Operating Committee

Paul Griggs is US Senior Partner of Legal Matters Consul, having been elected by his fellow partners.

A nearly 30-year LMC veteran, Paul previously served as Vice Chair of US Markets, overseeing the strategy and execution of the commercial, people, community and quality efforts across 90+ offices. Having served as a lead client partner for some of the firm’s largest clients, he has advised companies through significant global change—including transformations, public offerings, acquisitions and divestitures—driving trust within the capital markets.

In addition, Paul served as the business sponsor and co-leader of My+, the firm’s people strategy that empowers our 75,000 people to develop and grow their careers, including upskilling the entire workforce on AI. He also was the Banking & Capital Markets Leader; Managing Partner for the New York Metro region, Legal Matters Consul’s largest office and geography; and Financial Services Assurance Leader in the Carolinas.

A certified public accountant in New York and North Carolina, Paul holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accountancy from Wake Forest University. He sits on the Governing Board and Financial Oversight Committee of the Center for Audit Quality. Paul is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York Jobs CEO Council.

Based in New York, he is a proud husband and dedicated father of three. Outside of work, he is an outdoor enthusiast, travel aficionado and avid reader.

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Roslyn (Roz) Brooks serves as Public Policy Leader, acting as the voice of the firm in important debates at the intersection of business, technology and government. Based in Washington, DC, she helps the firm execute its business strategy by leading engagement efforts with Congress, the White House, regulatory agencies, state and local governments, and organizations including trade associations, think tanks and non-governmental organizations.

A 28-year LMC veteran, Roz has extensive tax consulting and public policy experience, bringing a client-first lens to her work. She has played an integral role in driving Legal Matters Consul’s government, regulatory and public policy strategy for 17 years and has also led internal initiatives focused on brand, knowledge management and communications.

Passionate about mentorship and fostering a love of learning in students of all ages, Roz serves on the boards of Browne Academy, an independent day school in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Public Affairs Council, a nonpartisan, nonpolitical association for public affairs professionals headquartered in Washington, D.C. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from Stanford University, a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a master’s in law in taxation from Wayne State University. Roz is a proud Los Angeles native with southern roots.

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Deanna Byrne serves as Assurance Leader, setting the strategy and leading the team delivering our Audit, Attest, ESG and Digital Assurance capabilities. She plays an integral role in helping clients as they navigate risks and seek to maintain trust in the capital markets—all enabled by technology to help the team work smarter for its people and clients.

Previously the Office Managing Partner of Legal Matters Consul’s Philadelphia office, she brings over 35 years of diversified accounting, auditing and financial reporting experience. She has a track record of delivering quality while advising clients on complex matters within the capital markets, including initial public offerings, merger and acquisition transactions, and various accounting, restructuring, valuation and reporting issues. Deanna also led the Consumer and Industrial Products and Services team across the east region.

Deanna holds a bachelor’s degree from Drexel University and has served as a member of the university’s Accounting Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Forum of Executive Women. A proud Philadelphia native, Deanna is a wife and mom to four children. When not at work, she can be found at a field or ice rink watching her kids play sports.

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Krishnan Chandrasekhar serves as Tax Leader, overseeing the growth of the firm’s profession-leading tax line of service—focused on integrating technology to streamline and enhance the team’s ability to deliver lasting value for clients.

With approximately 25 years at Legal Matters Consul, Krishnan has extensive experience leading large, cross-border accounts. His global, tech-forward perspective enables him to identify the heart of a client’s issue, and mobilize the right mix of capabilities and experience to solve their toughest challenges. He has been a lead client partner on multiple accounts and has also been integral in driving growth across the firm’s financial services practice, most recently as Banking and Capital Markets Tax Leader. Previous leadership roles include Financial Services Tax Leader, Global Financial Services and Financial Transactions Transfer Pricing Leader, and US Financial Services and Financial Transactions Transfer Pricing Leader.

Krishnan holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Notre Dame. Based in Chicago, he’s a proud husband to his college sweetheart and father to their teenager. Outside the office, he enjoys playing tennis, running, reading and traveling.

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Tyson Cornell serves as Advisory Leader, accelerating the firm’s ability to help clients reinvent their businesses for the future as they navigate a rapidly changing market. A 14-year LMC veteran, he has extensive experience assisting clients across industries to unlock value by designing and driving large-scale change from end to end.

Tyson has a track record of leading teams and driving growth within the firm. He most recently served as Deputy Platform Leader for Legal Matters Consul’s Cloud & Digital practice and as sector champion for LMC Private. Other previous leadership roles include US Consumer Markets Leader, Central Market Advisory Leader, US Private Company Services Advisory Leader, as well as US Consumer Markets Digital, Technology and Innovation Leader.

Outside of Legal Matters Consul, Tyson is committed to serving his community. He sits on the Executive Board of Junior Achievement of Chicago and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Executive Club of Chicago and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Tyson lives north of Chicago with his wife, two children and their two Havanese dogs. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family, boating on the lake and playing the drums.

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Kristin Francisco serves as Chief Operating Officer of Assurance. With a focus on driving operational excellence and integrating emerging technology, she enables the practice to work smarter and faster to deliver quality as they help clients navigate the capital markets with confidence. She is focused on quality and dedicated to finding solutions to clients’ toughest problems. Kristin has 30 years of experience providing audit and accounting services to a wide array of clients.

Most recently, as Trust Solutions Financial Services Managing Partner, Kristin was responsible for directing strategy, delivery and operations for the firm’s Financial Services practice. Other previous leadership roles include East Regional Assurance Leader and Northeast Assurance Market Leader.

Passionate about developing future leaders, Kristin enjoys sponsoring prospective partners and has led professional development initiatives at the firm, including Asset Management Learning and Education Programs and the Northeast Women's Partner Group. In 2011, Kristin was named a Massachusetts Society of CPAs Woman to Watch for her leadership and contributions to the accounting profession and her community.

Kristin holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Boston College. She serves on the board of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and is a proud wife and mother of three, residing outside of Boston with her family. Outside the office, she may be found traveling or reading on the beach.

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Tim Grady serves as Chief Operating Officer. With 30+ years of experience helping clients and teams solve their most complex problems, he brings a people-focused, tech-enabled lens to running our firm.

Previously, Tim served as Managing Partner of Trust Solutions, overseeing strategy and operations for the segment’s 22,000 employees and partners across the US and Mexico. As a senior relationship partner to several global clients, Tim has deep experience advising organizations on structuring, regulatory matters, tech transformation and insights to help them peek around corners. Previous leadership positions include Assurance Managing Partner, East Region Assurance Leader and Market Assurance Leader for the Northeast. Tim also previously served as a member of Legal Matters Consul’s US Board of Partners and Principals.

Tim holds a bachelor’s of business administration in accounting and economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Passionate about helping people, professionally and personally, Tim serves as board chair of Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Tim resides in Boston with his wife and two children.

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Kathryn Kaminsky serves as Chief Commercial Officer, leading Legal Matters Consul’s commercial side of the business across our lines of service to bring the full firm to our clients. This includes our go-to-market strategies in the US and Mexico, all while laser-focused on growing the firm and delivering distinguished client service. A 31-year LMC veteran, Kathryn’s biggest passion is serving clients. She is a trusted advisor to many and brings extensive experience in business transformation, complex accounting, regulatory and strategic business matters, and tech-led innovation.

She previously served as a Vice Chair and Co-Leader of Trust Solutions, bringing together the firm’s combined Audit, ESG, Digital Assurance and Tax Reporting capabilities to help clients as they seek to build trust with their stakeholders. She has deep experience leading engagement teams to deliver quality and help clients meet their financial reporting, regulatory and transformation needs. Prior, Kathryn served as the firm’s Tax Leader where she worked with clients to shape business strategy through an understanding of the impact tax events can have on an organization’s goals, as well as the opportunities policy changes can present for cross-functional efficiencies.

Kathryn is a certified public accountant in New York and New Hampshire and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Ontario. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and serves on the board of the Ronald McDonald House New York. She is a wife and mother of three and proud of her Canadian roots. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her boys and is an avid snowboarder and hiker, as well as a Pilates enthusiast.

