Karen Leu is the SVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Burlington Stores, Inc., a NYSE-listed Fortune 500 company that operates over 900 stores nationally as on off-price retailer of in-season, fashion-focused merchandise.

Prior to joining Burlington in 2017, Ms. Leu served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary of The Avon Company, a then $1 billion consumer products company in the U.S., following the spin-off off from the global business of Avon Products, Inc. where she served as Vice President, General Counsel North America and in other positions over ten years.

Prior to joining Avon, Ms. Leu was Assistant General Counsel at Tyco International advising its new management team and board of directors, and previously served as a corporate associate at Latham & Watkins in New York.

Ms. Leu has over 20 years of experience with publicly traded companies and law firms, focusing during her career on corporate, governance, securities, finance, mergers & acquisitions, international transactions, executive compensation, employment, litigation and ethics & compliance.
Ms. Leu received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, and B.S. in international economics from Georgetown University.

Benjamin Sibbett’s practice encompasses a broad range of domestic and cross-border M&A transactions for a roster of top corporate clients. He has particular expertise leading multi-jurisdictional and multi-practice teams supporting non-US corporate clients that are investing in the United States. He has been independently recognized in Chambers USA (Corporate/M&A), IFLR1000, The Legal 500 US (Corporate/M&A) and The Legal 500 Latin America (Corporate/M&A), with sources saying that he “has a standout client base,” is “smart, responsive and practical” and is “always a pleasure to work with.”
Ben is Co-Head of the Americas Corporate practice and a member of the firm’s Americas Management Committee and Global Corporate Leadership Group. He is an appointed member of the firm’s global Audit & Risk Committee and a former elected member of the firm’s global Partnership Council.

Daniel Kim has been Vice President – Associate General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Fortive Corporation, an S&P 500 industrial conglomerate, since Fortive became a public company in 2016.  Prior to joining Fortive, Daniel was the Associate General Counsel – Chief Transaction Counsel of Beckman Coulter, a medical device company within Danaher Corporation from 2010 to 2016.  Prior to joining Danaher, Daniel was in private practice at Latham & Watkins and Glaser Weil.  Daniel received his JD from Columbia Law School and his BA in philosophy from UC Berkeley.

Atul Porwal is Senior Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Snap Inc. He joined Snap Inc. in 2015 and oversees various corporate matters including public reporting, securities issuances, mergers and acquisitions, investments, corporate governance matters, and international expansion. Prior to joining Snap Inc., Mr. Porwal was an attorney at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto, and before that, an engineer at General Motors. Mr. Porwal holds a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, and a Masters in Engineering and a Bachelors in Industrial Engineering both from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Lisa Keith is the EVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Steven Madden, Ltd., where she oversees all legal matters for Steve Madden and its portfolio of brands, including Betsey Johnson, Blondo, Dolce Vita, Greats, and BB Dakota. Prior to joining Steve Madden, Lisa was a senior associate at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, where she specialized in intellectual property law and represented clients in the fashion, technology, food and beverage and luxury goods industries.

Lisa began her legal career at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where she practiced in the litigation department. Lisa has written and spoken on a variety of legal topics.
Lisa earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Brandeis University.

Scott Kindle is a Strategic Partnership Executive for Mediant, responsible for managing Channel partner relationships for the Issuer Solutions Team while providing training and sales assistance to drive continued growth. Joining Mediant in 2016 with an extensive background in sales, he previously served as Relationship Manager in the Issuer Solutions Group. Mr. Kindle holds a BS in business administration from East Carolina University and a Certificate of Finance from Duke University. He also serves as President of The Caswell County Recreation Development Fund.

Molly Treese serves as Chief Legal Officer for Teradata and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team. She also serves as the Executive Sponsor of the Company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) program.

As Chief Legal Officer, Molly leads Teradata’s global Law Department, overseeing all legal affairs of the company and guiding its Ethics & Compliance function. She additionally serves as Corporate Secretary, responsible for managing the integrity of Teradata’s governance framework and serving as a liaison to Teradata’s Board of Directors and shareholders.

For more than 20 years, Molly has counseled board and executive leadership on strategic corporate initiatives and transactions, regulatory and compliance matters, corporate governance, and commercial contracting. She has provided expert legal counsel to Teradata prior to, during and after its formation as a public company in 2007. Prior to that, Molly held in-house legal positions of increasing responsibility at NCR. She began her career as an attorney in private practice in Washington, DC and New York City.
Molly earned a law degree from the George Washington University Law School, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business School.

