Podcast appearances and mentions of Baker Botts

Christa Brown-Sanford is a partner at Baker Botts in Dallas and chair of its Intellectual Property department. She also serves on the firm's Executive and Diversity and Inclusion committees and is an adjunct professor at SMU's Dedman School of Law, where she speaks regularly on patent matters. At every stage, she provides guidance on patent procurement, patent portfolio development, patent litigation, and patent licensing–particularly involving cutting-edge technologies in telecommunications, blockchain, electronics, AI, semiconductors, software, and personal mobility.  Outside of the office, Christa is actively involved in several organizations in the Dallas community. She's a member of the Charter 100 and Charity Crystal Ball, serves on the advisory board for the State Fair of Texas and the Innovation Council for Southern Methodist University, and serves on the boards of SMU, SMU's Dedman School of Law, Rice University George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Baylor Scott & White Foundation, and New Friends New Life (an organization focused on empowering trafficked women and girls). She was also the President of the Junior League of Dallas during the League's Centennial year and was recently honored as a top rainmaker by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE ABOUT ACHIEVING RAINMAKER SUCCESS Today, it's common for lawyers to move from firm to firm in search of better opportunities. Whether you're staying put for the long haul or keeping your options open, staying connected to your core motivators and mission can be the key to long-term success—both as a partner and a rainmaker. In this episode of The Lawyer's Edge podcast, Elise Holtzman sits down with Christa Sanford, Partner and Intellectual Property Chair at Baker Botts, to talk about the impact of leading with purpose. Christa shares her journey to leadership, her commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, and the pivotal moments that shaped her career. She also reflects on the challenges and rewards of balancing a demanding legal practice with one's personal life—and why staying true to her mission has made all the difference. 2:34 – Why Christa has remained at Baker Botts long-term and what's driven her to take on so many roles 8:57 – The biggest key to Christa developing her business and how she became aware of the rainmaking space 14:31 – The rewards of investing time, money, and energy into business development 17:26 – The factors that helped Christa evolve and step into leadership 21:32 – The low point that changed Christa's approach to failure and perfectionism in business development 28:01 – The challenges Christa faced on her journey to partner and rainmaker as a mom of three young kids 32:25 – Practical advice for building strong client relationships MENTIONED IN WHY STAYING TRUE TO YOUR MISSION IS CRUCIAL TO ACHIEVING RAINMAKER SUCCESS Christa Brown-Sanford (Baker Botts) | LinkedIn Baker Botts LLP | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X | YouTube Get Connected with The Coaching Team at hello@thelawyersedge.com The Lawyer's Edge SPONSOR FOR THIS EPISODE… Today's episode is brought to you by the Ignite Women's Business Development Accelerator, a 9-month business development program created BY women lawyers for women lawyers. Ignite is a carefully designed business development program containing content, coaching, and a community of like-minded women who are committed to becoming rainmakers AND supporting the retention and advancement of other women in the profession.  Early Bird Registration is now underway for our 2025 Ignite cohorts. If you are interested in either participating in the program or sponsoring a woman in your firm to enroll, learn more about Ignite and sign up for our registration alerts by visiting www.thelawyersedge.com/ignite.

Today, we are thrilled to welcome the incredible Mona Dajani to the show. Mona serves as the Global Co-head of Energy, Infrastructure, Hydrogen, Mobility, Renewables, and Water at Baker Botts. She is also an ambassador for the US Department of Energy's C3E initiative and a regular news correspondent on energy transition topics. Through her extensive career in clean energy, Mona has witnessed the evolution of global opinions on this issue. Mona believes that the way we engage in conversations about energy is pivotal to advancing the energy transition. These discussions can often be polarizing, making it essential to find common ground. As someone deeply experienced in navigating these challenging conversations, Mona shares how she approaches the topic with openness and gratitude, even when engaging with diverse leaders and stakeholders. Tune in to learn from Mona's insights on fostering productive and impactful dialogue about the energy transition and how we can all contribute to meaningful progress. Keynotes: Dealing with polarized opinions on energy The importance of having technical conversations with those from a non-technical background The evolution of the energy transition, and opinions surrounding it   Resources mentioned:  Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) Department of Energy (DOE)   Follow us on: Newsletter: https://www.energy-terminal.com/newsletter-signup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-terminal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/energyterminal/   Check out Energy Dialogues: https://energy-dialogues.com

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, host Karan Takhar speaks with Mona E. Dajani, Global Co-Chair of Energy Infrastructure & Hydrogen and Co-Chair of the Energy Sector at Baker Botts. They discuss her career journey, what drew her to the energy sector, and how she creates deal structures for large scale renewable projects. Mona then walks us through one of the most challenging and rewarding deals she's worked on and gives advice to lawyers and developers navigating their own deals. Karan and Mona discuss the soft skills needed to do the job and how to figure out what the other side wants. They dig into the Inflation Reduction Act and how the tax credits and incentives help and challenge deal structures. And, finally, Mona shares her advice for the next generation of leaders in the clean energy space.  If you haven't subscribed to the podcast yet, be sure to do so, and follow us on all the socials. New episodes go out every Thursday. Listen to The Zenergy Podcast:    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HEZXoEfuDa548Ty81gBWN     Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-zenergy-podcast-climate-leadership-finance/id1556215421 Follow The Zenergy Podcast on all the socials:   X (Twitter): @TakharK2    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Znrg.org    Instagram: @zen_rgy    LinkedIn: ZNRG    YouTube: ZNRG – The ZENERGY Podcast Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro  1:05 - Welcome 2:25 - What drew Mona to the energy sector 3:20 - Emerging technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the energy sector  6:05 - Challenges of creating deals for large-scale environmental projects  9:30 - Creating a deal between 9 different companies  11:50 - Advice to lawyers and developers who are navigating complex deals 14:45 - The importance of getting the best legal help you can get 17:15 - Ways to get money for your company  18:40 - How to deduce what companies value 19:40 - How the Inflation Reduction Act has altered the landscape 21:35 - How current laws can be amended to help developers 25:30 - Exciting future of the energy space

Do you envision that the IRA could be rolled back with a new administration? This question seems to permeate the conversation(s) heard around the industry in the last 6 months. Chris Sass, host of Insider's Guide to Energy, sits down with Mona Dajani, Global Co-Chair of Energy, Infrastructure, and Hydrogen at Baker Botts, to explore the intersection of policy and energy markets. Drawing on decades of experience in clean energy transactions, Mona offers a true insider's perspective on the election cycle, an update on green hydrogen and much more.Sneak peak: “If we're pragmatic about it, I don't see the IRA going away materially… for two reasons…the IRA was enacted as law [and] there's a lot of red states that really have a lot of clean energy projects in their state.” Regardless your political position, you're aware the 2024 U.S. presidential election outcome could significantly shape the future of renewable energy in America. With candidates proposing vastly different energy policies, the next administration's decisions will influence the pace of clean energy deployment, tax equity structures, and international investment. Tune-in to learn:How the energy policies of Harris and Trump could impact the renewable energy industryMona's insights on the future of the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act)The role of hydrogen in decarbonizationThe need for faster regulatory and permitting processes to accelerate renewable energy deploymentHow foreign conflicts impact renewables, from manufacturing to the price of gas and oil.Do your research, listen to the episode, and—most importantly— if you're a United States citizen, make your voice heard - VOTE!If you want to connect with today's guest, you'll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!SunCast is proudly supported by Trina Solar.You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.mysuncast.com/sponsors.Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today's guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 730 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com.Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalusMentioned in this episode:CPS July 2024 V2

From rising costs, construction delays and an increasing number of regulatory hurdles, U.S. LNG projects have seen a bevy of challenges this year, but how impactful really are the new obstacles? Baker Botts' Jason Bennett, department chair of global projects and co-chair of energy, discusses the near-term global natural gas market dynamics and domestic policies shaping the development of U.S. liquefied natural gas export capacity with NGI's Senior LNG Editor Jacob Dick.    Despite rising complications, there is still strong demand for LNG, according to Bennett. One way or another, buyers will seek to fill LNG demand – and the U.S. natural gas market remains a strong supplier.

Billionaire philanthropist and former energy trader John Arnold speaks to David Rubenstein for "Bloomberg Wealth." Arnold was a star natural gas trader at Enron before opening his own hedge fund Centaurus Capital which he ran for 10 years. Today, Arnold runs a prolific philanthropic foundation with his wife Laura. This interview was recorded May 3 at an event for law firm Baker Botts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode's guest is Clay Brett. Clay is a partner at Baker Botts, and leads a broad transactional practice, representing private equity investors, private credit investors, portfolio companies and financial institutions in M&A, capital formation, financing and joint venture deals. While Clay has led transactions across sectors as a generalist, Clay is regarded as one of a handful of the most respected names in the private energy investment space.Clay is uniquely positioned to give legal advice because he has experience in both operating companies as well as doing structured finance deals. In this episode, we start with Clay's background and discuss his motivations for leaving corporate law to join a private equity backed E&P company. After a few years of operating upstream assets, his group raised additional private capital to deploy into DrillCos and other structured finance deals. Clay is an expert in deal structuring and drops a ton of knowledge in this episode on how to get transactions across the finish line. You don't want to miss this one! Enjoy the show!Timestamps:00:00 - Intro00:01:51 - Clay's Introduction00:02:37 - Clay's Career Journey00:09:10 - Transition to Law00:11:36 - Deal Making: A High-Level View00:13:30 - Key Considerations in Deal Making00:19:38 - Role of Rep and Warranty Insurance in Transactions00:21:21 - Framing the Transaction00:23:12 - Importance of Good Representation00:24:29 - Understanding the Financial Impact00:29:02 - Negotiation Tone and Relationship00:30:23 - Deal Exhaustion and Loss of Trust00:33:52 - Importance of Detailed Term Sheets00:35:27 - Evolution of Millennial Phase00:41:43 - The Investment Process00:43:15 - Understanding the Drill Code Space00:44:52 - Transitioning to Advisory and Legal Side00:45:56 - Private Equity Space for Oil and Gas00:53:34 - Challenges in Upstream Transactions00:55:32 - Changes in Private Equity Funding00:57:12 - Surviving in the Industry00:58:03 - Opportunities in Lower Middle Market01:00:58 - Transition and New Role01:01:40 - Water Situation in Texas01:03:00 - Interest in Storage and Carbon01:03:26 - Contact Information

Texas lawyer Rod Phelan of Baker Botts spoke to 'Court Watch' host Alex Swoyer about Donald Trump's hush money appeal, comparing it to Harvey Weinstein's overturned conviction by New York's top court. He highlighted some similarities between how the cases were handled. 

