Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP partner Charles A. Roberts Jr. is among the recipients of the M&A Advisor’s 10th Annual Emerging Leaders Awards recognizing the achievements of young M&A, financing and turnaround professionals under the age of 40.

The awards recognize the achievements of young M&A, financing and turnaround professionals who have reached a significant level of success while still under the age of 40.

The M&A Advisor’s Emerging Leaders began as the 40 Under 40 Awards in the United States in 2010 and later became the Emerging Leader Awards upon expansion to the United Kingdom and Europe. An independent judging panel of prominent leaders in the M&A, finance and turnaround community determined the winners, who will be formally recognized at a black tie awards gala Sept. 17 in New York City as part of the 2019 Emerging Leaders Summit.

A member of Bradley’s Corporate and Securities Practice Group and chair of Bradley’s Public Companies team, Roberts practices in the corporate and securities area, with a focus on public company representation, advising private equity companies in leveraged buyouts and portfolio company acquisitions, and advising real estate developers and sponsors on joint ventures and capital raises. In addition to representing public companies with 34’ Act reporting compliance, public debt and equity offerings, and corporate governance matters, Roberts has experience in public and private mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures. He represents both public and private companies in a broad range of industries, including private equity, financial services, automotive, manufacturing, and real estate development. Roberts also is a member of Bradley’s Finance Committee.

Brendan Miller has been named legal operations advisor of Barnes & Thornburg.

The firm said Miller’s legal practice has focused on complex business and commercial litigation, including disputes involving contracts, warranties, business torts, class actions, multidistrict claims, trade secrets, antitrust, product liability and tax. He is experienced in the various phases of litigation and the dispute resolution process – from pre-suit negotiations to prosecution and defense of claims, discovery, motion practice, preparation for trial and the preservation of issues for appeal.

Miller was vice chair of the firm’s eDiscovery and Knowledge Management team, and he has advised clients on all facets of e-discovery and management of electronically stored information in connection with litigation and investigative inquiries. When the firm launched its LPM initiative in 2015, Miller served as one of the original LPM trainers.

Prior to his legal career, Miller worked for a decade in the nonprofit sector, where he worked with clients to achieve organizational and community outcomes. He remains active with several philanthropic and community organizations, including the Indiana 211 Partnership (past board member) and United Way of Central Indiana (volunteer), among others. He earned his J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law, his M.S.W. from Indiana University, and his B.A from Manchester College.

Louis J. Jenull has joined Thompson & Knight LLP’s Houston office as a partner in the Tax Practice Group.

“We are excited to welcome Louis to our Tax team,” said Todd Keator, chair of the firm’s Tax Practice Group. “His wide range of transactional and partnership tax experience, particularly in the oil and gas industry, will be of great value to our clients.”

The firm said Jenull represents clients in most phases of federal income taxation with an emphasis on oil and gas, tax credits, real estate lending and development, mergers and acquisitions, renewable energy, and the structuring and formation of complex partnerships with tax-exempt, U.S. taxable, and foreign investors.

Jenull received an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 2004, his J.D., cum laude, from Tulane University in 2003, and a B.B.A, cum laude, in Marketing and Organizational Behavior & Business Policy and B.S., cum laude, in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University in 2000. Immediately prior to joining the Firm, he was a Partner at Jones Day.

Commercial litigators Jay Brown, Stephen Wedemeyer and Bruce Wilkin are among a group of seven lawyers helping to launch the newly established Houston office of Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP, the firm announced in a release.

Brown, Wedemeyer and Wilkin join as partners along with Hilary Borow, Matthew Foytlin and Amparo Guerra. Associate Cameron Dernick is also joining the firm. All are from Winstead PC. Derek Flynn, a Shackelford partner formerly based in The Woodlands, is moving to the Houston office at 717 Texas Ave., 27th Floor.

The firm has offices in Dallas, Frisco, Fort Worth and Austin, as well as Nashville, Tennessee.

