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New England Legal Foundation Unanimously Elects Six New Members to its Board of Directors
June 25, 2024
BOSTON – Six highly accomplished individuals have been elected unanimously to the Board of Directors of the New England Legal Foundation (NELF – www.newenglandlegal.org), the leading non-profit public interest law firm in the region dedicated to addressing issues of law and policy related to free enterprise. They are (alphabetically, by last name):
William J. Cahill, CPCU
Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
Vermont Mutual Insurance Group®
William Cahill, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, joined Vermont Mutual in June of 2020. Bill has more than 35 years of insurance industry experience, which includes marketing and underwriting roles early in his career and nearly 30 years as legal counsel at a New England-based national insurer.
In addition to Bill’s involvement in national initiatives, regionally he currently serves as Chair of the Vermont Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association and has previously served on the Governing Committee of Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers (C.A.R.).
Hanok George
Chief Legal and Compliance Officer
Azurity Pharmaceuticals
Hanok M. George (“George”) is the Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at Azurity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He joined Azurity in October 2018 as General Counsel and has helped the Company grow from approximately a $50M annual gross revenue company to over $1B annual gross revenue today.
Azurity develops dose-form innovations of established medicines for underserved patients. It currently has a diversified portfolio of 23 branded products focused on niche populations, including orphan and rare conditions, and a portfolio of generic products. At Azurity, George leads the legal and compliance functions and leads country management for its Ireland and India subsidiaries.
Prior to joining Azurity, George served in leadership roles at life sciences companies, tech consulting companies, and at national and international law firms such as Burns & Levinson LLP and Littler Mendelson, P.C. He is a graduate of Siena College and Albany Law School of Union University.
David Heaton
Deputy General Counsel and Managing Director
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
David serves as a Deputy General Counsel at Bank of America and is a member of the BofA Operating Committee. In this role, he is primarily responsible for managing the legal teams that support Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Consumer Investments/Merrill Edge, Merrill’s Investment Solutions Group, the Merrill Chief Investment Office and the Retirement and Personal Wealth Solutions business unit.
David advises BofA management team members and senior risk/compliance executives on strategic, legal, regulatory and reputational risk matters impacting Merrill and BofA.
David also serves as the executive sponsor of the BofA Legal Department’s Global Pro Bono and Volunteer Group.
David’s background is predominantly in retail brokerage and investment management, retail/institutional alternative investments and retail/consumer banking. Prior to joining the BofA, David was Counsel at two international law firms, WilmerHale and Sullivan & Worcester. At both WilmerHale and Sullivan & Worcester, he was a member of the Investment Management Practice Groups, where he advised investment advisers, broker dealers, hedge funds, and mutual funds on various formation, regulatory, compliance, operational and enforcement matters.
Jimmy Pappas
Managing Director
Delta Consulting Group
Jimmy Pappas advises legal counsel, management, and boards of directors on accounting, internal control, and financial matters in the context of internal investigations, civil and criminal litigation, business disputes and corporate governance. He has over 25 years of experience in the forensic and financial statement audit disciplines of accounting – thirteen of which were with Big Four accounting firms – and has served clients internationally.
Jimmy has consulted as an accounting, audit, and economic damages expert on disputes adjudicated in federal courts, state courts and international venues. He has testified as an accounting expert on behalf of regulatory agencies such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, has been engaged as a consulting expert by defendants in criminal securities fraud litigation initiated by the US Department of Justice, and has advised plaintiffs and defendants in litigation involving such matters as: post–acquisition disputes, shareholder disputes, failed investment disputes, intellectual property disputes, valuation and insolvency disputes, breach of contract, financial statement fraud, accounting malpractice and business interruption.
Jimmy also conducts internal investigations at corporations and governmental entities involving such issues as the integrity of financial statements, corruption, misappropriation of assets, and internal control failures. His work in this area is often in response to regulatory inquiry.
Don Pinto
Partner
Pierce Atwood LLP
Don Pinto has over 35 years of experience as a civil litigator with a focus on complex real estate and land use disputes. He handles cases at the trial and appellate levels in the state and federal courts and before administrative agencies. Outside the courtroom Don has successfully resolved many disputes through negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
Don is also the founder, editor, and one of several authors of Massachusetts Dirt and Development Law, the firm’s real estate law blog.
Before joining Pierce Atwood, Don was a director of the Boston firm Rackemann Sawyer & Brewster, P.C.
Danielle Sheer
Chief Legal and Trust Officer
Commvault
Danielle Sheer serves as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT), a leader in data protection and data management software and SaaS solutions. She leads the company’s global legal and compliance teams and its governance, commercial, intellectual property, and privacy programs.
Prior to joining Commvault, Danielle served as General Counsel at financial technology services company Bottomline (NASDAQ:EPAY) and at cloud-backup SaaS solutions provider Carbonite (NASDAQ:CARB).
In 2018, Danielle was honored by Corporate Counsel as one of 2018’s Innovative Women in Law. Previously, she was named to the Boston Business Journal’s “Forty under 40” list of emerging business leaders, honored by the Massachusetts Bar Association as an “Emerging Leader” and received the “Maverick of the Year” Stevie award for Women in Business.
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NELF President Dan Winslow praised the new Board members, saying, “We are extremely proud to welcome these six esteemed individuals to our Board’s membership. Each of them has earned great respect within their respective industries and their unique insights will be invaluable to our leadership at NELF.”
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About the New England Legal Foundation: Founded in 1977, the New England Legal Foundation (NELF – www.newenglandlegal.org) is the leading non-partisan, non-profit public interest law firm in the region dedicated to economic liberty. NELF’s ongoing mission is to champion free enterprise, property rights, limited government based on rule of law, and inclusive economic growth. We believe that free enterprise is a foundational value of a democratic society and the best opportunity for people to lift themselves to prosperity.