With Fred Krebs retiring after 20 years as president and chief executive officer of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Veta Richardson has been chosen to succeed him at the helm of the organization.
Richardson is currently executive director of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and will take over at the ACC on July 1. However, she is not a newcomer to the ACC, having served as vice president and deputy general counsel from 1997 to 2000.
“I am deeply honoured to have been selected as president and CEO of ACC, an organization I have held in high regard for so many years,” says Richardson. “I am excited about the opportunity to build on the remarkable work and momentum Fred initiated and oversaw for the past 20 years.”
The Washington D.C.-based ACC has been growing rapidly outside its historic U.S. base. It has more than 26,000 members in over 75 countries, employed by over 10,000 organizations.
In Canada, the ACC has chapters in Ontario and Quebec, and has expressed interest to expand further. Its outgoing president, Krebs, was a permanent fixture in Canadian in-house counsel events.
A committee headed by Jonathan Oviatt, chief legal officer at the Mayo Clinic, chose Richardson for the position. “Veta’s stellar reputation, laudable achievements, and commitment to the legal profession made her uniquely qualified for the position. ACC will benefit greatly from her strong leadership skills and depth of knowledge and experience within the industry,” says Oviatt, who also served as deputy chairman of the ACC board.
Richardson also served as in-house counsel to Sunoco Inc. from 1986 to 1997. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law.
