Troy,
Michigan
Vanessa Peterson Williams is executive vice president and general counsel for the firm, overseeing the the legal, corporate secretary, investor relations, procurement, enterprise risk management, external communications, insurance and corporate security teams. She manages regulatory and legal compliance, directs strategic legal initiatives, and provides senior management with actionable counsel relationships, and has extensive experience in commercial transactions, litigation management, data privacy, international law and contract management. Ms. Williams joined the firm in 2020 with 24 years of senior legal experience at companies in the data science and information industries. She started her career at Plunkett & Cooney, PC, in Detroit, where she litigated employment law, insurance contract, and other general liability actions. In 2001 Ms. Williams began serving as staff counsel to the Michigan Basic Property Insurance Association, where she practiced until 2006. She is a former editor-in-chief of "The Brief," journal of the Tort Insurance and Trial Practice Section of the American Bar Association (ABA), and has authored articles for the "Michigan Bar Journal." Ms. Williams is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the State Bar of Michigan Foundation, a former chair of the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly, and past president of the Association of Defense Trial Counsel. She currently serves as an independent director on the boards of Horizon Bank and Horizon Bancorp, Inc. where she is also the current compensation committee chair. Ms. Williams is a recipient of "Crain's Detroit Business" general and in-house counsel award for large private companies. In 2021, she was named to the EMpower Ethnic Minority Executives list, initiated by the diversity and inclusion membership organization, Involve.
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