Lucy Fato
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luciana "Lucy" Fato[1] (born 1966) is an American corporate attorney.
Since May 2024 she has been Executive Vice President & General Counsel for Seaport Entertainment Group.[2]
Prior to joining Seaport Entertainment Group, she was vice chair and general counsel at American International Group (AIG). She held senior roles at Marsh & McLennan Companies, and McGraw Hill Financial (now S&P Global).
Fato was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1966.[3] She attended The Ellis School in Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984.[4]
She received a BA in business and economics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1988,[5] and a JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1991.[6]
Career
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Fato began her legal career in 1991 at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City.[7][8] In 2000 she was elected a corporate partner in the capital markets department of the firm.[9][7] She advised multinational companies on a range of corporate matters,[10] and gained an increasing reputation as a problem solver capable of resolving high-profile government lawsuits.[11]
Marsh & McLennan Companies
In September 2005, Fato was hired by Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) as Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.[12][13] She was heavily involved in the sale of two former Marsh & McLennan businesses: Putnam Investments in 2007, and the Kroll corporate-intelligence unit in 2010.[14] In addition, she helped reshape MMC's global legal department, overhauled the company's governance practices, and reduced legal operations expenses by more than 50%.[10]
McGraw Hill Financial
In August 2014, Fato became executive vice president and general counsel of McGraw Hill Financial, whose brands included Standard & Poor's (S&P).[15][6] At the time, S&P was dealing with several high-profile government lawsuits concerning its ratings of mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 financial crisis.[16] Fato immediately employed her skills in relationship-building and conciliation to resolve the lawsuits; on the morning of her first day as general counsel she phoned several government lawyers.[17][18] Within six months she negotiated favorable global settlements with the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and 22 state attorneys general.[10][19][11][20][17]
She left McGraw Hill Financial in October 2015.[11]
Nardello
In October 2016, Fato joined the global private investigative firm Nardello & Co, headquartered in New York, where she served in multiple roles, including managing director, head of the Americas, and global general counsel.[21][22] During her time at Nardello she was credited with growing the firm's network and global culture of teamwork.[23] When she left the firm in October 2017 she remained on Nardello's newly formed advisory board, to help guide it in its next phase of growth.[24]
AIG
In October 2017, Fato became executive vice president and general counsel of AIG, succeeding Peter Solmssen.[25][26] She was appointed by the new CEO of AIG, Brian Duperreault, who had been the CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies during her tenure there.[8] She was also AIG's interim head of human resources from October 2018[27] through July 2019[28] and again in 2022.[29]
From September 2023 through March 2024 she was vice chair at AIG.[29]
At AIG, her duties as general counsel included overseeing global legal, compliance, and regulatory matters.[30][31] She was also part of the company's executive leadership team and participated in all strategic and policy decisions regarding AIG's operations.[32][33][22] In addition to overseeing legal, compliance, and regulatory matters for AIG, in 2021, she was tasked with responsibility for its government and public affairs, as well as communications.[34]
Seaport Entertainment Group
After her departure from AIG, Fato joined Seaport Entertainment Group as general counsel and corporate secretary. [35][36]