In today's episode of the IC-DISC show, I chat with Jane Howze, founder and managing director of executive search firm Alexander Group. Jane shares her remarkable transition from commercial lending and law into this male-dominated industry. Her insight into culture, growth, and talent acquisition provided invaluable counsel for aspiring leaders. We explore nuanced career shifts and hiring new teams, emphasizing integrity's strategic importance. Jane highlights fact-checking credentials for ethics and vetting, referencing a shocking case of credential fabrication. Our conversation sheds light on work evolutions, from mentorship changes to communication innovations over the years.   SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Jane Howze shares her career transition from a commercial lending officer and lawyer to the founder and managing director of the Alexander Group, a top retained executive search firm. We discuss the early challenges Jane faced in a male-dominated industry and her experiences at Korn Ferry, emphasizing her success in executive search. Jane and I reminisce about shared history at Korn Ferry, including nostalgic and entertaining stories from the early days of our careers. li>Jane emphasizes the importance of integrity during career transitions, particularly when handling professional references and avoiding misrepresentation. We touch on the strategic advantages of honesty and the repercussions of fabricating qualifications, as highlighted by a CEO's false claim of a computer science degree. The episode covers the evolution of workplace dynamics, mentorship, and the practical advice Jane offers for aspiring paid board members. Crazy industry tales are recounted, such as an adventure with a $700 car in LA and setting realistic client expectations in executive search scenarios. Jane provides insights into networking and career strategy, especially relevant during the Great Resignation and for those aiming for public company board positions. We explore Dave's innovative client communication strategies and the impact of networking, as well as the significance of crafting a board-specific resume. The episode concludes with a light-hearted exchange about "tours of duty" within a firm, comparing it to conscription, and reflects on the demanding but rewarding nature of our work experiences. Contact Details Email (jhowze@thealexandergroup.com) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhowze1950/) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About The Alexander Group GUEST Jane HowzeAbout Jane TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Hi, this is David Spray and welcome to another episode of the IC Disc Show. My guest today was a very special guest. Jane Howes is the founder and managing director of one of the world's top retained executive search firms, the Alexander Group. Jane was actually my boss two different times about 25 years ago. As we talked about on the episode, she was both the greatest boss I'd ever had and my least favorite boss I ever had, sometimes in the same day. Jane has a wealth of knowledge on all aspects of culture building all aspects of culture building, firm building, growing a firm, picking the right people. We also took some stories down memory lane back from the days we worked together and when the firm was very young. This episode has a lot of great information for any executive or business owner who has any hiring responsibilities. Finally, if you've ever considered becoming a board member, jane has some great insights and tips on how to start your career as a paid board member. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Jane, welcome to the podcast. Jane: Well, Dave, it's wonderful to be with you. Dave: This is so. I was so excited for this, so I think I've told you this before. Jane, you were my all-time favorite boss and my least favorite boss, sometimes in the same day. Jane: And probably sometimes within 10 minutes of each other right. Dave: Perhaps, but you're the only boss I ever had twice. So I had left. I was gone a couple of years and then I was in a spot where I needed some contract work. This was before Uber, so I couldn't just go start driving my car around and you all were gracious enough to have me come back and it was wonderful. But I just want to thank you for all the opportunities you've given me, all that you've taught me. I've learned. I learned so much about business, communication, ethics, client service, so that served me the rest of my career. So thank you, jane. Jane: Dave, when you came back the second time, I was like our ship has come in. Dave Spray is back for more punishment, more reward, and I just feel really honored that our paths have crossed, because you could have been a great, you were a great recruiter, could have and still could. Dave, You're the best. Dave: Well, that's very nice of you to say so. Yeah, I enjoyed a lot of my time at the firm, so where are you calling in from today? Jane: I am in our Houston office today. As you know, we have offices in California, new York and DC. As you know, we have offices in California, new York and DC, but I will work out of Houston until it gets too impossibly hot to work out of Houston, as you know, and we'll head west. Excellent, well, that sounds great. Dave: Now, are you a native Houstonian? Are you one of those rare people born here that lives here? Jane: No, what's the saying? I got here as soon as I could, but I am from Birmingham Alabama and went to college in Memphis, tennessee, and my roommate from college was Houstonian and back in the day, you know, the Galleria had just been built and Houston was just this huge boomtown and I was glad to come here back in the infancy almost. Dave: Wow, and what did you do for work when you got here? Jane: I worked as. Are your listeners mainly in Houston, or are they scattered all over? They're all over the country in Houston or are they scattered all over? They're all over the country. Yeah Well, I worked for the largest bank in Houston and I was a commercial lending officer and attended law school at night. And then the story goes I practiced law and I left Houston and went to California and practiced law and then came back. So you know, kind of roads lead back to Houston. Dave: Ultimately, Okay, and then what? Did you just like have a dream or a vision or something that you needed to leave the law business and get into executive search? What prompted that? Jane: Well, a lot of practicing law, as I'm sure your listeners know, a lot of it is very compliance oriented, very regulatory oriented, and I'm not a regulatory kind of person. And I had gone from being a commercial loan officer, where my job was to deal with people all day, to being stuck in a law library reading compliance regulations. Oh my goodness, this is not good, this is not my personality. And read an article in Fortune magazine about Korn Ferry, the largest executive search firm in the world, and it was like the proverbial bolt of lightning went off. Dave and I was oh my gosh, I would be fabulous at this. I need to go work for Korn Ferry. And they had an opening back in Houston. So I left the practice of law in California and joined Korn Ferry in Houston. Dave: Wow, and you were, and I'm guessing that you were one of many women at the firm. I'm sure, right, this was the 80s executive search. Jane: Let's see there were 200 partners and two women, and the minorities were all in the Hong Kong office. Dave: Okay, I mean diversity was achieved, but there were like six men in the Hong Kong office. Jane: Okay, I mean diversity was achieved, but there were like six men in the Hong Kong office and that is not a knock on Korn Ferry that the executive search business was oh, we want to give a CEO search to somebody we've served in the military with, or somebody that we go hunting with, or somebody on our bowling, you know that kind of thing, and women just weren't in that place then. So it was definitely an early time and a good time to get into executive search. In retrospect at the time it seemed a little challenging. Dave: And you. So how did it go, did you? Was it all you hoped it would be? Jane: You know, the minute I started recruiting I was happy I knew I had found my calling. Before I got into search, I had always been one of the people that said I'd love to introduce you to this person, I'd love to fix you up with this person, and so I finally got in a position that you got paid for it which is great by two partners from KPMG who wanted to do recruiting of C-suite positions for their KP clients, and K wouldn't let them do it. So they formed Korn Ferry, and so I was lucky. It was kind of the early days of Korn Ferry they were maybe 15 years old by the time I joined them and global, so it was a really great move to learn the search business. Dave: You weren't there too long, right Before you felt the need to unfurl your own wings. Jane: Yes, that is true. I was wow. There are not many women partners here and I know I'm good at this and I know I can be successful at this. So, dave, I hooked up with another woman at Corn Ferry and the other big search firm is Russell Reynolds and we were like, well, let's start our own search firm, and I don't know that I would have done it by myself. But we started, really got going in 19, which is 40 years ago now. I feel like I'm the oldest living person alive still doing it. But we started and back then you didn't have the internet to do research and our first client was Grant Thornton the public accounting firm and the number two person at Grant met us and we went walking in their offices and there were no women audit partners then, or tax partners, and we went strolling in and he goes. Well, I believe in you all and I want you to help me build the firm. I'm going to do acquisitions, I'm going to do partner searches, I'm going to do campus recruiting, and we rode along for over 50 searches and practice acquisitions in our first years, which made it really a great foundation upon which to build. Dave: Oh, that's awesome. That is awesome, and that's been 40 years ago. Jane: Yeah, Dave, I probably tried to recruit you back in the days you were at Arthur Anderson. You were probably one of my recruits, even not knowing it. Dave: Yeah, you never know, you never know. And one of the is that when you started, the billing by the hour approach, or did that come later. Did you do that from the beginning? Jane: We started because, having been with a law firm where you're basically selling your time, we thought, well, we're going to be a different kind of search firm, we're going to bill by the hour. And it proved to be a great thing. And, dave, we were so cheap that people would go, you'll do, you'll take over all our campus recruiting for $50 an hour. And we were like, oh great, well, here's 10 colleges we don't want to go. You guys go, just do our recruiting for probably 10, 12, 13 years, which made it challenging because not everybody wants to fill out timesheets to the 10th of an hour, which we were. Dave: Yeah, no, but I remember when we would talk to potential clients, that was part of the pitch and the fact that they could do we could do all a card search for them. It's wrong as the source candidates, you know, we would just do that. And the other thing I loved was the independence that gave, because I know there were times that right late in the search we had three finalists and they would say, hey, we identified somebody on our own, can we throw them into the mix? And of course we were very receptive because we were just paid by the hour, like we didn't care. Whereas I think a lot of other firms, especially if there was a success fee component you know, would be very resistant to that, so I always thought that was great. What caused you to move away from that? Jane: Just the cumbers of it or just the greater tendency to do fixed. But you know, we started out doing lower level positions and as we built our reputation we were, frankly, we were leaving. Frankly we were leaving. We weren't great timekeepers and we kind of thought, well, let's still provide a win for our clients Because the big search firms you are obligated to pay the fee. Even if they find their own candidate, you're obligated to pay the fee. So what we decided was we will do a fixed fee. We will tell the client at the beginning of the search this is what your fee is. So it's not really tied to the compensation but the complexity of the search. So, for example, if we were doing a search in Fargo, north Dakota, in December, that might be a harder search. You know, with the pain in the bottom 10% of compensation ranges, that might be a harder search than doing a search in December in Florida, for example, or with the time. So we just pivoted I think it was in 2001 that we'll give you a fixed fee for the search, but it will be less usually than a third of total comp. So even if you put your own candidate into the process, you're still paying for it, but you're paying for a process, not a candidate. So we still had a competitive advantage. And it's interesting. Here we are today, in 2024, and some of the other search firms are now doing what we do. Some of our biggest competitors are going. Well, we'll give you a fixed fee if the Alexander Group's giving you a fixed fee. So it's interesting how it's turned out. Dave: But you were a disruptor in a number of ways in the industry. Jane: I mean it didn't seem like it at the time but now that I see other firms doing the same thing to try and compete effectively, they don't want to. They'd rather just get a third. But one of the things we tell our clients when they retain us is for your budgeting purposes, you're going to know how much the fee is and we'll have no reason to present the most expensive candidates because our fee is already in your budget and we're just going to be on your side of the table trying to find the best person at the most cost-effective salary compensation package. So I think it's a win and it's something that has worked for the clients. And you know the thing that and I know you know this we said it when you were there and we still say it 85% of our business every year is the same people and we're really proud of that because most search firms their repeat business is 6%. And why is that? And you know we laugh and say, well, we have an unstable product. You know and you know there's so many things that can go wrong when you're dealing with people, but we try and provide very I want to say a really strong relationship focus. I mean I tell clients. I don't want to just see you one time. We want a long-term relationship with you and that's really important to us and I think it makes a difference and I think the clients feel like we really care about being part of their team and that's really important to us. Dave: Yeah, that's great and I did experience that, and life's just more fun when you have happy repeat customers and clients Instead of people you try to squeeze for every last dollar for one time transaction. Jane: And you're well. I hope we don't have to see each other again. Right, you know it's like no, we want to be around for the long haul and I know you know this because but our first client from Grant Thornton, who's now 88 years old, is still a friend and a client and a mentor of the firm and we wouldn't really have it any other way. That means a lot to us. Dave: You know, one of the most valuable lessons you taught me was when I went into your office after I worked there about a year and a half and I just said, jane, I don't think this is for me and I don't know what I'm going to do, but I just want to set expectations. And you said hey, as long as you continue to do good work, you can stay. You know, as long as you want, right, I mean, just keep doing good work. And then the other thing you told me do you remember what you told me? You said, and it was very, it was good advice, but it was also clever on your end too. What did you tell me? Jane: I told you, no one will remember the job that you did, but everyone will remember how you leave. Dave: Yep, yep, that's so true and it's such simple advice, right? Because you work someplace for years and then all you really have to do to even make up for mistakes you made is just end on a really high note, right, you could have been a average employee, but just end on a high note and they'll all say, oh yeah, that change, she was great. She was great. We loved having her around. Jane: No, I remember that Because I mean I tell people I was not the best lawyer in the world, but I left, left. Like how do I transition my clients? How do I help train the new person? Can I be available after I'm gone? If I need to come in on a Saturday to help out? And I tell people when I make speeches no one will. You could be really bad at your job, but you can be a good, a great departing employee if you aren't a current employee. And that is just so true. And you know today, you never know when you're going to need a reference. Today, with everything so transparent, even if you don't give somebody as a reference, people will look on LinkedIn and say, oh well, I'm going to call this person and see how Betty was as an employee. So you're going to be found out, good or bad. So you might as well be the best ex-employee you can possibly be. Dave: I love it. Yeah, I know one of the things we did when I was with the team was we would do reference checks, and I think we would oftentimes do them even before the offer was extended. I forget. I think we did it both ways. Sometimes we did it subject to reference checks, sometimes we did the references first and I was always surprised. Every so often you'd find out people lied on their resume or exaggerated. But I imagine with social media and such, that's probably all gone away, right, nobody tries to get away with that anymore, I suppose do they? Jane: You know, dave, it's really interesting. Somebody asked me the other day what surprises you the most. That happens today, that happened 20 years ago. And the answer is exactly as you say. People still try and fudge. They'll say, well, I received an MBA when they did the coursework but didn't write the final paper. Or they'll be credit short of a college degree. Just last month we weren't at the final stages. But we try and check educational background and someone had on their resume they had on their LinkedIn received a bachelor's degree. And we check and there's no bachelor's degree. And they say, oh well, but I was only four hours short and I go. But four hours short does not a degree make, and I'm always surprised that. And people will have maybe a year gap where they're unemployed. And it's okay with COVID and all the changes that we have all gone through as a country, as a business community, it's okay that you have gaps, but it's not okay to misrepresent the gaps and sometimes you'll have people go. Oh well, you know, it was during COVID, I'll just kind of fudge it a little bit. And you're always going to be found out almost every single time, and I'm always surprised that people still do it, though, but even at the highest levels, dave, they still do it Like even like at the C-suite level, you mean. Yeah, at the C-suite level. You know, I wrote an article as a commentator for MSNBC 10 years ago because the CEO of, I think, hp said he had a degree in computer science, but it was a degree in history, you know, which is a pretty big difference. And I wrote an article saying and this was even before the proliferation of social media 10 years ago and I said you will be found out. This guy did, and it was very public and it was he got fired from H. It was a big deal and I was like do not let it stand. If you fudged, go fix it, fess up. Dave: The irony was, if he was, you know, at that level, he probably had graduated at least 25 years earlier. So the irony was his degree had no nothing to do with his current level. Yeah, nobody cared, except that he lied about it. If somebody lies about something that can be checked. What are they lying about that can't be checked, right? Jane: Exactly Well. And the other thing is, when you think about somebody's personal branding, wouldn't it make a great story? Hey guys, I don't know. I had a history degree and look how good I am. I'm running HP now and I had to leave the hospital. But to say he had a computer science degree. I mean it made no sense. But people do that still and I always tell people I know some of your listeners are small businesses where they don't have huge departments but one of the most important things you can do is do background checks and reference checks, unofficial and official, because people they never will stop doing it and no matter how many commentators tell them don't do it, they do it. Dave: Well, you know, I guess it's time for me to go update my LinkedIn. For all these years, jane, I've been telling the world that I was the CEO of the Alexander Group and you worked for me, so I think I'd better go fix that before it backfires. Jane: Well, you know, people always say how did you get the name the Alexander Group? And we, truly the name Alexander kind of has a masculine kind of connotation and you know, even when you were with us, dave, we would get calls once a week going Mr Alexander, please, yeah, and so so. So I think you just, I think not only did you say you were CEO, I think your name you've been passing off your name is David Alexander, right. Dave: That could very well be and I learned so much about presentation because, you know, when I was there, a lot of the the recruiters were young, you know, fresh out of college. The recruiters were young, you know, fresh out of college, and you know you and John did a great job of mentoring these folks and developing them. But it was always so interesting that, you know, we had a pretty casual environment and back then you would leave a message for a candidate and they would call back the main switchboard. I don't know we've, I don't think we even had direct dial numbers back then and they'd call back and switchboard. I don't know, I don't think we even had direct dial numbers back then. And they'd call back and here's this scruffy 23-year-old unshaven guy wearing, you know, birkenstocks to work, named you know Tom, let's say. And when the person would call back and they'd say, yeah, tom Smith, please you train the receptionist to say, oh, hold on. May I ask Mr Smith, you know who's calling you? know, just to I mean there's no harm in saying Mr Smith because that is his name, but why say, oh yeah, let me see if Tommy Boy's you know done, you know done having his afternoon tequila shot, right, I mean there's no use in. Jane: No, it was all about. It was all about the, you know, because we were so small in Scruffy and the other thing we would do would be to say I'd train the receptionist to go never say Mr Smith is not at his desk. Dave: Right, he is not at his desk. Jane: Right, he is not in his office and I will have one of his assistants call you back. Dave: Nice, nice, one of them. I like that. Jane: I know, I mean, you know, I just am blushing, thinking about what we did to make ourselves sound substantial. And there's Tommy Smith back in the back office, sound asleep at his desk, you know. Dave: Exactly. Jane: And sometimes I go, oh well, and sometimes you know candidates would call back. Well, is Tommy Smith calling me? And if I happen to be at the office late at night, you know some of it is the smoke and mirrors of making yourself sound like you're Well, I remember when I would like when you or John would be like traveling. Dave: I would try to book the mother BD. Right, you're interviewing folks in Kansas City, what other companies are headquartered in Kansas City or just other things. And one of the things that the things I did that I learned a lot about this is that even though you and John were based in Houston, if I was trying to set up Houston appointments, I would act as if you and John were based in San Francisco, like I'd say oh, you know Miss Howes will be in, you know she'll be in Houston for two days next week. You know she'll. she won't be in the San Francisco office, she'll be in the Houston office for two days Now the reality is you were going to be there for two weeks, but you were going to be there for those two days and it was what's the biblical saying you can't be a prophet in your own homeland. And I think it's still true to this day that expert from out of town and they rearrange their schedule for the person from out of town. Jane: Well, you know, there's a Buddhist saying that says the visitor from afar brings knowledge and I like that. Dave: I like that. Jane: And you know, sometimes I get asked to talk to college students about how our young people, about how do you find jobs, and my clients, kids, want to know how do we find a job. And I don't I'm not a career counselor but what I tell them is the further like if you went to NYU, say you're going to have more success calling NYU alums in Houston trying to get them to help you than you will in New York City. If you're a University of Houston graduate and you're in San Francisco, there's probably only 20 of you in the whole town and all people are hardwired to help people who come from afar. If there's a limited population and it goes kind of with that thing of being unique, like you know how many people come from Houston to San Francisco for a meeting. 