of families, including those headed by single parents, grandparents and same-sex couples.

Rallying The Base

Maine Attorney General Janet Mills said this week that she could find no connection between the same-sex marriage law and a requirement for public schools to teach kids about it. A recent poll of 401 likely Maine voters found that 61 percent of respondents did not believe same-sex marriage would be taught in school.

It also showed that there aren’t many voters on the fence.

“Most people have a set opinion on this,” says Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine. “So this campaign isn’t really to win hearts and minds, or to shape opinion.”

Instead, Brewer says, the ads are designed to rally opponents of same-sex marriage. While the latest poll gives an edge to same-sex marriage supporters, campaign organizers from both camps are expecting a close race.

And that’s why Marc Mutty, the chairman of Stand for Marriage Maine, sent out an urgent e-mail to supporters this week. In it, he said the effort to repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law was in jeopardy unless the campaign received a major cash infusion.

“We’re not meeting our budget,” he wrote. “We certainly had to cut back on television and radio because of the budget shortfalls, and we had planned a bus tour where we would go from city to city, and we had to cancel that because that’s an expensive proposition, which we just can’t afford at this point.”

Campaign finance reports show same-sex marriage opponents trailing supporters by $1.6 million. Opponents have received most of their money from three organizations: the National Organization for Marriage, which is under scrutiny by the Maine Ethics Commission for the source of its donations; the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland; and Focus on the Family. Supporters, meanwhile, have raised $2.7 million and boast of having 12,000 individual donors — about half from out of state.

“It’s just really astounding,” says Jesse Connolly, Protect Maine Equality’s campaign manager. “People have dug deep. Some have given $5, others have given $500, but I think it really shows the level of support that we have from people both here in Maine and across the country.”

Connolly says he isn’t taking anything for granted; and Brewer says he shouldn’t. Brewer says same-sex marriage opponents may be behind in fundraising, but a lot of that money can be made up in the next two weeks. In the end, he says, it will all come down to which side does a better job galvanizing supporters and getting them to the polls on Nov. 3.