About

In addition to her time as a law firm partner, a managing partner, and a member of an eight-person law firm executive committee, April Miller Boise has been a general counsel at three different multinational industrial manufacturing companies with significant operations around the globe in major and emerging markets. At each of the first two companies where she was a general counsel, she was recruited to the company to help lead during a time of significant transformation and transition thanks to her background as a seasoned M&A lawyer. As the general counsel and member of the c-suite, she led the sale of the entire business of Veyance Technologies to Continental, a public company in Germany, in 2014 and the sale of the entire business of Avintiv to Berry Plastics, a US public company, in 2015. In her current role at Meritor, Boise has led the company’s growth via M&A in three important transactions in the last two years, including an investment in electrification, components acquisition, and gearing technology acquisition. She has a deep understanding of conducting business across borders and has extensive experience structuring, leading and negotiating strategic investments and M&A. This has seen her lead more than 100 transactions over the course of her legal career with an aggregate value in excess of $50bn. This makes her a value asset to her team, especially with respect to M&A. Her primary focus in transforming her legal and compliance team in the last two years has been to ‘get on offense’, reorganising the team so that each business unit and major functional department has one legal leader liaison that acts as a member of the senior leadership team of that business unit, and integrates him or herself into the fabric and culture of that business, becoming an integral resource and sounding board. Boise identifies that: ‘This has allowed the senior legal team to become much more effective business partners and strategic advisors to each business unit. Our mission is to be a pro-active, strategic, trusted advisors and key business partners in supporting the company’s growth plans and other strategies. We know our business, our customers, our markets, and our competitors in order to provide high-quality counsel, anticipate legal and business issues and opportunities, and balance or mitigate risks. We set a tone of integrity, protect the company’s assets and help ensure compliance with law and internal policies’. Additionally, Boise and the team have resolved some significant litigations and other disputes, including those involving joint ventures in Mexico and the sale of a part of the business to a European partner. In addition to her general counsel role, Boise is also a co-founder of the 2025 Black GC Initiative, aimed at increasing the number of African American general counsel in the Fortune 1000 by 2025 by among other things, identifying “ready now” candidates and connecting them with general counsel opportunities.