Michelle Banks is Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of Gap Inc. located in San Francisco, California.  She reports to the Chief Executive Officer, is a member of Gap Inc.’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and is the ELT sponsor of Gap Inc.’s corporate diversity council.  In her role, Michelle is responsible for oversight of the global archives, records & privacy; equity administration; governance; integrity & compliance; legal; and regulatory compliance functions.  She joined the Gap Inc. Legal Department in 1999 as a Senior Corporate Counsel. 

Before joining Gap Inc., Michelle worked in-house in California as Legal Counsel for the Golden State Warriors NBA team, and in Japan as American Counsel for ITOCHU Corporation, a publicly held trading company.  Michelle was also associated with several law firms, including Morrison & Foerster in California and New York.  Her law firm practice focused on corporate finance and international transactions. 

Michelle serves on the Board of Directors of Minority Corporate Counsel Association and is Chair of the Executive Advisory Council of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Bay Area Chapter.  She also serves as Chair of United Way of the Bay Area’s legal community cabinet.

Michelle was admitted to the California bar in 1988.  She graduated from UCLA with degrees in Law and Economics. 

 

Lisa Barrett, Esq. serves as Director, Legal Solutions at Pangea3. Based in San Francisco, she advises corporate legal departments and law firms throughout the Western United States on meeting their business objectives by incorporating outsourced legal solutions into their strategy.

Prior to joining Pangea3, Lisa was a Director, Solutions Sales and Director, Litigation Services for Thomson Reuters, Legal. In those roles, Lisa consulted with Am Law 200 law firm customers nationally identifying appropriate litigation solutions and services designed to work within the firm’s environment to improve efficiency, productivity and reduce overall legal costs.  Lisa also served as Director, Government for Thomson Reuters, Legal, working with government and academic accounts on identifying the right litigation and contracting solutions, services and legal information for their legal needs.

Lisa managed the legal and business services verticals of Elance, the leading online services portal, allowing businesses to tap into millions of qualified contractors for outsourced work. Lisa also managed Elance’s Project Services team, which provided professional project management services for outsourced work. Lisa also served as Corporate Counsel for Elance, handling contract, website and IP matters. Prior to Elance, Lisa worked at FindLaw, Inc., the leading legal portal, in product and business development and strategy, identifying legal products and services to offer on Findlaw.com.

Lisa began her legal career as a litigation associate at Paul Hastings in Los Angeles concentrating in complex business litigation.  Her appellate practice includes a 9-0 decision from the United States Supreme Court in Kokkonen v. Guardian. She was the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’s Pro Bono Associate of the Year in 1991.

Lisa received her undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Chicago and her JD from the University of Michigan.  She is a member of the California State Bar Association.

 

Ted Best is Director of Product Management for LexisNexis. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Product Management for the corporate e-Billing and Matter Management solution, CounselLink.  This includes developing the strategic product roadmap, supporting sales, marketing and business development efforts and acting as a product expert for service engagements.  As an active member of LEDES standards committee he helped develop both the LEDES 98B-I and the LEDES XML Ver.2 e-billing standards. Best brings over 20 years of technical, marketing and product management experience from companies such as AT&T, Pandesic (Intel/SAP joint venture) and Propel Software. While at Propel Software, Best helped launch the first Java based e-commerce platform design to solve reliability, scalability and performance challenges faced by large scale online commerce sites.

Best holds an MBA from the University of California, Davis and a BA in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego.

 

Charles Birenbaum is a labor and employment relations partner and managing partner of Winston & Strawn’s San Francisco office. He has experience in administrative, judicial, and arbitration litigation, collective bargaining, and NLRB practice, and advises employers on labor matters related to mergers, acquisitions, sales, reorganizations, consolidations, outsourcing, temporary employment, subcontracting, and project development.

Mr. Birenbaum represents management clients in federal and state litigation and administrative practice. His experience includes cutting-edge representation of power generators in employment law matters nationally; appellate and trial court precedents for employers in temporary, technical, and staffing services; and appellate, trial court, and legislative testimony for key precedents in the mining industry.

