GC + CFO: Risk Mitigation in M&A and Beyond

Zoe Vantzos is the Assistant General Counsel at Compass Minerals.

Jim Pyle is a Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Cars.com. Cars.com is a leading online destination that helps car shoppers and owners navigate every turn of car ownership. A pioneer in automotive classifieds, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting consumers with local dealers across the country anytime, anywhere. Jim joined Cars.com in April of 2017 in anticipation of its spin-off from its parent company TEGNA, Inc. Jim advises the company on mergers and acquisitions, financing, corporate governance, ethics, compliance and securities matters as well as general practice topics.

Prior to joining Cars.com Jim worked at US Foods, one of America’s leading foodservice distributors with approximately $23 billion in annual revenue. Jim had a lead role taking US Foods through its IPO in May 2016 and in addition to securities matters, he was the lead advisor to the company on corporate, finance, M&A, credit and bankruptcy and, for a time, litigation, arbitration and mediation matters.

Prior to going in-house, Jim practiced at Sidley Austin LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as a corporate associate. Prior to entering the legal profession Jim owned and operated an Allstate Insurance agency for over seven years.

He received his J.D., cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center where he was the Managing Editor of the White Collar Crime Project and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Indiana University. He volunteers as a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Economic Progress and is admitted to practice in New York and Illinois.

Jan Hamblin is Senior Vice President, General Counsel for Cramer-Krasselt, one of the largest independent advertising and marketing companies in the U.S. Jan is the first General Counsel of C-K and created and built the legal department. In her role, she manages all legal matters for the company, including commercial contracts, risk management, litigation, labor and employment, employee benefits, information technology, intellectual property, advertising and marketing matters, data privacy and security, real estate, compliance, M & A and other corporate transactions.

Prior to joining C-K, Jan was a partner in the corporate groups at McGuireWoods and Miller Canfield. During her career, she has structured, negotiated, and documented numerous mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic alliances of businesses throughout the United States, as well as in cross-border transactions involving Canada and various European and Asian countries, in a variety of industries.

Jan earned her BBA from Iowa State University and law degree from the University of Illinois.

Brenda Furlow is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for Bio-Techne Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of high quality purified proteins, protein analysis instrumentation and other products used in life science research and diagnostics. In that role, she is the senior executive responsible for all of the legal, corporate governance and compliance matters for the corporation globally. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has operations throughout the United States, Europa and Asia, and approximately 1,800 employees worldwide.

Prior to Bio-Techne, Ms. Furlow had similar roles and responsibilities at several other companies, both private and public, including TomoTherapy, a publicly-traded medical device manufacturer, Shine Medical Technologies, a small private medical device company, and Promega Corporation, a mid-sized private life sciences company.

Ms. Furlow earned a law degree with honors from the University of Chicago Law School and has a Bachelors degree from Calvin College.