On January 26, Eric D. Reicin, Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Sallie Mae, was elected the 25th President of the Washington Metropolitan Area Corporate Counsel Association (WMACCA), the region's premier professional association for in-house counsel.
With approximately 1,300 members from more than 500 corporationsand private-sector organizations, WMACCA is a significant professional resource for in-house counsel in Washington, DC, suburban Maryland and Virginia. WMACCA is the largest regional in-house bar association in the United States, and the largest chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC).
The WMACCA Annual Meeting featured a keynote address by The Honorable George J. Mitchell on the subject of the globalization of the world economy. Mr. Mitchell, a former U.S. Senator from Maine and former Senate Majority Leader, currently is Chairman of the Global Board and Co-Chair of the Government Controversies Practice Group for DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP and serves as Chairman of the Walt Disney Company.
Previously, Mr. Reicin served as President-elect and Vice President and Program Chair of WMACCA. Among his goals for his term are to raise awareness of the significant role played by in-house counsel in their organizations and of the rise of in-house counsel in the legal community in general.
At Sallie Mae, Mr. Reicin serves as the company's chief litigation, labor and employment, and intellectual property attorney and also is responsible for managing legal support to the company's debt-management operations division, IT division, and Noel-Levitz, Inc. subsidiary. He joined Sallie Mae in April 1999 as assistant general counsel, was promoted to associate general counsel in January 2001, and was named an officer of Sallie Mae, Inc. in January 2003. In 2005, Sallie Mae promoted Mr. Reicin to Vice President. Prior to joining Sallie Mae, he was an employment litigator at a law firm in Washington, DC. He is also the national corporate counsel chair for the American Bar Association EEO Committee and is one of the founders of the ABA/EEOC Joint Training Partnership. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Mr. Reicin received his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law.
The following WMACCA officers also began their terms on January 26:
Mary E. Kennard, Vice President and General Counsel of American University, was elected President-elect.
Mollie D. Roy, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of Freddie Mac, was elected Vice President. She will also serve as Program Chair of WMACCA.
Thomas D. Hickey, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Sprint Nextel Corporation, was elected Secretary.
Joseph M. Titlebaum, General Counsel and Secretary of XM Satellite Radio Inc., was elected Treasurer.
The other members of the WMACCA Board of Directors, who were elected, reelected or continue to serve, are:
Marian S. Block, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Lockheed Martin Corporation;
Frank R. Borchert III, Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, Capital One Financial Corporation;
Charles E. DeLeon, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, GTSI Corporation;
Robert E. Gans, Employment Counsel, Computer Sciences Corporation;
Kevin S. Lapidus, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of YellowBrix Inc.;
Manik K. Rath, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Logistics Management Institute;
Judith S. Sapir, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of APCO Worldwide;
Curtis L. Schehr, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Anteon International Corporation;
Rhonda S. VanLowe, Legal Counsel of Rolls-Royce North America Inc.; and
Karen Wishart, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, TV One LLC.