Women We Admire is pleased to announce The Top 50 Chief Legal Officers of 2024. The Chief Legal Officer (CLO) has an extremely important role on the executive leadership team. The CLO leads the legal department at companies, organizations, educational institutions, government departments, and law firms. The main goal of this role is to minimize legal risk for the entity they serve and to provide management and guidance to the team of in-house attorneys.
Before being appointed to a CLO role, executives must have a law degree and extensive experience as a practicing lawyer. The Chief Legal Officers we honor as leaders in their field serve some of the most well-known companies and organizations on the planet.
Our honorees include Vanessa Benavides, the Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Kaiser Permanente, one of America's leading integrated healthcare providers, serving more than 12 million members. Benavides is also the general counsel for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals and manages the legal, compliance, and regulatory functions.
Next, we acknowledge the accomplishments of Elizabeth Forminard, the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Johnson & Johnson, a pioneer in healthcare innovation. With deep global experience, Forminard has built and led international teams, driving innovation and enabling positive patient outcomes.
Finally, we recognize a leader in the tech sector, Jennifer Newstead, the Chief Legal Officer of Meta, the technology company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, and more. Newstead brings over three decades of experience to this role, including serving as general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 50 Chief Legal Officers of 2024.
1. Vanessa Benavides
Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Kaiser Permanente
Vanessa Benavides is the Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Kaiser Permanente, one of America's leading integrated healthcare providers and not-for-profit health plans serving more than 12 million members. Benavides also serves as the general counsel for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals and manages the legal, compliance, and regulatory functions. In this role, she is responsible for implementing an integrated approach to foster a better understanding of enterprise risks and solutions, while advancing support of evolving business strategies. Benavides joined Kaiser Permanente in 2015 as chief compliance and privacy officer.
Benavides is a member of the board of directors of the CDC Foundation, an independent nonprofit created by Congress to mobilize philanthropic and private sector resources to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s critical health protection work. She is also a member of the board of directors of The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth. Benavides also served on the national board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign.
Previously, Benavides was a vice president and chief compliance officer at Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Before that, she was a legal counsel at Caremark Rx. Earlier in her career, she worked with Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP as an associate. Benavides holds a law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law, where she served as articles editor for the Iowa Law Review. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is a California Registered In-House Counsel. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University.
2. Elizabeth Forminard
Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Johnson & Johnson
Elizabeth Forminard is Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Johnson & Johnson, and she’s a member of the Company’s Executive Committee. She serves as legal advisor to the board of directors and company executives and is responsible for shaping legal strategy worldwide. Forminard also oversees the company’s environmental, social, and governance strategy, office of the corporate secretary, and privacy organization. In addition, she serves as the executive sponsor of the Open & Out LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group.
Since joining Johnson & Johnson in 2006, Forminard has served as general counsel across each of the pharmaceuticals, consumer health, and medtech sectors, as well as vice president leading the corporate governance function and numerous other functional and business-facing roles. With deep global experience, including responsibility for the legal function in each region and a global assignment in the Asia Pacific region, Forminard has built and led global teams who share her passion for the role legal can play in driving innovation and enabling positive patient outcomes.
Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Forminard developed extensive regulatory legal experience as an associate at a top international law firm, and in positions of increasing responsibility with the North America and Asia Pacific legal operations of Pfizer Inc. Forminard holds a BA from Cornell University and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
4. Dianne Ralston
Chief Legal Officer, SLB
Dianne Ralston is the Chief Legal Officer of SLB. She first joined the company in 2020. SLB is a technology company that unlocks access to energy for the benefit of all. As innovators, that's been their mission for nearly a century. Today, they face a global imperative to create a future with more energy, but less carbon. Their diverse, innovative change-makers are focused on going further in innovation and inventing the new energy technologies they need to get there.
Previously, Ralston was an executive vice president, chief legal officer, and secretary at TechnipFMC. Before that, she was a senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary at FMC Technologies. Earlier in her career, she worked with Shell as a procurement manager.
Ralston earned a JD in Law from the University of Houston Law Center and an undergraduate degree in marketing and production and operations management from Texas A&M University.