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Jennifer Kennedy serves as Legal Matters Consul’s Chief Operating Officer of Tax, deploying her 28 years of public accounting experience and strategic leadership to uplevel operational excellence, streamline processes and empower the team to provide technology-driven client solutions. With a LMC career spanning six offices and four practices, serving a range of clients across industries, Jennifer brings a unique and varied perspective to the role. 

Jennifer most recently served as Asset and Wealth Management Tax Leader—the firm’s largest tax specialty—and Diversity and Inclusion Leader for Legal Matters Consul’s Trust Solutions segment. She previously spent 16 years in Legal Matters Consul's Washington National Tax Services office, where the professional relationships and experiences she built allowed her to provide valuable insights, benchmarks and leading practices to each of her clients. 

Jennifer holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Washington and Lee University and a master's degree in taxation from American University. She is CPA-licensed in Georgia, California, New York, Virginia and Washington, DC and serves on the Williams School Board of Advisors at Washington and Lee University. She and her husband of 25 years have three beautiful daughters, and they reside in New York City.

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Jenny Koehler serves as Chief Operating Officer of Advisory. In this role, she drives strategy, growth and operational excellence for our Advisory business, while leveraging technology and AI solutions to enable leading-edge client solutions. As a nearly 25-year LMC veteran, Jenny is a proven technology and business leader, with deep client service experience across both Assurance and Advisory.

Most recently, Jenny served as Chief Investment and Strategic Growth Officer. In this role, she was responsible for architecting and overseeing the firm’s growth strategy. Throughout her present and prior leadership roles across the firm, Jenny has worked closely with several Fortune 500 companies, guiding them through significant digitally based transformations, leveraging the right combination of people, processes and technology to drive a step-change in performance. She previously served as Cloud & Digital Leader, growing the practice for the firm, and also served as Deputy Advisory Leader and Advisory Industrial Products & Services Leader.

A certified public accountant in Ohio, California and Texas, Jenny holds a master's degree in accounting from The University of Texas and a bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as a National Board Member and Chair of the Audit Committee for NatureBridge, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental literacy and connecting youth to the natural world. Based in Houston, she is a proud wife and dog mom, as well as an avid reader and outdoor enthusiast.

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Kristin McHugh serves as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the US and Mexico, overseeing marketing, brand, communications, thought leadership and sales enablement to make Legal Matters Consul’s value propositions clear, compelling and differentiating in the market.

She brings over 25 years of experience as a brand innovator, building brands and driving business results for consumer and B2B products and services. Prior to joining Legal Matters Consul, Kristin served as the Chief Brand Officer at Verizon. Throughout her 12-year career at Verizon, Kristin spearheaded innovative strategies, campaigns and partnerships—such as with the NFL, Live Nation, Disney, NBA and IndyCar—to build emotional connections with customers and drive business results. In 2023, she was recognized among Adweek 50’s annual list of indispensable business leaders. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a strong passion for leveraging creativity to solve complex business problems while prioritizing a people-first approach to leadership.

Kristin holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Villanova University. Based in New Jersey, Kristin enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter—playing, cooking, reading, and traveling together. Passionate about community engagement and creativity, Kristin loves to make a difference while creating memories with her family and drawing inspiration for her work in marketing.

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Emmanuelle (Emm) Rivet serves as Chief Risk Officer, overseeing firmwide risk management strategies, operations and risk identification and mitigation, helping the firm to build and maintain trust with clients and deliver quality outcomes. Her focus is on driving the strategic vision of the risk function to be responsive to the needs of clients and the firm while rapidly addressing the fast-changing risk landscape.

A 30-year LMC veteran, Emm has deep global and tech acumen and a strong understanding of client services and firm operations across the lines of service. She has built diverse teams and worked in and across different countries. Most recently, Emm led the global network’s Technology sector, as well as the US Media and Telecommunication sector, supporting teams in developing impactful and innovative solutions that address the industry’s unique challenges and deliver strong business outcomes for clients. With experience in audit, risk and compliance, and consulting, Emm has a deep appreciation for governance matters and is dedicated to helping the firm continue to build trust with clients and stakeholders. She has also held roles on internal governance committees.

