For three days in November 2022, the Whataburger in north San Antonio on De Zavala Road featured a new cook and server.
“I will always remember serving French fries during the lunch hour — it was a madhouse,” said Elena Kraus. “Everyone new at Whataburger experiences what it is like to serve our customers and how the food is prepared and to work at every station in the restaurant to understand what it is like. It was an incredible experience.”
Kraus has now been the chief legal officer at Whataburger for more than three-and-a-half years. During that time, she has transformed the fast-food chain’s governmental affairs department, systematically enhanced its corporate compliance and ethics training, revamped how the restaurant handles its outside counsel relationships and installed an anonymous whistleblower hotline.
“I have witnessed Elena transform not just our legal department but also how the company operates in many positive ways, with an emphasis on legal and business ethics at all times,” said Jeff Hagelman, Whataburger vice president of legal affairs. “Elena leads with ethics and thoughtfulness, but also with firmness and resolve. From Day One, Elena emphasized the ethical and respectful treatment of others, not just within the company but also with those outside the company, including adverse counsel and business competitors.”
Recognizing Kraus’ “extraordinary commitment to ethics, professionalism and community involvement,” the Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are awarding her the C. Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award.
Kraus and 11 other general counsel will be honored Nov. 6 at the first annual San Antonio Corporate Counsel Awards event.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Kraus serves up tips for hiring outside counsel, describes how the role of GC/CLO has changed over the last three decades, and makes a case for the GC being the conscience of a corporation.
“From a legal community perspective, Elena has pushed each of us in the Whataburger legal department to take active roles in the communities we serve, including our home city of San Antonio,” said Hagelman, who nominated her for the honor. “Specifically, Elana has encouraged her in-house lawyers, including myself, to volunteer and serve on boards of nonprofit civic and industry associations, such as ACC, with an emphasis on helping others and advocating for the fair, reasonable and ethical treatment of all those we encounter. Elena has also been an annual panelist for our San Antonio Chapter’s luncheons with a focus on the ethics and best practices in the in-house counsel practice area.”
“Elena’s is more than just a lawyer — she is helping run and lead the company,” Hagelman said.
Whataburger recently expanded Kraus’ corporate responsibilities to include its enterprise and risk management teams and its command center, which handles everything from severe weather disruptions to other emergencies — think Covid-19 pandemic — for its more than 1,150 restaurants across 17 states, including 766 in Texas.
In an interview with The Texas Lawbook, Kraus said she loves being the top lawyer at Whataburger because “no day is the same.”
“That makes for an interesting and challenging professional life,” she said. “It is also an exciting time to be at Whataburger as we take the brand beyond our traditional Texas roots to new markets in the West, South and Southeast and expand beyond the footprint.”
Court Smith, a partner at Plunk Smith in Frisco, said Kraus is “steady, transparent and rooted in integrity” and she “reflects her company’s pragmatic approach to problem solving.”
“Elena brings clarity to complex situations and radiates confidence through calm, well-reasoned judgment,” Smith said. “She maintains accountability and is quick to acknowledge achievement within her team. Elena has mastered the art of balancing risk with opportunity. Whataburger’s growth brings new challenges, but Elena has remained a centering force and creative problem-solver.”
“Most importantly, Elena is approachable and committed to building an empowered legal team, both inside the company and among the various outside counsel, he said. “She spots and develops talent, often encouraging team members to push beyond their boundaries and take on new responsibilities.”
Jackson Walker partner Patrick Tobin said that Kraus avoids getting “lost in the weeds of legal issues” that befall many other general counsel.
“Elena has an uncanny ability to navigate those complexities while providing practical legal advice to the business leadership at Whataburger,” Tobin said. “Since joining Whataburger in 2022, Elena has embraced the company’s culture of growth and has successfully navigated the myriad of complex legal and business issues that come with the expansion to over 1100 restaurants in 17 states. During that same time, she has developed trusted relationships with a new CEO, a new COO, and other new top executives. Many would have failed and become a casualty during such growth and change, but she has excelled.”
Kraus’ Dad: ‘A Wise Man Whose Advice I Trusted’
Kraus’ life and career journey to Whataburger is a remarkable story.
She was born in Moscow, while the Soviet Union still existed. She said her parents “survived World War II as children, faced hunger and extreme danger and overcame hardship that war brings.” They went long periods without food as they constantly had to flee “the onslaught of the Nazis.”
“My father fought in the war as a 16-year-old after volunteering,” she said. “He was wounded at the front in Poland and ended up in a POW camp before his release when the war ended. He was smart and scrappy and freedom-loving with an entrepreneurial mind. He yearned to pursue the American Dream and realized it in his 50s when we came to the U.S.”
Her father was educated as a dentist and her mother as an editor of a science magazine.
When Kraus was a teenager, the family moved to the U.S. and settled in Texas.
“Initially, my parents worked low-paying blue-collar jobs, as many immigrants do when they arrive without financial resources and with limited English language skills,” she said. “In time, they founded and operated a successful dry goods business in El Paso, just on the other side of the border with Ciudad Juarez. Most of the customers were Mexicans, so my parents’ Spanish skills over time were as good as, if not better than, their English proficiency. I worked in that store during high school and learned a great deal about retail and customer service.”
Kraus earned her bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas in 1981 and then her doctor of jurisprudence from DePaul University College of Law in 1989.
