Features May 2021

Don’t confuse Farm Credit Mid-America with a bank, says Greg Hoffman. Farming, after all, is cyclical, and banks enter and leave the agricultural financing market when the economics make sense to them. But Farm Credit Mid-America is owned by farmers and has a mission to serve agriculture and rural communities through thick and thin. That, […]

The acquisitions keep on coming, among CI Financial’s most recent being Dowling & Yahnke Wealth Advisors. A San Diego-based registered investment advisor, it has $5.1 billion in assets and serves over 1,300 clients, primarily individuals, families and nonprofits. Its accolades include being named to the FT 300 Top Registered Investment Advisors list each year since […]

At about 6 inches long and maybe 1 1/2 inches wide, it gets lost behind seat cushions, and whoever controls it can disrupt household harmony. It’s the portal to a weekend of binge-watching on Netflix or the big game you’ve been waiting for all week. Richard A. Firehammer Jr. can’t resolve disputes about who controls […]

It can be difficult to get a credit card if you have bad credit or no credit at all. Many banks don’t trust young people or people with low credit and deny them loans or cards. Lead Bank gives customers the benefit of the doubt, though, and works with them to build their credit responsibly, […]

After 34 years as Unit Corp. general counsel, Mark Schell was accustomed to riding the ebbs and flows of the oil and gas industry.  He weathered the OPEC crisis and rode high in an industry often depicted as something akin to J.R. Ewing’s “Dallas.” But after years of adaptation and survival, Schell says the COVID-19 […]

Having lived in multiple countries—and passing the bar exam in three—Ukraine native Anna Novoseletsky can’t help but look at the world through the lens of globalization. That international perspective drives Novoseletsky in her role as the legal head of global payments and senior counsel at Discover Financial Services in Illinois. For the veteran corporate attorney, […]

It promised to be an exciting promotion in March 2019, one that would have veteran IBM lawyer Greg McLaughlin working with an expanding clientele in a public sector that can lag behind the tech curve. Now general counsel of IBM’s state, local and public education market, and based in Armonk, New York, McLaughlin works to […]

For General Counsel Jill Johnson, 2020 was a year to remember, and not just for the obvious reasons. In addition to helping Trean navigate a once-in-a-century pandemic by shifting its employees to remote work and integrating two acquired entities, Johnson also guided the company through the legal aspects of this new environment. Just before the […]

Back in her college days, Stacy Friedman considered being a doctor, fascinated by health care. Given her level of involvement at The Brooklyn Hospital Center—and the hours she’s spent helping the hospital address COVID-19 and other important projects—one might guess that medicine was her chosen path. It wasn’t. Hired as TBHC’s first full-time general counsel […]

In 2020, an airborne virus threatened to ground the entire aviation industry. The International Civil Aviation Organization details the grim scenario: a loss of 2.6 billion passengers compared to 2019, a 50 percent reduction of seats offered by airlines and a $370 billion loss of gross passenger operating revenues. Losses covered travel for both business […]