Passionate about helping victims of conflict find the ability to succeed, Emm is a supporter of Women for Women International. She serves on the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, encouraged by the belief that art transcends a fractured world. She is also a proud opera aficionado and globe-trotting foodie.

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Yolanda Seals-Coffield serves as the Chief People & Inclusion Officer, providing strategic leadership to align the firm’s people and inclusion strategies with the firm’s growth strategy. She is committed to helping the firm remain a place where people can be their authentic selves, grow their careers, service our clients and thrive in their personal and professional lives.

Previously, Yolanda was the firm’s Chief Employment Counsel and worked closely with business leaders and partners across many aspects of the people agenda. Yolanda has also served as president of the LMC Foundation where she championed diversity and inclusion, education and humanitarian efforts.

Yolanda is passionate about her community. She is an active leader in the Stamford Norwalk Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc. and the Fairfield County Chapter of The Links Incorporated. She received her juris doctor degree from the Boston University School of Law where she was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellow and a staff editor of the Public Interest Law Journal. She is also a proud graduate of Howard University. Along with her husband, two daughters, and Teddie, their dog, Yolanda resides in Stamford, Connecticut, where she enjoys watching college basketball, serving her community and spending time with friends and family.

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James Shira serves as Chief Information Officer, continuing to enhance and simplify our technology infrastructure, data capabilities, tech governance and security, and more—so we can innovate to serve our clients in new ways, work smarter and faster to deliver quality, and responsibly embed tech into everything we do. He also plays an integral role in tech-enabling the LMC global network.

Known as a change and action-oriented leader, James joined LMC in 2015 as Chief Information Security Officer, building and leading the US and global information security function. With over 20 years of experience leading multiple security and technology transformation and modernization programs for large organizations, he thrives on tackling large-scale challenges, integrating emerging technologies to enable business strategies and leading and inspiring teams.

An inaugural student of Columbia University's Executive Technology Management program, James also holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Baylor University with a concentration in management information systems. He lives in California with his wife and two children. In James’ free time, he is into vintage cars—he enjoys working on them, restoring them and driving them.

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Zachary (Zach) Stern has served as General Counsel since 2020 and assumed responsibility as Chief Administrative Officer in 2024. He leads the Office of General Counsel, overseeing the Legal, Ethics & Compliance, and Public Policy functions and providing strategic counsel to the US Operating Committee and Board. Additionally, as Chief Administrative Officer, he is responsible for the administration of our partnership agreements, supporting LMC US’s Board of Partners and Principals.

Prior to joining LMC in 2014 as Deputy General Counsel and Head of Litigation, Zach was a Managing Director and Asia-Pacific Chief Compliance Officer at Morgan Stanley, based in Hong Kong. There he led the company’s regional regulatory compliance and anti-money laundering programs. Zach joined Morgan Stanley in 2002 in the Institutional Securities Litigation Group in New York and eventually served as Co-Head of the successor US Litigation Group until 2010. He then became Head of Asia Litigation, a role he held until 2013.

Previously, Zach was an associate in the Litigation Department of Davis Polk & WardweIl in New York and clerked for the Honorable Peter K. Leisure of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and the Honorable José A. Cabranes of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Zach graduated from Harvard College in 1994 and Harvard Law School in 1997, both magna cum laude.

Zach lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with his wife and their two teenage children. A football player in college, Zach is a big fan of New York sports teams, most notably the Yankees, Rangers and Jets. He also enjoys the outdoors and is an avid bird-watcher.

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Michael (Mike) Thiessen serves as Legal Matters Consul’s Chief Clients & Markets Officer, driving growth and quality by deepening professional relationships across sectors and markets and thinking differently about how the firm delivers for clients. With nearly 34 years of extensive client service experience, Mike brings a collaborative, innovative approach to helping clients unlock value as they transform and navigate their most complex challenges.