20 years ago I mean it happened, but it wasn't every day that a head of human resources got that phone call right. Dave: In my business that it's easier for me to get an appointment in Syracuse, New York, if I'm going to be up there for business anyway. It's easier to get that appointment than it is with somebody in Houston, Because in Houston they're just like I'm busy this week, you know. Call me next month, you know, because you're so available. It's just like it seems like if you're meeting somebody for dinner, the closer the restaurant, the more likely you are. The closer the restaurant, the more likely you are to be late, or the more likely I am to be late, because if I'm driving 30 minutes I'm going to allow 45 for traffic and stuff, but if it's three minutes away, I'm going to leave two minutes before the dinner and then exactly a stoplight pot ad and then the parking lot's full and yeah no, it is, but it is something about the further something is away. Jane: And I remember one of the ways I built up our and some of our first clients. Most of our first clients were California companies because California had more. They were more used to women in doing C-suite searches. But you know, I was in California every two weeks for probably 30 years and I would call and go well, I'm from Houston, I'm a woman-owned search firm, I'm going to be in LA, can I come see you? And we got a lot of great clients like Wells Fargo, warner Brothers, yeah, a lot of McKesson company, because they were like oh, the visitor from afar they're coming to, they're coming from Houston and they're women in the search business Great, they're coming from Houston and they're women in the search business Great, you know. And I I spent a lot of time where people would go well, I have time tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock and I'm going to be there. And I quickly hung up the phone and called United and called Continental Airlines and started booking that airline ticket as fast as I could. Dave: Yeah, I do remember my listeners love stories. What are some stories of just interesting or amusing or candidate screw up things that come to mind where, yeah, I don't know a candidate showed up intoxicated or a candidate showed up and forgot to put pants on that day, you know. I don't know a candidate showed up intoxicated, or a candidate showed up and forgot to put pants on that day. Jane: You know, I remember way back in the early days one of my first big searches was a senior lending officer for a regional bank here and the candidate was great and it was. I was so excited and so I called the CEO of the bank after the interview and I said Rex, how did the interview go? He goes, jane, he didn't come. I said he didn't come. What the hell? Why didn't he come? He said, oh, it was okay. He drove through the teller window and passed a note to the teller to pass to me that he wouldn't. He changed his mind, you know, and you just go, who drives through the go in for the interview but drives through and says will you give this note, handwritten note on a scrap of paper I'm not coming. And so that was kind of the early days. A second story, and I mean it's crazy what we did back in the early days but one client wanted us to live in LA and take over all their staffing for it. This is when we were hourly billing and we were pretty cheap and they said, yeah, we'll get your room at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA. We want you there for a month and we're trying to figure out how to save money, because back then, you know, we just wanted to be and so we bought Dave a $700 car so we wouldn't have rental car charges, and we called it the gray ghost. It was a delta 80 and we drove this car and I am embarrassed to tell you, and I hope your listeners will think we were really creative rather than really cheesy but when we were done with the car, when we finished the search and the client actually is still a client in other iterations we just left the car at a Friday's Marina Del Rey and that was it, because it was on its last legs, you know, and we just that was it. We just left the keys in the car and that was it. Dave: That was it. We just left the keys in the car and that was it. You know you reminded me of something. A good friend of mine owes you his job because you just reminded me of something and I know I learned this from you. So it's really good friend of mine. Cpa, a classic, stereotypical CPA, introverted, not very outgoing but very technically sound, and he was working at a public accounting firm and he was kind of stuck at the senior level. He couldn't get promoted to manager, which usually happens after like five years. And there's a firm in town that I knew a guy there and they were looking for like a first year audit manager. So he was perfect for it. Looking for like a first year audit manager, so he was perfect for it. And so the three of us met for a drink at Papa Do's on Westheimer, over in the Galleria. But I told him ahead of time. I said Pete, he is. I'm just going to tell you right now, he's not Mr Personality. If you're looking for a glad handing, you know, outgoing salesman type, he's not the right guy for you. And so, of course, what did he say? No, we're not looking for a salesman, we're looking for a manager, right, somebody technically solid. So we met and afterwards we had a good time. And afterwards I said so what'd you think? And he said I'm glad you told me that he wasn't Mr Personality, because I was kind of prepared for it. And he did the same thing when they met with the people at the firm. He told them on the front end hey, this guy's not Mr Personality, but he's really smart. I think he can do the job. And 30 years later he's a senior partner at this Houston CPA firm and I know I learned that line from you. Now let me just tell you this person's not Mr Personality. Does that sound like something you might've said for? Jane: Yeah, well, you know what I mean. Part of what I look at a recruiter's job, an executive search person's job, is you tell the client what's wrong or what's missing, because they're smart and they're going to get it themselves. And if you tell them, you are adding value, you're being a consultant and you've managed expectations. So when we do a search, we write a paper, basically a report. These are the things that might not exactly fit, but these are the things that overcome what you are looking for. And which reminds me of one more story. I remember doing a audit partner search, for I think it was Grant Thornton up in St Louis and it was in Chicago actually, and so, as you recall, we would fly to the cities, park ourselves at a hotel restaurant and just sit there and make that our office. It was pretty soon, and so I got to O'Hare sitting down and my 3 o'clock appointment comes up at one o'clock and I go buddy, you're here a little bit early. He said, oh, yeah, yeah, I've heard great things about the Alexander group and I'm just going to sit at this next table and watch you in action. And I'm like, well, buddy, that's just not going, not gonna. And mentally I'm thinking well, buddy is no longer a candidate, but he wanted to sit and listen in on every other interview so he could get some good tips of how to interview himself, and anyway not a bad idea if he had just simply kept that information to himself. Right and not done it when I'd already started the interview. You know, I mean, I kind of lost two candidates right in one sitting. You know, you can't make this stuff up. Dave: That is something. I got a question somewhat related to search. Some of this conversation is about executive search. Right, we probably should have at least maybe a third of it about search. What about board members? So you know, I've got clients who ran, built, ran, sold $50 million revenue successful privately held companies, sold $50 million revenue, successful privately held companies. And they maybe think, yeah, I might like to be serve on a board. Now for somebody to be on a public company board do they need public company experience? Jane: You know, Dave, I think the question as I'm kind of rounding third base in my career and a lot of my peers are in their 60s and they're finishing, They've sold their private company, they retired from a public company. They, for whatever reason, they say well, you know, I'm going to retire, I'm going to, I want to be on a board. Can I get on a board? My answer is always this yes. However, it's a question of how much time do you want to spend to get on your first board? Once you get on one board, even if you're a private company executive, can you get on a public board, Asterisk, if you're willing to really work hard on at that. The average board tenure is 10 years. Board positions don't really turn over that much of a healthy company. So people get on a board and especially if it's a public board, there's incentive comp, there's options. It's not a hard gig for a lot of companies. So the answer is yes. And then what do you do if you want to get on a board? If you want to get on a board? Probably 70 percent of all board positions are not gotten through search firms. Does that surprise you? Dave: Maybe, yeah, maybe some. It's the network, the network of the other board members. Jane: Yeah, yeah, because people will say, oh well, I know somebody I'm going to, I'll go back to my UT alum group and see if they, you know, kind of knows around there. Or I'll see if, oh, I know a guy that works at Goldman Sachs, Maybe he knows somebody. I know a friend that's a part retiring from Ernst Young and I'll ask her. And so there's a lot of you know, with the call for diversity, search firms are becoming more involved but and doing more and 30% is still a lot to be putting out to search. But so the things that if any of your listeners are interested, I tell people, If any of your listeners are interested, I tell people, do a board resume. A board resume is different than a job resume. It's talking about your experience assessing risk, building a company, governance compliance, things that a board member would look at, governance compliance things that a board member would look at and the board members not looking at the details of you know, do you get two weeks or three weeks for vacation? They're looking at what's our strategic plan, the being the boss of the ceo, representing shareholders. So you want a board, one page board resume that talks about what you've done. That would be analogous to that. And then you really want to get on. A not-for-profit board Helps because, especially if it's big enough, there will be other corporate people there and you will make contacts. But it's really about making contacts. A lot of investment banks they don't use search firms when they take a company public. They have databases, they go through their contacts. Bankers know people. It's all about the three sources. I would say. If any of your listeners are saying I want to be on a board one day, do you know anybody in investment banking, private equity, public accounting, M&A law firms anybody like that and tell everybody you're looking for those recommendations. And then the last thing is a lot of your listeners are successful people who've had roles in companies that are entrepreneurial in nature, and a lot of them I know people that have taught an entrepreneurship class or a lecturer at Rice University here. And there's a lot of smart kids who are starting businesses. Let's not forget Google, Facebook, some of these companies that started from college kids, and I think that's a great avenue to think about when, if you're thinking about ways to get on a board. Dave: I like it. That's really cool. Well, speaking of rounding third base, I can't believe how the time has flown by. I have just a couple other questions for you. One is I've heard about this great resignation. For you One is I've heard about this great resignation. What has been your experience? Is this trickled up to the C-suite and the board level, or is this a problem that those people are having to deal with? People lower in the organization? Tell me about the great resignation from your perspective. Jane: Well, one thing hasn't changed. If you look at CEOs of Fortune 500 companies that are recruited from the outside, I would say they have a 50% chance of being there two to three years out. And why is that? Culture fit so the top. You will always have CEO changes, especially if they come from outside and they don't fit with the culture. What I think we are seeing and we see from our clients is post-COVID. There's been so many obvious changes but a lot of things that aren't obvious. People don't want to relocate as much as they might have pre-COVID. Why is that? Well, covid scared people in terms of my parents I've got to take care of my parents, I may have to have my kids at home for high school, and do I want to go to someplace new and have something like that happen? So I think you're having that we're coming out of. But you're also having middle range employees who aren't as loyal, and you know I always tease that a lot of the younger people today. If they have a bad Monday, they may be somebody someplace else by Friday. So I think there's not quite that dickiness of what you grew up with and I grew up with. Hey, you know we want to. You know we don't want to be a quote job hopper and I think people today don't care if they're job hoppers quite as much. And there's not that people are more willing. I think in COVID accentuated that where they're more willing to take risk. And, you know, maybe I'll be without a job for a month, two months, and yeah, I think we're seeing that. And what I tell small businesses that you know be focusing on long how do you make a culture that will keep people invested long term? And there've been a lot written on that and it's different for every company depending on where your location is and what your employee mix. But I think that's a really important thing that everybody's got to do in a bigger way. And also, lastly, dave, the emphasis on mental health, something that has changed dramatically in the last three years, where you know we've got to take care of people financially. And also, how are they doing? Because so many people were isolated during COVID and had mental health issues and people talk about that more, which we never did back in the day. You just bucked it up and, you know, kept making those source calls, dave, you know. Dave: For every six you made, you got to check off a tenth of an hour of work. Jane: Exactly. You had to make a left message with 10 people to get that six. I had it backwards. Dave: It was even harder than I remembered. That's why you get so excited if somebody answered the phone because that, even if you only talk 30 seconds, you got to put them down as a yeah, no, that's right they go no, I'm not interested and you go, that's OK. Jane: Awesome, ten minutes ahead here. Dave: That is great. So so I think the two questions left, so one. Is there anything that I did not ask you that you wish I had? Is there anything we did not talk about that you think we should have? Jane: No, you're a really good interviewer, Dave, which? Dave: I learned it from you. I learned it starts with interviewing candidates and it translates to other things. Jane: Well, I'm, you know, I'm really honored to be here, dave, because the people that you serve and that you do work for. I think it is much harder to run a smaller private company than it is a big company, because you've got to have employees who are multifaceted, You've got to have employees who have an entrepreneurial mindset, you've got to have employees who have an entrepreneurial mindset. So my hat is off to the work you do the clients that you serve, because it is a hard business. Dave: Well, I appreciate that. I love serving entrepreneurs, that is for sure. So here's the last question. This is a curveball one you may remember. When you asked if you need to do any preparation, I said no, we're just going to talk about your life story and you don't need any prep. But I promise you one curveball, and here it is. Are you ready? If you could go back in time and give advice to your 25 or 28 year old self, what advice might you give yourself? Jane: Yeah, oh, that is a great. That is a great question. Don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff. Dave: Okay. Jane: And the things that you worry about about 90% of them do not materialize. Dave: Was that? Was it Mark Twain or Will Rogers? I always get their two quotes conflated. But one of them said I'm an old man, man, and in my life I've known a great many. I've known a great many difficulties, most of which never came to pass, or something to that effect yes, that's right. Jane: And Mark Twain, as you will recall from our time together, said I didn't have time to write a short story, so I wrote a long story, right? Dave: Exactly. Yeah, I learned a lot about incise writing and just I'm always amazed that people that just the simplest stuff that I never picked up in English class. Like you know, bob is a person who does XYZ, he's not. It's not Bob that does something, it's Bob. Bob's not a that, he's a who. Jane: That's, that's right and word choice, and. But you know I, you know I sound like a geezer, but you know stuff like that is. I mean a lot of people today really don't know that. I mean even you know I see at the executive ranks a lot of people who, who just, and you know, I think one of the things when I talk to people early in their career is learn to write, learn business writing out there. I mean especially now with Zoom and you can do business with people by email A lot of people. And if I get a resume from somebody that doesn't spell check or anything else. Dave, one final story, and it's so good and it reminds me. It does remind me of you for obvious reasons, but I don't know if you remember that we sent a letter out one time when you joined, maybe when you rejoined us, and we said Dave is from you know, arthur Anderson, a leading public accounting firm, but we left out the L of public. Do you remember that? Dave: I remember that does sound familiar. I remember somebody saying well, I don't know what it is, but we want some right, that's funny because, yeah, when you send out as many, as much written correspondence as the firm has for so long, it can't try as you might, it can't all be perfect. Just like I'm amazed when I read, like a bestselling book that sold 20 million copies and you find a typo. You're like but you know, when I talked to an author about that they said, yeah, there's, you know, 100,000 words in here, like you, just sometimes they slip through the cracks. Jane: Well, Dave, I the thing I remember about you and I always feel like I can learn something from everybody, even though there's an you're younger than I am. But even back when you were really young and with us, you were so effective at client communication and getting business. And do you remember that? You are the ones that taught us that people are hardwired to want to help, but you have to give them a way to help you. And you would come up with a list, Like, do you know people from any of these five companies? And people would look at and go, oh yeah, I can help you, I do know somebody from here. And what a great way to teach someone how to develop their own clients as to teach the client how to help the potential client or source how to help them. Dave: Well, that's one of the benefits of being a bad employee who changed jobs every year is I was exposed to a lot of things. I learned that in the financial services business and what made it so powerful was because in the financial services business you're always trying to get you know referrals to folks and if you just say, hey, jane, you know who, do you know who's looking to buy life insurance, probably nobody comes to mind. Nobody, because nobody's come up and said hey, I need life insurance. Do you know anyone? But what I learned in that is still helpful today. But instead, if you give somebody a list of 10 people and you say, jane, I'm going to be calling these 10 people next week, I'm just curious, can you tell me, is there anyone on this list you think's particularly great or you think really highly of? And they'd say, oh sure, let me borrow your pen. They check off the before names, you're like great. And then I would say, hey, by chance, if you happen to talk to them before next week, will you tell them I'm going to call them and they, of course, would say, sure, I haven't talked to this guy. I went to law school in five years. It's unlikely I'm going to talk to him this week, but sure, I'll tell him, okay. And then, finally, jane, when I talked to John Lamar, is it appropriate to mention that you know that we had a conversation? You know that he came up in conversation? Sure, yeah, no problem. So then, when I would call the person, it was so easy. Hey, john Lamar, by chance did Jane Howes tell you I'd be calling? No, how's Jane doing? I haven't seen her since law school. Boy, she's really wonderful, I like Jane. And so, yeah, you know Jane. Huh, yeah, I haven't known her a long time. I haven't known her as long as I've known you. Meaning I've met her for 10 minutes, but all of my dealings with her were first rate, all of them. And then just say, hey, you know, jane had some nice things to say about you and she thought we might benefit from knowing meeting one another. You know, know, when are you? It was amazing how well that. But it all started with just having a list to start with, because there's a difference between if somebody like, let's say, that conversation went poorly and john lamar called you back and said, hey, why'd you have? that dave spray guy call me. Well, if you can say, I didn't tell him to call you. He already had your name. He was going to call you anyway he just asked me. Jane: Anyway, great guy, yeah right. Dave: He just wanted to know if you were a jerk or not. And apparently I was wrong because you're gonna give me a hard time. All I did was say you were a nice guy and and now you're giving me a hard time, but yeah and and dave. Jane: What I remember the funny thing was john lamar are my 30 year partner. He went to a meeting with you and he said jane, dave pulled out the list. And I said he pulled out the list. And he said yes, and it worked and we just like we were so nervous about the list. But, Dave, it really worked. Dave: It is funny. And the irony is, the time you pull the list out is when the meeting doesn't go well. You know, like it's a brief meeting and they're like no, my best man at my wedding is a partner at Horn Fairy. That's where all of our search goes. We'll never give it to anyone else. Well, now you have nothing to lose by pulling out the list. I mean, if they on the spot want to sign you up for some searches, well, just keep the list in your pocket. But and the irony was the worse the meeting goes, the more helpful. Jane: They would seem to be right because they kind of feel bad that you flew away from houston. Dave: You flew all the way from houston out to see them and they can't help you. So now, sure, I'll look at your list. I'll give you some. Jane: But it's true, the list, dave, I mean that is a course in business development and we were like God, that list is not going to work. But it works, it absolutely does. Dave: Well, and you know when I first used that this shows what how I approach business development when I was in the financial services business right at Arthur Anderson attorneys were my best prospects. So this was like 1990, excel hadn't even been invented, they were using Lotus one, two, three. And I bought the Martindale Hubble legal director. You remember this thing? The blue, yeah. Maybe it was an yeah, but it was a blue thing and what I did that I was so proud of myself. I went through that and I created a spreadsheet and I knew one attorney in Houston and he was like a second year attorney at some place and he went to U of H and I played basketball with him and I went and I had lunch with him and I pulled out the graduates from like the top 20 law firms in Houston and I'm sorted by year in college. So the first list I gave him was all of the people who graduated from law school, the ones in his start class. And then I gave him a list of all the other U of H grads who were like a couple of years older to a year younger Same thing, who do you know? And then I made the call to them and then, jane, it got to be so crazy. I would go to like V&E and I would be there like I'd have like 12 meetings in a row, like, and they would literally walk me from one office to the next and they'd be like, hey, so who's next on your list? Oh, bob. Oh, he's a hoot, yeah, you'll enjoy meeting him. And so they would escort me into the office. It was like it was this introduction from one stranger to another one, but then the new person I would meet with. So you know, lauren introduced me to a guy who started with him that went to UT, so I would have all the other UT guys at his firm and at the other firms in town and it just exploded. Like in three or four months I was like the guy for all the third year attorneys at Baker Botts and V&E and Fulbright, but anyway, that is so fun, but it works, dave, and it's something you know. Jane: 15, 20 years later I still remember. Quote the list. Dave: Yeah, yeah, some great times. So, jane, thank you so much for not only inviting me to the 40th anniversary party that was just spectacular. Seeing some of my former colleagues, that was just great and just having the ability to be friends with you and your husband and John Lamar all these years is very special. I like to say there's only one ex-girlfriend I keep in touch with and there's only one ex-employer I keep in touch with, and that's you all when you are a VIP favored status. Jane: you work for us twice and we keep hoping that phone will ring the third time, dave, and it'll be the charm. Dave: Yeah, you never know. And I would jokingly say I did two tours of duty which you know doesn't really sound very complimentary to the firm. I must say, tour of duty has a certain negativity to it in a way, you know, conscription drafted. Jane: Yes, it's. At least it's not like prison sentence. You know I'll give you that. Dave: That is awesome. Well, Jane, I could talk all day to you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate everything. Jane: Oh, my pleasure, Dave. How much fun this has been. Dave: It has been have a great day. Jane: Thanks, Dave Bye. Special Guest: Jane Howze.