Mr. Birenbaum’s trial experience includes race harassment cases in U.S. district court, noncompetition matters in California Superior Court under Cal. B&P Code 17200 et seq., and unfair labor practice matters.

He has extensive NLRB experience throughout the United States, including representative cases for various bargaining units. He also has considerable experience in union “greenmail” activities before federal, state, and local government entities such as the California Energy Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as county and municipal councils, boards, and departments. In addition, Mr. Birenbaum has extensive experience handling labor disputes of all kinds, including strikes, jurisdictional disputes, and picketing.

Mr. Birenbaum has counseled and represented national construction and engineering firms and energy industry employers in collective bargaining and arbitration matters. For example, he recently negotiated contracts with the Machinists Union for two steel plant bargaining units; negotiated four project agreements for $1.2 billion in power plant construction; and negotiated a greenfield contract for a health care chair with San Francisco Union Local 399. He defeated the Teamsters in an NLRB election at a fiberglass manufacturing facility, and obtained victories in arbitration and unfair labor practice cases involving unlawful picketing, employee discharges from employment, and other issues.

Mr. Birenbaum’s industry-wide representation has included trade association litigation and appellate work, legislative testimony, and administrative record-making and advocacy for the following industries: energy, mining, temporary/technical/staff services, construction, and health care. He also is active in corporate planning and strategy for development, particularly for energy and health care employers.

 

Larry C. Boyd is executive vice president, secretary and general counsel for Ingram Micro Inc.  Ingram is the world’s largest distributor of information technology products and services.  Boyd leads a team of legal professionals located in Brussels, Lille, Munich, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Mumbai, Miami, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Toronto, and Southern California, and manages all legal aspects for Ingram’s global operations, from contract negotiations and employment issues to regulatory compliance and corporate disclosure requirements. He was promoted to this position in March 2004.

Boyd joined Ingram Micro in January 2000 as senior vice president, U.S. legal services. Prior to Ingram Micro, he was a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher where he practiced as a litigator for 22 years.

A 1977 graduate of Stanford Law School, Boyd also earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford University.  He is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association and the Association for Corporate Counsel.

 

As senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Adobe, Karen Cottle manages the company's legal interests, including intellectual property protection, licensing and corporate governance, as well as public policy and anti-piracy enforcement.

Prior to joining Adobe in 2002, Cottle served as general counsel for Vitria Technology, Inc. Previously, Cottle worked at Raychem Corporation as division counsel before being promoted to vice president, general counsel and secretary of the company. She served as business litigation partner and associate at the law firm of Farella, Braun and Martel and clerked for the United States District Court, Northern District of California.

She is a member of the California and Utah state bars and holds both a juris doctorate from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in government from Pomona College.

 

Cowie is responsible for Cadence worldwide legal operations, covering matters such as commercial transactions, corporate governance, employment, export compliance, finance, government affairs, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions and stock administration activities. Under his leadership, his organization deploys professionals in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Japan and North America.

Cowie, who has been with Cadence since 2000, most recently served as Corporate Vice President - Business Development and Associate General Counsel, a role in which he was responsible for the execution of Cadence's acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic transactions as well as being the company's lead lawyer for corporate and securities matters.

Before joining Cadence, Cowie was counsel for several divisions of National Data Corporation, a provider of health information services and electronic commerce solutions, and before that was an associate at Troutman Sanders LLP in Atlanta.

Cowie received his undergraduate degree in Economics, magna cum laude, from Duke University and his Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School. Before law school, he served four years of active duty in the United States Navy, the last 3 years aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, leaving active service as a Lieutenant.

 

Senior member of a turnaround management team that converted a 2007 $463M net loss to a 2010 $615M net income, reduced debt from $1.4B to $660M over the same period, conducted a six-month IPO process to road-show stage and announced the sale of the company for approximately $4.3B in 2011.

