Wonder Woman in Business, Daphne Forbes

Susan Freeman

May 27, 2020

Legal, Lawyer, Team Building, Women Leaders, Diversity & Inclusion

Daphne Turpin Forbes is a trusted legal and business advisor at Microsoft with 20+ years of practice in the U.S. Public Sector and Commercial Regulated Industries. Her corporate experience spans in-house at companies like Microsoft, Discovery Communications, ACS State & Local Solutions (formerly Lockheed Martin), Hyatt Hotels, and General Motors.

At Microsoft, Daphne is the lead counsel responsible for supporting a $7B segment of Microsoft’s U.S. Public Sector enterprise operating unit. She manages a legal team that supports public sector and commercial sales, state government affairs, PR/marketing, professional consulting services, devices, and product leadership teams in the Federal Civilian, State & Local Government and Education verticals on various legal matters including; complex technology and professional services negotiations, legal and regulatory issues related to digital transformation strategies, data privacy and security matters, critical infrastructure considerations, product/solution development, government and enterprise cloud, Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), public sector contracts/procurement law and ethics, public policy; matters raised by U.S. Attorneys General; financial services and healthcare regulations.

Daphne is a leader who is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and equality. She has participated and collaborated with various organizations as a champion for diverse lawyers and legal professionals, and women - with a focus on women of color. In addition, Daphne is the U.S. Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) lead for Microsoft’s Global Commercial Field Group and, has served as a corporate leader for the company’s African American Employee Network. A former Human Resources professional, who claims civility and problem-solving as her superpowers, Daphne is effective at and enjoys leading people, projects, and process. In addition, she is active in her community, and enjoys long-standing memberships in several community service organizations. She has served on various non-profit boards and advisory councils nationally and in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She currently serves as Chair and Commissioner of the Liquor Board in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Daphne is also an adjunct law professor at the Howard University School of Law where she co-teaches a class on Technology and the Law. Daphne is a member of the Maryland State Bar and National Bar Associations.

Daphne is the recipient of various corporate awards for her D&I and client work. Most notably, she is the corporate recipient of the Microsoft MVP Circle of Excellence (Gold Club) Award, and the National Bar Association’s Clyde E. Bailey Corporate Leadership Award. She is a graduate of Michigan State University, and the American University Washington College of Law. Daphne lives in Prince George’s County, Maryland with her husband and two “almost grown” children.