Ramona E.

Romero

Ramona Emilia Romero is the Vice President and General Counsel of Princeton University. She joined the University’s senior leadership team in December 2014 after serving as the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a position to which she was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Earlier in her career, Romero worked at E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in a variety of legal roles, and as a commercial, white collar and government contracts litigator at Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, D.C. 

Romero serves on the Board of Trustees of TIAA, a retirement company ranked in the Fortune 100. Consistent with her history of volunteer service to the non-profit sector, she currently serves on the boards of Legal Services of New Jersey and the National Association of Women Lawyers. Her past experience includes serving as a member of the U.S. Presidential Commission on White House Fellowships, as well as on the governing boards of Barnard College, the McCarter Theatre Center, Greater Trenton, Inc., The Justice at Stake Campaign, the American Red Cross of the Delmarva Peninsula, and the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, in addition to the Advisory Committee of The O’Connor Judicial Selection Initiative at the University of Denver. She is a former National President of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), and the founder of the HNBA’s Latina Commission. 

Throughout her career, Romero has been a strong and prominent advocate for an inclusive legal profession and access to justice. Her leadership and contributions have earned her numerous recognitions, including NMIC’s Catalyst for Justice Award, the HNBA’s Mari Carmen Aponte Award and President’s Award, the Hispanic Bar of D.C.’s Ricardo M. Urbina Lifetime Achievement Award, the Virginia S. Mueller Outstanding Member Award from the National Association of Women Lawyers, the Platinum Award from the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association, The Hon. Sylvia H. Rambo Award from Dickinson Law School, and the Lucero (“guiding star”)  Award from Latino Justice PRLDEF. She has also been included in Women Inc. Magazine’s list of most influential women corporate board directors and identified by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the United States.  

An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Romero holds a B.A. from Barnard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute.