The Trailblazing GC: Driving ESG Initiatives Forward

Alice Geene has been Chief Legal Officer at Paycor HCM, Inc. (Nasdaq: PYCR) since October 2020. She is responsible for providing counsel, oversight and management for all of Paycor’s legal and risk matters. This includes leading the legal aspects of the company’s $489 million IPO in July 2021, as well as providing counsel on the legal requirements underlying Paycor’s business, compliance and data privacy, and ethics and integrity. Alice is a proven leader, team builder, and longtime legal counsel to growing businesses.

Before joining Paycor, Alice was Chief Legal & People Officer at Rewards Network, a fintech company serving small and medium-sized businesses, General Counsel at Trustwave Holdings, a leading cybersecurity solutions company, and Deputy General Counsel and Associate General Counsel at Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., a publicly traded global online travel company. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College.

Sara K. Orr is an ESG & Impact partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and has almost two decades of experience working with private equity, corporate and financial institutional clients on thousands of transactions. Her practice specifically focuses on corporate sustainability programs, public company ESG reporting and disclosure, ESG litigation risk analysis, shareholder activism, corporate governance, ESG due diligence, supply chain and human rights issues, and ESG frameworks.

Sara also provides strategic insights gained from more than a decade of Washington, D.C. experience, including expertise with federal environmental and energy policy issues.

David P. Chameli is Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Real Estate, of Heritage-Crystal Clean, LLC (NASDAQ: HCCI), a leading provider of parts cleaning, used oil, re-refining, and hazardous and non-hazardous waste transportation and processing services.

David has over 30 years of experience in transportation and international and domestic supply chain law as well as experience with M&A, procurement, strategic sourcing and compliance. Most recently, David was the Vice President, General Counsel for SIRVA, Inc. Moving Services Worldwide, parent company for Allied Van Lines, Inc. and North American Van Lines, as well its Chief Compliance Officer, where he focused on corporate governance, compliance and SIRVA’s recent IPO effort.

Prior to SIRVA, David was corporate counsel in various capacities for Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), parent company for Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kmart Corporation where he was responsible for its supply chain, procurement and IT legal portfolio, in addition to supporting strategic merchandising contracts. Prior to Sears, David was in private practice in St. Paul, Minnesota with a focus on transportation contracts and litigation.

David has an undergraduate degree in History from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo (Amherst, NY), a law degree from Mitchell Hamline College of Law (St. Paul, MN) and an MBA in Marketing, Management Strategy and Entrepreneurship from Northwestern University-Kellogg School of Management (Chicago, IL).

David is also involved in various non-profit organizations involving breast cancer awareness and prevention and children’s life issues. He grew up in upstate New York among notorious Buffalo winters, and currently resides in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago with his wife Kathy and the Chameli menagerie consisting of three rescued cats. Both of his adult children have successfully escaped the mothership although the mobile phone and Netflix charges still remain steely intact. When not practicing law, David is an avid comic book collector with a collection that is slowly overtaking his basement, much to Kathy’s chagrin.

Michael Rispin is an in-house attorney and strategic leader focused on advising companies' leaders on securities law, corporate governance, commercial transactions, M&A, financing, executive compensation, ESG matters, and overall legal strategy. Michael has served as counsel in these areas for a number of well-known public companies, including Sprout Social, a leading social media company, and Harley-Davidson.