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Innocence Project Welcomes Business Leader John Kaneb
and Legal Scholar Ekow Yankah to its Board of Directors
The Innocence Project welcomes two new
members to its Board of Directors: John A. Kaneb, Chairman,
Chief Executive Officer and President of HP Hood LLC; and
Ekow N. Yankah, Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law.
“The Innocence Project is thrilled to welcome
Mr. Yankah and Mr. Kaneb to its Board of Directors,” said
Sen. Rodney Ellis, Texas State Senator and Innocence Project
Board Chair. “Mr. Kaneb brings to the Innocence Project a
wealth of experience in business and on nonprofit boards, as
well as a history of strong support for our policy reform
agenda, and Professor Yankah brings a deep commitment to
issues of justice and much needed critical thinking on
criminal law and political theory. We are grateful for
their leadership and experience, which will be instrumental
in helping us meet our mission of exonerating the wrongly
convicted and improving the criminal justice system.”
John A. Kaneb and
his family acquired HP Hood LLC, one
of the country’s largest branded dairy processors, in
1995 and increased its annual sales from $600 million to
about $2.3 billion. Prior to that, the Kanebs bought a
controlling interest in Gulf Oil and tripled its sales to
$4.6 billion before selling it in 2005. Besides his business
work, Kaneb is a Trustee Emeritus of the University of Notre
Dame. He is also an Emeritus Trustee of the Massachusetts
General Hospital and Emeritus Trustee and former Chairman of
the Board of McLean Hospital. He has worked on other boards
and groups including the Board of Fellows of the Harvard
Medical School. He was appointed by President George W.
Bush to serve on the National Prison Rape Elimination
Commission in 2004 and was named vice-chair of that
commission. Kaneb is also part owner of the Boston Red Sox.
Ekow N. Yankah joined the faculty of Cardozo
School of Law in 2008, after teaching at the University of
Illinois School of Law, and serves as the faculty advisor
for a number of student organizations including the Cardozo
Democrats, the Cardozo American Constitution Society student
chapter and the Unemployment Action Center, and has been
awarded an Inspiration award by his Cardozo students.
Yankah holds degrees from the University of Michigan,
Columbia University School of Law, graduating with honors,
and a post-graduate degree from Oxford University, where he
was awarded a Lord Crewe Scholarship. Throughout his work,
Yankah explores the intersection of analytical
jurisprudence, criminal law and political theory. His
current work explores republican theories of political
obligation grounded in civic duty and its relationship to
law generally and criminal law in particular. Yankah is also
the Co-Chair of the New York Democratic Lawyer’s Counsel,
the voting rights organization of the Democratic National
Committee, on the New York Executive Board of the American
Constitution Society and a Board member of the Law and
Humanities Institute.
The Innocence Project is a national
litigation and public policy organization dedicated to
exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing
and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future
injustice. It was founded by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld
in 1992 as a student clinic at Cardozo School of Law. In
2004, the Innocence Project became an independent nonprofit
(still closely affiliated with Cardozo). Its 15 member Board
of Directors oversees a staff of approximately 70 full-time
employees and an annual budget of approximately $10.6
million, plus an additional $5 million in donated legal
services.
To date, 311 people nationwide have been
exonerated through DNA testing. The Innocence Project has
assisted in 171 of these exonerations. In addition, dozens
of states have implemented critical reforms to prevent
wrongful convictions.
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