“We have been working toward this opening for some time but needed to bring in the right group of attorneys with a focus that complemented what we are already doing,” said firm founder John Shackelford. “The overriding factor in everything we do is how it will benefit our clients. Those benefits are obvious with this talented and respected group of lawyers.”

Brown notes that the team has been practicing together for a long time. “As a group, we were impressed with Shackelford’s structure, its people and its sharp-eyed focus on helping the client. We are planting a sizeable footprint for Shackelford in Houston and helping grow the office with other disciplines to complement the full-service nature of the firm,” he said.

A Chambers USA-recognized attorney, Brown is an insurance specialist also known for his work in complex, high-exposure energy industry disputes, the firm said. Board certified in Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, he has been recognized by Texas Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America. He is a fellow in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel.

Wedemeyer represents individuals, corporations, small businesses, insurers and insurance adjusters in state and federal courts in commercial disputes, as well as catastrophic accidents including personal injury, property damage and business interruption. He is the former chair of Winstead’s insurance/reinsurance litigation practice group.

The firm said Wilkin has trial and appellate experience, including leading arguments before the Supreme Court of Texas in commercial, energy, environmental and first-party insurance disputes. He also authored a major treatise on business litigation in federal courts.

Hughes Hubbard & Reed announced that it has added to its Latin America practice Diego Durán de la Vega as partner and James K. Alford as counsel.

Durán joins from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and Alford joins from Stinson. Durán will be based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, while working with members of the Latin America practice group throughout the firm; Alford will divide his time between Washington, D.C. and Miami.

Earlier this year, international disputes lawyer Luis O’Naghten joined the Miami office and serves as chair of Latin American Disputes; Durán will now serve as co-chair.

Three years ago, the firm entered a strategic cooperation agreement with Saud Advogados, a Brazilian law firm based in Rio de Janeiro. That same year, Hughes Hubbard also added as partner Ruben Diaz, the former general counsel of Grupo Pellas, a conglomerate of financial, industrial and commercial companies based primarily in Central America, who now serves as co-chair of the Latin America practice.

In a release, the firm said Durán’s practice focuses on international disputes, including white-collar defense matters, internal investigations, commercial litigation, and international arbitration cases. He mainly advises and represents non-U.S. clients in U.S. litigation, and U.S. clients that are facing litigation abroad.

Durán has represented government agencies, international corporations and high-profile individuals. He has argued cases before U.S. courts and all levels of the Mexican judiciary, including the Mexican Supreme Court, and participated in cases before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and its Court of Justice.

The firm said Durán is also experienced in Mexican criminal and constitutional law. Prior to Hughes Hubbard and Quinn Emanuel, he was a defense lawyer at one of the top criminal law firms in Mexico, where he defended and helped prosecute dozens of cases.

Durán holds Master’s Degrees from University of Pennsylvania School of Law and Universidad Panamericana; a Wharton Business and Law Certificate from University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton Business School; and a Juris Doctorate from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

For more than 30 years, Alford has assisted U.S. and foreign private and public sector clients to design, develop, finance, and implement clean and renewable energy and infrastructure projects, corporate operations and transactions worldwide, with a particular focus on Central and Latin America and Mexico.

He also advises clients on overseas market entry strategies and the legal structures to achieve them, from teaming arrangements and strategic alliances to public-private partnerships, equity joint ventures and stand-alone operations.

As part of his project finance practice, Alford advises private and public sponsors of international turn-key energy and infrastructure projects on the acquisition of feasibility funds, projects and structured financing, political risk insurance, guarantees, and other financing enhancements from private sources and Washington-based U.S. and multilateral agencies, including the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and the Inter-American Investment Corporation.

Alford holds a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University, and a Juris Doctorate from New England School of Law. He was named by Latin America as one of the top 100 lawyers in North America with respect to his Latin America practice, and has been recognized by Latin 250 publication as one of the leading business lawyers in Latin America.

