The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has announced that senior vice president and general counsel, Susan Hackett, is leaving ACC. As part of a transition plan that also includes the retirement of Frederick J. Krebs, ACC's president of 20 years, and the arrival of Veta T. Richardson as ACC's new president and CEO, Ms. Hackett departs to start her own consultancy.
Ms. Hackett, who has been with ACC for 22 years, is known for her creativity, passion and success in working with the legal community in innovative and engaging ways. During her tenure at ACC, Ms. Hackett played a key role in ACC's evolution in developing resources, initiatives, and services that helped foster ACC's growth to more than 26,000 members in over 10,000 companies in 75 countries, including educational and leadership initiatives, practical legal and management resources, and impactful chief legal officer (CLO), pro bono and diversity projects.
Ms. Hackett is perhaps best known for her role in developing and executing advocacy efforts on behalf of in-house counsel, such as protecting attorney-client privilege, pioneering leading compliance practices, promoting in-house ethics and professionalism, and producing successful leadership initiatives, such as CLO Think Tanks and the ACC Value Challenge. An oft-quoted authority on in-house counsel practice, Ms. Hackett will continue to focus on the legal profession in her new consulting practice, Legal Executive Leadership.
"My career at ACC has been an incredibly exciting and rewarding professional experience. Going forward, it's a sure bet that I'll benefit from the variety and sophistication of work that I've been exposed to during my time at ACC. Working for more than two decades in the client community allows me a perspective that I hope to leverage in creating executive leadership initiatives that help both inside and outside counsel collaborate, innovate and excel," Ms. Hackett explained. "I am just as confident of ACC's continued success with the impending arrival of Veta - her leadership will ensure ACC's service to the in-house bar remains unparalleled."