Lucy Fato

Luciana "Lucy" Fato[1] (born 1966) is an American corporate attorney.

Since May 2024 she has been Executive Vice President & General Counsel for Seaport Entertainment Group.[2]

Prior to joining Seaport Entertainment Group, she was vice chair and general counsel at American International Group (AIG). She held senior roles at Marsh & McLennan Companies, and McGraw Hill Financial (now S&P Global).

Early life and education

Fato was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1966.[3] She attended The Ellis School in Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984.[4]

She received a BA in business and economics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1988,[5] and a JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1991.[6]

Career

Davis Polk & Wardwell

Fato began her legal career in 1991 at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City.[7][8] In 2000 she was elected a corporate partner in the capital markets department of the firm.[9][7] She advised multinational companies on a range of corporate matters,[10] and gained an increasing reputation as a problem solver capable of resolving high-profile government lawsuits.[11]

Marsh & McLennan Companies

In September 2005, Fato was hired by Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) as Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.[12][13] She was heavily involved in the sale of two former Marsh & McLennan businesses: Putnam Investments in 2007, and the Kroll corporate-intelligence unit in 2010.[14] In addition, she helped reshape MMC's global legal department, overhauled the company's governance practices, and reduced legal operations expenses by more than 50%.[10]

McGraw Hill Financial

In August 2014, Fato became executive vice president and general counsel of McGraw Hill Financial, whose brands included Standard & Poor's (S&P).[15][6] At the time, S&P was dealing with several high-profile government lawsuits concerning its ratings of mortgage-backed securities prior to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.[16] Fato immediately employed her skills in relationship-building and conciliation to resolve the lawsuits; on the morning of her first day as general counsel she phoned several government lawyers.[17][18] Within six months she negotiated favorable global settlements with the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and 22 state attorneys general.[10][19][11][20][17]

She left McGraw Hill Financial in October 2015.[11]

Nardello

In October 2016, Fato joined the global private investigative firm Nardello & Co, headquartered in New York, where she served in multiple roles, including managing director, head of the Americas, and global general counsel.[21][22] During her time at Nardello she was credited with growing the firm's network and global culture of teamwork.[23] When she left the firm in October 2017 she remained on Nardello's newly formed advisory board, to help guide it in its next phase of growth.[24]

AIG

In October 2017, Fato became executive vice president and general counsel of AIG, succeeding Peter Solmssen.[25][26] She was appointed by the new CEO of AIG, Brian Duperreault, who had been the CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies during her tenure there.[8] She was also AIG's interim head of human resources from October 2018[27] through July 2019[28] and again in 2022.[29]

From September 2023 through March 2024 she was vice chair at AIG.[29]

At AIG, her duties as general counsel include overseeing global legal, compliance, and regulatory matters.[30][31] She is also part of the company's executive leadership team and participates in all strategic and policy decisions regarding AIG's operations.[32][33][22] In addition to overseeing legal, compliance, and regulatory matters for AIG, in 2021, she was tasked with responsibility for its government and public affairs, as well as communications.[34] She reported directly to Duperreault,[25][35][22] who was succeeded by chairman Peter Zaffino in January 2022.[36][37]

Board memberships

In 2018 and 2021 Fato was appointed for a three-year term to the New York State Insurance Advisory Board.[38][39] She is also on the board of directors of the Life Insurance Council of New York.[40][41]

She is on the advisory board of Nardello & Co.,[42] and was a cybersecurity group member of the Aspen Institute.[43]

She is on the boards of directors of the Coalition for the Homeless[44] and previously served on the board of directors of Advocates for Children of New York.[45] Fato served on the board of trustees of the Randall's Island Park Alliance and was a member of its executive committee.[5]

During her time at AIG, Fato was a member of the board of directors of Corebridge Financial.[46]

Since 2020, Fato has been a board member of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation. She has served on the board of the Harvard Law School Center for the Legal Profession since 2023.[47]

Awards and honors

In 2009, Fato was inducted into the YWCA-NYC Academy of Women Leaders.[48][49]

She was named one of Ethisphere Magazine's "Attorneys Who Matter" in 2015 and 2017.[50][42] In 2017, the New York County Lawyers Association honored her as one of its Outstanding Women in the Legal Profession.[51]

In 2018 and 2019 she was named by the National Association of Corporate Directors' NACD Directorship magazine as one of the Directorship 100, which recognizes the most influential people in corporate boardrooms.[52][53] In 2019 she was named one of Crain's New York's Notable Women in Law,[54] and she was one of three recipients of Legal Momentum's 19th annual Aiming High awards.[55][56]