Head an approximately 30-member global department covering all legal, intellectual property, sales contract administration and corporate social responsibility activities for a $6 Billion revenue, 40,000 employee, 3,500 patent technology company.  Responsible for Board management, governance programs, legal compliance, IP management, trade compliance and litigation.  Provide IPO, M&A and public company systems leadership.  Support HR compensation program development and employee activities. 

Co-managed IPO and parallel company sale processes in 2010-2011.

Report to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

 

Jim Edwards joined Cubic in February 2008 as the Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Cubic’s Transportation Segment. In January 2012, he was named to his current position at Cubic.  Prior to coming to Cubic, Mr. Edwards served as SVP and General Counsel of Kratos Defense, and was previously Senior Legal Counsel for Qualcomm Incorporated. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Mr. Edwards has served as Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of Wireless Knowledge, Inc., a Qualcomm subsidiary; Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of Vapotronics, Inc., a developer of medical device technologies; Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of General Atomics, a energy and defense contractor; and General Counsel & Secretary of Logicon, Inc., a defense contractor.

Mr. Edwards is a graduate of the University of San Diego, School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctorate, and of Colorado State University, where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology, cum laude.  He helped establish the San Diego Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, serving as President.  He also has served on the national board of the organization.

 

Christopher Ekren is the Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Sony Electronics Inc. In his primary role, Chris manages the technology transactional legal affairs of Sony’s main US consumer, business and components electronics product divisions and supervises the attorneys and legal professionals supporting those groups.  He is also  involved in supporting Sony’s global Reader digital hardware and service initiative, its new global digital cinema technology and content initiative, various new platform wireless initiatives, as well as general electronics and related services new business development.

During his Sony career to date, Chris has coordinated the legal support for the establishment of Sony’s global PC business, its first online commerce activity, its first networked personal communicator product line and first internet-enabled television product.

Chris received his law degree from the University of Chicago after graduating from Rice University. Chris was President of the San Diego Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel in 2006, which won the national Chapter of the Year under his leadership. He also has served as Chair of ACC’s national IP Executive Committee. He is an internal champion of Sony’s workplace diversity initiatives and active with several local and Silicon Valley community and public policy organizations.

 

Beth Frensilli is currently General Counsel and Head of Legal for Ericsson Silicon Valley, which represents a $2.5 billion product area for Ericsson.  Ericsson is a Swedish-based global provider of telecommunications equipment with overall sales of $28 billion.

Previously, Beth has been General Counsel of several publicly traded technology companies, including Redback Networks, a networking equipment company, which was acquired by Ericsson; Commerce One, an enterprise software company; and Scient Corporation, a technology services firm.

Beth also represented a variety of technology start-ups in Silicon Valley for several years while at the law firm of Gunderson Dettmer in the technology transactions practice, and she started her career as a litigator.

 

Mary T. Huser is a partner in Bingham’s Intellectual Property Group. She previously served as co-chair of Bingham’s Intellectual Property Group, managing partner of the Silicon Valley office and co-chair of the Securities Litigation Practice Group. 

In 2008, Mary joined eBay as VP, deputy general counsel, overseeing global IP and litigation for eBay, PayPal, Skype, StubHub and other eBay subsidiaries. In that role, she oversaw the companies’ litigation ranging from patent, trademark and copyright to securities, antitrust and unfair competition matters globally; and IP involving patent, trademark, copyright and domain name matters globally. She also oversaw the company’s privacy and regulatory practices and managed the companies’ global brand protection and anti-counterfeiting strategy.

Mary has represented a broad range of clients, including high technology and biotechnology companies in suits involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets and unfair competition. She has represented companies, officers and directors, underwriters, and accountants in cases involving public offerings, private placements, limited partnerships, derivative suits and SEC investigations.

 

Karen Johnson-McKewan is an Intellectual Property partner in Orrick’s San Francisco office. Her Practice is concentrated on complex intellectual property and commercial litigation for technology and consumer products companies. Ms. Johnson-McKewan has first-chaired several trials and has significant experience litigating and trying particularly intricate cases where simplifying complex technology issues is invaluable.  Her engagements have involved matters in technology, Internet, financial, e-commerce, retail, software and gaming industries in a diverse set of courts and multiple arbitral bodies.

