Alumni News and Moves – Winter 2022

Faegre Drinker alumni’s careers have taken on many shapes — our former colleagues have pursued interesting new adventures, tackled personal challenges and brought their talents to bear in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. They are published authors, advisers, mentors, advocates, volunteers, business executives, educators and award-winning thought leaders, and they continue to be a credit to this alumni community.

We are proud of the contributions our alumni continue to make in their communities and workplaces, grateful for the time they spent with the firm, and pleased that we have been able to sustain close and meaningful relationships with former colleagues.

Here are News and Moves from our alumni community over the past few months (Office/Practice Group/Year of Hire).

• Raymond Rushing (Chicago/Products Liability/2018) joined Cummins, Inc. as Corporate Counsel, Litigation in February 2022.
• S. Renee Dotson (Minneapolis/Restructuring/2007) was elected to the Iowa Law School Foundation (ILSF) Board of Directors in February 2022. The ILSF is responsible for the quality of legal education that the University of Iowa College of Law provides to its students and it is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors consisting of graduates and friends of the College of Law, law faculty, law students and the dean of the college.
• Joe Connaughton (Chicago/Corporate/2012) joined the Los Angeles Football Club as General Counsel in February 2022.
• Stephen Welling (Des Moines/Corporate/2019) joined Mayer Brown as an associate in February 2022.
• Judge Nina Nin-Yuen Wang (Denver/Intellectual Property/2004) was nominated by President Biden to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. Judge Wang, who practiced for more than a decade in the firm’s Denver office is currently serving as the U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Colorado.
• Jessica Cordero (Denver/Insurance/2019) started her role as a Career Consultant at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in January 2022. She is also still managing JCordero Consulting Solutions as a life coach.
• Alan Cardenas (Princeton/Corporate/2007) joined Coursera, Inc. as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary.
• After 16 years as a Managing Director/In-House Counsel at Hamilton Lane, Anthony Donofrio (Philadelphia/Corporate/1996) retired from the company in May 2021.He now serves as an adjunct professor at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, consults, does some solo practitioner work and acts as a member of the Executive Advisory Board for the nonprofit organization Cents Ability. He is also a Professional in Residence at Fairfield University, mentoring and coaching students in its Dolan School of Business.
• After 45 years of working in law firms, Robert Bond (London/Intellectual Property/2003) left Bristows on January 31, 2022 to pursue a solo practice focusing on data protection, information law, compliance and ethics. He is also the current President of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association, both headquartered in Minneapolis. Robert is also a founding member of the Advisory Group to the United Nations on the Governance of Data and Artificial Intelligence.
• Holly Saurer was promoted to Media Bureau Chief at the Federal Communications Commission in January 2022.
• Mark Shope (Indianapolis Downtown/Litigation/2012), Assistant Professor of Law at IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law, collaborated with Vice Dean Cynthia Adams on a virtual international negotiation simulation experience as a course for students at both McKinney and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University School of Law (NYCU) in Taiwan.
• Jeff Cohn (South Bend/Corporate/2008) was promoted to Executive Director, Assistant General Counsel & Assistant Secretary at Heron Therapeutics in San Diego, California in January 2022.
• Mark Sifferlen (Indianapolis Downtown/Labor & Employment/1992) was named Cummins, Inc.’s first Vice President, Chief Risk Officer and Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy Lead for in January 2022. Mark previously served as Vice President, Ethics and Compliance at Cummins.
• Kyle Luebke (Minneapolis/Restructuring/2015) joined McGuire Woods LLP as a counsel in January 2022.
