Every year, at our Zero Tolerance Benefit, Sanctuary for Families honors those who have significantly contributed to the movement to end gender-based violence. This year, we are thrilled to present the 2024 Zero Tolerance Award to Denis McInerney, Senior Counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

INTRODUCING DENIS

Denis McInerney is a Senior Counsel in Davis Polk’s Litigation Department. In addition to his 27 years in Davis Polk’s White Collar Defense & Investigations Group, he has held a wide variety of positions as a federal prosecutor, including Chief of the Fraud Section and Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and Associate Independent Counsel in the Whitewater Investigation.

Mr. McInerney first joined Sanctuary’s Board in 2005 and served until 2010, when he stepped down to return to the Department of Justice. Upon his return to Davis Polk, he re-joined Sanctuary’s Board in 2015. Having served on a variety of Sanctuary Board committees over the years, including Audit (Chair), Development (Co-Chair), Finance, Nominating, and Program, Mr. McInerney became President of the Board in 2019. In addition to his work on Sanctuary’s Board, Mr. McInerney has devoted much of his time since 2019 representing incarcerated domestic violence survivors in clemency petitions and applications to be resentenced pursuant to New York’s newly enacted Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, often in partnership with Sanctuary’s Incarcerated Gender Violence Survivor’s Initiative. To date, Mr. McInerney and his teams have succeeded in approximately 15 of these cases, often after having persuaded the prosecutors to join in the applications. Mr. McInerney views these cases, in which he and his teams have had the privilege of greeting their clients as they walk out of prison as a result of the teams’ efforts, as the most moving and meaningful cases of his career.

Every year, at our Zero Tolerance Benefit, Sanctuary for Families honors those who have significantly contributed to the movement to end gender-based violence. This year, we are thrilled to present the 2024 Zero Tolerance Award to Lori Evans Bernstein, CEO and Co-Founder at Caraway.

INTRODUCING LORI

Lori Evans Bernstein is the CEO and Co-Founder of Caraway, a healthcare company for Gen Z specializing in mental health and women’s health. Lori is a seasoned healthcare executive with 25+ years of experience in healthcare and health tech as an entrepreneur, operator, and government leader. Most recently, Lori was co-founder and president of HealthReveal, a clinical artificial intelligence (AI) company dedicated to combating chronic disease, acquired by Accolade (ACCD). Previously, Lori was appointed by the Governor of NY to serve as Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Health Department, responsible for setting up a new office on digital health transformation.

Lori writes and speaks regularly on digital health as a national expert and has received several professional honors. Lori holds an M.P.H. from George Washington University and a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees.

Lori was first introduced to Sanctuary as a guest at our Zero Tolerance Benefit and joined the Board of Directors in 2015. She quickly became a leader on the Board, serving on our Advocacy Committee (six years as chair or co-chair), Program Committee (two years as Chair), Development Committee, and Executive Committee. She has traveled to Albany to join our advocacy efforts, participated in countless Family Council events with her son Jack, and recently engaged her team at Caraway to assemble welcome kits for residents at Sanctuary’s shelter Sarah Burke House. Lori brings her creativity and big-picture thinking to all she does and was instrumental in moving forward two of Sanctuary’s strategic plans. Lori is also an athlete and joined Sanctuary’s marathon team in 2016, running in honor of gender violence survivors.

Every year, at our Zero Tolerance Benefit, Sanctuary for Families honors those who have significantly contributed to the movement to end gender-based violence. This year, we are thrilled to present the 2024 Zero Tolerance Award to Aliya Sahai, Principal at Bernstein Private Wealth Management.

INTRODUCING ALIYA

Aliya Sahai, a Principal at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, provides investment and wealth planning advice to families and their trusts, estates, foundations, endowments, and pension plans. Aliya joined the firm in 2005 and was appointed a Principal in 2009. She currently chairs the firmwide Women’s Leadership Council. Prior to joining Bernstein, she worked at Sapient Consulting Group and Yodlee, a financial services software company. Aliya earned a BS in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a very active member of the University of Pennsylvania community and was appointed to the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, where she currently serves as Vice Chair.

Aliya first learned about Sanctuary for Families at the Paul Labrecque Salon, where she picked up a coffee table book featuring our clients at a salon evening. She immediately connected and joined the Family Council in 2011. From there, Aliya focused her work on helping survivors with job training, career readiness, and financial education and became an active member of Sanctuary’s Career Advancement Network before joining the Board of Directors in 2015.

Aliya has been a leader on our Nominating Committee (co-chair for four years), the Development Committee, and the Executive Committee, and was a founding member of our Investment Committee. Aliya is the ultimate ambassador and has connected Sanctuary with countless organizations, including Bernstein. First and foremost, Aliya cares deeply about our clients and does whatever she can to bring them resources and opportunities.

Over the course of Aliya’s 13 years with Sanctuary, the Economic Empowerment Program has been her passion and remains her “first love.” She continues to be a fierce advocate for women and girls of all ages and is a champion of Sanctuary’s message of empowerment.