As General Counsel to the US Division of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited, the largest containerboard producer in China and Asia with $10 billion annual sales, I utilize my skills as a corporate generalist specializing in complex transactions, litigation, employment, regulatory compliance, and commercial law. I support and advise all functional areas and levels of the business, acting as a key advisor to the executive team.

Lead commercial attorney for US, Canada and Mexico, specializing in complex transactions/contracts, regulatory compliance and commercial law, providing direct support to all levels of senior management, including C-Suite, of five business units (Components, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Elevator and Steel), and all corporate functions. Responsibilities include: Partner with all business units and all corporate functions to provide practical legal advice to facilitate business transactions while appropriately mitigating risk. Apply Lean/Six Sigma principles to improve and streamline delivery of legal services. Develop templates, tools and processes to continuously improve efficiency and quality of legal services. Review, negotiate and draft revisions to over 200 agreements annually, including but not limited to real estate leases, land purchase and sale and business development incentives, indirect, and direct, spend procurement RFPs, engineering/procurement/construction, teaming/strategic alliance, master purchase, long term sale, services, distribution and brokerage, joint development and intellectual property ownership and licensing, confidentiality/non-disclosure, with major aerospace, automotive and industrial engineering customers and suppliers and benefits service providers. Negotiate complex, pre-litigation claims, and commercial disputes with customers and vendors. Advise on various regulatory issues, including ITAR, EAR, OFAC, EPA, DOT, conflict minerals and other sustainability regulations (codes of conduct, RoHS, REACH, Prop 65, etc.), professional engineering regulations, data privacy, customs and trade, D/FARs, Controlled Substances Act, etc. Train colleagues on key legal issues, contract provisions and corporate policies.  Strategically manage, and coordinate with, outside counsel to efficiently utilize constrained resources. Advise on, and coordinate, US law impact on all international transactions and global initiatives.

Hired as Counsel by the nation’s second largest foodservice distributor (over $20 billion annual revenue); promoted to Assistant General Counsel in 2011. Having contributed, materially, to the successful building of a strong, centralized Legal Department with a nationally-recognized reputation — in 2013, the US Foods Legal Department was awarded Chicago’s (In-House) Legal Department of the year by the National Law Journal. Provided broad, practical legal advice and general business counsel as well as contract support in the role of region counsel for three of eight geographic regions, which covered 26 independently-managed distribution centers representing a total of more than $5 billion in annual sales.Responsibilities included: Negotiate, draft and review all manner of agreements in a wide variety of commercial contexts, in particular customer and vendor relationships, from project conception with internal business clients to contract execution Supervise, update and train legal colleagues and business clients on internal contract control policy, contracts databases, matter management systems and matter tracking/reporting tools Provide day-to-day, direct legal support and advice to multiple Corporate functions, including: Operations, Corporate Supply Chain, Energy/Sustainability, Safety, Indirect Spend, Real Estate, Environmental, Regulatory Compliance, Procurement, Merchandising & Marketing and Food Safety/Quality Assurance Work directly with all levels of the organization, including C-suite executives, to evaluate, strategize and implement long-term corporate initiatives to mitigate legal risk and drive business efficiency Partner with other in-house and outside counsel to advise on investigations, disputes (government and commercial), employment, IT, IP, finance, tax, securities and other legal liability issues Directly manage, supervise and train one contracted attorney as well as four paralegals

• As one of two in-house attorneys (which included the GC) this was a true generalist role, while focused on commercial transactions, responsibilities included employment law, litigation management and corporate governance• Worked directly with C-suite executives to make recommendations regarding mitigation of legal riskResponsibilities included, but were not limited to:• Risk assessment, evaluation and minimization relative to all types of business transactions, including: international transactions, joint ventures, partnerships, real estate, financing/loan documents, ownership and licenses of intellectual property, purchase/sale of goods/services, confidentiality, insurance, employment, mergers and acquisitions, shareholder agreements, corporate resolutions, etc.• Draft, review and negotiate contracts, agreements, letters and memoranda• Evaluate, investigate, negotiate and resolve claims and disputes (insured and uninsured)• Monitor legal compliance (Corporate, FDA/USDA, ERISA, HIPPA, Environmental, etc.)• Manage outside counsel and on-going litigation• Advise and negotiate terms of business insurance (Commercial General Liability, Property, Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability and Excess/Umbrella) and employee benefits coverage as a member of insurance and benefits committee