References

  1. ^ "Luciana (Lucy) Fato". Amref Health Africa. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  2. ^ Baxter, Brian (August 19, 2024). "Ex-AIG Legal Chief Pivots to Ackman-Backed Howard Hughes Spinoff". Bloomberg Law.
  3. ^ The American Bar, Volume 2. J.C. Fifield Company, 2004. p. 1791.
  4. ^ "Ellis alumna makes WSJ headlines as 'problem solver'". The Ellis School. March 6, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Lucy Fato". Randall's Island Park Alliance. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "McGraw Hill Financial Appoints Pitt Law Alum Lucy Fato Executive Vice President and General Counsel". University of Pittsburgh School of Law. September 24, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Lucy Fato joins Nardello as general counsel". Corporate Secretary. September 16, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Comfortable in the Gray Areas". Corporate Counsel Business Journal. July 1, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  9. ^ "Lucy Fato: Deputy General Counsel & Corp. Secretary, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc". Working Mother. May 22, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c Sullivan, Matthew (February 15, 2018). "AIG's Lucy Fato on the Importance of Leadership in the Modern Regulatory Environment". ACC Docket. Association of Corporate Counsel. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Martin, Timothy W. (October 16, 2015). "General Counsel Lucy Fato Leaves McGraw Hill Financial". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  12. ^ "Lucy Fato Appointed Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of MMC". Business Wire. September 12, 2005. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  13. ^ Novak, Bridgett (June 15, 2015). "McGraw Hill Financial's GC Celebrates the Wins". Profile. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  14. ^ Martin, Timothy W. (July 8, 2014). "McGraw Hill Legal Head to Step Down". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  15. ^ "McGraw Hill Financial Appoints Lucy Fato Executive Vice President and General Counsel". PR Newswire. S&P Global. July 8, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  16. ^ Martin, Timothy W. (July 15, 2014). "S&P Weighs Restarting Talks on U.S. Suit". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  17. ^ a b Martin, Timothy W. (February 3, 2015). "Two New Faces That Helped Seal S&P Deal". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  18. ^ Slaughter, Stacey; Coyle, Lisa; Churan, Amy (Winter 2019). "Interview with Lucy Fato, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of AIG". Robins Kaplan. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  19. ^ "Form 10-K: Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2014". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. S&P Global. February 13, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  20. ^ Martin, Timothy W.; Grossman, Andrew (February 2, 2015). "How the Justice Department, S&P Came to Terms". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  21. ^ "Nardello & Co. Appoints Lucy Fato Managing Director, Head of the Americas and Global General Counse" (PDF). Nardello & Co. September 12, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  22. ^ a b c "AIG Names Lucy Fato as Executive Vice President and General Counsel". MarketWatch. September 5, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  23. ^ Grant, Will (March 15, 2018). "Not Just Men in Trench Coats". Profile. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  24. ^ "Nardello & Co. Bolsters Leadership as Firm Enters New Growth Phase". Business Wire. December 7, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  25. ^ a b Verma, Roopal (September 5, 2017). "AIG appoints Lucy Fato as general counsel". Reuters. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  26. ^ "AIG Names Lucy Fato as Executive Vice President and General Counsel". Business Wire. September 5, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  27. ^ "2019 Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement" (PDF). AIG. April 2, 2019. p. 31. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  28. ^ "AIG Names Ling Chief Human Resources Officer". Insurance Journal. July 22, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  29. ^ a b "AIG's Lucy Fato Goes in New Direction With Latest Legal Chief Post". Corporate Counsel. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
  30. ^ Oliver, Ralph; Alistair, Gray (June 16, 2018). "AIG: The long struggle to repair its reputation". Financial Times. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  31. ^ "Lucy Fato". AIG. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  32. ^ "AIG Names Nardello's Fato as General Counsel, Succeeding Solmssen". Insurance Journal. September 6, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  33. ^ Monfort, Francis (September 8, 2017). "AIG appoints new general counsel change". Australasian Lawyer. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  34. ^ Baxter, Brian (November 12, 2020). "AIG's Top Lawyer Gets Government Affairs Role as Pandemic Rages". Bloomberg Big Law Business. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  35. ^ Buhayar, Noah (September 5, 2017). "AIG Names Lucy Fato General Counsel, Succeeding Peter Solmssen". Bloomberg Big Law Business. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  36. ^ Scism, Leslie (September 8, 2021). "AIG Combines CEO, Chairman Roles, Hoping to Put Years of Tumult Behind". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  37. ^ Sheehano, Matt (February 15, 2021). "AIG's Duperreault to step down from Exec Chair role by 2022". reinsurencene.ws. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  38. ^ "Ten Appointed to Newly Formed New York State Insurance Advisory Board". Insurance Journal. December 13, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  39. ^ "DFS Superintendent Linda A. Lacewell Announces Appointments to New York State Insurance Advisory Board". Department of Financial Services. 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
  40. ^ "LICONY Board of Directors". Life Insurance Council of New York. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  41. ^ Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon (2013-05-09). "Life Insurance Council Of New York Incorporated - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 2024-11-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  42. ^ a b "Lucy Fato". Nardello & Co. 6 December 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  43. ^ "Lucy Fato". Aspen Institute. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  44. ^ "Board of Directors". Coalition for the Homeless. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  45. ^ "Board of Directors". Advocates for Children of New York. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  46. ^ Baxter, Brian (April 19, 2024). "AIG Parts Ways With Longtime Legal Chief-Turned-Vice Chair Fato". Bloomberg Law.
  47. ^ "Form S1 - Seaport Entertainment Group". www.sec.gov. September 13, 2024. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
  48. ^ "MMC Honors Three Executives at the YWCA-NYC 36th Annual Salute to Women Leaders Awards". Business Wire. November 11, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  49. ^ Directory of Corporate Counsel: 2015-2016 Edition. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business. 2015. p. 846. ISBN 9781454856535.
  50. ^ "The 2017 Attorneys Who Matter" (PDF). Ethisphere Magazine. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  51. ^ "103rd Annual Dinner Celebrating Outstanding Women in the Legal Profession" (PDF). New York County Lawyers Association. December 11, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  52. ^ "NACD Directorship 100: 2018 Honorees". National Association of Corporate Directors. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  53. ^ "NACD Directorship 100: 2019 Honorees". National Association of Corporate Directors. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  54. ^ "2019 Notable Women in Law" (PDF). Crain's New York. p. 67. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  55. ^ "Aiming High Awards to Honor Legal Titans". NACD BoardTalk. National Association of Corporate Directors. June 6, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  56. ^ "2019 Aiming High". Legal Momentum. June 11, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2019.