Charter Communications Snags a Turnaround Artist for GC Job

Corporate Counsel
October 05, 2009

Struggling cable television operator Charter Communications, Inc., has snagged an experienced chief restructuring officer and general counsel in Gregory Doody, a corporate turnaround expert who has helped oversee the rehabilitation of two major companies in the past six years.

The St. Louis–based company hired Doody to serve as its chief restructuring officer in March, when Charter filed for a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but Doody originally joined last December to assist with the company's financial restructuring. In May, Doody, who is 44, also accepted the post of general counsel. He replaces former GC Grier Raclin, now Charter's chief administrative officer.

At Charter, the nation's fourth-largest cable provider, Doody will be responsible for supervising the company's restructuring, corporate legal affairs, and compliance. The company, chaired and controlled by Microsoft Corporation cofounder Paul Allen, had over $21 billion in debt as of September 2008. Under Doody's guidance, Charter reached an agreement with a group of creditors that reduced its debt by about $8 billion.

Doody's name has become so synonymous with massive corporate recoveries that his arrival at Charter was seen as a signal that Charter would restructure. Before joining Charter, he had been the executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of energy company Calpine Corporation, from July 2006 to August 2008. As Calpine's chief restructuring officer after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2005, Doody helped cut the company's debt by half ["Head of the Class," August].

From July 2003 to July 2006, Doody was HealthSouth Corporation's executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary. The health care services provider brought Doody in shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission accused its founder and CEO, Richard Scrushy, of accounting fraud. (Scrushy was convicted in 2006 and was ordered to pay $2.87 billion in damages to HealthSouth shareholders this June.) Doody was in charge of negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice and class action plaintiffs.

In his journey from HealthSouth to Calpine to Charter, Doody appears to have followed Charter board member Robert May, former CEO of Calpine, interim CEO of Charter, and chairman and interim CEO of HealthSouth.

Earlier in his career, Doody, who graduated with a B.S. in management from Tulane University and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law, was a partner at Birmingham-based Balch & Bingham. He is also a certified public accountant.

—Vivian Yee