Ms. Johnson-McKewan's clients include leading technology and Fortune 500 companies, and she has represented, among others, NVIDIA Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Levi Strauss & Co., Google, Logitech, RockYou, Safeway and VMware.

Ms. Johnson-McKewan serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Marine Mammal Center, is Co-Chair of the Resource Board of the National Associate of Women Judges and is a member of the U.C. Davis School of Law Dean’s Advisory Council. She also remains active in the State Bar of California, Bar Association of San Francisco and American Intellectual Property Law Association. 

Ms. Johnson-McKewan graduated from University of California, Davis School of Law and also earned her bachelor’s degree from University of California, Davis.

 

Practice
Michael Kennedy is partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group based in the firm’s San Francisco office. Since 1984, he has concentrated on the corporate areas of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, corporate partnering, joint ventures and corporate governance, with an emphasis in the technology, emerging growth, healthcare, biotechnology and media industries.

He has extensive experience in the private equity and leveraged buyout industries as well as decades of experience on transactions in a number of other industries, including automotive, defense, financial services, media, technology, healthcare and building products.  He represents many major investment banks in their advisory roles on M&A deals.

In addition, Mr. Kennedy has significant experience in the debt (bank and high-yield areas) and restructuring areas.  He is frequently asked by Boards to advise on hostile transactions, proxy fights and other governance matters.

Mike has been cited since the late 1990’s in the Chambers, the PLC Which Lawyer? and Who’s Who Legal – California guides as a leading lawyer in M&A and technology.  He frequently lectures at corporate seminars and continuing legal education forums.

Education
New York University, J.D., 1984
Yale University, B.A., 1981

Bar Admission/Qualifications
California
New York

Professional Affiliations and Business Activities

• Adjunct Professor, Boalt School of Law, University of California at Berkeley in the topic of Mergers & Acquisitions (1997-present)
• Chairman, PLI Technology Mergers and Acquisitions Program (1997-2002)
• Frequent lecturer at corporate seminars (e.g. Board Member magazine) and continuing legal education forums

Publications

• “A Rising Tide for M&A,” Corporate Board Member (2003 Special Supplement)
• “The End of Time – Delaware’s Search for the Fiduciary GUT,” M&A Lawyer (2003)
• “Whole Lotta Fiduciating Going On,” M&A Lawyer (2002)
• “The Business Judgment Syllogism – Premises Governing Board Activity,” PLI (1997-2002)
• “Public Private and Private Private Acquisitions,” PLI, Securities Regulation Institute, Glasser Legalworks, M&A Lawyer (2001)
• “Pricing Terms in Stock and Cash Transactions,” PLI – Corporate Governance Reporter (1997-2002)
• “Functional Fairness – The Mechanics, Functions and Liabilities of Fairness Opinions,”
  PLI – Corporate Governance Reporter (1997-2002)

 

Andrew Kim serves as Vice President, Legal and Corporate Development and Company Secretary for NETGEAR, Inc.  Prior to joining NETGEAR, Mr. Kim served as Special Counsel in the Corporate and Securities Department of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he represented public and private technology companies in a wide range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing arrangements, securities law compliance and corporate governance. In between two terms at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, he served as Partner in the Business and Finance Department of Schwartz Cooper Chartered in Chicago, Illinois, and was an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Illinois Institute of Technology. 

Mr. Kim began practicing law with the New York firms Thacher Proffitt & Wood and Morgan Lewis & Bockius, advising clients on all aspects of corporate and securities law. Mr. Kim holds a J.D. from Cornell Law School, and received a B.A. degree in history from Yale University.

 

James (“Jim”) LaRosa, Esquire is the co-founder of JuriStaff. JuriStaff was founded in 1997 by Jim and his co-founder Cynthia Towers, Esquire. JuriStaff is proud to be a certified member of The Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). JuriStaff provides legal service and litigation management solutions to corporations and law firms. 