Nigel Wilson has joined Sidley Austin LLP in London as a partner in its Capital Markets practice.

Wilson joins from Maples Group where he was a partner. He also spent 12 years as a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

Focusing in capital markets transactions, Wilson is a multijurisdictional corporate lawyer with over twenty years’ experience in London, Dublin, Silicon Valley and New York. The firm said Wilson advises global corporate clients and investment banks in complex transactions in a broad range of industries and geographies, covering both debt and equity capital markets.

Eric S. Klein, a member in Dykema’s Bloomfield Hills office, has been appointed leader of Dykema’s Health Care Practice Group.

Inn a release, the firm said Klein has represented clients in the health care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory issues, including hospitals, physician groups, ambulatory surgery centers, dental service organizations, medical billing companies, and managed care organizations. In particular, he has provided counsel to clients on compliance and reimbursement issues as well as health facility and physician practice acquisitions and other changes of ownership, including related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters. Klein has also advised clients regarding governmental investigations, compliance programs, and structuring businesses and transactions while addressing anti-kickback, Stark and other legal restrictions.

Prior to joining Dykema, Klein gained experience working for Health Net, Inc., a health insurance company, where he developed financial models to analyze hospital, physician group, and ancillary contracts.

Klein received a J.D., with honors, from George Washington University and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that David R. Roth has joined the firm’s Houston office as a partner, and Andrew W. Bell and Philip J. Morgan are new associates in the office.

Roth is a member of Bradley’s Corporate and Securities and Energy practice groups, and Bell and Morgan have joined the firm’s Construction Practice Group.

The firm said Roth counsels energy and corporate clients on a full range of transactional and financing matters. He has represented Fortune 100 and other clients in the development, leasing, construction and management of energy-related projects, M&A, dispositions, structured financings, private placement of debt and equity, initial public offerings, mezzanine loans, and other hybrid debt-equity transactions. He advises on distressed projects and debt workouts, as well as regulatory issues, including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, North American Electric Reliability Corporation and Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust compliance. Roth also counsels clients on data security and privacy issues from the perspective of corporate management and transactional planning.

Before joining Bradley, Roth was a partner at Jones Walker LLP. Prior to that, he served for more than a decade as general counsel of Northern Star Generation LLC, a private equity-owned power generation company with operations across the United States. He also formerly served as vice president and assistant general counsel at Dynegy, an international, publicly owned provider of power, capacity and ancillary services, where he was head of the Finance and Corporate Transactions legal group.

Roth received his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law and his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

Bell focuses his practice primarily on oil and gas, construction, business, real estate and securities litigation. He has experience in complex multidistrict oil and gas litigation.

Prior to joining Bradley, Bell was an attorney at Christian Smith & Jewell, LLP.

Bell received his J.D. (magna cum laude) from Texas A&M University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from Schreiner University.

Morgan handles complex civil litigation matters, including motion practice, written discovery, depositions, hearings, settlement negotiations, trials, and client management. He also frequently counsels clients on general business matters, and has experience with issues involving condemnation and government-related litigation.

Prior to joining the firm, Morgan was a senior litigation and public law associate at Husch Blackwell.

Morgan earned his J.D. (magna cum laude) from the University of Houston Law Center and his Bachelor of Music in music education (summa cum laude) from Wayne State University.

John J. Busillo, a 30-year real estate veteran, has joined Eversheds Sutherland‘s New York office as a partner in the Real Estate Practice group. Busillo joins Eversheds Sutherland from Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.

In a release, the firm said Busillo concentrates his practice on commercial real estate finance and the workout and disposition of distressed real estate. He advises major financial institutions, commercial and investment banks, insurance companies, public sector entities, real estate investment trusts and real estate developers in numerous sophisticated transactions. These transactions involve office buildings, regional shopping centers, hotels, resorts, multi-family residential complexes, mixed-use projects, healthcare-related projects, single-tenant retail sites, warehouse and industrial sites and commercial and residential condominium and cooperative projects.