5. Jennifer Newstead
Chief Legal Officer, Meta
Jennifer Newstead is Chief Legal Officer at Meta, formerly Facebook, overseeing all global legal and corporate governance matters on behalf of the company. Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses.
Newstead has 30 years of experience. Before joining Meta in 2019, she served in senior roles in government, most recently as the Senate-confirmed legal adviser of the US Department of State, advising on issues of domestic and international law affecting the conduct of US foreign relations. Previously, she served as general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and as a principal deputy assistant attorney general at the US Department of Justice. In the private sector, Newstead spent twelve years as a partner in a global law firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, advising technology, media, and financial services firms on litigation and regulatory matters.
Newstead graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and Yale Law School. Newstead clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court and Judge Laurence Silberman of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. She previously served as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center.
10. Kate Ward
Chief Legal Officer, KFC US
Kate Ward is the Chief Legal Officer of KFC US. The KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the few brands in America that can boast about having a rich, 60-year history of success and innovation. KFC is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain and a division of Yum! Brands, the world's largest restaurant company.
Ward started with KFC in 2016 as the legal director. As the in-house counsel, she provided legal support concerning employment matters, non-franchise litigation, and real estate across the KFC US system. She was promoted to a higher-level director role in 2019, where she provided legal support for key marketing, advertising, and digital and technology initiatives. She started her current role in 2023. Previously, Ward was an associate at Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP.
Ward earned a JD in law from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Louisville.
11. Cristina Gonzalez
Chief Legal Officer, Staples
Cristina Gonzalez is the Chief Legal Officer of Staples, a Massachusetts-based multinational retail company that sells workspace products, such as furniture, electronics, and office supplies for individuals and businesses. In her role, Gonzalez oversees all facets of the Framingham-headquartered office supply company’s legal department, including corporate, operations, employment, litigation, and compliance support. She is also responsible for advising senior leadership, developing talent, and managing a significant budget.
While at Staples over the last 14 years, Gonzalez founded and co-chairs HOLA, an employee affinity group for Hispanics and Latinos, and is a founding member of Staples’ Global Diversity Council, a 15-member group of business leaders overseeing worldwide diversity strategies and metrics. Before joining Staples, Gonzalez was a senior corporate counsel at Teradyne, Inc. Before that, she was a counsel and associate at Bingham McCutchen. Earlier in her career, she worked with the Fleet, and Industrial Supply Center of the US Department of Navy as a contracts negotiator.
Gonzalez holds an MBA from George Washington University and a law degree from Georgetown University. She is involved in numerous boards and professional associations, including the Association for Latino Professionals.
13. Janet Norton
Chief Legal Officer, Vice President & Corporate Secretary, Baptist Health System KY & IN
Janet Norton is the Chief Legal Officer, Vice President, and Corporate Secretary for Baptist Health. Founded in 1924 in Louisville, Kentucky, Baptist Health is a full-spectrum health system dedicated to improving the health of the communities it serves. In this role, Norton oversees a staff of eight attorneys who provide legal services for Baptist Health and provides board support for more than 30 affiliated corporations. Norton also oversees Baptist Health’s compliance, government relations, information cybersecurity, enterprise risk management, and insurance departments and has responsibility for litigation matters.
Norton joined Baptist in 1988 as corporate counsel and was named vice president and general counsel in 1999 and chief legal officer in 2014. In 2017, she served as interim co-CEO of Baptist Health, while the system conducted a national search for a permanent CEO. Before joining Baptist Health, Norton served as legal counsel at Humana Inc. and as an attorney with the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
Norton is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and the University of Kentucky School of Law. She serves as a board member and chair of the Kentucky Institute on Patient Safety and Quality Inc.; as a board member for the Partnership for Commonsense Justice Inc. and St. Joseph’s Home, Little Sisters of the Poor; and as a volunteer for several additional community organizations. She is a graduate of the Leadership Louisville program and the Health Enterprises Network’s Healthcare Fellows program and was named one of Louisville Business First’s Enterprising Women in 2020. She is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association, Kentucky Academy of Hospital Attorneys, Association for Corporate Counsel, Kentucky Society for Healthcare Risk Management, Louisville Forum, and Healthcare Roundtable for General Counsel.
