Mindy is General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Xplor, a global platform integrating SaaS solutions, embedded payments, and Commerce Accelerating Technologies. Before joining Xplor, Mindy was Chief Counsel of Elavon and Deputy General Counsel of Payment Services at U.S. Bank during her 20+ years with the company.

She started her career as a litigator with Long Aldridge & Norman (now Dentons) following a clerkship with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  Mindy holds a JD from Vanderbilt University School of Law and a BA in Political Science from Duke University. She enjoys volunteering, traveling, and reading a good book in her spare time.

David Steele is vice president and deputy general counsel of The Home Depot. He is responsible for commercial litigation, real estate and store operations. He also manages the Company’s risk management department.

David joined the Company in 2002 as corporate counsel and has held positions of increasing responsibility, including assistant general counsel, senior counsel and, most recently, associate general counsel.
Prior to joining the Company, David was an attorney with Alston & Bird, where he focused on commercial litigation, construction and real estate issues.

David has bachelor’s degrees in business administration and economics from Southern Methodist University, and a juris doctor from Vanderbilt University.

Mark is a Senior Wealth Advisor on the Legal Specialty Group at Truist.  He has been with the bank for over 20 years.  Prior to Truist, Mark was an auditor at Arthur Andersen LLP in Washington DC.  Mark has been in the financial services industry since 1998.  He specializes in financial planning, investment management, risk mitigation, as well as general banking and complex lending.  Mark maintains his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional designation. 

Mark was born and raised in Atlanta and attended Pace Academy. He received a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Lee University in Business Administration and Accounting.

Mark and his wife, Kristen, are proud parents to two boys, Davis and Grant, and a mischievous golden doodle, Maizie! Mark has been involved with YoungLife Northwest Atlanta as a volunteer and committee member for almost 20 years.

Faith Knight Myers is currently the Privacy Officer for McKesson Corporation and the Senior Vice President, Compliance for the CoverMyMeds division of the company.  Prior to assuming these roles, she served as Lead Privacy Counsel for McKesson Corporation and Chief Counsel, Regulatory Operations, for the technology division of McKesson Corporation, where she provided legal guidance and support on a variety of health care regulatory matters.          

Faith started her legal career at Alston & Bird LLP and later joined Smith, Gambrell & Russell LLP, where she was a member of healthcare regulatory practice groups.  Just prior to joining McKesson, Faith served as an Associate General Counsel at Emory University/Emory Healthcare. 
Faith attended Dartmouth College and Tulane Law School.   

She is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, Corporate Counsel Women of Color and the Marietta-Roswell Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.  She also serves as an officer and member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. 

Brooke Belisle is Senior Legal Counsel, Head of New Ventures and Emerging Category at The Coca-Cola Company.  Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Brooke was a mergers and acquisitions associate at Jones Day and Paul Hastings LLP where she advised public and private companies on M&A transactions and corporate governance matters. Brooke has volunteered with Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta since she was first introduced to the organization as a summer associate at Paul Hastings. 

Brooke currently serves on PBPA’s Springboard and Attorney Recruitment Committees and is the liaison for PBPA at The Coca-Cola Company.  In addition to her work with Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta, Brooke provided pro bono legal advice to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights on a myriad of corporate governance and contractual matters in the years prior to and following its opening in 2014.

Brooke graduated summa cum laude with honors from The Honors College of The University of South Carolina and earned her law degree Vanderbilt University Law School.

Mr. Brandman serves as General Counsel for National Vision, one of the largest optical retail companies in the United States. Previously, he served as Securities Counsel at The Coca-Cola Company and began his legal career practicing at international law firms in Atlanta, New York and London. 
 
Mr. Brandman regularly speaks on securities law, governance and corporate responsibility, and is active within the Atlanta legal and non-profit community. He is also an active member in the Society for Corporate Governance, serving as current Chair of the Policy Advisory Committee, former Chair of its Securities Law Committee and as a member of its Executive Steering, Corporate Practices and Small & Mid-Cap Committees. He received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and his law degree from Emory University School of Law.

Briley Brisendine is General Counsel of BradyPLUS.  Prior to joining BradyPLUS, Mr. Brisendine spent almost ten years at SiteOne Landscape Supply and 12 years at The Home Depot, Inc., where he held a number of senior leadership positions in the legal department, including Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. Prior to joining The Home Depot, he spent seven years as an attorney at McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP, where he focused on securities, corporate governance and M&A matters.

Mr. Brisendine holds a B.A. in finance from Wofford College and a Juris Doctorate from Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.

Jennifer Hightower is executive vice president and chief legal officer at Cox Enterprises, a private, family-owned company based in Atlanta, Georgia, with $23 billion in annual revenues. In her role, Hightower leads Cox’s legal function and serves as corporate secretary supporting the company’s board of directors. She is also the lead legal advisor on policy and strategic initiatives related to Cox’s lines of business.

Prior to her time with Cox Enterprises, Hightower was the senior vice president and general counsel of law and policy for Cox Communications, where she oversaw Cox’s compliance, legal operations, regulatory and corporate government affairs. She joined Cox in 1997 as senior counsel and later was promoted to assistant general counsel, where she oversaw all transactional and operational legal support. 

Before joining Cox, she served in various legal positions at BellSouth Corporation, RaceTrac, Inc. and Drew, Eckl & Farnham. 
Hightower is the recipient of the Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT) Wonder Woman Award, Woman to Watch Award and Mentor of the Year Award, and she has been recognized as one of the most Influential Women in Cable and as a CableFax Top Lawyer multiple years in a row. 

Hightower has also been honored as the Top General Counsel of Large Departments by the American Corporate Counsel Association Chapter of Georgia, a Rising Georgia SuperStar Attorney and a “Georgia Super Lawyer.”

Hightower is a member of the Emory Board of Visitors, the Emory Law School Advisory Board and the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta. She is the past chair of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation and past board member for YMCA Greater Atlanta and Covenant House of Georgia.   She holds a law degree from the Emory University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University. Hightower is also a graduate of the Stanford Executive Management Program and a graduate of the 2012 Leadership Atlanta class.

Ms. Griswold currently serves as Corporate Counsel for IHG, a global hospitality company. She previously served as an attorney with United Parcel Service.  Her practice focuses on complex commercial transactions, contract negotiations, technology transactions, dispute resolution, data privacy, and regulatory compliance. Ms. Griswold holds a CIPP/Europe privacy certification. She also served as an Adjunct Professor at Mercer Law School. Ms. Griswold is the current chair of the Corporate Counsel Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, a Board member of the Atlanta Bar Foundation, a member of the Executive Committee of the International Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia, a member of the Commission for the Certification of Corporate Governance Professionals, Society of Corporate Governance, and the Mercer Law School Board of Visitors.  

Ms. Griswold graduated from Mercer Law School. She enjoys volunteer work, mentoring and cooking in her spare time.

Tricia Kinney is the Chief Legal Officer of Consilio, where she spearheads the global legal and compliance strategy for the leading provider of legal technology and enterprise legal services.  Prior to joining Consilio, Tricia was the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at BlueLinx Corporation (NYSE:BXC), where she led the Legal, Compliance, Human Resources, and Communications teams. Previously, Tricia was the Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at ServiceMaster Brands as well as the Vice President & Deputy General Counsel for Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB), where she was the chief legal advisor to the global B2B business and the global supply chain organization. Tricia started her career at Powell Goldstein LLP (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner), where she was a litigation partner.  
 
Tricia is a graduate of Boston College and Vanderbilt University School of Law, and an alumna of Leadership Atlanta, Class of 2020.
 
In addition to Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta, Tricia is also currently on the board of directors for the Atlanta Community Food Bank and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. She also previously served as a trustee for The Children’s School, as well as a director for Project Light, Murphy-Harpst Children’s Centers, and Housing Tonight, Inc. Tricia and her husband, Gardner Culpepper, have 3 children. 

Matt leads global legal operations for the UPS Legal Department, including managing department financials, leading the department’s technology and eDiscovery support teams, and optimizing department processes. Matt began his UPS career more than 30 years ago in the company’s small package operations. He has served as in-house counsel at UPS for nearly 25 years. Matt has provided legal support to the company’s small package and supply chain business units for matters involving business development, commercial disputes, transportation security, and litigation related to small package services. Prior to his current role, Matt led a team of attorneys and contract managers responsible for drafting and negotiating customer contracts for small package and supply chain services

Matt is a graduate of Drake University Law School.