Jim manages JuriStaff’s substantive legal services division. JuriStaff’s substantive legal service division provides embedded (secondment) and project attorneys to handle complex legal tasks onsite or remotely. JuriStaff’s modern, no overhead, law firm model provides clients with high quality legal services at a fraction of the cost of a traditional law firm.

Prior to founding JuriStaff in 1997, Jim practiced law as litigator and trial lawyer for seven years at a law firm located in Philadelphia. Jim also authored a monthly career advice column for lawyers in the Philadelphia Bar Reporter, as well as, writing and speaking on topics effecting or relating to the legal employment market.

Jim served as the president of the board of directors for the Central Philadelphia branch of the YMCA and served on the board of directors for Contact Community Services.

Jim graduated Villanova Law School with a J.D. in May of 1990 and became a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bar the same year.  He graduated University of Scranton with B.A. in May of 1987. While at University of Scranton, Jim was elected the president of the University of Scranton Pre-Law Society.

 

Mark LeHocky is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Ross Stores, Inc.  Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, Ross is a S&P 500 company (NASDAQ: ROST) with 2011 revenues of $8.6 billion, over 50,000 employees and over 1,100 off-price retail stores operating under the “Ross Dress for Less” and “dd’s DISCOUNTS” names.  Mark manages Ross’ legal affairs.

Prior to joining Ross, Mark was Vice President and General Counsel for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc., the nation’s largest manufacturer and distributor of ice cream products.  In 2002, he helped engineer Dreyer’s multi-stage merger with Nestlé, S.A.  Prior to joining Dreyer’s, Mark was a principal in the San Francisco law firm of Freeland, Cooper, LeHocky & Hamburg, where his practice focused on litigating antitrust, intellectual property and other complex business disputes.

Mark also serves as an appointed mediator for the United States District Court for intellectual property, antitrust and other complex business disputes, and has taught at Bay Area law and business schools on the subjects of antitrust law and the interplay of litigation and business decision-making.

Mark received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) and his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.

 

Thomas M’Guinness is the head of global corporate legal of Visa Inc. He is responsible for all of the company's transactional and corporate legal affairs, including Securities Exchange Commission compliance, mergers and acquisitions activity, intellectual property portfolio management, commercial contracts, product development, network operations, marketing and sponsorships.

Previously, M'Guinness was general counsel and corporate secretary for Visa International, where he was responsible for developing and executing global and corporate legal strategy and for coordinating legal efforts among Visa's six operating regions.

M'Guinness joined Visa in 1997 as staff counsel and subsequently held vice president and senior vice president positions within the Visa International legal department. From 2002 to 2004, he was executive vice president, general counsel and chief financial officer for Visa's Latin America and Caribbean region.

Prior to joining Visa, M'Guinness was a corporate attorney for the law firm of Graham & James, LLP, focusing on corporate formation and financing, governance and business transfers for clients ranging from startups to global enterprises. Before this, he was an accountant with Arthur Young & Co., focusing on tax compliance.

M'Guinness earned his B.S. in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley and J.D. from the University of California, Davis. He has passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant examination and is a member of the California State Bar.

 

Mark Meltzer joined Intuitive Surgical in December 2007. Prior to joining Intuitive Surgical, Mr. Meltzer served as General Counsel of FoxHollow Technologies Inc from October 2004. Prior to FoxHollow, Mr. Meltzer has also served as General Counsel for Epicor Medical Inc. and Ventritex Inc. Mr. Meltzer graduated cum laude from UC Berkeley with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. He received his J.D. from UC Hastings where he served on the law review. Mr. Meltzer, a registered patent attorney, was appointed as a special master in federal court where he assisted in the evaluation and administration of complex patent cases. Mr. Meltzer has tried cases to juries and has argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. His pro bono work has included the representation of indigents and non-profits before courts and administrative agencies and volunteer service in federal anti-poverty programs.

 

Laurence H. Midler is Executive Vice President and General Counsel for CBRE.   Larry also serves as the company's Chief Compliance Officer, overseeing the Corporate Compliance Program, which was initiated in late 2004, and as the executive in charge of Corporate Responsibility efforts for the firm. 