While there were no lawyers in the family, Kraus said her father encouraged her “to pursue a legal career as a way to be independent, which he thought was important for a woman.”
“He also thought my flair for writing and reading would be a good fit with the legal profession,” she said. “He was a wise man whose advice I trusted. Now we have three lawyers in the family — my husband and my daughter are lawyers, and one of our sons is contemplating law school.”
Kraus’ legal career started as a real estate attorney at Rudnick & Wolfe in Chicago, which later became Piper Rudnick and then DLA Piper. She left the firm after leaders restructured its real estate practice and laid off a third of Kraus’ associate class.
“I was fortunate to realize at that time that Big Law life was not for me and sought an in-house position to continue to grow as a real estate attorney without the pressure of billing time and courting clients,” she said. “Walgreens at that time was on an aggressive organic growth trajectory, opening a new store every 17 hours. They were expanding and hiring legal staff and business resources. To a real estate attorney, it was the ideal job that offered great experience in a fast-paced collegial environment. I loved the work, the people and the brand.”
Kraus started at Walgreens in 1991 as a senior attorney and steadily climbed the ranks during her three decades at the retail pharmacy giant, culminating in her 2016 appointment as general counsel in 2016.
Just Like Whataburger Liked It
In 2022, she said she “felt it was time to make a change.”
“If nothing interesting turned up, I was planning to retire from corporate practice and do something entirely different in my next chapter,” she said. “Something in the wellness space. Specifically for legal professionals. Big Law started pursuing programs to address mental health issues around the time of Covid. Generally speaking, lawyers as a profession encounter unique stresses and pressures and need to know how to deal with them without resorting to substance abuse or other destructive measures.”
But then, in the spring of 2022, she received a call from a recruiter who asked her if she “knew what Whataburger was.”
“I, of course, knew Whataburger growing up in Texas and all through my high school and college years,” she said. “Going to Whataburger was always a great treat for me. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up — to join a fantastic brand, a growing company, and to come back to Texas after decades away.”
In moving from Walgreens to Whataburger, Kraus said, “Some issues transcend industries.”
“When you work in retail — be it pharmacy or a convenience store or a restaurant — you are serving the public, employing a diverse workforce and grappling with regulatory, commercial and employment issues,” she said. “My position at Whataburger as its chief legal and risk officer is broader than my former Walgreens’ general counsel position. It not only encompasses legal responsibilities of a general counsel, such as governance and board relations, but also includes handling compliance matters, government affairs issues, enterprise investigations and risk management.”
Kraus said her biggest professional successes since joining Whataburger in April 2022 include “innovating at the intersection of legal practice and technology by introducing a new matter-management system to streamline our internal processes and manage external costs.”
She also has enjoyed supporting her legal team’s individual pursuits of professional development and personal growth. She successfully grasped the issues she faced as a business executive and legal advisor to Whataburger’s executives and board of directors, as the company has “grappled with thorny issues that all growing companies face as they scale a beloved brand.”
“Elena revamped how we interact with and hold our outside counsel accountable, not just for general service performance but, more importantly, for how they embrace ethics in their respective practices,” Hagelman said. “Elena required Whataburger and our legal department to immediately start working on an anonymous business ethics/whistleblower hotline for Whataburger’s employees, suppliers, vendors and customers to report concerns of any kind.”
“Although Whataburger, as a private company, is not legally required to have an anonymous whistleblower hotline, Elena insisted on it, stating that it is the right thing to do to continue raising the bar and emphasizing the importance of business ethics,” Hagelman said.
Kraus said her family’s history and experiences in the Soviet Union provided her with a clear understanding of the importance of lawyers in our communities.
“Generally speaking, coming from a place with an autocratic regime that stifled dissent and free speech, I was aware of the importance and privilege of living in a free democratic society,” she said. “The legal profession is uniquely positioned to advance justice, fairness, and the free market-based economic freedom. As a proud member of the legal profession, advocating for American democracy and the integrity of the judicial system is important to me.”
Tobin, the Jackson Walker partner, said Kraus is “living the American dream.”
“When Elena traded in the ‘red W’ of Walgreens for the ‘orange W’ of Whataburger she had no idea that being part of such an iconic Texas brand would result in receiving words of thanks and praise from Whataburger lovers wherever she travels,” he said. “Chicago was fun but she is very glad to be home in Texas.”
Fun Facts: Elena Kraus
- Favorite book: Such a hard question. I have so many. Well-crafted characters, beautiful prose and suspenseful stories are my jam. If I had to pick one, it would be Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Its premise that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we each find meaningful to us resonates with me. We all face suffering in our lives in different times and in different ways, but how we deal with the suffering may be the difference between surviving and perishing.
- Favorite movie: The Shawshank Redemption, hands down. Hope and tenacity in the face of great adversity. Superb acting and a compelling story.
- Favorite vacation: Grand Cayman with my husband, our children and our friends. Lots of laughter, great food, and sunshine, and the luxury of time reading on the beach.
- Favorite restaurant: Whataburger, of course! Bold flavors and great hospitality — goodness 24/7.
- Hero in life: My parents, who are my inspiration for lives well lived. Their resilience, work ethic, humor and willingness to take risks are foundational to my worldview. To pick up stakes and move across the world without a safety net was a big gamble. They did so in order to forge a better life for our family and overcame a great deal of adversity in the process.