Kimberly Bullock Gatling Presented with 2025 Centennial Award

The 2025 Centennial Award for outstanding and exemplary community service was presented to Kimberly Bullock Gatling at the GBA member meeting on January 16, 2025.

Kim is a proud graduate of the North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (NC A&T), where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She has continued her connection to and engagement with the NC A&T community in multiple ways. She is the current chair of its Board of Trustees and previously served on the Search Advisory Committee working to make recommendations for the replacement of NC A&T’s long-serving Chancellor, Harold L. Martin, Sr., who retired in 2024. Kim also previously served as a member of the NC A&T Board of Trustees, on its Real Estate Foundation, and as the Board of Visitors chair.

Kim earned her law degree from the George Washington University School of Law and has been practicing law with distinction in North Carolina since then. Kim is a partner at Fox Rothschild, where, in 2023, she was elected by her peers to the firm’s Executive Committee and has served as Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer since 2020. 

Kim has made a meaningful impact in North Carolina throughout her career, particularly considering how few Black women lawyers practice in the IP space. She has blasted through structural and systemic barriers for people of color, both in her life and in her career, and she works ceaselessly to create more equitable opportunities for other lawyers in our state. Kim currently serves as a mentor in the Triad Business Journal’s Mentoring Monday Program.

Fox Rothschild had never had a Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer (CDIO) before appointing Kim to that role. As the CDIO, Kim works to develop and implement programs and policies that support the firm’s goals of increasing and promoting a diverse workforce and inclusive environment at all levels of firm operations. Her leadership has been instrumental to Fox’s development of comprehensive programs and policies that promote a more diverse workforce, inclusive environment, and equitable outcomes. 

The words “community service” are insufficient to describe what Kim does for the communities of which she is a member. Her work in support of community-building efforts is nothing short of extraordinary. In addition to her previously described service to NC A&T, she is a past chair of the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation’s Board of Directors. The Foundation envisions a Greensboro where health inequities no longer exist and works to eliminate them by advocating for and investing in community-driven solutions. Kim is a past chair of the United Way of Greensboro’s Board of Directors, and during her tenure, she led the Board through strategic planning and a national search for a Chief Executive Officer. She has also served on the boards of Habitat for Humanity, the Gateway Research Park, the Women’s Resource Center, and as a member of the NCBA Board of Governors.

Kim applies her extensive knowledge and deep experience to her role as a Director for Culp, Inc., a public company headquartered in High Point, NC, and as a Director on Truliant Federal Credit Union’s Board.

In addition to all that Kim does for her clients, the firm, and the community, she is a dedicated partner to husband Danny and mom to three exceptional young men, and a devoted daughter, sister, and aunt.  She never hesitates to make time for her family, sorors, and friends, even with all she has on her plate.

Kim personifies a lawyer-leader and community servant, and the GBA is happy to present her with the Centennial Award.