Leslie T. Thornton was a utility industry senior executive for WGL Holdings, Inc. & Washington Gas Light Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of WGL, for seven years, and served in elevated roles including Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Merger Transition Counsel. Ms. Thornton helped lead WGL through its $6.4 billion merger with an international energy infrastructure company including negotiation of the merger agreement, all public disclosures, CFIUS, FERC, and Hart-Scott-Rodino approvals, and regulatory approvals required by two state public service commissions and the District of Columbia’s public service commission. Prior to the merger process, Ms. Thornton was responsible for the provision of legal advice and counsel on matters including M&A, cyber security, data security and data privacy, litigation, regulatory law, employment, labor, employee benefits issues, governance and other board of director matters, as well as for providing advice and direction on various corporate projects and initiatives. She served on the company’s Strategic Business Development Committee, Risk Management Committee, Compliance Committee, SOX Committee, and was co-chair of WGL’s Cyber Security Committee. She developed and led a legal office of 18 lawyers and 10 support staff.

While at WGL, Ms. Thornton returned to Georgetown Law and earned her Master of Laws degree in National Security Law with a cybersecurity focus. Prior, Ms. Thornton was a partner at Dickstein Shapiro LLP, and Patton Boggs LLP, where she focused on internal corporate and government investigations, and litigation.

Beginning in the 1992 Presidential Transition, Ms. Thornton spent eight years in the Clinton Administration serving first as transition counsel where she co-chaired the Justice Department search, and later various senior roles including Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of Education, and Deputy Advisor for the 1996 Presidential Debates.

Since 2005, Ms. Thornton has been on the board of directors of Perdoceo Education Corporation currently chairing the Nomination and Governance Committee, formerly chairing the Compliance and Risk Committee, and also currently serving on Audit Committee and Compliance and Risk. During a CEO/Chairman succession period, Ms. Thornton served as Lead Independent Director. Since January 2019, Ms. Thornton has served on the board of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc., where she chairs the Nomination & Governance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee. She is the designated cyber security expert on both her public boards. Ms. Thornton is an Advisory Board Member of Aiden Technologies and has been a Board Leadership Fellow for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Ms. Thornton is also a Board of Trustees Member of the DC Public Defender Service, and also UDC Law. Ms. Thornton is an often-requested speaker, and the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the 2017 Legend in Law Burton Award, UDC Law Recognition Award, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g4SdLk7I_u4&feature=youtu.be, Black Enterprise’s 300 List of MOST POWERFUL EXECUTIVES IN CORP. AMERICA (Fall/Winter 2017), the 2018 Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Award, and the Thurgood Marshall Legacy Award. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University Law Center.