Former AIG Vice Chairman and General Counsel Bolsters
Firm’s Corporate Governance Capabilities
(Washington, DC) March 3, 2010 – LawFuel.com – DLA Piper announced today that Anastasia “Stasia” Kelly has joined the firm’s Washington, DC office as Of Counsel. Kelly most recently served as Vice Chairman at American /International Group (AIG), in charge of Legal, Compliance, Regulatory, Human Resources, Communications, Government Relations and Public Relations. She began at AIG in 2006 as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Senior Regulatory and Compliance Officer.
While at AIG, Kelly worked to strengthen the compliance, regulatory and governance framework of the company and to build a cohesive team across the corporate functions she supervised. Under her leadership, AIG’s corporate activities became better positioned to restore the embattled company’s financial health.
“We have known and worked closely with Stasia for many years, in a variety of different contexts. It would be difficult to identify another lawyer in this country with more complex corporate governance and board crisis experience, or more character, grit and determination than Stasia Kelly,” said Francis B. Burch, Jr., Global Chairman of DLA Piper. “She has a well earned reputation as the go-to counsel for companies in difficult circumstances and she will be a tremendous asset for our clients as they navigate this volatile market and these challenging times.”
Kelly joined AIG as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Senior Regulatory and Compliance Officer in 2006, after the departure of Chairman and CEO Hank Greenberg amid a probe by then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. She was brought to AIG to assist in building a new corporate culture. Following the financial crisis in 2008, in which AIG received significant amounts of taxpayer assistance, she was named Vice Chairman in January 2009.
“Stasia brings a wealth of legal and management experience. She has dealt with enormous corporate governance challenges during her career, and her perspective is incredibly valuable in the current economic environment,” said Roger Meltzer, Global Chair of DLA Piper’s Corporate and Finance practice. “Our global platform is the ideal setting for Stasia to leverage her extensive experience and return to private legal practice.”
Prior to joining AIG, Kelly served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of MCI/WorldCom, where, as a member of the restructuring team, she helped the company recover from an accounting scandal, emerge from bankruptcy and position itself for acquisition by Verizon Communications. Previously, she was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Sears, Roebuck and Co., managing corporate legal policy and strategy. Kelly also served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Fannie Mae from 1995-1998, and had been a partner and associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where she had extensive exposure to regulatory and compliance issues involving financial institutions and securities firms. She has served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations, with a particular emphasis on providing legal services to disenfranchised and indigent populations.
Kelly received a J.D., magna cum laude, from George Washington University National Law Center and a B.A., cum laude, from Trinity University.
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