• Stephen Claffey (Indianapolis/Restructuring/1971) retired from the firm in 2015 but he hasn’t slowed down one bit. After leaving the firm he quickly transitioned to serving 50-plus hour work weeks as a leader and worker/volunteer at The Crooked Creek Food Pantry in northwest Indianapolis. The pantry was founded in 2015 by three individuals, including Steve’s wife, Linda. Steve currently serves as the organization’s President and Executive Director. In addition to putting in 6-8 hours of manual labor at the food pantry each week, Steve spends his time on fundraising, volunteer recruitment and retention, grant writing, personnel supervision, food and in-kind food donation in addition to other duties for the organization. The Crooked Creek Food Pantry has grown rapidly and, in 2021, distributed nutritious food to almost 26,000 families, with each family receiving between 100 and 150 pounds of food and grocery items each visit. Each week, about 40 tons of food is loaded into it’s the food pantry’s 2,400 square foot facility. The food is then distributed to eligible families over three shopping days during the week. The food pantry has the equivalent of three full-time employees but is highly reliant on donor and volunteer support, utilizing about 130 volunteers each week. A large number of those volunteers are retirees.
• David Miller (Indianapolis Downtown/Labor & Employment/1986), retired partner, was featured in a January 2022 Indiana Lawyer article about his deep appreciation for education, return to college and the David W. Miller Scholarship — a scholarship that he created for Wabash College graduates attending IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law. The scholarship is awarded to first-year J.D. students who are graduates of Wabash College and who have “shown the most development” during their undergraduate years.
• Hunter Metcalf (Denver/Corporate/2018) was promoted to Associate General Counsel at Wildlife Defense Systems, Inc. in January 2022.
• Joseph Ferino (Princeton/Corporate/2008) joined Brown Rudnick LLP as a partner in January 2022.
• Guilherme Costa (Washington, D.C./Health Care/2008) was named the Interim Senior Vice President and University Secretary at Syracuse University, effective January 1, 2022.Before his appointment, Guilherme served as Senior Associate Vice President and Deputy University Secretary at Syracuse University.
• Marlon Cush (Minneapolis/Corporate/2007) joined SWORD Health as VP and Associate General Counsel (Corporate and Commercial) in January 2022.
• Maclyn Parker (Fort Wayne/Private Client/1962) is enjoying time in Florida on vacation but still working at a foundation three mornings a week, where he reviews grant requests and makes recommendations and also participates on the investment committee.
• Patty Beck (Minneapolis/Labor & Employment/2007) opened her own attorney well-being consulting business, A Balanced Practice LLC in January 2022.
• Jennifer Dempsey (Philadelphia/Litigation/2011) joined Fox Rothschild LLP as a partner in January 2022.
• Markita Morris-Louis (Philadelphia/Real Estate/2003) was promoted to Chief Executive Officer at Compass Working Capital.
• Cynthia DeLisi (Princeton/Real Estate/2007) was promoted to Counsel at Troutman Pepper in January 2022.
• Joshua Kaplowitz (Washington, D.C./Litigation/2007) took on additional position as adjunct professor at The George Washington University Law School in January 2022.
• Stephen Loney (Philadelphia/Litigation/2005) joined the ACLU of Pennsylvania as Senior Supervising Attorney in January 2022.
• Lindsay Orr (Wilmington/Litigation/2012) was promoted to Assistant Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, effective January 1, 2022.
• Ryan Costa (Wilmington/Litigation/2015) was promoted to Deputy Director, Consumer Protection Unit at the Delaware Department of Justice in December 2021.
• Jennifer Zwagerman was the recipient of the 2021 American Agricultural Law Association’s Professional Scholarship Award for her article, Agriculture & Data Privacy: I Want a HIPAA(Pottamus) For Christmas … Maybe, 8 TEX. A&M L. REV. 686-733 (2021) which is available online from the Texas A&M Law Review.
• Kathleen Olin (Investment Management/1997) joined Advent Capital Management as General Counsel in December 2021.
• Virginia Harper Ho (Indianapolis/2005) joined the City University of Hong Kong as a professor of law in December 2021. She previously taught business, finance and comparative law courses at Indiana University and served as Associate Dean for International and Comparative Law Programs at the University of Kansas.
• Steve Burdumy (Philadelphia/Corporate/2002) joined Footprint as Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer in December 2021.
• Steven Herst (Wilmington/Insurance/2013) joined Barnes & Thornburg as a partner in December 2021.