Randy Burns believes in the importance of human decision-making when initiating sustainable actions. As Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer at O-I Glass, he is well-placed to understand leadership's role in driving change, as well as the value of collaboration. In this installment of the Doing Sustainability podcast, Randy joins Gary Baker and Roxanne “Rocket” White to discuss the concept of sustainability as a value creator, how sustainability can relate to behavioral psychology, and the tendency to focus on "shiny objects" as solutions. Randy Burns is the Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer at O-I Glass, an innovative sustainable glass company. O-I Glass is made in over twenty years, and partners with the world's leading food and beverage companies. Before working at O-I Glass (where he has been since 2017), Randy was a shareholder partner and associate with several law firms, including Edwards, Burns & Krider, and Baker Botts. He got his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School and also attended Stanford and the Executive Education

Elias Hinckley, a partner at Baker Botts joins Jon Berke on the NPM podcast to discuss the latest developments in clean hydrogen, including guidance released before the holidays by the IRS on the section 45V tax credit which called for hourly matching.The two then discuss other major pillars of the IRS guidance including regionality and additionality. Hinckley also provides insights on how this might help participants in the forthcoming hydrogen hub funding program.New Project Media (NPM) is a leading data, intelligence, and events company providing origination led coverage of the renewable energy market for the development, finance, advisory & corporate community.NPM recently announced a European expansion via its strategic acquisition of Energy Rev, a leading London-based proprietary news service focused on Europe's renewable energy and energy transition financing and M&A market.