Following Busillo’s arrival, John W. Benson, an Eversheds Sutherland real estate partner who previously divided his time between the legal practices in the Atlanta and New York offices, is relocating his real estate structured finance practice full time to New York.

Duane Morris trial partner and chief diversity and inclusion officer Joseph K. West will be the inaugural recipient of Chambers and Partners’ Lifetime Achievement Award: Diversity & Equality. He was selected for his commitment to furthering the advancement of diversity and inclusion. West will be honored at the 2019 USA Chambers Diversity and Inclusion Awards on June 6, 2019, in San Francisco.

In a release, the firm said West has more than 30 years of experience practicing law, including more than 25 years in litigation, business and advisory roles—both in-house and in law firms.

Previously, he served as in-house counsel for Walmart, managing outside legal resources, coordinating more than 600 law firms and overseeing a budget of more than $300 million. Earlier in his career, West served as assistant general counsel – litigation for New Orleans-based Entergy Corporation. Prior to joining Duane Morris, West spent more than four years focused on diversity and inclusion within the legal profession as president and CEO of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA).

As Duane Morris’ chief diversity and inclusion officer, a role he has held since 2016, West manages the firm’s comprehensive diversity and inclusion program, speaks widely on diversity and inclusion topics and provides consulting services to help companies create sustainable diversity and inclusion programs and solutions.

West serves as an appointed member of the ABA Council on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the body that oversees law school accreditation and bar admissions nationwide. He is also currently serving as a member of the influential ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and previously served as a member of the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession as well as the groundbreaking ABA Diversity & Inclusion 360 Commission.

West also was elected and currently serves on the board of directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law as well as the board of trustees of Xavier University of Louisiana.

Listed in Savoy magazine’s 2018 list of the 100 Most Influential Black Lawyers, West is the recipient of numerous awards. Some of the recognitions that he has received include: the 2009 In-House Counsel of the Year Award from the National Bar Association; the 2010 Advisory Board Member of the Year from the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms; the Diversity Collaboration Award in 2016 from the JTB Pipeline Organization; the Beacon of Diversity Award in 2014 from the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association; the Louis L. Redding Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 from the Delaware Barristers Association; and a 2014 Minority Business Leader Award from the Washington Business Journal.

West is a graduate of Tulane Law School (J.D., 1986), where he was formerly adjunct professor of trial advocacy, and Southern University (B.A., 1983).

Michael C. Flynn has joined Buchalter as a member of the Corporate Practice Group in Los Angeles. Flynn’s practice focuses on consumer financial services, banking, mortgage lending and servicing, mergers and acquisitions regarding regulatory requirements, transactional due diligence, and regulatory enforcement.

Flynn previously served as acting general counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and was general counsel of Flagstar Bank and PNC Mortgage. He was the chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Business Law Section Task Force on Litigation Reform and Rules Changes, and as a member of the ABA Business Law Section Task Force on Federal Preemption of State Laws. Flynn was also co-chair of the ABA Business Law Section Subcommittee on In-House Litigation Management and the Chair of the ABA TIPS Section Title Insurance Litigation Committee where he served as vice-chair of the ABA TIPS Section Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee, and as a member of the American Land Title Association Claims Committee.

Flynn is currently chair of the American Bar Association Banking Law Subcommittee on Consumer and Retail Law.

Flynn received his J.D. from Duke University School of Law and his B.A. from Indiana University.

An assistant public defender in Illinois has been fired after her boss discovered she is not an attorney, reports the Belleville News-Democrat.

Kelcie Miller was hired in October and had worked for the Madison County public defender’s office until last week, when her boss, John Rekowski, fired her.