Since joining CBRE in 2004, Larry has been engaged in a process of continual improvement of CBRE’s legal, corporate governance and compliance functions, as well as providing legal support for some key transformational events in the Company’s history.  Larry led legal efforts on the company’s initial public offering in 2004 and its $2.2 billion acquisition of Trammell Crow Company in 2006, which transformed CBRE from primarily a transaction sales & leasing company to one with balanced revenues from both transactional and contractual businesses.  Larry created the Company’s first legal & compliance group in its Asia Pacific region and led the integration of the Company’s European legal & compliance group into what became the first global legal reporting structure for the Company.  With the structure in place, Larry developed the Company’s first comprehensive Global Anti-Corruption Policy and Compliance program.  In 2011, Larry was instrumental in leading the Company through its latest transformation: the doubling of its investment management business to $100 billion in assets under management through a $1 billion acquisition of ING Group’s global real estate investment management businesses throughout Europe, Asia and the U.S.  These and other achievements earned Larry the General Counsel of the Year awards from the Century City Bar Association in 2007 and from the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2011.

Prior to joining CBRE, Mr. Midler served as General Counsel to Micro Warehouse, Inc., prior to the acquisition of its North American businesses in 2003 by CDW Corporation. Following the sale, Mr. Midler served as sole director, President and CEO and led the process of selling the company's European operations and winding up the company's affairs. At Micro Warehouse, in addition to the Legal department, Mr. Midler was responsible for Human Resources and Organizational Performance, and the Facilities and Corporate Services Departments.  Earlier, Mr. Midler was an associate at Latham & Watkins, a global law firm, in their New York City office. Mr. Midler holds a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts, with distinction, from the University of Virginia.

 

Mike Monzon is a Senior Director of Product Marketing at MarkMonitor. Mike has over 15 years of experience servicing a variety of enterprise corporations, specializing in software & Internet companies. Prior to joining MarkMonitor, Mike worked for a number of security companies including Symantec where he was responsible for the global launch of their Enterprise Security solutions. Mike also worked as a part of Ernst & Young’s specialty consulting practice where he managed their enterprise security and compliance engagements.

 

Bill Mooz is Associate General Counsel at VMware, Inc., where he heads up legal support for the company’s global Channels, Cloud and Services businesses.  In this role, Bill is responsible for identifying ways in which VMware Legal can provide more effective and efficient support through the use of automation, offshore outsourcing and collaboration.

Bill joined VMware from Oracle/Sun Microsystems where he served as Deputy General Counsel and took a sabbatical from his legal role to found and run Sun’s utility computing business.  He began his legal career as an international and antitrust lawyer at Holland & Hart, LLP, where he served as the firm’s lawyer in residence in Mexico City and, subsequently, as managing partner of one of the firm’s offices.  He also has been the General Counsel for two start-up technology companies.

Bill received his J.D. with honors from the University of Colorado School of Law and his B.A. in Political Economics from Colorado College.  He was a judicial clerk for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and is a past president of the Colorado Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee at the University of Colorado Law School.

 

Ganesh, co-founder of the world’s first legal outsourcing company, has ensured Mindcrest’s position as industry leader since its inception in 2001. Under his leadership, Mindcrest has become synonymous with quality and value to lawyers in the U.S. and Europe.

Throughout his career, Ganesh has acted as an advisor to several Fortune 500 companies in areas, such as market-entry strategies, capital raising activities, joint venture arrangements, strategic alliances and various commercial arrangements, including mergers and acquisitions. His vast cross-border experience and deep insight into international investment issues enabled him to guide U.S. and U.K. clients on investment propositions in India. His keen global legal acumen was instrumental in guiding numerous multi-nationals in making their entry into India.

Prior to Mindcrest, Ganesh was a partner and spearheaded the India practice at McGuire Woods LLP, an international law firm of 900 attorneys. It was there that Ganesh met George Hefferan, and together with Rohan Dalal and Teju Deshpande, they founded Mindcrest.

