Katie Wiley said the opportunity to join a smaller, more nimble firm in the clean energy and renewables space was exactly what she was looking for.
Texas Capital GC Heads to a New Bank
Kelly Rentzel, former general counsel at Texas Capital, has a new job: general counsel of First Foundation Inc. The emerging California-founded financial services firm is moving to Dallas, and they’ve tagged Rentzel to help them grow. Natalie Posgate reports.
Scenes from the 2020 DFW/ACC Corporate Counsel Awards
Scenes from the 2020 DFW/ACC Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards held June 3, 2021 at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
Big Winners at DFW Corporate Counsel Awards: Match, American Airlines, Chuck E. Cheese, Methodist Health, Toyota, Southwest Airlines and Susan G. Komen
In the first major in-person legal event since the advent of the pandemic, the DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook gathered with some of the top legal talent in Texas at the George W. Bush Institute to honor the best in-house work during an exceptionally difficult year. The Lawbook’s founder Mark Curriden has all the results of the 2020 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards.
And be sure to Click Here to check out our gallery of the event.
Kate Hayashi Helps American Airlines Navigate an Extraordinary Year
American Airlines Associate GC Kate Hayashi has faced some challenges during the past 25 years – TWA’s bankruptcy, TWA’s acquisition by American Airlines, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that involved two American jetliners, American’s bankruptcy and restructuring and American’s merger with U.S. Airways. But 2020 was a year unlike any other. But those challenges are why she is one of the most experienced lawyers in the airline industry today.
Zix’s Noah Webster and ‘Magical Creativity’
While most companies battened down the hatches in 2020 in order to weather the Covid-19 pandemic, Dallas-based global cloud-based cybersecurity and productivity solutions company Zix Corporation went searching for opportunities. “We decided that the most resilient businesses continue to grow and continue to build to grow, even under difficult or unusual situations,” said Zix Noah Webster CLO. Last July, Zix discovered the perfect acquisition opportunity – an Israeli-owned company called CloudAlly that focuses on cloud-based data backup and recovery for businesses.
Jason Shyung: Keeping Southwest in the Air During Turbulent Times
Southwest Airlines attorney Jason Shyung remembers his first trial. He met his client – the owner of a small Sherman construction company being wrongly sued by an employee – only two weeks prior to trial. “He could have lost everything,” Shyung said. But Shyung and another young lawyer prevailed in federal court. Six years later, Southwest Airlines called on Shyung in its own potentially devastating crisis, and the young lawyer again prevailed. This is his story.
Meredith Bjorck and Her ‘Super Powers’
Meredith Bjorck had a seat at the executive table at HMS for five years and she made the most of it. She resolved all significant existing litigation within the first two years. The company’s revenue increased more than 30%, net income climbed more than 300% and the company’s stock price climbed more than 200%. Last winter, in the middle of Covid, Bjork led the deal team in the $3.4 billion sale of HMS. But what a five years it was.
From Hippies and Shetland Ponies to Fritos and Class Action Wins – PepsiCo’s Leanne Oliver’s Lifetime of Achievement
From developing and implementing a cutting-edge medical leave policy and creating a groundbreaking management training program on sexual harassment to winning major class action lawsuits and leading strategic corporate acquisitions, PepsiCo Foods North America GC Leanne Oliver has spent the past 25 years having an enormous impact on the company’s 300,000 workers and the Texas legal community.
“Leanne has brought enormous value to the company and to the entire legal profession,” said former PepsiCo GC Larry Thompson. “No one really knows PepsiCo as well as Leanne.”
Arash Mostafavipour, New CLO at Tabani Group
The commercial real estate-focused Tabani Group has hired a new chief legal officer – former Capital One financial services division chief counsel Arash Mostafavipour. “I love deal-making and they are always doing deals and looking at new deals,” Mostafavipour said. “It is a fast-moving and acquisitive operation.”