Kevin McDonald became the general counsel of Keane Group in November 2016.
Two months later, the Houston-based hydraulic fracturing services business went public and now has more than 3,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $2 billion.
McDonald leads a legal department with four lawyers that last year successfully led the preparation of the Keane’s first proxy statement and first annual stockholders meeting. He helped lead legal support for the acquisition and integration of hydraulic fracturing assets of RSI, a new senior term loan credit facility, a $100 million stock repurchase plan and two underwritten secondary offerings of company stock totaling $307 million.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce that McDonald is a finalist for the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Award’s General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.
“As other executives at Keane Group have stated, Kevin doesn’t just lead the legal function, he is actively involved in running the company,” David Ayers, a lawyer at Bissinger, Oshman & Williams, wrote in nominating McDonald for the award.
“In 2018, Kevin oversaw all customer and supply chain contract terms,” Ayers wrote. “In addition to legal responsibilities, Kevin oversaw executive compensation and equity compensation programs, assisted with drafting earnings releases and earnings call scripts, managed internal audit function during first year of [Sarbanes-Oxley] compliance and led the company’s first enterprise risk assessment process.”
Born in California, McDonald and his family moved to Texas when he was one. The McDonalds had deep root sin the state. His great-great-grandfather homesteaded land in West Texas in the 1880s and have raised cattle and sheep on the ranch ever since.
McDonald’s father was a college professor at Texas A&M and his mother was a high school teacher.
Receiving a scholarship from the Houston Livestock and Rodeo, McDonald went to Texas A&M where he majored in agricultural economics from Texas A&M.
“From the time I started college, I thought about getting a law degree or an MBA,” he said. “I signed up for an LSAT prep course and it seemed like I was committed.
No lawyers in his family, McDonald received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.
Fulbright & Jaworski – now Norton Rose Fulbright – hired McDonald when he graduated in 1992 and he stayed at the large Houston-based firm for nine years.
“I tried about 20 cases to a jury verdict during my first five years,” he said. “Fulbright gave me some amazing experience in the courtroom – experience that young lawyers today just do not get.”
One of McDonald’s earliest cases was defending State Farm Insurance in a car crash case. About $100,000 was at stake during the two-day trial.
“My goal was to keep the jury verdict below $20,000, which was the policy’s limit,” he said. “The verdict came back at $17,000. I was thrilled.
“Trying cases in front of juries may seem to have little for what I do now, but it gave me experience as a young lawyer to be autonomous and I had to make big decisions quickly and under pressure,” he said.
In 2002, he moved in-house when he joined Valero Energy as its managing counsel for litigation. Three years later, he jumped to Anadarko Petroleum to be its associate general counsel for global litigation.
Cooper Industries made McDonald its general counsel in 2006. In 2007, he joined Cooper officials in ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the 100th birthday of the crescent wrench.
In 2012, McDonald joined Marathon Oil as its deputy general counsel. He oversaw the energy company’s corporate compliance, regulatory and governance matters.
A legal recruiter representing the Keane Group in 2016 called McDonald, saying he was the perfect fit to become the company’s first chief legal officer.
“I like to learn new things and be challenged,” he said. “Keane gave me the opportunity to be part of managing the business – not just leading the legal department or managing the IPO.”
A trustee on the Texas A&M’s 12th Man Foundation, McDonald credits much of his success to his team of three lawyers and other staff who work with him.
“Nearly every person on my team does the work of two or three people,” he said.