President & CEO

As a consultant, his clients refer to him as a “thought leader” for providing innovative, effective and sustainable business and compliance solutions. He typically advises Chief Legal Officers and Chief Compliance Officers of Fortune 100 corporations as well as strategic partners with law firms to provide creative risk management solutions. Some of the challenges he has successfully resolved include global legal and compliance strategic planning, large scale remediation, significant cost reduction and containment, time-sensitive systems implementation, enterprise-wide project management and claims management in the world’s largest bankruptcy. In addition to his extensive years of management consulting, Jerry served as the Director of Legal Administration to one of the largest law departments in the world. He has the unique perspective of the challenges facing in-house professionals. In that capacity, he implemented, on an expedited schedule, industry best practices to achieve operational excellence in financial reporting and predictability, cost savings, electronic discovery, outside counsel management and extracting maximum value from technology.

• Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Strategy & Operations – For over ten years, Jerry has been at the forefront of assisting progressive Chief Legal Officers and Chief Compliance Officers with leading their companies into the 21st century. Keys to success have included defining a strategic plan, using metrics to improve performance, embedding controls into business processes and implementing systems to support the department’s objectives and procedures.

• Project Management – Jerry’s effective project management and proven track record of delivering results on time and within budget in the most complex environments differentiate him from others. His tested project management principles include facilitating consensus around the objective, detailed planning, formal escalation procedures, holding team members accountable, frequent communication and establishing a strong governance model to guide and report results. Clients have commented on Jerry’s sophisticated energy and its powerful impact on the team and results.

• Compliance Program Design – Effectively facilitating a company in the development of its strategic plan, Jerry successfully creates and implements the comprehensive plan to build an infrastructure to manage entity-wide compliance programs. He has extensive experience in organizational design, roles and responsibilities of people inside and outside of the team, mapping critical procedures and information flows, and developing the change management and communications plans. Organizations have benefited from his approach to identify and prioritize legal and regulatory risk, highlight gaps, and prepare actionable, as well as achievable, plans to address these risks.

• Compliance Risk Initiatives – Jerry’s vast experience in systematic risk mitigation includes the following five key steps: identifying and analyzing the risk, drafting policies and procedures, designing and delivering education programs, creating monitoring plans and architecting the reports that measure and demonstrate success or opportunities for improvement. Such critical risk areas include money laundering, corruption, records retention, privacy, consent decrees, international filing obligations, and appropriate business communications.

• Successful Deficiency Remediation – For numerous companies with significant external pressures, Jerry has successfully designed and implemented the required steps to address highlighted deficiencies. In addition, he has facilitated the testing and monitoring of implemented controls and documented results for interested parties. Jerry has worked with independent monitors, regulators, outside counsel, external and internal audit to ensure sound business practices are embedded within the organization for sustainability.

• Sustainable Cost Savings – Jerry successfully led multiple cost reduction engagements that effectively shaved in excess of $200M off of law department budgets. His techniques include quick wins as well as long term initiatives that target both demand and supply levers.

• Systems Implementation – He has extensive experience implementing state-of-the-art systems to significantly improve efficiency and productivity as well as implementing risk mitigating controls. Some systems include Matter Management, Electronic Invoicing, Compliance Management, Litigation Holds, Document Management, Contract Management, and Learning & Education.

• Electronic Discovery – Reducing costs and ensuring consistent handling of
  electronic discovery is a high priority for Chief Legal Officers. Industry leaders repeatedly claim that Jerry has creatively combined project management, procurement and technology to effectively limit costs and manage quality.

• Diversity Initiatives – Jerry has successfully transformed client objectives into enterprise-wide programs that have been used to attract and retain diverse service providers.

• Consumer Products
• Financial Services
• Food & Drug
• Government
• Healthcare
• Insurance
• IT & Telecommunications
• Manufacturing
• Professional Services
• Retail

Regulatory & Government Experience

Mr. Kral has comprehensive experience assisting clients with addressing challenges involving regulatory and government entities, some of which include:

• Department of Justice
• Department of the Navy
• Federal Reserve Bank System
  
• Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight
• Office of Personnel Management
• Office of Thrift Supervision
• Securities Exchange Commission
• State Public Utility and Insurance Commissions

• United Kingdom Financial Services Authority
• Japan Financial Supervisory Agency
• European Union Commission
  

Published Articles & Recognition

• “Three Business Concepts to Improve Your Company’s Global Compliance Function,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, April 2007.
• “Making the Most of Your Law Department’s Technology Solutions,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, March 2007.
• “A Roundtable Discussion on Compliance Policy Development, Education and
  Communication,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, October 2006.
• “Compliance Functions: Leadership, People, Process & Technology,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, September 2006.
• “The Devil is in the Details: Get Down to Brass Tacks at the October 26 Compliance Readiness Seminar,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, September 2006.
• “Applying Ricardo’s Theory of Comparative Advantage: A Roundtable Discussion of Business Professionals in the Law Department,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, July 2006.
• “Partnering: Formulas for Success,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, May 2006.
• “Protecting Reputational Risk Through Data Privacy Compliance,” Metropolitan
  Corporate Counsel, January 2006.
• “Advancing Technology to Increase Efficiency of Corporate Counsel’s Practice,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2005.
• “Compliance: A Framework for Success,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, July 2005.