49th ABS Annual Conference

Nishat Ruiter is a legal and strategic leader with over 20 years of experience across global in-house counsel roles, private practice, and mission-driven organizations. She currently serves as General Counsel of TED Conferences, where for the past nine years she has helped safeguard TED’s creative and intellectual assets while advising on complex issues at the intersection of law, technology, and ethics.

Rooted in Bahá’í principles of justice, unity, and consultation, Nishat leads with a values-driven approach that bridges innovation with integrity. She is currently developing TEDLaw, a new initiative under the Future Law Project, aimed at reimagining legal education and professional development. By integrating storytelling, collaboration, and human-centered learning, TEDLaw seeks to cultivate the skills most needed in the legal field today—ethical judgment, cultural fluency, critical thinking, and adaptive leadership in an AI-driven world.

In her local community, Nishat co-created One Hillsborough—a grassroots initiative in New Jersey focused on fostering belonging, cross-cultural understanding, and civic dialogue. She also serves on several nonprofit boards committed to justice, youth empowerment, and equity in education.

She is excited to connect with others at the Association of Bahá’í Studies to explore how we can collectively build processes and cultures that help move our professions and industries toward a more spiritually grounded, Bahá’í-inspired approach to justice, leadership, and service.