With his vast and varied experience, Ganesh has become a leading authority in the international legal industry, and has addressed many industry forums, bar associations and law schools internationally.

Ganesh has an MBA from Brigham Young University in Utah and a JD from Washington University in St. Louis. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Bombay and a graduate degree in management from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune.

Ganesh brings 20 years of business and legal experience to Mindcrest.

 

Kristen Palumbo’s practice primarily focuses on antitrust litigation and counseling and complex commercial litigation, including breach of contract, fraud, unfair competition, copyright, trade secret and bankruptcy-related matters. She works extensively on high-stakes litigation before state and federal courts and before various arbitration tribunals. Kristen also advises clients in connection with antitrust investigations and subpoenas issued by the U.S. Department of Justice. She has represented clients in a wide range of industries, including energy, freight forwarding, accounting, medical products, biometric authorization and payment solutions, microprocessors, printers and related supplies, and enterprise software and support services. She has also represented pro bono clients in a variety of matters.

Kristen regularly advises clients on electronic discovery and document retention matters and supervises electronic discovery efforts. She has experience in all phases of litigation, including pre-filing investigations and counseling, filing/responding to complaints, discovery, all types of motion practice, settlement, trial and arbitration, and she has worked extensively with experts.

Kristen joined the firm after law school, during which she was managing editor of the University of San Francisco Law Review.

 

Michael Pontrelli is senior director and corporate discovery consultant in the Western United States for Applied Discovery. In this role, Mr. Pontrelli consults with corporate legal departments and their outside law firms to navigate the entire electronic discovery process. He also works with clients to develop processes and cost-saving strategies in matters involving the collection, processing and review of large amounts of email and other electronic data. His clients include many Fortune 500 corporations. 

Before joining Applied Discovery, Mr. Pontrelli practiced in the San Francisco office of The Goldman Law Firm, where his work focused on medical malpractice defense and business litigation.  Mr. Pontrelli then joined iEnvision Technology, Inc., a systems and solutions integration company in the Bay Area.  At iEnvision, Mr. Pontrelli consulted with law firms and corporate legal departments to design technology solutions based upon the needs of the firm or legal department.

Mr. Pontrelli is a frequent speaker on the topic of electronic discovery and document review. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and his J.D. from California Western in San Diego. He is a member of the State Bar of California.

 

Alexandra Ross, Associate General Counsel at Wal-Mart Stores, manages privacy law and compliance for Walmart’s Global Ecommerce, marketing, social media and mobile initiatives.  Alexandra graduated from UC Hastings College of the Law and has an undergraduate theater degree from Northwestern University.  She began her legal career at Thelen Reid and Priest in the Intellectual Property department and has worked for several small software companies in the Bay Area.  A Certified Information Privacy Professional, she is active with the IAPP and the Privacy and Ecommerce Committee of the Bay Area Chapter of the ACC.

 

Phillip Rudolph is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Jack in the Box Inc., which he joined in November 2007.  Mr. Rudolph came to Jack in the Box from Ethical Leadership Group, a Chicago-based ethics consultancy where, from January 2006 through October 2007, he was Vice President & General Counsel, in addition to maintaining a full complement of consulting clients.

From August 2003 through December 2005, he was a partner in the DC office of Foley, Hoag, a Boston-based law firm, where he specialized in advising clients in the area of Corporate Responsibility.  Prior to that, Phil was a Vice President in the legal department at McDonald’s Corporation between March 1998 and February 2003, where, among other roles, he was Deputy General Counsel, U.S. General Counsel and International General Counsel.  He also developed and oversaw the company’s global ethical sourcing program.

Mr. Rudolph began his career in the LA office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in September 1983.  He moved to the DC office of the firm in 1985, was elected to the partnership in 1991, and remained with the firm as an antitrust and litigation partner until he joined McDonald’s in 1998.

Mr. Rudolph graduated magna cum laude from the University of California at Irvine in 1980, with a BA in political science.  He received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1983.  He is a member of the Bars of the States of California and Illinois, and of the District of Columbia, and is also licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States and several United States Courts of Appeals and District Courts.