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14. Laura MacNeel
Chief Legal Officer, Aya Healthcare
Laura MacNeel joined Aya Healthcare in January 2016 as its first in-house attorney. MacNeel currently serves as Aya Healthcare’s Chief Legal Officer and in this role, she manages its legal department and advises Aya on various legal matters, including litigation, employment, contracting, risk management, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, compliance, and governmental affairs. Headquartered in San Diego, Aya Healthcare is the nation's largest travel nurse and allied staffing agency, as well as a leading provider of locums, per diem, and non-clinical staffing.
Before joining Aya, MacNeel worked at Finch, Thornton & Baird, LLP, for eight years, where she specialized her practice in representing management in labor and employment matters, as well as representing clients in business litigation and construction law cases.
MacNeil received her JD from the University of San Diego School of Law, from, where she graduated cum laude and was made a member of the Order of the Coif and Order of Barristers. In law school, MacNeel was on the Appellate Moot Court National Team and served as a member of its board. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Spanish from Duke University.
19. Christy O’Connor
Chief Legal Officer, ibex
Christy O’Connor has served as Chief Legal Officer of ibex since March 2018. ibex delivers innovative business process outsourcing, smart digital marketing, online acquisition technology, and end-to-end customer engagement solutions to help companies acquire, engage, and retain valuable customers.
From 2015 to 2018, O’Connor worked for Alorica, a provider of customer management outsourcing solutions, as the chief legal and compliance officer from 2015 through 2017 and as a legal advisor after that. From 2014 to 2015, O’Connor was the general counsel and chief legal officer at SourceHOV. From 2011 to 2014, she was the deputy general counsel for Stream Global Services. O’Connor holds a BA/MA from the University of Chicago. She has a JD from St. Mary’s University School of Law and a degree in International Law from the University of Innsbruck.
21. Katrina Lindsey
Chief Legal Officer, Casey's
Katrina Lindsey is the Chief Legal Officer at Casey’s General Store Inc. in Ankeny, IA. In this role, Lindsey provides strategic oversight for legal, corporate reporting, risk management, compliance, enterprise risk management, government relations, and food safety.
Lindsey is also a strategic advisor to the executive leadership team and the board of directors. Before joining Casey’s in January 2022, Lindsey served as senior vice president, deputy general counsel, and chief compliance officer for The ODP Corporation (“ODP”) in Boca Raton, FL.
Before joining ODP, Lindsey served as Senior vice president, division general counsel – employment law and dispute/litigation management for Darden Restaurants, Inc. in Orlando, FL, and as senior counsel, employment and litigation, at the Walt Disney World Resort. Lindsey holds a JD from Stetson University, College of Law, and a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Florida State University.
23. Kathleen Peacock
Chief Legal Officer, Morningstar
Kathleen Peacock is the Chief Legal Officer for Morningstar. Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets.
Peacock is responsible for directing Morningstar’s legal and compliance department and managing its relationships with outside counsel. She provides counsel to Morningstar’s Board of Directors and management on legal and regulatory issues, legal risk management, transactions, and other business growth strategies.
Peacock has over 20 years in the financial services industry across sales, trading, capital markets, financial markets infrastructure, and data and analytics. Most recently, Peacock worked at the London Stock Exchange Group, where she led the legal team within the global Data & Analytics division. Before joining LSEG, she spent 10 years in the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC in both London and New York. She has strong expertise in guiding business expansion through M&A, changing regulatory environments, managing litigation, and protecting intellectual property. Peacock earned her law degree at the National University of Singapore and began her career in Singapore as an associate at Allen & Gledhill before joining Allen & Overy.
24. Angela Hilt
Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, The Clorox Company
Angela Hilt is the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of The Clorox Company. For over 100 years, The Clorox Company has been making innovative products that generations of people around the world trust to make their lives and the world a little bit better. In this role, which she assumed in October 2022, Hilt oversees worldwide legal, ethics, and compliance; corporate secretary; government affairs; crisis management; enterprise risk management and insurance; and chairs the company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Steering Committee.