In today's episode, Megan asks a cross section of Environmental, Safety, and Incident Response lawyers from a variety of offices one important question: what issue or issues is on their mind for 2024? As a bonus, each lawyer shared one fun fact about themselves so that you can learn a little bit more about the amazing people at Baker Botts. Learn even more about our repeat guests! For further information on these topics or suggestions for future episodes, please email Megan at megan.berge@bakerbotts.com. 

Sterling Marchand is partner at Baker Botts law firm and host of "The Lawful Influence Podcast." 2024 promises to deliver many stories about campaign finance, so today's guest helps us understand the contours. Sterling Marchand is known in D.C. as a man who can break down the complexities of this issue in a way that all of us can understand. That's why he's chosen to take to the airwaves and host his brand new show -- don't miss this one!! Additionally, Sterling shares his fantastic philanthropic empire -- Be The Good Project -- that he started with his brilliant wife Amber during the pandemic in 2020. Not only should you immediately subscribe to his show, you need to follow and figure out how to help their efforts to help the food insecure in our community. Tune IN! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In preparation for Thanksgiving, host Megan Berge is joined by managing partner, Danny David for a brief episode sharing what we at Baker Botts are Thankful for this holiday season—spoiler alert, it is all of you! We wish everyone a safe, happy, and email-free holiday. Thank you for being our clients and listeners. 

For this week's episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Brendan Quigley, partner at Baker Botts law firm. Quigley is a former U.S. Marine, now attorney who represents clients on matters related to white-collar government investigations and commercial disputes. Previously, he was a former federal prosecutor as an Assistant U.S Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which we call SDNY. If that rings a bell it's because one of our other guests, Josh Naftalis also had that role. Brendan has tried over 12 cases that were brought to verdicts and was a senior member of the Office's Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit. We talked about SBF's verdict and future sentencing as well as how his March 2024 trial for additional charges will pan out. Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Today we were thrilled to welcome back Gabe Collins, Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs, along with his colleague Steven Miles, Fellow in Global Natural Gas, with Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Gabe last joined us on COBT in May of 2022 (episode linked here) and has a fascinating background in the economics, policies, and geopolitics of Russia and China, as well as national security-related research and analysis. In addition to his position at the Baker Institute, Steven is a Senior Counsel at Baker Botts and previously was a twenty-year Partner with the firm, serving as the Energy Sector Chair focused on LNG, natural gas, electric power, and renewable energy industries. It was our pleasure to visit with Gabe and Steven for a global energy conversation focused on LNG and Europe. The focus was on one key question: “why isn't Europe locking in more long-term gas supply?”   The catalyst to our discussion stems from a report co-authored by Gabe and Steven that will be published in the near future. Titled “Eastern Promises or Energy Fantasies: Why Is Europe Not Replacing Russian Pipeline Gas With Long-Term LNG Contracts?”, the report leverages analysis from 600+ LNG contracts over 25 years leading up to the Ukraine invasion. In our discussion with Gabe and Steven, we cover key themes including the inspiration behind writing the paper, the potential role and intentions of China, Europe's response to its gas shortage and its reliance on spot LNG, potential geopolitical risks, and the potential explanations for Europe's reluctance to sign long-term gas contracts. We also discuss the concept of funding post-war Ukraine through gas surcharges, Mexico's growing LNG capacity, how Europe's decision not to contract LNG longer-term could be hurting the developing world and the climate, and the discrepancy between European policymakers' optimistic view of hydrogen and renewable energy with the unease among industrial players who see the ongoing demand for gas and the challenges in transitioning away from it. Gabe and Steven also recently wrote an article in Foreign Policy that touches on many of these aspects, linked here.   Mike Bradley kicked us off by highlighting upcoming events and topics of interest. Economically, all attention is on Federal Reserve Chairman Powell's Jackson Hole speech this Friday for color/clarity on how much higher/how much longer interest rates could stay elevated. In commodities, crude oil remains steady around $80/bbl., with traders seemingly divided on which dynamic will win this year, that being supply (OPEC cuts) or demand (China weakness). He also noted that LNG markets will be closely following this week's current Australian LNG labor negotiations to handicap the potential for an LNG strike in the coming weeks, which could impact up to 10% of global LNG. From a broader equity market standpoint, equity traders will be intensely focused on NVIDIAs earnings and rounded out the conversation by flagging recent midstream deals with one of the key themes being “controlling the molecules” from wellhead to end user/markets. He also highlighted a Permian E&P merger this week between two mid-cap E&Ps, which is leading investors to contemplate whether an acceleration of public-to-public deals could be forthcoming, and whether they'll be done at premiums. Arjun Murti highlighted the spillover effects of how policies from the EU will have ramifications for the rest of the world, comparing key themes from Gabe and Steven's report to recent Super-Spiked themes. Todd Scruggs chimed in to share LNG trends including the short-term extremely tight supply-demand balance in Europe and longer-term potential for the US to become

