Jacob Hodges was most recently Vice President and General Counsel of TaxAct, a subsidiary of Blucora, Inc, where he was responsible for providing legal advice on a broad range of highly complex matters affecting TaxAct and implementing the legal department's strategy. Prior to joining TaxAct, Jacob was Lead Counsel, Chief Counsel – International, and Chief Counsel – Marketing and Distribution for Commercial Metals Company. In those roles, Mr. Hodges acted as the primary legal advisor for CMC’s trading business groups, assisting with contracting, compliance and litigation matters across six continents, as well as providing legal advice to CMC more generally. In the years before his time at CMC, Mr. Hodges focused his practice on intellectual property litigation at the law firm of Haynes and Boone, where he leveraged his legal and engineering education to successfully represent inventors and innovators in several notable matters. Mr. Hodges is also a licensed patent attorney before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and served as law clerk to the honorable David C. Godbey in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where he helped manage the resolution of the Court’s case and motion docket. In the years before attending Harvard Law School, Mr. Hodges worked as a business analyst for the global business consulting firm, McKinsey and Company, where his involvement included projects related to compensation plans and centralized logistics functions for a Fortune 100 company merger. Mr. Hodges is a proud graduate of the University of Texas, where he obtained degrees in Civil Engineering and general liberal arts.