Since joining the company in 2005, Hilt has held various positions of increasing responsibility. Most recently, she served as vice president, corporate secretary, and deputy general counsel, with responsibility for legal support of mergers and acquisitions, securities law, and corporate finance, as well as for corporate governance and the company’s stockholder engagement program. Her prior roles included overseeing legal matters for the company’s International, Specialty, and Cleaning divisions.
Previously, Hilt practiced corporate law at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP in San Francisco. She is a past president of the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and served on the board of directors of the Society for Corporate Governance. Hilt holds a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.
29. Mary Hilliard
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Children's National Health System
Mary Anne Hilliard is Executive Vice President And Chief Legal Officer at Children's National Hospital. Under Hilliard’s leadership, Children’s National has enjoyed numerous patient safety awards and distinctions, including Leapfrog designation several years in a row, the Child Health Corporation of America Race for Results award (twice), the George Mason Quality Improvement of the Year Award and the DC Hospital Association Patient Safety Award. Children’s National was also among the first in the country to launch a patient safety program that materially prevented harm through coordinated workforce engagement. As part of this cultural change effort, Hilliard worked with federal congressional staff on legislation that advanced the organization’s high-reliability safety approach and served as a model across all US hospitals.
Committed to the concept that the best way to manage risk is to prevent it, Hilliard has led many local and national grant-funded initiatives to share risk data and study pediatric outcomes to reduce serious adverse events. On the financial side of risk management, she was involved in the creation of two captive insurance companies and is responsible for the ongoing operation of those corporate entities. Hilliard has led a governance transformation effort, which empowered and modernized the influence of the Children’s Board thus positioning Children’s National to protect and advance its mission of excellence during the pandemic and into the future.
After serving many years as the president of the local American Society of Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM), Hilliard was elected to serve a three-year term on the National Board of ASHRM. In 2012, she served as the President of ASHRM and led a “Journey to Zero” campaign that focused on eliminating preventable errors in treatment. She was inducted into the 2020 class of American Academy of Nursing fellows. Hilliard graduated from The Catholic University of America with a JD in health law.
30. Lynn McCreary
Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, Sportradar
Lynn McCreary has served as Chief Legal Officer and Secretary since June 2021 and Chief Administrative Officer since December 2022 of Sportradar. Sportradar Group AG founded in 2001, is a leading global sports technology company creating immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors. Positioned at the intersection of the sports, media, and betting industries, the company provides sports federations, news media, consumer platforms, and sports betting operators with a best-in-class range of solutions to help grow their business.
Before joining Sportradar, McCreary served as chief legal officer, chief ethics and compliance officer, and corporate secretary at Fiserv, Inc. a global fintech and payments company, from July 2013 to March 2021, serving as the company’s deputy general counsel from March 2010 to July 2013 and was a partner at Bryan Cave LLP from January 2003 to March 2010. McCreary has served on the board of directors of NMI Holdings, Inc. since May 2019, is on the Risk Committee, and is the Chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee. McCreary also serves on the board of Thredd Group Limited, a UK-based payments company, where she chairs the risk committee. She also serves on the board of Washburn University School of Law and is a Trustee of Washburn University. McCreary holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western New England University and a JD from Washburn University School of Law.
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34. Ranmali Bopitiya
Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Oscar Health
Ranmali Bopitiya is the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Oscar, where she oversees the company's legal, risk, and government affairs functions. The Oscar team is focused on utilizing technology, design, and data to humanize healthcare. They're a group of technology and healthcare professionals who looked at the current state of the US healthcare system, got frustrated by the horrible consumer experience, and decided to do something big about it.
Bopitiya has an extensive background in healthcare and is passionate about driving innovation that creates access to high-quality, affordable care. She joins Oscar from Everside Health, one of the largest direct primary care providers in the US, where she served as chief legal officer and oversaw the legal, compliance, and risk management functions. Before that, she served as VP and general counsel for Colorado Permanente Medical Group of Kaiser Permanente. Before joining Kaiser Permanente, Bopitiya led the legal function of a high-growth start-up within Stanford Healthcare and worked for multiple law firms advising health systems, provider groups, and innovative care companies.
Bopitiya received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, her JD from Yale Law School, and her Master of Public Health focusing on health law and policy from the Harvard School of Public Health.
36. Karen Litsinger
Chief Legal Officer, NorthStar Anesthesia
Karen Litsinger as Chief Legal Officer at NorthStar Anesthesia. NorthStar Anesthesia is one of the largest anesthesia management companies in the United States. Founded by an Anesthesiologist and a CRNA more than 10 years ago, they have built a foundation of anesthesia expertise unparalleled in the market. NorthStar delivers a transformational anesthesia model, emphasizing a culture of mutual respect and accountability.
In her role, Litsinger manages the company’s legal function and oversees all aspects of corporate governance, including entity management, M&A, risk management, employment, and litigation. Litsinger joins NorthStar Anesthesia after a decade with Mirixa Corporation, where she most recently served as senior vice president of operations and general counsel, leading the compliance, human resources, and corporate development teams. She has also held the role of interim CEO. Before joining Mirix Corporation, Litsinger served as a partner at Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal (now Dentons) and a vice president at America Online. She began her career as an associate at Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn. Litsinger earned her JD from the Georgetown University Law Center and her bachelor's degree from Duke University.
37. Shannon Kuhl
Chief Legal Officer, Premier Bank
Shannon Kuhl is the Chief Legal Officer of Premier Bank. She first joined the company in 2021. Premier Bank, headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio, operates 75 branches and 12 loan offices in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (the West Virginia office operates as Home Savings Bank) and serves clients through a team of wealth professionals dedicated to each community banking branch.
Kuhl’s practice centers on providing practical legal advice on business and corporate matters. She assists clients with general corporate and corporate governance matters, banking law, M&A transactions, securities law compliance and SEC reporting, and regulatory compliance, as well as corporate policy development, investigations, employment issues, and contract review and negotiation. She has been the chief legal officer of a financial institution, with additional interim roles as the chief compliance officer and chief risk officer. She has also served as in-house counsel in the pharmaceutical industry focusing on supply-side and vendor agreements, M&A, licensing, and affiliate corporate management and reorganization. Kuhl earned a JD from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Dayton.
39. Christine Bellon
Chief Legal Officer, Beam Therapeutics
Christine Bellon is the Chief Legal Officer of Beam Therapeutics. She brings to Beam more than 25 years of experience in the life science industry. Beam Therapeutics, launched in 2018, is pioneering using CRISPR-based editing to develop a broad portfolio of advanced genetic medicines. Their groundbreaking base editing technology allows them to make permanent, specific edits to single bases in DNA and RNA, without cutting the strands. Base editor therapeutics represent a new class of "precision genetic medicines," combining precision targeting of the genome with precision control of editing outcomes.
Before joining Beam, Bellon served as senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary for Forma Therapeutics, where she built and led a legal team, negotiated changes to the company’s operating structure, and played a key role in negotiations with Forma’s strategic partner. Before Forma, Bellon was senior vice president of legal affairs for Relay Therapeutics, where she helped obtain foundational partnerships for the company and formulated its intellectual property strategy. Before Relay, she served as vice president of legal affairs and corporate secretary at Blueprint Medicines, where she was instrumental in building its global IP portfolio, securing strategic partnerships, and executing its initial public offering. Earlier in her career, Bellon practiced law and served in legal leadership roles at Hydra Biosciences and Infinity Pharmaceuticals.
Bellon holds a BS in Chemistry from Yale University; a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she did research in the laboratory of K. Barry Sharpless; and a JD from Columbia Law School. She is a trustee of the Boston Museum of Science.
40. Margaret Hing
Chief Legal Officer, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology
Margaret Hing is the Chief Legal Officer of the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. Hing started this role in 2023. The La Jolla Institute for Immunology is a nonprofit medical research institute dedicated to increasing knowledge and improving human health through studies of the immune system. Their essential purpose is to expand their understanding of how the immune system works and to discover the causes of immune system disorders.
Hing first joined the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in 2011 as a technology development agent. She moved into a patent manager role in 2012 and was promoted to director of technology development just two years later. She was made senior director in 2017 and joined the C-suite as vice president of legal affairs in 2021.
Previously, Hing was an associate at Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh. She earned a JD and Master of Science in Molecular and Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto and an undergraduate degree in life science from Queen's University.
45. Monica Walaan
Chief Legal Officer, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority
Monica Walaan is the Chief Legal Officer of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA), a nonprofit, public utility providing essential and dependable water services to a population of approximately 500,000 throughout Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas. Walaan oversees the legal affairs of the company, manages the legal department, and serves on PWSA’s executive leadership team.
With her expert, broad-based legal counsel coupled with her strategic, forward-thinking approach to the legal function, Walaan is responsible for steering the organization through a complex legal landscape, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, managing risk, and executing the company’s mission, vision, and core values.
Walaan began her career as a commercial litigation attorney with Clark Hill. From there, she became the vice president of legal affairs and assistant general counsel for the Pittsburgh International Airport, eventually rising to chief legal officer of PWSA. Walaan earned her JD from Duquesne University School of Law and her dual undergraduate degree in political science and sociology from the University of Pittsburgh.
47. Lauren Tisdale
Chief Legal Officer, X-Caliber
Lauren Tisdale is the Chief Legal Officer of Caliber. She first joined the company in 2020 as EVP and general counsel. X-Caliber strives to deliver the best financing solutions available to their clients and to the communities in which they lend.
Tisdale has close to 20 years of experience in real estate finance and banking with extensive experience representing banks and mortgage companies in all aspects of their business, including real estate and asset-based lending, CMBS transactions, and syndicated and mezzanine financing. As the general counsel for X-Caliber and its affiliate companies, Tisdale leads the companies’ legal, compliance, and enterprise risk management and oversees the transaction management for all of the lending platforms.
During her career, Tisdale has worked in both lending and legal roles. Before joining X-Caliber, she worked as senior vice president and senior counsel lending for Forbright Bank (formerly Congressional Bank), where she was responsible for all legal-related matters within the healthcare lending vertical, including bridge-to-HUD and accounts receivable financing. Before that, she was executive vice president at Capital Lending and Mortgage Group, LLC, responsible for leading the daily operations of the company’s non-bank bridge lending platform.
Tisdale earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a JD from St. Louis University School of Law. She is the Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for Nerdy Girl Success, Inc., a nonprofit whose mission is to change the landscape of leadership by supporting and preparing young women to become the decision-makers of today and tomorrow.
48. Sara Lewis
Chief Legal Officer & Chief Operating Officer, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners
Sara Lewis is the Chief Legal Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, where she oversees all of SIP’s legal and operational matters. In her over 10 years as a transactional attorney, Lewis has worked on a wide range of corporate transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, venture capital investments, project finance, public-private partnerships, carve-out sales, restructurings, real estate acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, leveraged buyouts, and other complex capital market transactions.
Previously, Lewis was the legal director at Alphabet's urban innovation platform. In this role, she advised the platform concerning its strategic transactions, partnerships, and investments in the areas of technology, real estate, and infrastructure. Before that, Lewis was a corporate attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where her practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and securities law matters, working with both public and private companies, as well as private equity firms.
Lewis received an Honors Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Women’s Studies, summa cum laude, from St. Louis University and her JD, summa cum laude, with Order of the Coif distinction, from Stanford Law School, where she served as articles editor of the Stanford Law Review.
50. Gail Makode
Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, Omega Healthcare Investors
Gail Makode is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Omega Healthcare Investors, a real estate investment trust providing financing and capital to the long-term healthcare industry with a particular focus on skilled nursing and assisted living facilities located in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Previously, Makode served as the senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of IES Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded industrial holding company, from October 2012 to September 2019. Before IES, she served as general counsel and member of the board at MBIA Insurance Corporation and as chief compliance officer of MBIA Inc. from 2006 to 2012. Earlier in her career, she served as VP and counsel for Deutsche Bank AG and as an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, where she specialized in private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions.
Makode received a BA from Johns Hopkins University and her JD from Yale Law School. Makode serves Central Maryland, the DC Bar Foundation, and the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, a nonprofit provider of social and health services in Howard County, Maryland. She has also served on the board of the Association of Corporate Counsels.
View the complete list of awardees.