© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
Finalist: Non-GC of the Year for a Large Legal Dept.
By Mark Curriden
(Jan. 17) – Chasity Wilson Henry has practiced law for only a decade, but she has rapidly scaled the ladder of corporate law in North Texas and established herself as a leading voice in the business law community.
At Vinson & Elkins, the 2006 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law worked side-by-side with some of the best corporate lawyers in Texas, handling nine-figure M&A deals.
By age 30, Henry was senior counsel at Irving-based Vizient (formerly Novation), negotiating hundreds of millions of dollars in healthcare and medical supply contracts for about 1,000 hospitals, as well as maintaining the company’s ethics and corporate compliance program and supporting human resources.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group hired Henry to lead its legal team support of procurement and supply chain contracts, worked on the company’s marketing sponsorships and promotions deals and was involved in a handful of corporate acquisitions. For example, she was part of the legal team that handled the Plano company’s $1.7 billion cash acquisition of Bai Brands in January 2017.
“Dr Pepper had an opening on its corporate transactions team and needed someone who could handle a large volume of contracts,” Henry says. “I loved my time at Dr Pepper and I learned so much about being a lawyer and leader.”
In October 2017, multinational consumer products conglomerate Kimberly-Clark, which reports $21 billion in annual revenues, hired Henry to be its assistant general counsel of corporate affairs and legal strategy. Henry leads the legal department’s team that supports strategic acquisitions and joint ventures for Irving-based company.
“Thanks to several mentors, including Jeff Chapman and [Dr Pepper GC] Jim Baldwin, I have grown to love corporate law and appreciate the intersection of business and law,” she says. “I realized that I love learning about business and business operations.”
The Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce that Henry is a finalist for the 2017 Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department.
The finalists will be recognized and the winners announced at the annual Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards event at the Bush Institute on Thursday, Jan. 25.
“Chasity is a recognized problem-solver with significant experience as a key legal and business advisor,” says Amy Stewart, a partner at Stewart Bradbury who specializes in complex commercial litigation.
Henry was born and raised in Fort Worth. Her father is an air traffic controller.
“I didn’t know any lawyers growing up,” Henry says. “I was the first in my immediate family to attend college. I just liked to argue and my parents said that I should become lawyer. I had a strong sense of justice and righting wrongs.
“Corporate law was the last thing on my mind, as I always thought I would be a trial lawyer,” she says.
Henry credits V&E for training her to be a good M&A lawyer, while the jobs at Vizient, Dr Pepper and Kimberly-Clark took her career to the next level.
“This was a big opportunity to bring all those years of experience together,” she says.
Henry also has been a leading voice for diversity in the legal profession. She founded The NEW Roundtable, a nonprofit organization that drives the inclusion and advancement of African-American women attorneys within the legal profession.
“We started the group to bring together African-American women – both at law firms and in-house – to support each other through mentoring, recommending each other for jobs and giving business to each other,” she says. “We must address the pipeline, because the present lack of diversity in the legal profession will continue if we don’t.
“It may be years before we start seeing results, but we have to start somewhere,” Henry says.
Stewart says Henry is “incredibly courageous” to be so vocal about diversity.
“There are a lot of people who talk about diversity, but Chasity is doing more than lip service,” Stewart says. “She puts her business reputation on the line to speak out.
“At every level, Chasity is trying to make change,” she says. “Chasity is going to make a big difference in the legal profession.”
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