Taking Charge of Change: Driving Transformation with Legal Ops Initiatives

Catherine Kemnitz is Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Axiom and Managing Director for Axiom Advice & Counsel. Throughout her 10-year tenure at Axiom in senior roles, Catherine has brought her extensive experience to bear across a range of strategic, commercial, corporate development, and operations roles. In her prior role as Axiom’s Chief Legal Officer, Catherine led the global Legal & Compliance, Corporate Development, and Corporate Secretary functions. She is known for her strengths in driving strategic growth initiatives and high stakes transformation. Currently Catherine is also the Managing Director of Axiom Advice & Counsel LLP, Axiom’s Arizona based law firm, and leads Axiom’s Large Projects segment.

Prior to joining Axiom, Catherine held Corporate Development and Strategy leadership roles at Thomson Reuters which she joined after eight years as a Capital Markets Associate with Sherman & Sterling LLP, now A&O Shearman, in New York. Catherine holds a Master of Laws LL.M. in Corporation, Finance, and Securities Law from New York University School of Law and a Ma?trise in Corporate and Commercial Law from Paris-Panth?on Assas University, France.

Throughout her career, Catherine has carved a reputation for successfully delivering innovative change strategies, meeting performance targets while managing risk and driving execution. She is a recognized thought leader on issues related to innovation in and the transformation of the legal tech and services industry. Catherine’s leadership is anchored in excellence, integrity, and passion, and driven by data, accountability, and team development. She is a dedicated DE&I leader and ally.

Aparna is currently Head of Legal at Popout, Inc. d/b/a Shippo, leading and building the in-house legal function. Aparna began her career supporting sales as a technology transactional attorney, then expanded into compliance oversight, go-to-market programs, product counseling, corporate governance, and M&A. She is excited to be a board member of the Pride Hockey Association, fostering youth hockey for girls and propelling them into success in their education and sports careers.

Aparna attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) for her B.A. in Literature and History. She enjoyed the charms of UNC Chapel Hill School of Law for her J.D.. Aparna is admitted to practice in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

Leah Yadegar is the Senior Corporate Counsel for Material, (formerly LRWGroup), a leading integrated marketing services company that leverages deep human understanding to help brands deliver material outcomes and experiences for their customers and the communities they serve.

Along with her General Counsel, Leah supports over 1250 employees in over 20 offices around the world. Leah is responsible for enterprise-wide legal, and risk management functions spanning across Material’s eleven entities. Leah most enjoys spearheading client contract negotiations, vendor onboarding, employee and independent contractor matters, data security and training others in the art of negotiation.

Before joining Material, Leah was a litigator in a boutique civil litigation practice in Beverly Hills. Leah has been active on the board of several international non-profit organizations and in 2017-2018 was appointed the Director of the StandWithUs legal fellowship, which provides practical, hands-on legal training to law students from the five Los Angeles based law schools. Leah holds two bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, Santa Barbara in History of Public Policy and Sociology (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa), a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, and a Certificate in A.D.R. from the prestigious Straus Institute.

Outside of her passion for law, business and negotiating, Leah is an avid international traveler, and enjoys skiing, and tennis. When she’s not at work, she is busy running after her three young sons and adventuring with her attorney husband.

Kim Metrick is Vice President, Employment Law, Legal Operations and Investigations for the Walgreen Company, the nation’s largest drugstore chain with more than 8,000 pharmacies across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Kim began her career with Walgreens in 1995 as a Senior Attorney. She has held various management positions throughout her career with Walgreens. In her current role, Kim is responsible for leading a team of employment law and employee benefit attorneys and legal staff professionals engaged in a broad based national employment and accessibility law practice. Together they work with Business Leaders and Human Resources to support employment decisions that reduce risk and drive business objectives. Kim also oversees the Global Legal Operations and Investigations Functions at Walgreens. Prior to joining Walgreens, Kim was an associate with the law firm of Ross and Hardies (now McGuire Woods).

Kim holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Juris Doctorate degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Kim is a frequent speaker on employment law topics and is active in various community service organizations. A longtime advocate of diversity within the legal industry, she is the immediate past President of the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law. Her work to advance women’s initiatives was also recognized by Best Lawyers magazine where she was awarded a Woman of Influence award in 2017. This year, Kim was awarded the 2018 Walgreen Champion of Champions Legal Division Engagement Award, an award that recognizes team members who best demonstrate the Walgreens mission to champion everyone’s right to be happy and healthy. She was the 2018 recipient of the Women’s Bar Foundation Rise Up and Reach Back award for her contributions to the legal profession and efforts to advance women’s initiatives in law.