Jennifer L. Curry, Tonya Mitchem Grindon, and John McJunkin have been elected to Baker Donelson's board of directors by the Firm's shareholders.
Ms. Curry, managing shareholder of the Firm's Baltimore office and chair of the Labor & Employment Health practice, focuses her practice on advising and defending employers on all manner of employment and compliance issues. She has represented clients in complex litigation in both state and federal courts throughout the country and before the DOL, EEOC, and OSHA. Additionally, Ms. Curry has more than ten years of experience advising and defending educational institutions at all levels. She is an ATIXA-certified Title IX Hearing Chair, Hearing Advisor, and Investigator, and she has served the offices of diversity and equity of dozens of colleges and universities conducting EEO and Title IX investigations and issuing written investigation reports, serving as Hearing Advisor as a guide through the Title IX process to both complainants and respondents, and presiding as Hearing Chair over and issuing findings in Title IX proceedings.
Ms. Curry advises and defends employers of all sizes and industries in every aspect of the employer-employee relationship, and she routinely appears before state and federal courts and agencies throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia. A graduate of the Maryland School of Law, Ms. Curry is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in Employment Law – Management and Litigation - Labor and Employment, and she is recognized by Maryland Super Lawyers in Employment Litigation. She was named to The Daily Record's "Leading Women" list in 2021, the "Business and Employment Power List" in 2022, and "Influential Marylanders" in 2023.
Ms. Grindon, a corporate finance shareholder in Baker Donelson's Nashville office, serves as chair of the Business Department and concentrates her practice in securities and corporate finance, corporate governance, and business transactions. This is Ms. Grindon's second term, having previously served on the board from 2013 to 2019. She regularly represents Fortune 100 companies in capital finance transactions and board and corporate governance matters, and her experience in corporate finance and securities includes representation of companies in public offerings (IPOs and secondary offerings) and private placements of debt and equity securities. Ms. Grindon also has significant experience in corporate governance, with a particular focus on providing counsel to boards of directors, including advising public and private boards of directors on numerous fiduciary duties and corporate governance issues, and serving as counsel to special committees of boards of directors.
Ms. Grindon is a cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University and obtained her J.D. from George Washington University where she graduated with honors. She has been continually selected to Mid-South Super Lawyers in Securities & Corporate Finance, the Top 50 female attorneys in the Mid-South, the Top 50 attorneys in Nashville, and the Top 100 attorneys in Tennessee. Ms. Grindon is the top-ranked female Corporate/M&A attorney in Tennessee (Chambers USA 2023) and is a Top U.S. Dealmaker (Global M&A Network 2019). She is the author of the treatise "Tennessee Business and Commercial Law," published by LexisNexis.
Mr. McJunkin serves as managing shareholder in the Firm's Washington, D.C. office and routinely represents creditor clients facing insolvency/troubled loan issues in and around Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. His experience includes more than 35 years of commercial litigation, including prosecuting and defending lawsuits and arbitrations arising out of lending relationships, as well as contractual matters, real estate disputes, franchise issues, title insurance matters, and business torts. Mr. McJunkin also has considerable experience litigating technology licensing issues, preferences and fraudulent conveyances, and sales of assets and cash collateral matters in the context of Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 bankruptcies.
Mr. McJunkin received his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati where he was a member of the Order of the Barristers. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, as well as Litigation – Bankruptcy. Additionally, he has been listed in Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers for Bankruptcy: Business since 2018, recognized in Chambers USA as a leading Bankruptcy/Restructuring attorney since 2010, and he is an AV® PreeminentTM Peer Review Rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell.
"I am thrilled to welcome Jennifer, Tonya, and John to our Firm's board of directors," said Baker Donelson Chair and CEO Timothy M. Lupinacci. "Their collective experience, dedication, and strategic insights make them outstanding additions to our leadership team, and their diverse perspectives and experience will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the success and growth of Baker Donelson as we collectively embark on fulfilling the goals outlined in our BakerVision2028 strategic plan."