2024 Night at the Pier Honorees
Roberta Kaplan
Hostetter-Habib Family Award
Roberta (“Robbie”) Kaplan is a renowned litigator with decades of experience in commercial, higher education, and civil rights litigation. Described by Chambers as a “modern-day legal giant,” Kaplan is a founder and partner of Kaplan Hecker & Fink, a “new fashioned, old fashioned” law firm that combines a cutting-edge civil and criminal litigation practice with a groundbreaking commitment to using the courts to serve the public interest.
Most recently, Kaplan worked alongside Family Equality, Equality Florida, and LGBTQ+ students and families in Florida, in pushing back against the state’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay and Trans” bill, leading to a historic settlement that rolled back key discriminatory provisions and allows LGBTQ+ students, teachers, and families to bring their whole selves into the classroom once more. Kaplan also led the legal team representing E. Jean Carroll in her sexual battery and defamation suits against Donald Trump and successfully argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of LGBTQ+ activist Edith Windsor in United States v. Windsor. In 2018, she co-founded the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
Among the numerous honors and recognitions Robbie has received, she was recognized as the 2020 “Attorney of the Year” by the New York Law Journal, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Law Journal, and has been honored as “Litigator of the Year” by The American Lawyer, “Lawyer of the Year” by Above the Law, and “Most Innovative Lawyer of the Year” by The Financial Times.
Ken Ohashi
Visibility Award
Ken Ohashi is a highly-regarded industry executive with over two decades of experience in fashion, consumer products, retail, and online platforms now serving as Chief Executive Officer of Brooks Brothers, the oldest fashion retailer in the United States. In a matter of less than two years, Ohashi oversaw the company’s highly publicized acquisition and transformed the company to profitability. Under his leadership, the company has developed partnerships with BRAVEN, Gold House, GLSEN, the Trevor Project, and Family Equality. Prior to working with Brooks Brothers, Ohashi served as President of International and Global Retail for Authentic Brands Group (ABG), oversaw the formation of SPARC Group, and worked as Senior Vice President of International and Global Licensing for Aéropostale. His work has been recognized by some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions, including Institutional Investor Magazine, Bloomberg, Investor Relations Magazine, the Asian American Business Development Center, and Outstanding, an initiative of Yahoo Finance U.K.
Ohashi is a member of YPO, the worldwide organization for CEOs under 45, and an active member of the group’s LGBTQ+ CEO network. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband, Adam Freed, and their two children.