Alumni News and Moves – Fall 2024

London

• Sarah McLennan (Business Litigation/2009) joined Forbes Hare as counsel.

Los Angeles

• Katrina Walasik Forsyth (Labor & Employment/2019) joined BlackLine Inc. as associate general counsel, global employment.
• Katrina Veldkamp (Labor & Employment/2012) was promoted to partner at Boutwell Fay.

Boulder

• Neal Cohen (Intellectual Property/1993) is now senior counsel at Pless Law Firm.

Denver

• Bill Callison (Real Estate/1996) received the Cathy Stricklin Krendl Lifetime Achievement Award from the Business Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association. He was also granted a Ph.D. by Tilburg University in the Netherlands for his thesis comprised of prior published articles on business organization law.
• Dan Grossman (Labor & Employment/1997) was promoted to vice president, energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund.
• Andrew Kelley (Business Litigation/2007) was promoted to deputy chief investment officer at Lex Ferenda Litigation Funding.
• Ted Koehler (Business Litigation/2017) was promoted to senior director, associate general counsel with PGA of America.
• John Ritsick (Intellectual Property/2005) is now a partner at Ritsick Law.
• Geoff Williams (Corporate/2006) joined Itafos, Inc. as vice president, general counsel & corporate secretary.

Hartford

• Ben Seessel (Insurance Litigation/2019) has joined Manulife as chief counsel global high-net-worth.

Wilmington

• Frederick Mitsdarfer (Real Estate/2015) is now a partner at Tarabicos Grosso.

Chicago

• Kendra Allaband (Labor & Employment/2004) was promoted to senior vice president & chief people officer at Anne & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
• Eric Berman (Health Care/2010) was promoted to chief privacy officer at AbbVie.
• Jake DeBoever (Commercial Litigation/2001) joined McKesson Corporation as vice president, compliance & ethics, private label & specialized programs.
• Angela Foster-Rice (Environmental/2002) joined Pachama as general counsel.
• Bo Kemp (Government & Regulatory Affairs/2015) was recognized as one of Crain’s Chicago Business 2024 Notable Black Leaders.
• Sam Lichtenfeld (Real Estate/2009) joined Friedman Properties as general counsel.
• Nick Teichen (Business Litigation/2018) is now vice president, assistant general counsel with JPMorgan Chase.

Fort Wayne

• Matt Skaggs (Intellectual Property/2005) has joined Dentsply Sirona as VP, chief intellectual property counsel. 

Indianapolis

• Carita Austin (Labor & Employment/2017) was recently featured in Hispanic Executive magazine.
• Sarah Caldwell Breslin (Labor & Employment/2014) joined Samsung SDI America as associate general counsel, labor and employment.
• Blayre Marley (Health Care/2017) is now director, legal – North America with Ingeroll-Rand Inc.

South Bend

• Jeff Cohn (Corporate/2008) is now general counsel and corporate secretary at Connect Biopharma.
• Wendy Walker (Real Estate Litigation/2007) joined Sun Title as commercial counsel.
• Ken Weaver (Corporate/1993) was elected to his third 6-year term as Trustee of Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Michigan.

Des Moines

• Nicole Nayima (Business Litigation/2007) was promoted to AVP & COO – Registered Investment Advisors at Sammons Financial Group.

Minneapolis

• Jane Blaney (Insurance/2021) is now associate general counsel – technology and responsible AI with UnitedHealth Group.
• Will Brunnquell (Finance & Restructuring/2014) joined Cargill as counsel.
• Hannah Coleman (Business Litigation/2013) was promoted to managing attorney, commercial litigation and claims with Xcel Energy.
• Eric Delain (Labor & Employment/2008) is now deputy general counsel with Wealth Enhancement Group.
• Kristin Eads Walbourn (Product Liability & Mass Torts/1998) has been promoted to VP regulatory & deputy chief compliance officer, legal at United Natural Foods.
• Mara Garcia Kaplan (Corporate/2007) is now assistant general counsel at Pentair.
• Matt Harris (Business Litigation/2014) was promoted to area vice president, legal at Xcel Energy.
• Jennifer Haskin Will (Labor & Employment/2003) is now associate professor, legal studies as Hamline University.
• Patrick Lucke (Investment Management/2015) was promoted to partner at Morgan Lewis.
• Lariss Maldonado (Product Liability & Mass Torts/2012) is now general counsel at LifeSource.
• Marlo Miksche (Intellectual Property/2018) is now senior associate counsel with the Minnesota Twins.
• Adam Nodler (Business Litigation/2009) has been promoted to assistant general counsel, executive director at Wells Fargo.
• Tim O’Brien (Construction & Real Estate Litigation/1991) was elected to the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee and attended the Chicago convention.
• Kevin O’Riordan (Corporate/2010) joined Tennant Company as vice president, associate general counsel – corporate.
• Leif Simonson (Business Litigation/2008) has founded Simonson Law with offices in Minneapolis and New York City.
• Erin Wessling (Business Litigation/2004) joined Elevance Health as general counsel.

Florham Park

• Brianna Kostecka (Commercial Litigation/2011) was promoted to VP counsel and chief compliance officer at Outfront Media.
• William Sanders (Commercial Litigation/1986) is counsel at Post Polak and chair of the District XB Ethics Committee of the New Jersey Supreme Court, which covers Sussex and Morris County (except for Morristown and Florham Park).

Princeton

• Christine Baker (Commercial Litigation/1990) is now a partner at O’Toole Scrivo.

New York City

• Sarah Burke (Employee Benefits/2012) joined Debevoise & Plimpton as counsel.

Philadelphia

• Doug Behrens (2012) is now special counsel with Covington & Burlington.
• Kevin Chu (Commercial Litigation/1996) is now senior vice president, litigation with Freedom Mortgage Corporation.
• Lisa Hunn Barber (Corporate/1996) was promoted to general counsel and chief operating officer at Nappen & Associates.
• Todd Hutchison (Commercial Litigation/2004) was promoted to senior counsel, litigation at Campbell Soup Company.
• Adam Lyons (Commercial Litigation/2001) joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as assistant litigation deputy.
• Kirk Marzock (Corporate/2007) joined Accenture as risk and compliance operations North America RMIC lead.
• Kooshan Nayerahmadi (Commercial Litigation/2007) was promoted to associate vice president, MMD & MRL Compliance at Merk.
• Chrissy Piccolo (Product Liability & Mass Torts/2009) joined Organon as associate director, litigation.
• Michael Regan (Corporate/2001) was promoted to executive director at Organon.
• Mark Sherman (Corporate/2017) was promoted to associate general counsel at Axalta Coating Systems.

Washington, D.C.

• Tom Dougherty (Corporate/1993) departed communications law boutique Fletcher Heald & Hildreth and has created Dougherty Telecom Law as a solo practitioner.
• Steve Kubiatowski (Business Litigation/2015) is now general counsel and senior vice president of Compliance at CareATC.