Chiefs Forum

As Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Cable Entertainment, Alexa Levitt is an important member of NBCUniversal's leadership. Alexa Levitt is entrusted with maintaining the happiness of employees, whether it be through creating a work environment employees look forward to, benefits, or ensuring low burn out rates.

Diane Brayton became executive vice president and general counsel of The New York Times Company in January 2017. In her role, she provides legal counsel to the company’s board of directors and senior management and leads a legal team that advises on, among other areas, media and intellectual property law, corporate governance and securities matters, commercial transactions, employment and labor relations, and litigation management. In addition to her duties as general counsel, Ms. Brayton oversees the company’s information security, corporate security and occupational health and safety functions. Ms. Brayton served as the Times Company’s corporate secretary from 2011 to 2023.

Prior to becoming general counsel, Ms. Brayton held a series of progressively senior roles in the company’s legal department, serving as deputy general counsel (2016), assistant general counsel (2009 to 2016), and senior counsel (2007 to 2009). She joined the Times Company in 2004 as counsel. Prior to working at the Times Company, Ms. Brayton was vice president and counsel in the legal department of Credit Suisse First Boston from 2002 to 2004 and an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York, Moscow and London from 1997 to 2002. From 1996 to 1997, she was a clerk for the Honorable W. Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals, for the Fifth Circuit.

In 2019, Ms. Brayton joined the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide.

Ms. Brayton received a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Nebraska; she worked at the Daily Nebraskan college newspaper in a variety of roles, including managing editor. She received a J.D. degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1996, where she graduated with honors.

Ms. Brayton lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Neil Abramson is the co-chair of the Labor & Employment Law
Department and head of the Public Sector Group. He handles all types of
employment litigation, including discrimination claims, claims for breach
of contract and claims arising from the collective bargaining relationship,
as well as arbitrations, administrative proceedings and collective
bargaining.
Neil regularly handles complex collective bargaining disputes for private
and public sector employers, including litigating matters before the New
York State Public Employment Relations Board, various public interest
arbitration panels, private grievance arbitrators and the National Labor
Relations Board. Neil leads the legal representation of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority in its collective bargaining disputes with transit
and railroad workers and the City of New York in its collective bargaining
disputes with teachers, police, fire, nurses and hospital staff. Neil also
regularly handles collective bargaining disputes for
multiemployer bargaining associations and single employers for such
clients as Major League Baseball, The League of Voluntary
Hospitals, The New York Times, Pratt Institute and The Broadway
League. He also provides advice and guidance to clients, counseling
employers on how to avoid litigation and achieve their employee
relations objectives. Neil also has litigated single and multiple plaintiff
matters in the state and federal courts of New York and a number of
other jurisdictions and has extensive appellate advocacy experience.
Among the clients Neil has represented are major corporations in such
diverse fields as financial services, higher education, news media,
transportation, sports, energy, entertainment and health care, as well as
numerous public benefit and public service corporations.
Court Admissions
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
U.S. District Court, New York, Eastern District
U.S. District Court, New York, Southern District
Other Distinctions
Sports Business Journal Power Players: Outside Counsel 2021
Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers 2020-
2024
Chambers USA: New York, Labor & Employment 2016-2023

Benchmark Labor & Employment Top 10 Labor Lawyer 2022
Benchmark Labor & Employment Stars 2019-2022, 2024
Benchmark Litigation: Top 50 L&E Litigator 2024
New York Super Lawyers 2010-2022
Best Lawyers in America 2008-2024
The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment: Management
Relations: 2008-2010, 2012-2023
The Legal 500 United States: Employment Litigation & Arbitration 2017-
2018
The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment: Disputes (including
Collective Actions): Defense 2019-2023
The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment: Workplace and
Employment Counseling 2019-2023
Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
Lawdragon, Human Resource Executive: "Top 100 Most Powerful
Employment Attorneys" (Top 20 Traditional Labor & Employment) 2019