Frank currently works in the Legal Operations function at UPS. He has been in-house for over 26 years and was at GE Power for 19 years before coming to UPS. Frank’s is a registered patent attorney and has practiced as an intellectual property attorney prior to his current role in Legal Operations. 

Frank received a BSEE from Clemson University and a JD from the University of Florida. He has proudly served on the PBPA Board since the organization was formed in 2005. In his free time, Frank enjoys golfing and college athletics.

Will  Ledbetter  is  a  Senior  Counsel  for  Southern  Company  Services and  focuses  on  securities  offerings,  SEC  disclosure  and  corporate governance matters. Will joined Southern Company in 2014. Prior to joining  Southern  Company,  Will  was  a  Senior  Associate  in  the corporate  group  at  King  &  Spalding  LLP,  where  he  practiced  for seven years.

Will was born and raised in Atlanta. He received a B.A. in history and political  science,  magna  cum  laude,  from  Rice  University  and received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Tim Lee is part of the leadership team for AT&T LegalEdge, a technology-driven Center of Expertise within the AT&T Legal Department dedicated to delivering high-impact legal services through the use of generative AI and other advanced technologies. Previously, Tim was an attorney with AT&T’s Commercial Litigation group, responsible for managing some of the company’s most significant litigation and regulatory matters. He serves on AT&T’s Preferred Counsel Program Committee and chairs its Southeastern Pro Bono Committee.

Prior to joining AT&T, Tim was a business litigation partner at King & Spalding LLP. He also served as an assistant United States attorney, prosecuting economic, public corruption, and violent crimes. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk for the Honorable Susan H. Black of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Honorable Lisa Godbey Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Tim received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Alan is the head of the Securities and Corporate Governance team in the legal department at Delta, where he is responsible for Delta’s compliance with securities laws and supports the Corporate Secretary function of the company.  In addition, Alan heads up the legal department’s pro bono committee.  In addition to serving on the Board of Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta, Alan is a member of the Board of Directors of Camp Sunshine. 

Alan is a graduate of Davidson College and the University of Georgia School of Law.  Alan and his wife, Meg, live in Decatur and have two sons in college.

Lynette is executive vice president and chief legal officer for Chick-fil-A, Inc, and is a member of the company’s Executive Committee. She oversees the company’s legal department.
 
She joined Chick-fil-A’s corporate legal group in 2012 and was promoted to vice president, litigation, franchising and governance in 2017. Throughout her tenure at the company, Lynette has regularly partnered with the business to provide solution-oriented, strategic business and legal counsel. 
 
Before joining Chick-fil-A, Lynette was a partner in the litigation department of the Atlanta office of Troutman Sanders, where she practiced for 15 years. Prior to joining Troutman Sanders, she clerked for Judge Duross Fitzpatrick, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in Macon.
 
Lynette graduated from Emory University and earned a J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law. Lynette is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Ben Garren joined Smurfit Westrock in 2024, to serve as their Group General Counsel. Smurfit Westrock is a global leader in sustainable paper and packaging, operating in 40 countries.

Prior to this, he was General Counsel, International for the Coca-Cola Company, and prior to that, General Counsel, North America Group.  Ben also served on executive leadership teams responsible for Coca-Cola’s business in over 200 countries.  He received a BS from Clemson University and a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law.Ben also serves on the boards of the National CASA/GAL Association for Children, UNICEF USA Southeast and the Georgia Legal Services Foundation.  He is a member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2017, the University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Council and First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. Ben enjoys running, golf, skiing, reading and spending time with his wife, Michele, and daughter, Caroline.

Rick McMurtry became a Partner at M|C Law Group in 2024, where he manages practice areas in Artificial Intelligence, Intellectual Property, Music, Advertising, Marketing, and Commercial Contracts. He also develops innovative strategies to protect client’s intellectual property rights and maximize revenue opportunities.

Prior to M|C Law Group Rick worked at Turner (now Warner Media) from 2000 to 2024. Rick was honored to serve as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Robert Echols with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee after earning his law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law and undergraduate degree from Belmont University. Rick and his husband, Randall, live in Atlanta with their two boys, two dogs, eight chickens, two bunnies, two fish and two hermit crabs.