Have you heard of Dynamo Energy Hub, “the Soho House of clean energy”? From their partnerships with BloombergNEF and Alvarez and Marsal to their cohesive workspaces, Climate Tech and Tonic events & Cleantech Founders Breakfast Club, Dynamo is building the future of work for the new energy economy. Catherine had the pleasure of speaking with Kristin Barbato and Meade Harris, who decided to co-found Dynamo while meeting for drinks at a hotel bar. These incredibly talented women, one of whom started their career as a BBC Producer and the other as an engineer, first developed two Dynamo hubs in the U.S. and are now about to reach 15 hubs globally. They also spoke about Dynamo's robust membership programs and networking opportunities as well as its stellar Advisory Board, which includes cleantech leaders like Tim Healy at EnerNOC, Nancy Pfund at DBL Partners, Thomas Burton at Mintz, Kyle Hayes at Foley, Graham Hedger at Bondminster, Sara Neff Lendlease, Dan Pickering at Pickering Energy Partners, Snorre Valdimarsson Thommessen, Michael Torosian at Baker Botts & Pamela Farrell Venzke at Orsted. Learn more & get involved with Dynamo: https://bit.ly/3XVMoIB. If you're looking for your next role in cleantech, take a look at our industry-leading clients' latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. If you're a cleantech employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. 

In today's episode, Megan asks a cross section of Environmental, Safety, and Incident Response lawyers from a variety of offices one important question: what issue or issues is on their mind for 2023? As a bonus, each lawyer shared one fun fact about themselves so that you can learn a little bit more about the amazing people at Baker Botts. For further information on these topics or suggestions for future episodes, please email Megan at megan.berge@bakerbotts.com. 

Jose Villarreal is partner at the global law firm Baker Botts, and he is based in Austin Texas. In this conversation we dive into intellectual property, patents, trade secrets and how people have tried to patent outputs from artificial intelligence.

In this episode, energy transition tax specialist, partner Barbara de Marigny joins host Megan Berge to discuss recent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) implementation guidance issued by the Department of the Treasury. Barbara also explains the finding tool released by the Baker Botts tax team to help companies search comment letters submitted to the Treasury on potential IRA implementation guidance. The notice is available at federalregister.gov and the finding tool is housed on bakerbotts.com. If you have tricky energy transition tax question, you can contact Barbara. For more information on the IRA, listen in to these Environmental Evolutions episodes: Mike Bresson covering wind and solar, and Barbara de Marigny covering tax benefits.

This episode of Behind the Lines: The Houston Lawyer Podcast features 3 panels about practicing while parenting in different stages and unique situations, a wellness break, & a spotlight on one of the Houston Bar Association's ancillary organizations. The episode has 2 titles because the content in the 3 main segments will be helpful in different ways to different people. The guests in these segments offer support and guidance to lawyer parents in various stages of their careers, provide context for colleagues who are not parents about the challenges they face, and give practical tips to legal employers about how to retain talented lawyer parents. The guests also discuss several legal topics associated with having children, including college savings plans and cyberbullying. I. Lawyers: Practicing While Parenting Young Children / Legal Employers: How to Support and Retain Talented Parents of Young ChildrenIn this segment, 3 lawyers who are also parents of young children---Maryann Zaki of Zaki Law, Sara M. Prasatik of Wilson Gibbs + Gorn, and Keri Brown of Baker Botts---discuss best practices for maternity/paternity leave, changing career paths, & how to make legal work environment more inviting to parent lawyers. Keri Brown also offers advice from a tax law perspective on college savings plans.II. Wellness Break: Eating Right While on the Go with Nutritionist Catherine KruppaIII. Lawyers: Practicing While Parenting in the Teen, Tweens, and Twenties / Legal Employers: Considering the Needs of More Seasoned Parent LawyersIn this segment, Rachael Thompson of Winston & Strawn and Lewis Thomas of Lewis Thomas P.C., who are parents of children in the tweens, teens, or twenties, talk about how they manage their law practice while parenting older children. Rachael also addresses how her firm supports parent lawyers, and Lewis addresses starting your own firm to increase flexibility. The panelists also provide tips relating to cyber-bullying and best practices for teen-aged drivers during a traffic stop. IV.  Lawyers: Practicing While Adopting  / Legal Employers: Best Practices for Supporting and Retaining Talented Adoptive ParentsHeather Potts of Nathan Sommer Jacobs adopted 2 older children internationally while she was a practicing lawyer. She provides tips for lawyer who are considering international adoption, encourages adoption of older children, & discusses how firms or legal employers can provide a healthy environment that goes beyond FMLA requirements so that adoptive parents feel supported in their decisions, which leads to the lawyer being more of an asset to the lawyer's employer. V. Ancillary Organization Spotlight: HVL's Guardianship Partnership with HYLAIn this segment, Behind the Lines Interviewer Mark Yablon interviews the Honorable Jerry Simoneaux about the partnership between Houston Volunteer Lawyers and Houston Young Lawyers' Association. The Judge encourages listeners to become HVL volunteers and consider taking these types of cases. CLE CreditListeners who are also members of the HBA can receive 1.5 hours of CLE credit for listening to this entire episode. Visit the HBA's CLE page for more details. For full speaker bios, visit The Houston Lawyer (hba.org). To read The Houston Lawyer magazine, visit The Houston Lawyer_home. For more information about the Houston Bar Association, visit Houston Bar Association (hba.org).*The views expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the views of The Houston Lawyer Editorial Board or the Houston Bar Association.

Proximo interviews Kyle Hayes, special counsel in Baker Botts‘ Global Projects department, on the emergence of RNG in the US. Topics discussed include the drivers behind the extremely active M&A market, new benefits arising out of the Inflation Reduction Act and the outlook for project development.

In this episode, our host Joe Batir talks with Elias (Eli) Hinckley, Renewable Energy and Climate Finance Lawyer and Partner at Baker Botts. They discuss the Inflation Reduction Act – what is it, why is it called the Inflation Reduction Act, and how you can be involved with this generational opportunity. Eli's Book Recommendations: The prize by Daniel Yergin Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Eli's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliashinckley/ Baker Botts website: https://www.bakerbotts.com/ This episode is made possible by AWS Energy. Enjoying the show? Leave me a review here Click here to take it one question survey and receive OGGN hardhat/laptop stickers Brought to you on the Oil and Gas Global Network, the largest and most listened-to podcast network for the oil and energy industry. More from OGGN ... Podcasts LinkedIn Group LinkedIn Company Page Get notified about industry events  

Russia's invasion of Ukraine shocked the world – and directed renewed attention to the global energy system. Suddenly, the topic of energy security rose to the forefront as consumers across the globe began to feel the impact of the conflict when filling their gas tanks and paying their electricity bills. As Europe struggles to disentangle itself from dependence upon Russian energy sources, the United States and others have directed renewed focus toward their supply chains for both hydrocarbon fuels and renewable power generation. Our panel of energy experts discuss these recent events and consider the legal and policy levers available to the United States and its allies to enhance their energy security.Featuring: Prof. James Coleman, Robert G. Storey Distinguished Faculty Fellow and Professor of Law, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of LawGeorge Fibbe, Partner, Baker Botts, Former Deputy General Counsel, Department of EnergyModerator: Daniel G. West, Vice President, SCF Partners Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked the world – and directed renewed attention to the global energy system. Suddenly, the topic of energy security rose to the forefront as consumers across the globe began to feel the impact of the conflict when filling their gas tanks and paying their electricity bills. As Europe struggles to disentangle itself from dependence upon Russian energy sources, the United States and others have directed renewed focus toward their supply chains for both hydrocarbon fuels and renewable power generation. Our panel of energy experts will discuss these recent events and consider the legal and policy levers available to the United States and its allies to enhance their energy security.Featuring: Prof. James Coleman, Robert G. Storey Distinguished Faculty Fellow and Professor of Law, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of LawGeorge Fibbe, Partner, Baker Botts, Former Deputy General Counsel, Department of EnergyModerator: Daniel G. West, Vice President, SCF Partners —To register, click the link above.

Today's episode is the second part in a two-part series featuring four impressive ladies from the Institute for Energy Law (aka IEL): Tina Nguyen (Partner at Baker Botts in Houston), Kristi McCarthy (General Counsel and VP of the Land Department at Chevron Upstream), Suzana Blades (Managing Counsel - Commercial Litigation and Arbitration at ConocoPhillips, and Daniella Landers (Partner at Womble Bond and Dickinson). In this episode we talk about IEL. The mission and vision of IEL is to provide superior educational and professional opportunities for lawyers and other professionals in the energy industry through educational courses, conferences, scholarly publications and membership activities. During our conversation, you will hear about what the organization is doing to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the energy law industry. 

Conventional wisdom tells us that we need regulators to ensure quality work in certain professions. But do consumers really benefit as much as they think from government regulation?In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen investigate the question: Who does regulation help more, consumers or producers?Later in the episode, Jonathan and Jules call in an expert: Maureen Ohlhausen, who chairs the Global Antitrust and Competition Law practice at Baker Botts.Show Links:Regulation of Charlatans in High-Skill ProfessionsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today's episode is very special as it is the first of a two-part series featuring four impressive ladies from the Institute for Energy Law: Tina Nguyen (Partner at Baker Botts in Houston), Kristi McCarthy (General Counsel and VP of the Land Department at Chevron Upstream), Suzana Blades (Managing Counsel - Commercial Litigation and Arbitration at ConocoPhillips, and Daniella Landers (Partner at Womble Bond and Dickinson). As you will hear, I spoke with each of them one-on-one to learn more about them individually. In part 2 of this series, I sit down with them as a group to discuss IEL, their involvement, and what the organization is doing to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the energy law industry. Enjoy!