Chris Gaskill joined Summit Materials in 2015 and has served in various roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. Prior to joining Summit Materials, Mr. Gaskill served in senior legal roles at The Western Union Company and Cardinal Health, Inc. He began his career at Simpson Thacher & bartlett, LLP in Ney York City. Mr. Gaskill has a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of Colorado Goodwill, on of the state’s largest 501(c)3) organizations.

Liz has served as Assistant Corporate Secretary for AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company with approximately $41 billion in assets and operations in 24 states, since June 2016 and was appointed Vice President – Deputy General Counsel in April 2020. Liz oversees the corporate legal team and provides strategic advice and counsel to AVANGRID’s senior management and board of directors in the areas of corporate governance, securities law compliance and public disclosures, and corporate finance. Liz was previously an associate attorney at BakerHostetler LLP in Cleveland, Ohio and Verrill Dana LLP in Portland, Maine.

Liz holds a B.A. from Tufts University and a J.D. from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law School, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Case Western Reserve Law Review and is a member of the Order of the Coif. Liz is a member of the Maine Bar and lives in Cumberland, Maine with her husband and two daughters.

Francesca Don Angelo is the Deputy General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at Galaxy Digital. Galaxy Digital is a technology-driven financial services firm in the digital asset and blockchain ecosystem. Prior to joining Galaxy, Francesca was a Managing Director, Managing Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at BNY Mellon, where she advised the company on securities, corporate governance and board matters. Previously, she was a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in the corporate finance and financial institutions groups. She began her career as a Financial Analyst in Investment Management at Goldman Sachs. Francesca received a B.A. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Sophia Lee leads Altus Power’s legal strategy and sustainability program while advancing Altus Power’s portfolio of solar generation, storage and EV charging assets.

Prior to joining Altus Power in 2021, Sophia was General Counsel of IEX, where she led the highly-scrutinized SEC approval process to become a national securities exchange and helped launch other data, API and blockchain businesses. Prior to that, Sophia was Deputy General Counsel of Liquidnet, where she worked with global regulators to establish trading venues around the world and managed all corporate transactions. Sophia started her career as a Technology Associate at Morgan Stanley and a Mergers & Acquisitions Associate at Paul Weiss. Sophia has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. and a JD from NYU Law and is a registered attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Anshu Pasricha serves as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of Astec Industries, Inc. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Astec, he is responsible for managing a cross-functional team handling legal, compliance and risk matters, and advising other senior officers and the Board on transformation of business, M&A execution and integration, strategy, and ESG matters.  In addition, as Corporate Secretary, Anshu serves as a liaison between the board of directors and the company and is responsible for all corporate governance matters.

Prior to joining Astec in 2020, Anshu was in private practice, counseling public and private clients on corporate governance matters, including defense strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic positioning and expanding in international markets.

Anshu earned his J.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo, where he also completed graduate coursework in international trade and economic geography. Anshu is a member of American Bar Association, National Association of Corporate Directors, and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Heather L. Houston is the Senior Vice President, Chief Counsel, Corporate & Secretary for Empire State Realty Trust. Mrs. Houston is co-head of the legal department and responsible for overseeing all facets of corporate governance, public company reporting, securities law matters, corporate transactions, compliance matters, HR matters, IP matters and commercial contracts.

She joined ESRT in 2020 after growing her career at Cognizant Technology Solutions and Skadden, Arps, Slate, and Meagher & Flom LLP.

She received a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Washington College and has a J.D. magna cum laude from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Mehgan Peetz, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Shoals Technologies, a publicly traded renewable energy company in Tennessee. She was formerly the Deputy General Counsel, Assistant Corporate Secretary at SmileDirectClub, a publicly traded oral healthcare company, based in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to this role, Mehgan was an Executive at General Electric, working at GE Lighting and Current, based in Boston and Cleveland. Before the foray into company counsel, Mehgan practiced at the law firms of Ropes and Gray in Boston and Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, primarily in private equity mergers and acquisitions and finance. Mehgan graduated cum laude from University of Michigan Law School and cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, studying psychology and pre-medicine.

