Q&A: Chris Pappaioanou of Envoy Air
For Premium Subscribers Chris Pappaioanou was a customer service agent with Great Lakes Airlines at Telluride’s airport in 2001 when he handed his resume to Mesa Airlines CEO Jonathan Ornstein,
Q&A: Maria Alonso of Tokyo Electron US
For Premium Subscribers In October 2022, the U.S. government imposed novel and complex semiconductor export control rules designed to limit Chinese access to advanced integrated circuits for artificial intelligence and
Q&A: Carolyn Lam of Ecobat
For Premium Subscribers Growing up, Carolyn Lam had no interest in being a lawyer. Her parents, immigrants from Vietnam, were against her becoming an attorney. “They were extremely concerned about
Ecobat’s Carolyn Lam — ‘Racing to the Next Mile Marker’
Growing up, Carolyn Lam had no interest in being a lawyer. Her parents, immigrants from Vietnam, were against her becoming an attorney. “They were extremely concerned about my decision to become a lawyer, and what they saw on TV wasn’t promising,” Lam said. “Who wants your kid to learn how to weasel their way out of the truth and subvert the law?”
Lam did fine. Better than fine, actually. She is now the deputy GC at Dallas-based Ecobat, the world’s largest battery recycler. And her successes during the past year and a half include settling a major class action lawsuit against Ecobat for pennies on the dollar, the divestiture of seven different business operations across three countries in southern Africa and the implementation of the company’s first global anticompetition training program and global code of conduct.
Maria Alonso: ‘Every Day Is My Best Day’ at Tokyo Electron
In October 2022, the U.S. government imposed novel and complex semiconductor export control rules designed to limit Chinese access to advanced integrated circuits for artificial intelligence and other technology innovations with potential military applications. The 139-pages issued by the U.S. Commerce Department forced semiconductor companies to interpret and immediately comply with the massive new regulatory regime. Tokyo Electron, an $84 billion Japanese-based global innovative semiconductor production equipment maker with significant U.S. operations, turned to a 32-year-old Dallas lawyer only four years out of law school for guidance. Maria G. Alonso did not disappoint.
“Maria immediately pulled up her sleeves and went to work, advising company executives in the U.S. and Japan on the nuances of the new rule and how it would impact the company in the U.S. as well as its operations abroad,” said Stinson international trade partner Elsa Manzanares. “There is no doubt Maria Alonso was the right person at the right time." Citing her success, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Alonso one of two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.
City Electric Supply’s Clinton Willett is ‘Not Afraid to Get into the Weeds’
Clinton Willett was a teenager when his mother waged a mighty battle against cancer — a fight she heartbreakingly lost. “Being a lower-middle-class family, I saw the devastating financial implications of such a fight,” said Willett, noting that his father was a career U.S. Postal Service employee. “I knew I had to find a career that would allow me to provide a different lifestyle and comfort level for my family if I worked hard enough.”
Fifteen years later, Lynne Willett would be mighty proud of her son. Willett earned a bachelor’s degree from Dallas Baptist University, graduated cum laude from the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law and is now corporate counsel of City Electric Supply in Dallas. He has been so successful during his first two years at City Electric that the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Willett as one of two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel of the Year Award for Rookie of the Year. This is his story.
Q&A: Clinton Willett of City Electric Supply
For Premium Subscribers Since joining the City Electric Supply legal team in November 2021, Clinton Willett has “successfully risen from a driven new attorney to the ‘go-to’ finance, corporate structure
Q&A: Diane Hornquist of Hunt Realty
For Premium Subscribers As nearly 300 Dallas leaders gathered at 2323 North Field Street just north of downtown on Oct. 10 for the official groundbreaking of Goldman Sachs’ new $500
For 25 Years, Diane Hornquist Has Been Hunt Realty’s Go-To Problem Solver
As nearly 300 Dallas leaders gathered at 2323 North Field Street just north of downtown on Oct. 10 for the official groundbreaking of Goldman Sachs’ new $500 million, 800,000 square-foot complex, Diane Hornquist sat on the front row just absorbing it all. Hornquist never took the stage but she was critical in the 11-acre North End mixed use development becoming a reality. “This deal involved a complicated build-to-suit lease, entitlement work, master development work, a joint venture, a mortgage loan and a mezzanine loan, and Diane led and was deeply involved in all aspects of it,” said Baker Botts partner Jeremy Gott. “I can easily say that without Diane’s leadership and tenacity, it would have been next to impossible to have successfully concluded this transaction in a timely manner — or perhaps at all.”
Senate Confirms Judge John Kazen to SDTX District Bench
The U.S. Senate Tuesday confirmed the first U.S. district court judge in Texas in nearly four years when it voted to approve U.S. Magistrate Judge John Kazen for an open seat on the federal bench in the Southern District of Texas. President Biden nominated Judge Kazen for the position last year after Houston federal judge Vanessa Gilmore retired. Judge Kazen’s chambers in Laredo, once he is sworn in, will be in the federal building named after his father, former U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen.