General counsel and corporate secretary | Virtuoso
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary | Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts
Mr. Rose is Ashford’s executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, and he serves in the same roles for Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts. Mr. Rose brings...
Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Secretary | OW OceanWinds
Managing Director, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | Texas Capital Bank
Chief legal officer and general counsel | Keurig Dr Pepper
Anthony Shoemaker serves as chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary for Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP). Prior to his appointment in 2021, he had been with the company for...
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Ecopetrol USA
Audrey Guaqueta joined Ecopetrol USA’s leadership team as general counsel and corporate secretary, in October 2024. Audrey has over 19 years of legal experience, with ten years in management, holding...
Executive Vice President, Performance and Essential Materials, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer | Westlake
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | LTK
Brittany DeGan is a seasoned general counsel and corporate secretary with a passion for managing and building legal and business teams, scaling high-growth technology companies, creating process improvements, and driving...
Senior vice president, chief risk officer and chief compliance officer | Sempra Infrastructure
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | Contango Resources
EVP, General Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary | Orion Group Holdings
SVP, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary | Select Water Solutions
Executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary | TechnipFMC
Formerly senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel | Texas Instruments
Executive Vice President,General Counsel and Secrey | Huntsman
Vice President - Corporate Counsel; General Counsel of Prudential Asset Resources, Inc. | Prudential Asset Resources
Executive vice president and general counsel | Quanta Services
General Counsel | Vice President of Compliance | Corporate Secretary | Bluebell Creameries
He is a native Texan, having grown up in Arlington where his parents still live. He graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University in College Station, spending four years as...
Executive vice president and general counsel | Crown Castle
SVP, General Counsel, Head of Government Affairs, and Corporate Secretary | Bristow Group
Elizabeth Matthews is a C-suite executive and global business leader with over twenty-five years of board-level experience, functional experience, and reporting lines that included government affairs, insurance/risk management, regulatory, technology,...
Senior Vice President - Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Sysco
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary | Wingstop
Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | Group 1 Automotive
Executive vice president, business affairs and general counsel | Houston Texans
Director, Executive Vice President, General counsel and secretary | Enterprise Products
Group general counsel, chief compliance officer | Infosys
Inderpreet is the group general counsel and the chief compliance officer of Infosys. In this role, she leads the legal and compliance function of the company. She is a strategic...
Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer | Energy Transfer
Vice President and General Counsel | Active Cyber
I started my career in the Dallas office of Weil in the Private Equity Mergers and Acquisitions Group before moving to Sidley Austin. I left Sidley Austin to become in-house...
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer | Carnelian Energy Capital
Executive vice president & chief legal and administrative officer | Hewlett Packard Enterprise
General Counsel and corporate secretary | Talen Energy
John Wander joined Talen Energy in June 2023 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. In this position, he leads the Company’s Legal and Regulatory and External Affairs functions, oversees corporate...
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel | Advanced Diagnostics Healthcare System
Vice president and general counsel | Arca Continental/Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages
Joseph serves as Vice President and General Counsel of Arca Continental/Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages. He is a graduate of The McCallie School and received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and...
Executive vice president and general counsel | Pioneer Natural Resources Company
Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | Key Energy Services
Senior Vice President - Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Kodiak Gas Services
enior vice president, Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | ConocoPhillips
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Acme Brick Company
General Counsel | Crow Holdings
Kevin Bryant is general counsel of Crow Holdings and is responsible for all legal matters and tax planning. He also is responsible for the structuring and formation of the Crow...
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary | Fluor Corporation
Executive Director, General Counsel | Kubota Tractor Corporation
General counsel, PepsiCo Foods North America | PepsiCo
Leanne Oliver serves as the senior vice president and general counsel for PepsiCo Foods North America, a combined $USD30bn business which includes Frito-Lay North America and Quaker Foods North America....
General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Compliance Officer | Sterling Infrastructure
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer | Southwest Airlines Company
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary | Eagle Materials
SVP, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer | Trillium Flow Technologies
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary | Cinemark Holdings
SVP, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer | Nabors Industries
Executive vice president and general counsel | CenterPoint Energy
Monica Karuturi is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of CenterPoint Energy. In this role, she oversees the company’s legal department and risk management functions, including claims, environmental, insurance, enterprise...
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Secretary | Lennox
Monica Brown was appointed executive vice president and chief legal officer in January 2025. She joined Lennox in 2012 and has served in various leadership roles, including vice president and...
VP of Land & General Counsel | Santo Petroleum
Nicole Singer is the Vice President of Land and General Counsel of Santo Petroleum and its affiliated companies. Santo is a privately-owned independent minerals, royalties, exploration and production company with...
Chief legal officer, Executive Vice President | Universal weather & Aviation
Omar J. Fahel is a seasoned corporate executive and legal professional with extensive experience in strategic planning, corporate governance, risk management, and international business law. With a proven track record...
Executive Vice President & General Counsel | Cenergy International Services
Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary | Copart
Executive Vice President Sustainability and Governance and Chief Legal Officer | Mcdermott International
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary | Academy Sports + Outdoors
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary | Plains All American Pipeline
Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel | American Airlines
Senior vice president & chief administrative officer | Enerflex
Head of Legal, Region Americas | DNV Group
Ruth Colvin is the Head of Group Legal, Region Americas for the DNV Group. Known for her proactive approach and business-oriented solutions, Ruth leads a team of legal professionals providing...
Regional General Counsel - North America | Fortescue Future Industries
Group Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | Toyota North America
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer | Trinity Industries
Mr. Ewing joined Trinity in 2015 as Associate General Counsel and was named Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer in 2023. Prior to joining Trinity, he was a lawyer...
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | Cheniere Energy
Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer | Austin Industries
Chief Legal Counsel, Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary | PetroTal
Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary | AZZ
Tara Mackey has served as AZZ Inc.’s Chief Legal Officer & Secretary since 2014, where she manages all legal matters for the company, Corporate Governance, M&A, SEC Reporting, the AZZ...
Chief legal officer and corporate secretary | The Container Store
Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer | The Neiman Marcus Group
Executive Vice President, Secretary, and Chief Legal Officer | Halliburton
EVP Government Affairs, GC & Corporate Secretary | Phillips 66
General counsel and corporate secretary | NextDecade Corporation
Vera de Gyarfas joined NextDecade as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in July 2021 and is responsible for all legal and contractual matters affecting NextDecade. De Gyarfas is a skilled corporate...
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Battalion Oil Corporation
Chief Compliance Officer, SVP - Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Antero Resources
Legal 500 is back again with yet another maiden edition; GC Powerlist Texas. While this is our first dedicated focus on the great state of Texas, it’s far from our first foray into the US, and we are excited to introduce another title to the ever-growing GC Powerlist series. With its vast and diverse legal landscape, Texas presented a unique challenge in identifying the top in-house counsel, but it has been a rewarding process. From Dallas and Austin to San Antonio, Houston, and beyond, we are proud to highlight the outstanding legal professionals who are leading the charge in this dynamic state.
As we engaged with senior in-house counsel across Texas, we heard insightful reflections on the trends shaping their work. As one counsel shared, “Politically, anticipating changes which may occur in a new administration and ‘future proofing’ our agreements, to the extent possible, has been a focus for our team.” Another noted the shift in federal regulatory actions, “federal regulatory initiatives initiated during the current administration that place significant burdens on companies (i.e. FTC non-compete rules, EPA emissions targeting, Corporate Transparency Act, and other attempts by federal agencies to appropriate state regulatory functions) will likely be pulled back by the new administration…” And reflecting on broader global trends, one senior in-house counsel pointed out, “first, the current geopolitical uncertainty will continue to add complexity and unpredictability for businesses, especially the ones with large global operations.”
We are grateful for the opportunity to engage with such a high calibre of in-house counsel from across this vast state, and we look forward to continuing to track the legal landscape in Texas in the years ahead.
A special thank you to Weil, Gotshal & Manges for their generous support in making this edition possible. We are excited to unveil these profiles and recognize the incredible talent in Texas!
Legal 500 was proud to host the launch of our second GC Powerlist: South Africa, an event that brought together approximately 100 of the country’s most distinguished in-house lawyers at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr’s (CDH) stunning Sandton, Johannesburg office.
Updating this year’s Powerlist was no small feat—our research team faced the challenge of reflecting market shifts while ensuring the continued recognition of the most outstanding general counsel from the previous edition. The result is a carefully curated list that celebrates the evolving leadership and expertise within South Africa’s in-house legal community.
The evening commenced with a welcome address from Phetheni Nkuna, Director: Executive Management at CDH, who reaffirmed the firm’s unwavering commitment to supporting corporate counsel as they navigate the challenges of their profession. She also highlighted the importance of recognizing the exceptional work of in-house lawyers, who often receive less public acknowledgment than their law firm counterparts.
The event’s first GC keynote speaker, Velile Mamela of Sanlam, took the stage to congratulate the honorees and share pivotal moments that shaped his journey as a corporate counsel. Following him, Zanoodene Kassim of Uber delivered a highly engaging and well-received speech, which is reproduced below with his permission:
“Good evening, everyone. First, let me just say—what a relief it is to be in a room full of lawyers where no one is billing by the hour. We should do this more often! I would like to take a moment to thank our hosts, Legal 500 and Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyer, for organising this amazing event. Also, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate each and every one of the honourees for the recognition you are receiving this evening – it is truly a great accomplishment. It’s an honour to be here as we celebrate the unsung heroes of the corporate world: in-house lawyers. General counsel may not have the fancy courtroom gowns of our law firm counterparts, but we do have something even more impressive—the ability to translate “legalese” into business speak. And, on occasion, the ability to be true thought-leaders and collaborators – not only explaining to the business why their latest “great idea” may not be, technically, legal but also working on finding solutions to such trivial technicalities.
A big part of our job is knowing the law of course—but an even bigger part is knowing the business. We don’t just interpret contracts; we interpret intent. We don’t just mitigate risk; we anticipate it. During my time in practice, the late Sternford Moyo, former president of the International Bar Association, used to say that in order to be a good attorney (other than knowing the law or at least knowing where to look) – a good attorney had to have the three “A”s. They needed to be: Affable; Available; and Affordable. Apart from the last one, I think that having these qualities makes for a good in-house lawyer as well. In my career, I have always found that when we are most appreciated as in-house lawyers by our business counterparts, is when we are true thought-partners. Knowing their business as well as you know the law is probably the skill most valued by the business.
I think that the late Mr Moyo’s three “A”s (now to be read as Dene’s two “A”s) give us good insight into what being a great in-house lawyer means. It isn’t just about reading the fine print—it’s about understanding how that fine print fits into the bigger picture of what the company is trying to do. Our role is unique because we are both protectors and enablers. We keep our companies out of trouble, but we also help them grow. We find solutions that allow innovation to move forward responsibly. And, occasionally, we act as therapists when a stressed-out executive realizes they’ve just promised something that isn’t, strictly speaking, you know – legal. So tonight, I’d like for us to take a moment to appreciate what it is we actually do – us the wordsmiths, the therapists, the sense-checkers, the protectors, the enablers.
We may not always be the most visible (and we may be called nasty things like “cost centres”), but we are the ones who make innovation possible, who keep our companies ethical, and who—despite our best efforts—are still the first ones people call when they “just have a quick legal question.” Congratulations to all of tonight’s honorees. You’ve earned this moment. And now, let’s enjoy the rest of the evening—before someone pulls us aside to review something.”
As the legal landscape in South Africa continues to evolve, we eagerly anticipate witnessing the impact of the talented legal professionals shaping the industry. We look forward to celebrating the next cohort of top in-house lawyers in the GC Powerlist South Africa 2025 edition next year.