Daniel Silver focuses on regulatory enforcement and white collar criminal defense matters. Dan represents individuals, investment funds, banks and other corporate entities in matters before the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal and state enforcement agencies. Dan also counsels clients on risk mitigation strategies with respect to cybersecurity, anti-corruption, sanctions and anti-money laundering issues.

Prior to joining Clifford Chance, Dan spent ten years as a federal prosecutor, serving in several senior leadership positions and as Chief of the National Security and Cybercrime Section within the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. In the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dan supervised a team of more than one hundred federal prosecutors, personally led complex cross-border investigations, conducted more than a dozen jury trials, and argued numerous appeals. Dan is a member of our Corporate Culture and Cyber Security Risk teams.

Melodie Craft is a corporate lawyer and business advisor with more than two decades of experience strategically advising public and private companies nationwide. She has served as a law firm partner at a large US national firm and as VP of Legal and Corporate Secretary for a publicly traded company. Melodie has experience in a range of companies and industries, having advised public and private company clients and boards, including from Fortune 50 companies, hedge funds, private equity, to start-ups.

In addition to her legal J.D., Melodie has expertise on HR issues and has a Master’s Degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations. Melodie also has expertise in risk management, including heading McGrath’s Risk Management Department and she obtained a Certificate in Strategic Decision Making and Risk Management through Stanford University, which involved a two year program and graded coursework. She has a business perspective beyond her legal lens and obtained a Certificate of Excellence in Global Business through Yale University, which involved two years of coursework and a thesis project.

Melodie is also active in the professional community. She is co-chair of the Compliance Affinity Group for the National Association of Women Lawyers. She is also a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Corporate Counsel Section of the State Bar as well as a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee for the National Association of Women Lawyers. Additionally, she is a member of the Programming Committee for the Texas General Counsel Forum, member of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, and member of the Society for Corporate Governance.

Melodie is a frequent speaker and trainer and has presented on many compliance, ESG, and legal topics to such groups as the Association of Corporate Counsel, Chambers of Commerce, Society of Human Resources National Diversity Conference, Corporate Secretary National ESG Forum Conference, Women, Influence, Power, & Law National Conference, and the Driving Diversity in Law & Leadership Summit. She has also contributed to numerous books and publications on legal topics.

Ben Maiden is the editor of Corporate Secretary, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance issues affecting broker-dealers and asset management firms in the US and Europe. Before that, he was editor of Euromoney Institutional Investor’s International Financial Law Review and IFLR’s Americas editor, working in London and New York.

Lauren McDonald is a conference producer at IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary. She brings a wealth of experience from her past roles in campaign organising for The Labour Party in Leeds and Tower Hamlets.

Lauren holds a Masters degree in the History of Race & Resistance and a Bachelors degree in American History & Politics, both from prestigious universities. She uses her expertise and knowledge to inform her current work and ensure high quality outcomes.

In her free time, Lauren is actively involved in a number of charitable causes. She has volunteered with the Girl Guides, the Los Angeles LGBT Centre, and regularly donates her time to political campaigns in and around London.

In her role as conference producer at IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary, Lauren is passionate about providing the best experience to all stakeholders and ensuring all events she produces are of the highest quality.

Laurence Taylor is a senior conference producer at IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary. In his current role, he researches and curates industry-leading conferences in investor relations and corporate governance. Prior to joining IR Magazine, Laurence worked as a Senior Conference Producer at Westminster Insight and Fast Markets. Laurence holds a BA in English Literature from the Queen Mary University of London.

Laurence is learning to speak fluent Japanese and French in his spare time.

Steve Wade is a content researcher and conference producer at IR Magazine where he is responsible for crowd-sourcing intelligence on the big global issues facing investor relations. Steve also creates events where the IROs and the wider financial community can discuss, debate and learn about ways to develop the IR function.

Prior to IR Magazine, Steven’s background has been in corporate social responsibility and responsible investment. During his time at Ethical Corporation (now Reuters Events), Steve launched the ESG symposium, an event focused on connecting the socially responsible investment community with corporate sustainability leaders at listed companies. Steve was a judge for the Deloitte Green Frog Awards, celebrating the best corporate reporting in Eastern Europe. Steve also presented research at the Global Sustainable Event Summit in London and has spoken about extra-financial reporting with the United Nations Global Compact, the World Bank and the Polish Ministry of Finance.

Steve has a degree in Event Management and enjoys playing rugby in his spare time.