Mitigating Today's Toxic Corporate Risk & Navigating Board-Level Conversations

Ann J. Bruder joined Blucora, Inc. on June 19, 2017 as the Chief Legal Officer and Secretary. Blucora is the leading provider of technology-enabled financial solutions to consumers, small businesses and tax professionals. Ms. Bruder oversees all legal matters for the corporation and manages the legal teams for Blucora, TaxAct and HD Vest.

Ms. Bruder previously served as the Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary at Airlines Reporting Corporation, or ARC, which is the premier driver of air travel intelligence and commerce with leading business solutions, travel agency accreditation services, process and financial management tools, and high-quality data, from 2015 through 2017. Ms. Bruder served as the President of Global Strategic Services, LLC, a boutique strategic advisory firm, from 2014 through 2015.

Prior to that, Ms. Bruder was employed by Commercial Metals Company from 2007 through 2013 where she served as the Senior Vice President of Law, Government Affairs and Global Compliance, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2009 through 2013 and the Deputy General Counsel from 2007 through 2009. Since 1991, Ms. Bruder has also served in various legal roles at CARBO Ceramics Inc., American Airlines, Inc., Continental Airlines, Inc. and at the law firm of Thompson Coburn LLP.

Ms. Bruder has a Juris Doctorate degree from Washington University and Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism/Public Relations and Economics from the University of Wyoming.

In just over two years, promoted to Chief Legal Officer for Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, Men’s Journal and Glixel, and responsible for all corporate and contractual matters for Wenner Media, as follows:

Marketing, Privacy and Media. Negotiate and draft contracts for sponsorship and co-branded advertising programs and events, including sponsorship agreements, talent agreements, venue agreements and other related contracts for both print and digital elements. Advise on privacy, advertising and email marketing issues, including FTC dot.com disclosures, CAN-SPAM best practices and IAB terms and conditions. Representative programs include an interactive, on-the-road digital campaign for Porsche with Men’s Journal, a digital and print “Women Who Rock” cover contest for Garnier Fructis with Rolling Stone, and Us Weekly’s annual Hot Hollywood Style party. Provide counsel on various licensing matters, including content licenses, product licenses and licenses for international editions of magazines. Counsel clients in editorial and advertising contexts on a wide variety of issues, including native advertising/branded content, copyright and trademark law, libel/defamation and rights of privacy and publicity. Perform pre-publication legal review of editorial and advertising content for Us Weekly, Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal and Glixel.

Digital and Social Media. Handle contracts and advise on legal issues for various digital initiatives, including syndication and licensing deals, digital ad sales operations, technology services and magazine websites/WAP sites. Representative contracts include those with Snapchat, Getty, Mashery, flipboard, NBC, ABC, Yahoo, imdb.com, and many others. Review privacy issues and draft terms of use. Advise clients on legal and intellectual property issues related to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media.

TV/Film/Video/Podcast. Negotiate and draft contracts for various film/TV initiatives. Assist in the launch of video departments for each of Wenner’s four brands, including advising and training newly created video teams on legal issues. Create a production handbook for each brand team. Representative contracts include negotiating an agreement for a documentary on counterculture from Rolling Stone to be aired on HBO and the negotiation of a production services agreement and a docuseries production agreement related to a pilot for Showtime.

Corporate/Finance/Transactional/Human Resources. Handle various contracts for Wenner Media publications and business divisions, including finance, advertising research, circulation, distribution and printing; assist in negotiation of corporate transactions; review and advise on issues related to credit agreements and company financial matters; create a company-wide data breach response plan; create company-wide and brand specific document retention policies; counsel and advise on employment issues; negotiate employment and severance agreements.

Management/Public Relations/Trainings. Oversee legal staff and outside counsel; manage legal budgets; liaise with corporate communications department on company-wide press initiatives; prepare training materials for various business lines on legal issues.

Carol Sankar is a high level business consultant and the founder of The Confidence Factor for Women in Leadership, which is a global executive leadership firm focused on diversity and inclusion initiatives for high level women. Carol has been featured at TEDx, The Steve Harvey Show, Bounce TV, Inroads, The Society for Diversity, SHRM, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes and more.

Angeline Chen has over thirty years of legal and business experience, including as a General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Her operational perspective and experience informs her practice area focus and expertise in corporate governance, compliance, cyber, risk management, national security, and regulatory affairs. Ms. Chen currently serves as Principal of Cynefin Consulting, and Of Counsel with DLA Piper.

Previously, she has held the roles of GC, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary at Siemens Government Technologies and at Fincantieri Marine Group, and leadership/management roles with Lockheed Martin, International Launch Services, the National Security Agency, and INTELSAT, after starting her career practicing complex litigation in private practice.

She has served as a Director on several boards, an adjunct at GMU Law School, and as Executive-in-Residence and a professor for the UMUC’s M.B.A. program. Angeline holds a B.A. and J.D. from Villanova University, an LL.M (International and Comparative Law) from Georgetown University, and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.