As the first-ever Chief Client Officer of Baker Botts, a global law firm, Catherine Zinn is laser-focused on servicing the client. She ensures that her company is proactive and relentless in its focus on client satisfaction and in its growth in key markets. Zinn was recognized as a "Woman of Influence" by the "Silicon Valley Business Journal," as a "Woman of Achievement" by "Legal Momentum" and a "Top 100 Woman in Law" by "Women Who Lead" in 2021. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 38307]

As the first-ever Chief Client Officer of Baker Botts, a global law firm, Catherine Zinn is laser-focused on servicing the client. She ensures that her company is proactive and relentless in its focus on client satisfaction and in its growth in key markets. Zinn was recognized as a "Woman of Influence" by the "Silicon Valley Business Journal," as a "Woman of Achievement" by "Legal Momentum" and a "Top 100 Woman in Law" by "Women Who Lead" in 2021. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 38307]

As the first-ever Chief Client Officer of Baker Botts, a global law firm, Catherine Zinn is laser-focused on servicing the client. She ensures that her company is proactive and relentless in its focus on client satisfaction and in its growth in key markets. Zinn was recognized as a "Woman of Influence" by the "Silicon Valley Business Journal," as a "Woman of Achievement" by "Legal Momentum" and a "Top 100 Woman in Law" by "Women Who Lead" in 2021. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 38307]

As the first-ever Chief Client Officer of Baker Botts, a global law firm, Catherine Zinn is laser-focused on servicing the client. She ensures that her company is proactive and relentless in its focus on client satisfaction and in its growth in key markets. Zinn was recognized as a "Woman of Influence" by the "Silicon Valley Business Journal," as a "Woman of Achievement" by "Legal Momentum" and a "Top 100 Woman in Law" by "Women Who Lead" in 2021. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 38307]

Overview: Christopher Wilson '06 Liberal Arts is a Senior Associate in the Washington, DC office of the international law firm Baker Botts. His practice there focuses on civil antitrust and other complex commercial litigation. He earned his BA in Political Science with Honors from Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts and went on to earn his JD from Stanford in 2012. He played running back and full back for the Nittany Lions in his first and second years as a Scholar. This episode will be helpful to any Scholar who is facing obstacles, and particularly student athletes, as Chris talks about his experience of nearly dropping out before leveraging relationships to stay and succeed. You can read Chris' bio and a more detailed breakdown of episode topics below. Guest Bio: Christopher Wilson is a Senior Associate in the Washington, DC office of the international law firm Baker Botts. His practice there focuses on civil antitrust and other complex commercial litigation; he represents Fortune 500 companies and other major corporations in litigation throughout the country. Before joining Baker Botts in 2018, Chris was a litigation associate at the international law firm of Winston & Strawn in Chicago, IL. He earned a BA in Political Science with Honors from Penn State in 2006, where he also played running back and fullback for the Nittany Lions, and earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 2012. In his spare time, Chris enjoys reading science fiction and noir detective novels, as well as finding new and exciting things to do and see in the city. He is happy to talk about things as esoteric as antitrust law and as enjoyable as the best hotels and restaurants in cities around the world! Please feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-wilson-a4653748 Episode Specifics: In this episode, Chris shares his insights on: · Choosing Penn State and the Schreyer Honors College over top alternative options on and off the field · Selecting liberal arts majors for their versatility and desired practical skill sets · Planning your thesis and determining the skills you need to develop to complete it, like data analysis · The importance of getting to know your faculty, honors advisor, and thesis advisor · Dealing with adversity and making tough choices around prioritization to learn resilience as a response to setbacks and burnout · Considering dropping out of the Honors College and engaging with staff to find ways to stay a Scholar · Transitioning away from the regimentation of student athlete life · Continuing research in industry rather than graduate programs · Deciding to go to law school after working full time · Advice on approaching law school motivation, relationships, and opportunities · Paying it forward as an alumni donor to provide resources to current Scholars · Learning the values of resilience and humility · The power of relationships · Enjoying University Park & State College – or your Commonwealth Campus & local town – while you're in college ----- Schreyer Honors College Links: • Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • LinkedIn • Upcoming Events • Scholars – Need Assistance? Book an Appointment! • Alumni – Learn Why and How to Volunteer • Make a Gift to Benefit Schreyer Scholars • Join the Penn State Alumni Association ----- Credits & Notes: This content is available in text form here. This show is hosted, produced, and edited by Sean Goheen ‘11 Lib (Schreyer). The artwork was created by Tom Harrington, the College's Web Developer. The sound effect is “Chinese Gong,” accessed via SoundBible used under Creative Commons License. The theme music is “Conquest” by Geovane Bruno, accessed via Pixabay and used under Creative Commons License.

Protect Workplace Culture75% of people who have been harassed or discriminated against at work don't report the incident because of fear. Resolving workplace misconduct faster than ever before, Work Shield provides a safe and effective way for employees to report misconduct at work. Listen in this week as Jared Pope, Founder and CEO of Work Shield, is on mic with Rick to talk about how Work Shield fights to align your vision, culture, and ideology to make a workplace where employees feel heard and incidents will be fairly investigated.To listen in and subscribe to more episodes, visit our website: fbmc.com/podcast.ABOUT OUR GUEST:Jared S. Pope is the CEO/Founder of Work Shield.  Jared grew up a Texas cowboy, became a Horned Frog (TCU) and then rode a Mustang (SMU Law) into the legal profession.  After riding the great plains of legal experience at two nationally recognized law firms (Baker Botts and Fulbright) and general counsel of a mid-sized insurance brokerage company, he hung his own shingle specializing in HR, ERISA and Benefits for the past 18 years, as well as started several other companies.  As an entrepreneur, HR-specialists, and innovator, Work Shield grew from an idea of how employers handle workplace misconduct issues to an innovator covering over 100K employee lives and disrupting how legal, HR, technology, DE&I and culture issues are handled by large and small companies across the U.S.A.  Work Shield was recently honored as one of Fast Company's 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards in the Workplace Category!  When Jared is not providing simplified business solutions, he spends time with his wife and family cooking in the kitchen, watching his two children play various sports or can be found on the golf course with friends!  

GHWCC Global Businesswomen's Pod Episode 26: 2022 Breakthrough Woman Consuella Simmons Taylor, Partner, Baker Botts, LLP Please join us for our August 4th Businesswomen's POD to hear Consuella (Connie) Simmons Taylor discuss how ‘mentors' don't come in prescribed shapes and sizes and often you don't realize the impact they have until much later. She had an outstanding role model in her mother, while not an attorney, performed at such a high professional standard that her responsibilities were divided among three people when she retired. She is a partner in the law firm Baker Botts L.L.P., leading the Real Estate and Construction Section. Connie chairs the firm's African American Affinity Group and the Houston Parents-in-Law Affinity Group for working parents. She serves as a mentor for the Global Women's Forum and as one of the Houston parental leave mentors.

GHWCC Global Businesswomen's Pod Episode 26: 2022 Breakthrough Woman Consuella Simmons Taylor, Partner, Baker Botts, LLP Please join us for our August 4th Businesswomen's POD to hear Consuella (Connie) Simmons Taylor discuss how ‘mentors' don't come in prescribed shapes and sizes and often you don't realize the impact they have until much later. She had an outstanding role model in her mother, while not an attorney, performed at such a high professional standard that her responsibilities were divided among three people when she retired. She is a partner in the law firm Baker Botts L.L.P., leading the Real Estate and Construction Section. Connie chairs the firm's African American Affinity Group and the Houston Parents-in-Law Affinity Group for working parents. She serves as a mentor for the Global Women's Forum and as one of the Houston parental leave mentors.

A few weeks back, we talked with Norton Rose Fulbright's Zack Barnes on how law firms can invest in their communities through local innovation hubs like Houston, Texas' Ion District. We wanted to dive deeper into that law firm/local innovation idea, so Zack is back with us and introduced us to Joey Sanchez, Senior Director of Ecosystems at The Ion Houston. With his weekly "Cup of Joey" innovation gatherings, Sanchez says his responsibility is to "engineer serendipity" in the innovation community. The Ion Houston is a lesson in "fail fast." The original idea revolved around the bid to lure Amazon's second headquarters. And despite being the fourth largest city in the United States, Houston didn't even make the top 20 of Amazon's list. What that told the innovators in Houston, along with the biggest backer of the project, Rice University, was that Houston needed to reevaluate itself and make a concerted effort to organize its innovative community. The Ion is not just a beautiful reimagination of a 1930's era Sears building. It is a 12 block district in the center of Houston that is looking to reimagine a city that has long been viewed as having a cowboy culture rooted in the fossil fuel industries. While the rest of the world may think of Austin as the hot area for innovation, Sanchez reminds us that Houston has the biggest potential for growth with its variety of industries like the Medical Center, NASA, the Port of Houston, the influx of alternative energy companies, and its large, diverse population. The legal industry is also taking note of what is happening in the Ion District with firms like Baker Botts, Norton Rose, Hunton Andrews Kurth, and other law firms making a presence for themselves among the startups. Entrepreneurs are looking for protections for their intellectual property, reducing risks associated with being a new company, and for guidance through the legal and regulatory landscape. Having innovation districts in large cities like Houston are a prime spot for law firms to position themselves to help innovators within their local communities. Links Mentioned: The Ion Houston The Ion District Cup of Joey Blue Tile Project Contact Us Twitter: @gebauerm or @glambert Voicemail: 713-487-7270 Email: geekinreviewpodcast@gmail.com Music: Jerry David DeCicca Transcript available on 3 Geeks and a Law Blog

Heavy industries like manufacturing, food processing, mining, and construction require a staggering amount of energy, often in the form of heat. But until recently, there hasn't been a good way to generate that amount of heat using electricity. As a result, we burn fossil fuels to make these essential materials and products. About a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from these industrial processes.Learning how to generate these high temperatures without burning fossil fuels is a really difficult problem, but it's a necessary step in cleaning up some of the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors of our economy. That's the challenge our guest, Antora Energy CEO and Co-founder Andrew Ponec, is tackling.Antora's thermal energy storage solution takes the electricity generated from renewables and stores it in the form of heat using carbon blocks – at a cost and efficiency comparable to traditional battery technology. The radiating light emitted by the carbon can also be captured by the company's modified photovoltaic cells and converted back into electricity.Emily sat down with Andrew to talk about what it takes to roll out an entirely new kind of thermal energy storage technology. They talked about lessons that Andrew learned from his first climate tech startup, and discussed the role Antora's technology will play in cleaning up heavy industry.Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review on Apple podcasts.Watt It Takes is brought to you by Baker Botts. Founders and leaders of clean energy companies around the world turn to Baker Botts for legal advice at every stage of their journey, from incorporation to exit. To scale your clean energy business faster, visit bakerbotts.com.

Tens of millions of delivery vans and semi trucks move around the clock to keep supply chains humming. These medium- and heavy-duty vehicles make up more than 25 percent of transportation emissions in the US — even though they only make up 10 percent of all vehicles on the road. We need to electrify medium and heavy-duty vehicles to meet our climate goals. But, how do we build and operate the charging infrastructure to power them? That charging network is exactly what our guest, TeraWatt Infrastructure CEO Neha Palmer, is building.TeraWatt develops, owns, and manages charging infrastructure for these large vehicles. The company integrates hardware, software, and grid services along with on-site chargers. TeraWatt has a growing portfolio of land in strategic locations across the country that enables it to build and operate that charging infrastructure.TeraWatt brings together a team of experts from data centers, transportation logistics, and electric cars. The more complex the high-powered charging needs, the better suited TeraWatt is for the task. Emily sat down with Neha to learn what it takes to electrify a sector with such massive energy demand. They talked about founding TeraWatt after Neha left Google, where she was a key figure in that company's ambitious renewable energy strategy. And they discuss the unique demands of heavy-duty transportation.Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review on Apple podcasts.Watt It Takes is brought to you by Baker Botts. Founders and leaders of clean energy companies around the world turn to Baker Botts for legal advice at every stage of their journey, from incorporation to exit. To scale your clean energy business faster, visit bakerbotts.com.