“Rekowski said during the news conference he found out that Miller was not an attorney after a judge had checked the state’s Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission database of registered lawyers because a court reporter had asked the judge how to spell Miller’s first name. She was not listed,” write the News-Democrat‘s Lexi Cortes and Mike Koziatek.

Read the News-Democrat article.

Eric Su has joined Crowell & Moring’s New York office as a partner in its Labor & Employment Group.

In a release, the firm said Su will oversee government investigations and class and collective action litigation involving alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Davis Bacon Act, and other federal and state wage-and-hour laws. He joins the firm from FordHarrison LLP, where he was the managing partner of its New York office and co-chair of its Construction Practice Group.

The firm said Su handles investigations by federal and state labor departments, law enforcement, and municipal agencies concerning wage-and-hour issues, including compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, and state “little Davis Bacon” and other similar laws such as the New York Real Property Tax Law 421-a, and the New York Wage Parity Act. He works on workplace issues, including compliance with wage-and-hour and EEO requirements, employment and separation agreements, and day-to-day personnel matters. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner and is one of the most senior Mandarin-speaking management-side labor and employment litigators in the country.

Su frequently participates in industry and regulatory-agency speaking engagements alongside federal and state labor department investigators, where he advises business owners and their accountants on how to navigate the requirements of labor and employment laws and regulations and handling and resolving government investigations.

Born in Taiwan, Su earned his bachelor’s degree in history and international relations at Johns Hopkins University, his master’s degree in international relations at The London School of Economics and Political Science, and his law degree at Vanderbilt University Law School.

Colorado attorney and former Holland & Hart patent partner Christopher Kulish died Monday after reaching the summit of Mount Everest, the latest climber to perish in what’s become a deadly season on the mountain, according to Bloomberg Law.

“Kulish, 62, died early in the morning at a camp below the summit on its southeast ridge during his descent,” writes Bloomberg’s Meghan Tribe. She reports that an initial assessment of Kulish’s death indicates that he died of cardiac arrest, though the cause is not yet known, his brother said.

He was a patent partner in Holland & Hart’s Boulder, Colorado, office from 2002 to 2009, before opening his own solo practice in Denver.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Mary Beth Walsh has joined Dykema as director of lateral recruiting. Prior to joining Dykema, Walsh served as director of attorney recruitment & development at the Chicago-based firm Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP.

In a release, the firm said that Walsh, who will work out of the firm’s Chicago office, will work closely with Dykema’s lateral hiring member Steve Gistenson and will be responsible for strategically planning, implementing and managing all aspects of firm-wide recruiting and integration efforts relating to lateral recruiting of members, senior counsel and government policy advisors.

Prior to her time with Hinshaw, Walsh served as professional hiring coordinator for Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Philadelphia.

Walsh earned a J.D. from Marquette University Law School and B.A. in Public Relations, with a Minor in Business, from Penn State University.

Michael Best partner Lyndon L. Ricks has been appointed to the five-member State of Utah Securities Commission.

The commission formulates and makes recommendations to the division director regarding policy and budgetary matters and fees, acts in an advisory capacity to the division director and conducts administrative hearings adjudicating enforcement actions brought by the Division. Each member is appointed to the commission by the governor and with the consent of the Utah State Senate to serve a four-year term.

Ricks is a partner in Michael Best’s Corporate and Securities & Capital Markets Practice Groups. The firm said he advises clients on a broad range of securities matters including preparing limited or private offering documents for offerings exempt from registration under federal and state securities laws, ensuring compliance with reporting requirements under federal and state securities laws, and advising clients as to initial and secondary public offerings, proxy fights, and tender offers.

Ricks is a frequent lecturer and panelist at continuing legal education seminars and previously served as chair of the Securities Section of the Utah State Bar.

Ricks was sworn in on May 23.

Hogan Lovells announced that David Simonds has joined the firm’s Business Restructuring and Insolvency practice as a partner based in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Simonds joined the firm from Akin Gump, where he has served as a partner since 2004, having joined as an associate in 2000.

