Joele Frank is the founder and managing partner of Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, a leading strategic financial corporate communications firm, which has consistently ranked as one of the top M&A firms since its founding in 2000.
Ms. Frank has played a major role in more than 1,000 special situations. Noteworthy client assignments include: Airgas in its defense against the unsolicited offer and proxy contest from Air Products; Avis Budget Group with respect to its proposal to acquire Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group; PotashCorp in its defense against the unsolicited offer from BHP Billiton; Microsoft in its proposal to acquire Yahoo!; SIRIUS in its merger with XM; Merck in its merger with Schering-Plough; NRG in its defense against Exelon; the Haas Family Trust in connection with Dow Chemical's acquisition of Rohm & Haas; Verizon in its acquisition of MCI (facing a competing proposal from Qwest); PeopleSoft in its defense against Oracle; and the William R. Hewlett Trust in its opposition to the HP/Compaq merger. With respect to proxy contests and shareholder activism, Ms. Frank has advised, among many others, Lionsgate in its defense against Carl Icahn, Target during its proxy contest against Pershing Square Capital Management and Motorola during its proxy contest against Carl Icahn.
Among the many professional accolades she has received, Ms. Frank has been named a member of Inside PR's Hall of Fame as an All-Star for Investor Relations and has appeared on PR Week's PR Power List of the 25 top PR industry leaders. She has also been selected for the 2011NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) Directorship 100.
Prior to founding Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, Ms. Frank was Vice Chairman of Abernathy MacGregor Frank, where she led the firm's mergers and acquisitions and crisis communications practices. Previously, Ms. Frank was a Managing Director at Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart, a corporate and financial public relations firm. Ms. Frank spent seven years in AT&T's treasury department and worked closely with the investment community during the divestiture of the Bell System. She began her corporate career as a senior financial analyst at Allied Chemical. Before that, Ms. Frank specialized in DNA replication as a research biochemist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Ms. Frank has an A.B. in chemistry from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA in finance from Long Island University. She is a member of the Financial Women's Association and The Economic Club of New York.