This week’s print edition highlights the honorees at the Business Journal’s 15th annual General Counsel Awards; features on the five winners start on the front page.
It’s not the last time we’ll be writing about those five, based on the career trajectories of prior GC Award winners.
As Michael Katz, managing partner of Katz Ruby & Carle LLP, and the Diamond Sponsor of the Nov. 6 event noted in his introductory remarks, there’s plenty of GC talent that “has started here, been nurtured here, and has moved on to a national stage.”
That’s particularly true in the tech sector, where many GC winners have gone on to achieve national prominence.
Notable winners include Babak Siavoshy, who in 2021 earned the Private Co. award for his work at Anduril Industries. He’s now the CFO for the Costa Mesa defense firm, which is currently valued at over $30 billion, and is being closely watched for a potential blockbuster IPO.
Mark Peterson, a 2010 winner while at Conexant Systems, and later a GC Award presenter as a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, this April joined Irvine’s Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) as the corporate VP and GC for the $50B-valued medtech firm, now OC’s most valuable public company.
Jerry Huang, a 2012 Rising Star winner while at Vizio, was promoted to SVP and chief counsel for Product & Technology at Walmart this September. The retail giant (NYSE: WMT) acquired the Irvine-based TV maker late last year for $2.3 billion.
In the new role, Huang “leads legal strategy and support for the company’s product design, technology and AI acceleration initiatives,” Walmart said.
Vizio also earned the In-House Legal Team award in 2021. Joining Huang in that team was Scott Becker, then the firm’s lead corporate and securities attorney, who helped Vizio go public via an IPO.
Becker, GC at medtech company Willow Innovations, took home his own award this year in the Rising Star category. Read his profile on page 8.
Western Digital is no longer based in OC, but the $57B-valued data storage firm (Nasdaq: WDC) with operations in Irvine has left plenty of GC talent in the area.
Michael Ray, a GC Award winner in both 2010 (Rising Star) and 2012 (Public Company), joined $275B-valued WD competitor Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) at the end of 2024 as its SVP, chief legal officer and corporate secretary. He’s based in Surf City.
Eva Lehman, a 2013 Rising Star award winner while at WD, joined Marvell Technology in 2022 as a VP and chief ethics and compliance officer for the $77B-valued semiconductor firm (Nasdaq: MRVL), and remains based in Irvine.
Tiffany Scurry, who was part of the WD team that was awarded the In-House Legal Team award in 2016 and in 2023 joined Advanced Micro Devices (Nasdaq: AMD) as corporate VP and chief compliance officer for the now $421B-valued tech giant.
Matt Parlow keynoted the GC Awards in 2019, while serving as dean of Chapman University’s, law school.
Parlow’s done well for himself, too. This September, he was installed as president at Chapman.
