The Legal Departments' Role in Developing a Purposeful Corporate Culture

Beth M. Kotran is Region General Counsel and Secretary for Ferrero North America. Prior to joining Ferrero, Ms. Kotran was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for Cadbury Adams USA LLC (now owned by Mondelez). She has also held positions with Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein in New York City and Goodwin Procter LLP.

Ms. Kotran received her J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University in 1997 and received her B.A. in Music and Government from Skidmore College in 1994 where she graduated cum laude and with honors in Music. While in law school, Ms. Kotran served as a Senior Editor on The Dickinson Law Review.

Ms. Kotran is a member of the New Jersey and New York State Bars. As Region General Counsel to Ferrero North America, Ms. Kotran manages a team of lawyers whom represent the Ferrero companies in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. As a result of her extensive experience in the consumer goods industry, and more specifically, the confectionery industry,

Ms. Kotran has developed significant expertise in the areas of food law and advertising, marketing and promotion law. During her tenure at Ferrero, Ms. Kotran managed the class action lawsuits brought against Ferrero U.S.A. for its advertising in connection with its Nutella? hazelnut spread; contributed to the successful launch of the Kinder Joy confectionery with toy product in the U.S.; played a key role on the project team responsible for the opening of the Nutella Cafe in Chicago; and remains responsible for the coordination and oversight of the legal workstreams and integration of the recent U.S. acquisitions of the former Nestle Chocolate business, as well as the Keebler cookies business formerly owned by Kellogg’s.

Ms. Kotran was recently featured in featured in November 2020 issue of Modern Counsel and the Spring 2018 issue of Vanguard Law Magazine. She and her department were honored at the 2020 NJ Law Journal Professional Legal Excellence Awards for Inhouse Impact and she was also named a finalist at the NJ BIZ 2019 General Counsel Awards.

Ms. Kotran was recently accepted as a Member of Chief, a private network and organization designed for senior women leaders. In addition, she has spoken on panels across many industry groups and is a member of the legal committees of the Association of National Advertisers, the National Confectioners Association and the Consumer Brands Association.

Dan Burstein is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Paxos, a regulated financial institution that digitizes and mobilizes assets. In this role, Dan manages the company’s legal obligations, regulatory requirements, and compliance procedures across Paxos’ product suite. He is a seasoned executive with more than 17 years of experience in regulatory investigations and enforcement, regulatory compliance, and internal investigations.

Before joining Paxos, Dan served as a Senior Managing Director at Guidepost Solutions, a specialized consultancy focused on global investigations, compliance, monitoring and security. Between 2012 and 2016, Dan served in roles of escalating responsibility at the New York State Department of Financial Services, the biggest and most recognized state regulator across the financial services industry. Prior to NYDFS, Dan was an attorney at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, a preeminent corporate law firm based in New York.

Dan holds a BA from Columbia University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Heather Nevitt is the Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Counsel, Inside Counsel and Global Leaders in Law. Heather brings Valuable content to the various publications sites she manages while building communities and developing new event ideas to engage readers.

Heather joined ALM in 2005 and was the Editor-in-Chief of Texas Lawyer. Before joining ALM, she practiced law and earned her JD from Michigan State University College of Law in East Lansing, Michigan.