Kate Hudson serves as the Deputy Vice President and Counsel for Government Relations and Public Policy with the Association of American Universities. Her portfolio includes intellectual property, technology transfer, export controls, open and public access, data privacy, SBIR/STTR, tax, university endowments, and copyright issues. She also leads AAU’s General Counsels (GC) constituent group and Council of Federal Relations Tax Task Force.
Prior to AAU, Kate served as legal counsel in both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. As senior counsel in the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), she provided legal counsel on federal governance, financial management, and provided legislative drafting expertise to members of Congress and committee staff. Prior to GAO she served as an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where she provided regulatory expertise and represented the agency as a litigator before administrative tribunals and the federal courts. While at OPM, she also served as agency counsel in the class action litigation following the 2015 OPM cyberbreach.
She holds a Master of Public Administration and Policy from American University, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Dayton School of Law, and both a Master and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Ohio University. She is licensed to practice law in Georgia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia. An active-duty Army spouse of 20 years, she currently resides in northern Virginia with her husband and two children.
Lucy France received her B.A. from the University of California-Berkeley and her J.D. from the University of Montana School of Law, with honors, where she served as co-editor of the Montana Public Land Law Review, and was a member of the Moot Court team receiving the American College of Trial Lawyers Medal for Excellence in Advocacy at the National Moot Court Competition. After clerking for the Honorable James F. Battin of the United States District Court for the District of Montana, she was an associate and became a partner with the law firm Garlington, Lohn & Robinson. Lucy has over two decades of experience representing clients in litigation and transactional matters. Lucy served as the Director of Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action at the University before becoming the University’s General Counsel. She has served as a leader of many university initiatives. She was the 2019 recipient of the J.B. Speer Award for Distinguished Administrative Service at the University of Montana. She serves as a clinical supervisor and adjunct instructor for the Alexander Blewett III School of Law. Lucy is an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA), where she has served on the board of directors, and has co-chaired and served on many committees. She is a frequent presenter at conferences on topics related to higher education, employment and discrimination law.
Emmanual A. Guillory is an advocate, policy expert, and motivational speaker who currently serves as the senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education (ACE). In this role, he manages an extensive portfolio of legislative and regulatory issues as a primary government relations resource for the broader higher education community to the United States Congress, the White House, the United States Department of Education, and other agencies as warranted. His portfolio includes an emphasis on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), especially Title IV programs, and the budget and appropriations process. Other issues in his portfolio include accreditation, college costs, student aid, institutional accountability, institutional aid in Titles III and V of the HEA, oversight, privacy, technology, accessibility, and disability, among others. Previously, Guillory served as the director of student and institutional aid policy at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, leading the private, nonprofit sector of higher education on policies such as student financial aid, and institutional aid programs in Titles III and V of the HEA. He also served as the director for public policy and government affairs at UNCF (United Negro College Fund, Inc.) for two years. He worked for a decade in the House of Representatives, most recently as a staff member on the Committee on Education and the Workforce. He was recognized as one of The Hill’s top lobbyists in Washington, DC in both 2020 and 2021 and as a top executive by Marquis Who’s Who. He was a federal negotiator for the Department of Education in 2019 and 2022 and a former president of the Committee for Education Funding in 2022. He has his own nonprofit organization through which he awards scholarships to students, and he serves as a lecturer with the Archer Fellowship Program in The University of Texas System. Guillory earned his bachelor of science in psychology from Texas A&M University, and serves on its leadership council through The Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University. He obtained his master of arts in college student personnel from Bowling Green State University (BGSU). He serves on BGSU’s Alumni Board of Directors and the leadership council in its College of Education and Human Development. He is currently pursuing his doctorate of education in higher education management at the University of Pennsylvania.