Victoria B Bjorklund

Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP where she heads the Firm’s Exempt Organizations Group. She advises public charities, private foundations, boards, and donors. In 2001, Ms. Bjorklund was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to serve as one of six exempt-organization members on the IRS’s Tax Exempt/Government Entities Advisory Committee and served as Chair for 2004-2005. In June 2005, she received the IRS Tax Exempt Division Commissioner’s Award for “ground-breaking service” to the Advisory Committee. Ms. Bjorklund was named a David Rockefeller Fellow for 1997-1998 as a rising civic leader in New York City. From 1989 through 2001, she served as a director, secretary and still serves as pro bono legal counsel for Doctors Without Borders, the emergency medical relief organization that was awarded the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. She is also a director of and pro bono counsel for the Robin Hood Foundation. She chaired the ABA Tax Section Committee on Exempt Organizations from 2001 through 2003 and now serves as Co-Chair of the Subcommittee on International Philanthropy. Ms. Bjorklund was honored in May 2002 as ABA Tax Section “Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year” in recognition of her 9/11 work. She also accepted the “Pro Bono Firm of the Year” award from the NYS Bar Association in recognition of the Firm’s 9/11 work. The Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York City and Lawyers Alliance of New York, Inc. honored Ms. Bjorklund for her outstanding volunteer service in responding to the legal needs arising from September 11. In 2003, she received the Commissioner’s Award, the highest honor the Commissioner of Internal Revenue can bestow, for her “timely, creative and nimble response to 9/11’s unprecedented legal challenges.” In 2005, she received the Assistant Commissioner’s Award for her contributions to the IRS Advisory Committee. In 2006, Ms. Bjorklund was appointed to the Board of Trustees, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. She earned her J.D. at Columbia University School of Law, a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale University, and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Princeton University, where she graduated in three years and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.