Outstanding In-House Counsel (tie)
Jeffrey Walker
RadioShack Corp.
One of Jeff Walker’s fondest childhood memories was made possible by his current employer: Communicating with his friend next door—in the days before cell phones and instant messaging—through a RadioShack intercom system. Today, Walker seems just as thrilled to be serving as assistant general counsel and assistant corporate secretary for “The Shack.”
“It’s a remarkable thing for me, and an honor, to work for the company I grew up knowing as a child,” he says.
To use the intercom system, Walker, who grew up in Shreveport, La., persuaded his skeptical parents to let him run the intercom cable underground through his yard. Today, he’s just as tenacious in helping Fort Worth-based RadioShack achieve its goals.
Case in point: Between November of 2010 and May of this year, Walker played a key role in three significant transactions. The lead in-house counsel on the company’s securities and finance matters, he helped RadioShack close on a $450 million credit facility, redeem $306.8 million of senior notes, and prepare an offering for $325 million of senior notes at a lower rate.
Remarkably, Walker handled his responsibilities while drafting a proxy statement, working on the company’s 10-K, and preparing for the first annual shareholders’ meeting, during which investors would exercise “say-on-pay” and “say-when-on-pay” votes. His workdays stretched as late as 4 a.m.
Walker, who joined RadioShack in 2007, is not just a hard worker but a shrewd strategist as well. As in-house counsel for a telecom company earlier in his career, he uncovered an obscure provision in the Virginia Administrative Code that eventually led to permission for the firm to enter that market.
He’s also demonstrated a strong backbone along with the ability to keep his cool. Early in his career, a lawyer who represented the controlling shareholder of Walker’s client company notified Walker that the shareholder had decided to replace the company’s president. Walker was told to inform the outgoing president of his termination—but there was one problem: the shareholder’s lawyer didn’t have proper documentation.
Walker withstood “the rudest, most unprofessional behavior I have ever witnessed” from the lawyer, but politely refused to comply until the paperwork was in order several days later.
That sort of drama may be absent at RadioShack, but Walker still finds plenty of challenge in helping the company navigate the intersections of business opportunities, risk management, legal compliance, and the changing regulatory landscape.
And he gets a kick out of the fact that his connection to one of America’s iconic brands has been lifelong. “Somewhere in a box, I still have my RadioShack battery-of-the-month club card,” he says.
—Steve Garmhausen
