Christopher Ashley - General Counsel and Secretary
Christopher L. Ashley is the RF’s General Counsel and Secretary and serves as chief legal counsel to the RF, its board of directors, and its committees. Besides representing the corporation and advising RF officials in all legal matters, Mr. Ashley is responsible for supporting the board’s activities and leading the RF’s legal function. He is an officer of the company and a Research Foundation senior leadership team member.
Mr. Ashley has more than 30 years of public and private sector legal experience in various areas and disciplines.
Mr. Ashley joined the RF after 14 years with the University of Wisconsin System, where he served as senior counsel and as deputy general counsel. While there, he also taught graduate-level courses in higher education law and privacy law. Before working with the UW System, he was assistant general counsel for the National Science Foundation, where he handled a broad portfolio of legal and policy issues in federally sponsored research. Mr. Ashley also worked on legal ethics matters as a staff attorney in the White House Counsel’s office and was in private practice for four years in the labor and employment section of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Ashley earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Swarthmore College and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He is admitted to the Wisconsin, Maryland, and District of Columbia bar associations and is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys.
Contact Information:
Phone: (518) 434-7045
E-mail: chris.ashley@rfsuny.org