Faegre Drinker Announces 2024 Leadership Transitions and Board Elections

Faegre Drinker is pleased to announce its 2024 board elections and practice group, industry team, office and community leadership appointments.

Board Elections

Partners Gretchen Miller Busch, Trevor Carter and Tracy Ferak have been reelected as board members for four-year terms that will begin April 1, 2024.

Miller Busch is based in Denver and has served on the board since 2019. She is a partner in the real estate group where she advises clients on the complex commercial real estate transactions with special expertise in the agribusiness industry.

Based in Indianapolis, Carter is an intellectual property partner who litigates patent and other intellectual property matters in courts across the United States.

Ferak, a Chicago-based partner, represents global manufacturing, technology, and energy companies facing complex commercial litigation and product liability disputes and has first-chaired trials around the United States.

Practice Group Leaders

The following attorneys have been appointed to practice group and industry team leadership positions, effective April 1, 2024.

Real Estate

Pat Scheiderer succeeds Minneapolis-based partner Scott Anderegg as leader of the real estate practice group. Scheiderer collaborates with clients to grow and manage their real property assets.

Michael Woodruff was selected as the new real estate practice group deputy leader, succeeding Dave Ebby. Woodruff skillfully guides clients through major real estate deals, keeping business interests and strategic priorities front and center while structuring transactions and navigating land use issues and development approvals. He served as vice chair of the real estate group from 2015-20 and was on the Faegre Drinker Audit Committee from 2013-20.

Office Leadership

Effective April 1, 2024, the following attorneys were appointed as leader of firm offices.

Indianapolis, IN

Brian Garrison has been appointed as the Indianapolis office leader, succeeding partner Kathy Osborn. Garrison is a labor and employment partner who has been with the firm since 2005. He represents and counsels employers on a broad range of complex labor and employment matters, with a particular focus on traditional labor issues.

Minneapolis, MN

Real estate partner Lica Tomizuka has assumed the role of Minneapolis office leader and succeeds Steven Kennedy. She collaborates with clients to form strategies, find solutions and advance business goals in all aspects of commercial real estate and finance. She has been with the firm for 21 years and was a long-time co-chair of the firm’s diverse lawyers resource group and served on the firm’s diversity and inclusion and nominating committees.

Committees

Women Forward

Chicago-based partner Colby Kingsbury has assumed the role of chair and Philadelphia-based partner Lizzie Lange has been named vice chair of Women Forward, Faegre Drinker’s women’s committee, which supports the recruitment, retention and advancement of the firm’s women professionals by building connections, facilitating business and client development opportunities, benchmarking progress, collaborating on policies, offering training and other programs, and supporting the development of women leaders.

For two and a half decades, Kingsbury has provided practical advice and strong litigation advocacy leading large and small teams for clients on complex commercial matters across the country. Kingsbury serves on the firm's pro bono committee and the boards of ACLU Illinois, the Chicago Bar Foundation and Evanston Children’s Choir.

Lange is a corporate partner who represents public and private clients in mergers and acquisitions, governance, and other corporate and securities matters. She is co-chair of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Team and a member of the Philadelphia office’s Hiring Committee.