Ron, you started in Indianapolis, a North Central High School kid who left for Georgetown and graduated summa cum laude. At Harvard Law you won the Sears Prize in 1985 for the highest grade average, edited the Harvard Law Review, and took your JD magna cum laude in 1987. You have credited Laurence Tribe and Martha Minow among the professors who shaped you there, and of Tribe you wrote that no Harvard professor has been as influential to you, a mentor, a counselor and a friend.
You clerked for Justice Byron White in the 1987 and 1988 Terms, served as Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and at 34 became the youngest chief of staff to a Vice President in U.S. history, working for Al Gore. You were a partner and national practice group chair at O’Melveny & Myers, representing technology and marketplace businesses in complex litigation, and you spent 2005 to 2020 as General Counsel of Revolution, the venture capital firm Steve Case founded. You were White House Ebola Response Coordinator in 2014 and 2015, and White House Chief of Staff from January 2021 to February 2023. Since 1 January 2024 you have been Chief Legal Officer at Airbnb, where you oversee the global legal and ethics functions along with the community policy and privacy teams.
When we asked the legal leaders we admire who we were missing, your name came up more than once. That is why we are putting it forward for The GC 30, our fourth edition this September: thirty of the finest legal minds in the country, on a published list, a mention on Times Square, and a podcast that carries your story wherever it deserves to be heard.
We would be proud to have your name on that list, Ron.
Ron, we would love for you to share your story with the world, and inspire the lawyers coming up behind you.