In a release, the firm said he has more than 25 years of experience representing debtors, official and informal creditors’ committees, secured and unsecured creditors, asset purchasers and other parties in interest in chapter 11 cases, out-of-court restructurings, cross-border insolvencies, and transactions. He recently served as lead bankruptcy counsel to the owner of films and associated rights that were the subject of a complex licensing/distribution arrangement with The Weinstein Company.

He also recently represented a group of private placement noteholders in a successful cross-border, out-of-court restructuring through which his clients acquired a majority equity ownership of the Savers and Value Village retail chains, one of the largest thrift store operators in the United States and Canada, by equitizing their notes and making a substantial new money investment.

Simonds received his B.S., summa cum laude, in Accounting in 1989 from the State University of New York at Albany, and his J.D. in 1992 from the New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Annual Survey of American Law. He is also a certified public accountant.

Jeremy D. Sosna has joined Littler as a shareholder in its Minneapolis office. Sosna, who joined from Maslon LLP, practiced as an attorney at Littler from 1998 to 2003.

In a release, the firm said Sosna has successfully defended clients from Fortune 500 publicly traded companies to privately held corporations in jury and bench trials, arbitrations, government agency hearings, appeals and class and collective actions across in a wide-range of employment matters. He also represents companies in labor relations matters and in hearings before the National Labor Relations Board.

The firm said Sosna counsels employers on compliance with federal and state employment laws, including anti-discrimination laws, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and the National Labor Relations Act. He also advises on non-competition and trade secret matters, issues related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and international anti-bribery laws, and the development of anticorruption compliance programs. Prior to joining Maslon, he served as Employment Law and Litigation Counsel for the Valspar Corporation, a manufacturer of paint and coatings based in Minneapolis with more than 11,000 employees.

Sosna received his J.D., with high distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law and his B.A. from the University of Iowa. He was recently named a 2019 “Recognised Practitioner” by Chambers USA for Labor & Employment in Minnesota and has also been recognized as a leading employment lawyer by Minnesota Law & Politics.

Barnes & Thornburg has added Nicole Bogard as a partner in the firm’s Corporate Department in the Atlanta office.

In a release, the firm said Bogard focuses on benefits, executive compensation and matters related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). She also handles tax and benefits issues resulting from M&A transactions and has deep experience related to health benefits, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), wellness programs and self-funded healthcare plans.

Bogard’s benefits practice encompasses flexible benefits plans, severance plans, 401(k) plans and Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Associations (VEBAs). Additionally, she frequently advises clients on matters originating from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL). Her clients span a variety of industries, including the entertainment, hospitality, retail and healthcare, among others, the firm said.

Bogard is the third partner to join Barnes & Thornburg’s Atlanta office this year, following the additions of Mark Keenan and Christina Baugh in March.

Previously, Bogard was a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, where she led its Atlanta office’s ERISA, employee benefits, and executive compensation practice.

Bogard earned her J.D. from Marquette University Law School, cum laude, and her B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Karen C. Hermann has joined Venable LLP’s Corporate Practice as a partner in the Washington, DC office. Hermann’s practice focuses on corporate transactions, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, carve-out transactions, corporate reorganizations, strategic alliances, and joint ventures.

The firm said Hermann has represented private and publicly held corporations, private equity firms, and startup and emerging companies in a wide range of industries, but particularly in regulated industries such as aerospace and defense, technology, federal contracting, cybersecurity, professional service, and healthcare. She has worked on business and transaction matters, including transaction structure, integration of acquired companies, and unique requirements for regulated industries, for both buy-side and sell-side deals. She also advises joint ventures and other entities on such matters as entity formation, ownership structure, corporate governance, intellectual property portfolio management, staffing and business models, and exit strategies.

Hermann received her J.D. from George Washington University Law School in 1999 and her B.A. in English from Fontbonne College in 1996.