Normally, we'd be bringing you an episode featuring an entrepreneur who's making our climate-positive future a reality. But behind every founder with a big idea are scientists, engineers and policymakers working hard to turn those big ideas into reality. And right now, a lot of them are tackling one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis – carbonSo today, we have something new for you. As a bonus, we're bringing you an episode of one of our favorite podcasts, The Big Switch. It's hosted by the amazing Dr. Melissa Lott, Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. In this episode of The Big Switch, we learn how pervasive carbon is in our lives. And how embedded carbon, in particular, hides inside our phones, our computers, our cars and even - our kitchen appliances. Enjoy the show and we'll be back with a new episode of Watt It Takes at the end of the month.  Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review on Apple podcasts.Watt It Takes is brought to you by Baker Botts. Founders and leaders of clean energy companies around the world turn to Baker Botts for legal advice at every stage of their journey, from incorporation to exit. To scale your clean energy business faster, visit bakerbotts.com

Curtis Anderson discusses the common mistakes entrepreneurs make and how to avoid them. He also teaches the pros and cons of the different types of entities an entrepreneur may choose to form (i.e. C-Corp, S-Corp, LLC, LLP, Sole Proprietorship). Curtis is a former partner at Baker Botts and former General Council of Match Group, a company that has had a market cap in excess of 50 billion. Curtis is currently a transactional law professor at Brigham Young University. . If you enjoyed this video please rate it a 5 Star. If you find it helpful subscribe and share it with friends who would find it enjoyable. It would mean a lot to me. . Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jason-walton-live-it-podcast/id1616737862 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-yoPEI23lo41ioZi_OedaQ

With 93 Fortune 500 companies committing to net-zero targets, and with the SEC preparing to require public companies to disclose climate risks, corporations are beginning to think deeply about how to track and manage their emissions. That's why Watershed Co-Founder and CEO Taylor Francis and his team built a platform to simplify the process — and help companies to decarbonize faster.From his co-founder's guest bedroom, Taylor and his friends used their tech experience and climate passion to create Watershed, a carbon accounting company that helps corporations measure, reduce, and report their emissions. It gives companies the capability to monitor emissions -- and the tools to actually cut them.Emily sat down with Taylor to learn how Watershed got started, how they got their first customers, and to dig into the nuances of the carbon management space. Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review on Apple podcasts.Watt It Takes is brought to you by Baker Botts. Founders and leaders of clean energy companies around the world turn to Baker Botts for legal advice at every stage of their journey, from incorporation to exit. To scale your clean energy business faster, visit bakerbotts.com.

We're running a contest! Through April 19, each review on Apple podcasts or share on social media (using #WattItTakes) will enter you to win a limited-edition Watt It Takes crewneck — and enable more people to hear inspiring stories about entrepreneurs making our climate-positive future a reality.To reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, we need to electrify large swaths of the economy. But that requires a steady supply of renewable power. And that's where things get tricky.Historically, we've turned to natural gas or batteries for backup power when resources like wind and solar can't meet demand. But today's batteries aren't always cost-effective, especially at an industrial scale. Plus, they only provide energy for short periods of time.The other option: Generators.Generators can provide power whenever it's needed and ensure that essential sites like grocery stores and hospitals always have access to reliable electricity. But today's generators burn lots of oil and gas — including some of the dirtiest types of fuels available.Our guest, CEO and co-founder of Mainspring Energy Shannon Miller, has designed a generator for the 21st century – making it cleaner, more efficient and capable of being powered by nearly any fuel. Emily sat down with Shannon to learn what it takes to redesign a generator from scratch. They also talked about how Mainspring convinced its first investors to take a bet on an unproven technology, how Mainspring landed its first customers, and how they're making the grid more reliable and resilient.Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review on Apple podcasts.Watt It Takes is brought to you by Baker Botts. Founders and leaders of clean energy companies around the world turn to Baker Botts for legal advice at every stage of their journey, from incorporation to exit. To scale your clean energy business faster, visit bakerbotts.com.

This week, I was delighted to visit again with Alexandra Dunn, now a Partner with Baker Botts and immediate past Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP). As Assistant Administrator, Alex was respected and liked by a diversity of industrial and agricultural chemical stakeholders, revered by her immediate staff, and hugely popular as an EPA senior leader. Alex led OCSPP at a pivotal time in EPA's implementation of revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and worked tirelessly to meet the many deadlines imposed under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg). We discuss Alex's transition back into the private law sector, get a sense of the issues on which Alex is focusing now that she is back in private practice, and reflect on current EPA policies under TSCA and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to understand what has changed since Alex left EPA. ALL MATERIALS IN THIS PODCAST ARE PROVIDED SOLELY FOR INFORMATIONAL  AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES. THE MATERIALS ARE NOT INTENDED TO CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE OR THE PROVISION OF LEGAL SERVICES. ALL LEGAL QUESTIONS SHOULD BE ANSWERED DIRECTLY BY A LICENSED ATTORNEY PRACTICING IN THE APPLICABLE AREA OF LAW. ©2022 Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.  All Rights Reserved

Today we took on the challenge of unpacking the SEC's proposed climate disclosure rules and their potential implications. To help us do so, we had a panel of experienced leaders in the space join for a lively discussion that we hope will provide clarity and understanding. Our panel today includes Travis Wofford, Chair of the Corporate Department in Houston and Vice Chair of the Global M&A Practice and Scott Janoe, Chair of the Environmental, Safety & Incident Response Section from Baker Botts, and Dan Romito, Consulting Partner with Pickering Energy Partners.The framework of our discussion included an overview of the proposed requirements and background on the buildup to the SEC's new proposals, the key SEC players involved (with some particular focus on the dissenting view from Commissioner Peirce), the likelihood of the proposed rules becoming final, what the disclosures would cost and the potential liabilities for public companies, the potential unintended consequences of these new regulations, whether the SEC should be the governing body addressing these disclosures, implications for small to large companies, the importance of materiality, and the "climate industrial complex," just to hit a few. We greatly appreciate Travis, Scott, and Dan sharing their perspectives and are hopeful these proposed SEC changes can be improved before they are ultimately implemented.For further reading, Baker Botts has published a thought leadership piece. Statements are also available from SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Commissioner Allison Herren Lee, Commissioner Hester Peirce, and Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw.Mike Bradley kicked us off with a look at equity and commodity performance for the week, noting US natural gas and Euro natural gas and commodity curves for natural gas vs. WTI crude oil. Colin Fenton helped us all make sense of the complex inflation situation with the Fed and talked about the recent inversion of the yield curve and how to interpret it.

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi speak with Vanessa Quaciari. Vanessa's practice focuses on navigating through complex global eDiscovery issues, information governance, and developing defensible budget-conscious litigation discovery strategies. She advises clients on best practices for internal electronic data processes including preservation, collection, use of data analytics, privacy concerns, document review, and production for compliance, cross-border disputes, regulatory investigations, and global corporate policies.Follow That Tech Pod here.

In this episode, host, and Baker Botts partner, Megan Berge and Director of Program Development at ClimeCo, Lauren Mechak answer the questions: What is a carbon offset?  What makes a high quality offset? And, what is the process for originating offsets? If you have questions about originating carbon offsets or carbon offset brokerage, Lauren can be reached at lmechak@climeco.com. ClimeCo is a global, full-service advisor, transaction facilitator, trader, and developer of environmental commodities and sustainability solutions.

We're running a contest! Through March 15th, each review on Apple podcasts or share on social media (using #WattItTakes) will enter you to win a limited-edition Watt It Takes crewneck — and enable more people to hear inspiring stories about entrepreneurs making our climate-positive future a reality.Heavy industry is one of the hardest parts of the economy to decarbonize. Making steel, cement, and chemicals takes a lot of heat, a lot of electricity, and a lot of expensive equipment.Take hydrogen: a gas used to produce ammonia for fertilizer or refine petroleum. Hydrogen is also a promising fuel source for transportation and electricity that's attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in global investment.Every year, the world produces millions of tons of hydrogen through a dirty process where steam and natural gas react – creating lots of CO2 and carbon monoxide.For hydrogen to be a truly clean fuel, we have to change how it's made.Our guest, Monolith co-founder and CEO Rob Hanson, is doing exactly that – and creating new industrial materials in the process.Monolith bills itself as a clean hydrogen and clean materials company. It uses methane pyrolysis to create hydrogen, and plans to use renewable methane to create carbon-negative hydrogen. And with the method that Monolith is perfecting, there's an added bonus: carbon black, a key ingredient in inks, plastics, makeup, and rubber tires.Emily sat down with Rob to learn how he tackles hard technical problems as an entrepreneur. Rob also discussed his early startup ideas that never got off the ground, and his hope that Monolith will change the way people look at carbon.Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review. Watt It Takes is brought to you by Baker Botts. Founders and leaders of clean energy companies around the world turn to Baker Botts for legal advice at every stage of their journey, from incorporation to exit. To scale your clean energy business faster, visit bakerbotts.com.

Why should you care about New Jersey's new environmental justice law? In this episode, host Megan Berge speaks with Baker Botts attorney Scott Novak about the latest developments in the implementation of this groundbreaking state statute and what it could mean for other states and federal legislation. Listen in!   If you have questions about environmental justice or the New Jersey law, please contact Scott. The map discussed in today's episode is available at njdep.maps.arcgis.com. Finally, bakerbotts.com/ACELAS is a great resource for companies getting started with their environmental justice plans.

Summary:Divorce in itself is hard. When you're trying to divide a business as part of the divorce, the possibility for complication and messiness goes way up. Today's guest is an expert in corporate law and business valuation, and we're discussing our top “what not to do's” when it comes to setting up a business, valuing a business, and dividing up a business when you get divorced.Today we're talking about getting divorced when you have a business, whether you own or co-own, and what happens with the business. Today's guest is a personal friend who happens to be an expert on this subject.Curtis Anderson is a professor at the BYU Law School. He joined the BYU Law faculty in 2015. Prior to that he was an Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Match Group, which owns and operates the world's largest online dating platforms including match.com, Tinder, meetic, okcupid and over 40 other brands. Match Group's market capitalization is currently over $45 billion. Prior to joining Match Group, he was a partner in the Dallas office of Baker Botts, an international law firm with 13 offices in seven countries. He earned an undergraduate and law degree from BYU.Most people don't pay an attorney to set up their business. It is usually more expensive to clean it up later if you grow. It's not that hard to do it right the first time, even if you do it yourself. Founders need to consider these 3 things:Capitalization- someone has to put in the initial capital. Need it documented who owns what and how muchDecision making- how are decisions made? Is it majority or unanimous?Exit strategies- who and when do people have the right to leave, and what are the terms?Is your business considered a marital-owned business or not? You need to know your state laws, because the assets of the business may be considered joint, even if your spouse isn't officially documented as a business owner. There is a difference between asset and income stream. These are divided differently. Make sure your attorney understands and has experience in dividing businesses in divorce.How do you determine value in business? NOT tax returns. Financial statements are a better look.Biggest mistakes in dividing business in divorce:not putting in protections ahead of time when people are less emotional and biased.do a prenup agreement if you have business before marriagedo a postnup agreement if you're building a business during the marriagewrite up business organization documents and include any spouse of any partners to protect business assets getting too emotional or vindictive about dividing the business and forking over tons of money to attorneys when that money could be for you and your ex and your kids.