• Ashok Pinto (Chicago/Intellectual Property/2003) joined Intel as a Director in the Intellectual Property Policy Group in Washington, D.C. in December 2021.
• Drew Welborn (Fort Wayne/Corporate/1998) was promoted to president of Whitley Manufacturing in December 2021.
• Jay Volk (Philadelphia/Corporate/1996) joined LendingPoint as Executive President and General Manager – Healthcare in November 2021.
• Hanna Coleman (Minneapolis/Litigation/2013) was promoted to Director, Corporate Development at Xcel Energy in November 2021.
• Patrick Bottini (Minneapolis/Intellectual Property/2013) was promoted to General Counsel at Jack Link’s Protein Snacks.
• Ginene Lewis (Philadelphia/Litigation/2013) was promoted to Senior Counsel, Head of Defensive Litigation and Legal Spend Management at Vanguard in November 2021.
• Ravi Vohra (New York/Restructuring/2015) joined Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in November 2021.
• Gregg Perchick (Philadelphia/Real Estate/2002) joined Brandywine Realty Trust as Real Estate Counsel in November 2021.
• Laurie Jones (Minneapolis/Restructuring/2002) joined U.S. Bank in November 2021 as Senior Counsel supporting Institutional Trust & Custody.
• Mark Sherman (Philadelphia/Corporate/2017) was promoted to Senior Corporate Counsel at Axalta Coating Systems, LLC in November 2021.
• Michael Homans (Philadelphia/Labor & Employment/1995) and Julianne Peck (Philadelphia/Litigation/1996) of HomansPeck, LLC are opening a new, expanded suburban office in Wayne, Pennsylvania and will be adding a second associate who will be graduating from the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law in May 2022.
• Joshua Kaplowitz (Washington, D.C./Litigation/2007) left his position as attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor in July 2020, where he had advised the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's offshore wind program for the previous five years, to become Senior Counsel for U.S. Offshore Wind at GE Renewable Energy. After what Josh describes as “an amazing 15 months at GE, during which [he] helped negotiate the sale of wind turbines for the first utility-scale offshore wind project in the U.S.,” Josh joined the American Clean Power Association (f/k/a the American Wind Energy Association) as the Vice President for Offshore Wind in November 2021. In this role, Josh spearheads the association’s advocacy efforts on behalf of a new industry that is projected to spur $109B in domestic investment and install over 30 GW of carbon-free electrical generating capacity in federal waters over the next 10 years.Josh resides in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and two of their three kids. Josh’s oldest just started studying engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Krisann Kleibacker Lee (Minneapolis/Litigation/2005) joined Amazon as Senior Corporate Counsel in September 2021.
• William P. Farrell, Jr. (Chicago/Litigation/1996). In 2011, Bill co-founded Longford Capital along with fellow alum Michael Nicolas. The company was one of the first private equity firms dedicated to making investments in legal assets. Since that time, commercial litigation funding has become mainstream in several jurisdictions, including the United States, England, Germany and Australia, and Longford Capital manages one of the largest fund complexes focused on litigation funding in the world, with more than $1.2 billion in assets under management.
• Carla Pratt (Philadelphia/Litigation/1996), Dean at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas, was appointed to the ABA Council for the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The Council is the accrediting body for ABA-approved law schools. As dean for the law school, Carla has been working to help law schools nationwide achieve greater equity. To that end, she helped create the AALS Anti-Racist Clearinghouse. Carla’s most recent published essay, “Radical Reformation:Diverse Pathways to Licensure Will Yield a More Diverse Profession,” will appear in the Rutgers Race & the Law Review. Carla has also received the following awards in connection with her work to achieve greater diversity and equity in law schools and the legal profession:Topeka Human Relations Commission, Troy Scroggins Outstanding Individual Award (Jan. 18, 2022); Society of American Law Teachers, Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award (Jan. 7, 2022; one of five recipients nationally); Greater Topeka Partnership, Women of Influence Award for Education (Oct. 2021); Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Impact Award (Jan. 2021). (One of five recipients nationally).