HONOREE

Bill Shafton

VP, Business & Legal Affairs
Grindr
LMU Loyola Law School

Bill Shafton has built Grindr’s large-scale, multifaceted legal and compliance initiatives, provides business-focused counsel, and supports the company’s massive international growth, intellectual property portfolio, and leads a broad array of commercial, corporate, litigation, and regulatory matters.

Shafton has always been fascinated by the intersection of law in technology. As a teenager, he worked in law firms to apply leading-edge technology to develop scalable processes for document generation and matter management. Shortly after graduating from Oberlin College, he brought his software development and data analytics skills to a plaintiff-side bankruptcy boutique. Years later, while married with two young children, he decided to attend Loyola Law School, where he graduated with honors. After law school, he joined an exceptional team of lawyers at Winston & Strawn, focusing on corporate restructuring and special situations.

In January 2017, Shafton was recruited to be Grindr’s first in-house lawyer. With his background as a legal technologist, his demonstrated success navigating complex regulatory and transaction matters, and his passion for having a positive impact in the world, he was a natural fit for a company that helps marginalized people connect and thrive.

Shafton has built out the legal function and helped the company achieve its ambitious goals. He led Grindr’s preparations for GDPR, built out the company’s compliance function, and oversaw a transition from the founder team to an acquisition by a Chinese-based gaming company. That ultimately triggered a case before the United States Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States. As a result, Shafton served as the security officer under the National Security Agreement and led Grindr’s commitment to cybersecurity and data protection. His sense of personal ownership is emblematic of the company’s commitment to the privacy rights of its users.

In addition to helping the company achieve its ambitious growth goals year after year, Shafton supported the Grindr For Equality social justice campaigns, including the development of India’s first online resource to help people in India find their nearest STD testing center.

PRIVATE COMPANY: 101-200 EMPLOYEES FINALISTS

Christi Cox

General Counsel
Epirus
University of Colorado Law School

Christi Cox is general counsel at Epirus, a Los Angeles-based technology start-up creating cutting-edge directed energy and power management systems. In just eight months at the company, she has already left a transformative mark on a company with equally transformative technology.

In January 2022, Cox was the principal negotiator in closing Epirus’ Series C funding round – bringing in over $200 million dollars of new capital and boosting the company’s valuation to $1.35 billion. She was the central legal point of contact for the transactions, ensuring that complex term sheets from the dozen-plus unique investor groups were executed swiftly. Cox was also instrumental in shaping Epirus’ Strategic Teaming Agreement with General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of the Fortune-100 company General Dynamics. This agreement has been key in deepening Epirus’ industry credibility and solidifying the company as a major player in the defense technology space.

Julie Sue Maresca

EVP, General Counsel MPLC
LMU
Loyola Law School

Julie S. Maresca started her in-house career in 2003 at MPLC, a copyright licensing company when MPLC was first starting its international expansion into the U.K. Since that time, MPLC grew, forged alliances and joint ventures, and now operates in over 15 countries around the globe. MPLC’s mission has been as a supporter of copyright protection.

Maresca’s background is as a J.D./MDA, having worked in litigation and marketing prior to joining MPLC. The business and law background was the right combination to enable her to grow and lead a company rooted in copyright compliance. The mission of MPLC is to ensure its rights holders’ exclusive public performance rights are protected and applied. Julie feels passionately about supporting the creative community. Over the last two years, she has supported MPLC through legal issues around the globe and received favorable judgments in Denmark and German court cases.

Petty Rader

Chief Growth & Legal Officer
Ergobaby
LMU Loyola Law School

Petty Rader is the chief growth and legal officer of The Ergo Baby Carrier, Inc. (Ergobaby), where she serves as the strategic advisor for growth and legal to the CEO, responsible for driving expansion of new product categories, international market development, digital transformation, and overseeing all legal and regulatory aspects of the company.

Rader also spearheads corporate responsibility and sustainability as well as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for the company. Previously, she was the president of Baby Tula, a predominantly DTC business and a subsidiary of Ergobaby. In the last 24 months, her contributions to the field of juvenile products include helping to launch the Ergobaby Everlove program (the industry’s first reCommerce program for pre-loved carriers); measuring the company’s CO2 footprint to set reduction targets; publishing Ergobaby’s inaugural Brand Impact Report; and creating Ergobaby’s Women’s Leadership group.