 

Speaker bio coming soon...

 

Scott N. Semel is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of IntraLinks. IntraLinks is a leading, global provider of Software-as-a-Service solutions for securely sharing and managing content in a controlled, compliant and secure way. With IntraLinks, collaboration can occur anywhere, anytime while maintaining the management and control of enterprise systems. More than one million professionals in multiple industries have utilized IntraLinks' easy-to-use, cloud-based solutions.

• IntraLinks was used to develop 13 of the top 20 selling global medicines in 2010
• IntraLinks has been used for $19 trillion worth of strategic financial transactions
• The 50 largest banks, 25 largest law firms, and 10 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world have used IntraLinks
• 9 of the top 15 largest private equity funds in the past 12 months were raised on IntraLinks

Previously, Scott served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Novell, Inc. Prior to joining Novell, Mr. Semel was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Tele Atlas N.V., a Dutch Euronext company providing digital mapping and navigation solutions. Mr. Semel has also served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for several NASDAQ listed companies, Ascential Software Corporation and NaviSite, Inc. In addition, Mr. Semel has engaged in the private practice of law with GTC Law Group LLC.

 

Ingram Micro Inc., headquartered in Santa Ana (Orange County), California, is the world’s largest wholesale distributor of IT products and services, with sales exceeding $34.5 billion in fiscal 2010.  It is listed on the NYSE and was ranked 80 on the Fortune 500 list for revenue in 2010.  The company and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,000 associates and operate sales and distribution networks in the United States, Canada, most of the European Union nations, Asia and Latin America.  Ingram Micro completed its $360 million initial public offering in November 1996 in connection with a split-off from its former parent, Ingram Industries.  Ingram Micro began business in 1979, operating as Micro D Inc., a California corporation.  Through a series of acquisitions, mergers and organic growth, Ingram Micro’s global footprint, product breadth and service capabilities have expanded and strengthened in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa), Asia Pacific, and Latin America. 

Ms. Hughes joined Ingram Micro’s Worldwide Legal Department in March 1997.  Her duties include responsibility for Ingram Micro on corporate securities and other regulatory matters (including NYSE and SEC public disclosure requirements), corporate governance (including board of director matters), corporate finance (including negotiating multi-million dollar financing transactions around the world), treasury, tax, executive compensation, stock plans, and other matters.  In addition, Ms. Hughes supports the company’s executive vice president, secretary and general counsel in a variety of corporate legal matters, including responsibilities as assistant corporate secretary of the company.

Ms. Hughes was born in Hong Kong.  She attended Williams College and received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1985.  A 1988 graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, she was the recipient of Moot Court Best Brief Award in 1986 and was the Articles Editor of The Industrial Relations Law Journal from 1987 to 1988.  She was admitted to the State Bar of California in December 1988.  Before joining Ingram Micro, Ms. Hughes was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.  Ms. Hughes also previously served as a member of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association and as Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Heart Association.

Ms. Hughes was recently elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.  Ms. Hughes has also been appointed to serve on the Orange County Chapter of the California Law Academy Strategic Task Force, a joint project of the California Department of Education and the State Bar of California to build a pipeline of diverse high school students in the California public school system who are aware of and interested in careers in the legal profession.

 

Steven E. Zipperstein is former vice president – legal and external affairs, general counsel and secretary for Verizon Wireless, responsible for the company’s legal, regulatory, compliance, and federal and state public policy matters.

Zipperstein has served as vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless since January 2004. Prior to that he was deputy general counsel for Verizon Communications from June 2000 through December 2003, and previously served as deputy general counsel for GTE Corporation.

Before joining GTE in 1997, Zipperstein served as Chief Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles and held a variety of positions at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. in both the first Bush and Clinton administrations.

Zipperstein also taught for several years as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He began his legal career with Hufstedler, Miller, Carlson & Beardsley in downtown Los Angeles in 1983.

Zipperstein earned his juris doctor degree from the University of California at Davis and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Los Angeles.