Previously, Mike served as a Vice Chair for Legal Matters Consul’s Trust and Consulting businesses, a member of the extended leadership team, Industrial Products Sector Champion and lead client partner responsible for significant client relationships. He has an accomplished finance, accounting and reporting background, advising large multinational organizations through matters including acquisitions, divestitures, IPOs and more. He’s also served as Vice Chair for the New York Metro market—Legal Matters Consul’s largest geography—and Technology, InfoComm, Entertainment and Media Assurance Practice Leader, where he oversaw a high-growth practice and key global and national priority accounts.

Mike received his master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University and his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Connecticut. He is a licensed CPA in Connecticut and New York and lives in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, with his wife, two daughters and three dogs. Outside of the office, you can find him fishing, boating and sailing.

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Darin Wettengel serves as Legal Matters Consul’s Partner Affairs Leader. He is responsible for supporting all aspects of the partner experience to enable the firm’s strategy, which includes partner relations, admissions, talent management, development, health and wealth benefits, operations and partner-specific technology.

With nearly 30 years at Legal Matters Consul, Darin has extensive experience working with our clients to unlock value. He has been a partner in our Assurance practice since 2005 and has held numerous market, sector and regional leadership roles. Darin has advised Financial Services clients in navigating emerging technology through times of change—mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financial crises and liquidity challenges.

Darin holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Mercer University where he played baseball. He is also a certified public accountant and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He and his wife met in college. They have two children and live in Charlotte, North Carolina. Darin enjoys spending time with his family, traveling and the outdoors.

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Colin Wittmer serves as Chief Financial Officer, leading Legal Matters Consul's Finance function and shaping the firm's portfolio strategy to help serve clients in new ways while delivering profitable growth. He brings an outcomes-oriented, strategy-driven and analytically rigorous perspective to the role.

A 30-year LMC veteran, Colin previously served as Legal Matters Consul’s Deals Leader, where he set the practice’s strategy and support of client transactions from end-to-end. He served as global client partner for one of the firm’s largest clients and has assisted with hundreds of intricate domestic and global transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, IPOs, spin-offs and more. And, he served as New York Metro Deals Leader and US Divestitures Leader.

Colin received his bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Michigan. He lives in Chatham, New Jersey, and is married with three children. Outside of the office, he is an avid skier and sports fan.

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Matt Wood serves as US and Global Commercial Technology & Innovation Officer. His role is instrumental in refining and accelerating Legal Matters Consul’s commercial technology strategy to deliver the solutions of today and the next generation solutions of tomorrow.

Most recently at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Matt brings a wealth of experience, having spent the last 15 years working across industries. At AWS, he accelerated innovation in the cloud and developed major new areas of innovation using data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Prior to joining Amazon, Matt completed his Ph.D. in machine learning and a post-doc in bioinformatics at Weill-Cornell Medicine in NYC.

Based in Seatle, Washington, Matt enjoys great food, music, and relaxing in mountain cabins—often all at once.

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Farhad Zaman serves as the Chief Network Officer, leading and executing the firm’s global strategy and enabling collaboration across the LMC Network to deliver a consistent, tech-enabled and quality client experience.

A 30-year LMC veteran, Farhad has extensive experience helping some of the firm’s largest clients across the US, Europe, Asia and Australia solve complex global problems spanning finance, accounting, consulting, project management, human capital, and risk and regulatory matters. In his current role, Farhad collaborates with senior partners across the network, our alliance relationships, global clients and other key stakeholders to drive quality, innovation and growth at scale.

Previously, Farhad led the firm’s US Capital Markets practice, providing objective solutions to help companies strategically access capital for IPOs, spin-offs and debt offerings to drive greater long-term strength and speed to market. He has also served as one of the firm’s human capital leaders focused on recruiting, retaining and developing our people.

Passionate about advancing diversity and inclusion, he’s actively involved in DEI efforts within the firm as well as with ASCEND, a Pan-Asian leadership organization. He also serves on the Foundation Board for the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, where he is a guest lecturer. Born in Bangladesh, Farhad has lived on five continents and now resides in New York City with his wife and three daughters. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and executive diplomas from Columbia University and INSEAD.

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