Summer 2022 • Vol 4 Issue 1 Meet Alum Craig Dixon, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The St. James Wide World of Sports ALSO INSIDE From the Chair Journeys Full Circle New & Now Career Moves Remembering McGUIREWOODSIN THIS ISSUE SUMMER 2022 FROM THE CHAIR 3 We’re Stronger Than Ever JOURNEYS 4 Meet Our Amazing Alumni • The St. James’ Craig Dixon • Pairwise’s Wendy Webb Williams FULL CIRCLE 14 Why She’s Back: Partner Sarah Wake NEW & NOW 18 The Latest News From McGuireWoods CAREER MOVES 44 Here’s Where Our Alums Landed REMEMBERING 62 • Carson Lee Fifer Jr. • Andrew G. McBride Colleen B. McGushin, Editor Elizabeth Maddox, Graphic Designer Contributors: John Bologna, Art Brewer, David Donovan, Andrew Gnerre, Jonathan Harmon, Amy Krynak, Colleen McGushin, Kate Raftery, Mike Sluss, Natale Stenzel For questions about One McGuireWoods, email alumni@mcguirewoods.com. To subscribe to McGuireWoods news, alerts and publications, click 2 ONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22JONATHAN HARMON CHAIRMAN McGUIREWOODS We Persevere Since serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a decline in COVID-19 positivity rates across the United States. All of these events are lessons in perseverance. During her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, D.C. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson recounted that when she felt discouraged and homesick while a freshman at Harvard University, a Black woman she encountered on the sidewalk lifted her spirits by telling her to persevere. As a student with a public-school background, Jackson had difficulties adjusting to an environment where many of her peers had graduated from elite private institutions. Since that random encounter, the word “persevere” has been a rallying cry for Jackson, inspiring her to rise through the federal bench to the highest court in the land. As the war in Ukraine continues, the Ukrainian people have persevered and bravely resisted the outsized Russian military, capturing the attention and admiration of people throughout the world — including many at McGuireWoods who are finding ways to help. Our London office banded together to collect medical supplies and baby items to send to Ukraine. Stateside, our attorneys secured counsel in Poland, Moldova and Romania to handle nongovernmental organization certification and work with a relief agency to ship medicine abroad. Firm attorneys also helped connect clients in the life sciences industry to supply drugs and medical devices to the relief agency. Over the past few years, McGuireWoods has faced formidable obstacles arising from the pandemic and we persevered, coming through it stronger than ever, with the addition of many talented lawyers, the expansion of several offices into new digs, and remarkable online and in-person events. Effective Jan. 1, 2022, McGuireWoods elevated 23 lawyers to the partnership — the firm’s largest-ever class of new partners. The class spanned nine of the firm’s U.S. offices and McGuireWoods London, and covered a range of practice areas. Also, since the beginning of this year, the firm has brought more than 15 lateral partners on board to bolster our litigation and corporate teams. These additions to the partnership reflect our depth of talent and demonstrate the strength and resilience of the firm. In March, McGuireWoods’ Houston lawyers and professional staff moved to new office space at Texas Tower that incorporates the latest technology and design elements, allowing us to better meet our clients’ needs. And on May 19, we celebrated a successful move to our newly renovated Washington, D.C., office at Black Lives Matter Plaza. In February, we held the 18th Healthcare Private Equity & Finance Conference in Chicago, another indication of our resilience and return to normalcy. More than 900 professionals registered for the event, which drew representatives from 365 companies and featured discussions with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.S. Sen. Al Franken and Renée Richardson Gosline, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and principal research scientist at MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy. We also hosted a One McGuireWoods alumni reception in Charlotte on April 28. It was a pleasure to reconnect with former colleagues, respected peers and good friends at what was the first of many in-person networking events to be held as part of our growing alumni program. Our dedication to our clients, alumni and communities has never been greater. For the past 188 years, McGuireWoods has persevered, steadfast in our pursuit of excellence, and you have contributed greatly. Thank you. I hope you enjoy this issue of the One McGuireWoods magazine. Stay safe and have a wonderful summer. FROM THE CHAIR ONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22 3JOURNEY Craig Dixon is an entrepreneur — always has been. “I had paper routes. I sold Cutco knives door-to-door. I was always doing something to earn a buck,” says Dixon, a McGuireWoods associate in Richmond from 2003 to 2006. “Even during my time at McGuireWoods, I had something going on the side. I invested in real estate. I bought and renovated houses that I rented out. I even started and quickly shuttered a lip balm and T-shirt company. I was working on the next thing — all while making my billable hours, by the way.” Born in Brooklyn and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland, sports were part of his life from an early age. Growing up, Dixon was involved in soccer, track and field, wrestling and football. “I played defensive tackle and nose guard in football in high school. During my junior and senior years, the team went undefeated two years in a row. In my senior year, we finished No. 3 in The Washington Post’s top 20 poll of high school football. That was a special, incredible experience,” says Dixon, co-founder and co-CEO of The St. James, a sports, wellness and active entertainment complex located in Springfield, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. “My parents always prized education above everything else. I went to college thinking I would go to medical school, but after taking biology my freshman year and dropping organic chemistry my sophomore year, I knew medicine was not for me. It’s difficult to get into a good MBA program straight from undergrad, so that too was out. Then I considered moving to New York to work in banking or consulting. “After doing some research, a law degree offered flexibility. I also read the autobiography of Reginald F. Lewis, who at one time was one of the richest Black men in America and the first Black American to build a billion-dollar company, TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. Lewis had gone to Harvard Law School and started his practice doing M&A, where he learned how to do his own deals. I looked at his career and said to myself, ‘This is a blueprint I can follow. I’ll go to law school, I’ll figure out how to do deals, then I’ll do my own deals.’ So that’s what I did,” Dixon says. Wide World of Sports A Conversation With Craig Dixon 4 ONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22JOURNEY SONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22 5After law school, a federal clerkship and a stint at a firm, Dixon was a McGuireWoods associate for three years before going in-house in 2006 with Smithfield Foods. At the end of 2013, he made the biggest entrepreneurial move of his life when he left Smithfield to start The St. James with a friend. The St. James’ 450,000-square-foot flagship complex opened in September 2018. “In April 2022, we opened The St. James Performance Club in Reston, Virginia, which is a health club product inspired by the training centers where NFL and NBA athletes train, and we’re going to open more locations across the D.C. region in the coming months,” he says. “We think this can be a national and international business. Once we’ve built out a critical mass in the D.C. region, we’ll take that strategy and build out a national footprint on a region-by-region basis.” McGuireWoods recently talked to Dixon about his career path, his typical day (which starts at 4:30 a.m.) and his time at McGuireWoods. What brought you to McGuireWoods in 2003 and what did you do? brought me to McGuireWoods. The firm recruited me when I was in law school. I got to know Jackie, but I summered at other firms. After law school, I clerked for U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer in Richmond, now retired, and continued to develop a relationship with Jackie. She would invite me to all the McGuireWoods events. I thought she was wonderful and had tremendous respect for her. But I had committed to join a California-based firm after my clerkship. I started at that firm in 2001, the end of the dot-com bust. It was a challenging environment to work with early-stage businesses. A lot of financings were recaps and liquidations. There wasn’t a lot of growth. I ran into Jackie at an event in Richmond in the fall of 2002 and she said, “When are you going to come work with me?” And I said I might be interested. She told me McGuireWoods was looking for junior corporate talent and brought “A big part of the reason I trust McGuireWoods with my own legal needs now is because of the quality of the people I worked with when I was at the firm and who continued to help me at Smithfield and today at The St. James.” — Craig Dixon, co-founder and co-CEO, The St. James 6 ONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22me in for interviews with now-retired partners Cliff Cutchins, Don King and a few other people. That’s how I joined McGuireWoods. I did M&A work mostly, with Don as my supervising partner. Don had an interesting career. He made partner at McGuireWoods as a litigator, then switched to corporate, back in the days when lawyers could do a bunch of different things. As a result, he had a broad practice. He also was one of the leaders of the firm’s international expansion and he ended up spending seven years in the Brussels office. He did joint ventures, M&A, and high-stakes negotiations and arbitration. It was a cool experience to work closely with him because I saw a broad set of problems and worked with clients in interesting ways. In addition to core M&A, I worked on project finance in Jamaica and Bulgaria. I also generated my own work. I’ve always been entrepreneurial, so I focused on bringing in clients myself. I thought that was important for my career progression and making sure I was able to build skills quickly. What was the decision like to go in- house in 2006? I always planned to go into business, so going in-house was on my mind as one path to my ultimate goal. At McGuireWoods, I had the opportunity to be seconded to Smithfield and I developed a close relationship with them during my three years at the law firm. Smithfield suggested I get to know more people in the business. I thought it was a good opportunity to grow and develop a relationship with an important firm client. I enjoyed getting to know the business in a granular way and gaining an understanding of the strategic plan, how the business makes money and how a lawyer does, and does not, add value to a business. Don prepared me well because he is entrepreneurial and practical. In 2006, I moved in-house at Smithfield full time. It was an easy transition and I continued to work closely with folks at McGuireWoods. How did you launch The St. James? Starting the business was the result of a running dialogue I had with my partner, Kendrick Ashton. We’ve been close friends since college — fraternity brothers — and even as we began careers in different cities and different fields, we always talked about different business ideas. We kicked around the idea for The St. James and, in 2012, we got serious and studied it while continuing to work in our then-careers. Developing the business plan and doing the analysis took a lot of preparation. We studied the supply and demand for sports and wellness in the Washington region by ZIP code across 30 different sports. We did a ton of finance structure modeling. At the end of 2013, we quit our jobs to go at it full time. The St. James was a significant financial opportunity that also connected to my passion for sports. It allowed me to learn new skills and grow in new ways. I could not pass it up. We went through fundraising, identifying a site and getting zoning approval for the site, which wasn’t wrapped up until June 2016. Then we started construction and opened in September 2018. And here we are. We built a 450,000-square-foot destination inside the Beltway, northern Virginia, and we have had tremendous success. COVID-19 was a significant setback, but we bounced back stronger than ever and the company is growing again. I’m excited about the future. What is a typical day like for you at The St. James? I get up at 4:30 in the morning, make myself a protein shake and get to the gym by 5:30. I work out six days a week. That is important time for me because one of the reasons I started The St. James is to live life in the way I want to live it — to train and push myself like an athlete. Once you leave school you don’t always have the same athletic outlets that you had as a kid and I missed that. ONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22 7“Don King was my supervising partner and he continues to be a friend and mentor. Don changed my life in profound ways. He pushed me hard to be excellent and let me know that he believed that I was.” — Craig Dixon, co-founder and co-CEO, The St. James I’m usually at my desk by 7 a.m., catching up on emails, making a checklist for the top three things I need to do that day. I have many meetings, ranging from business performance and strategic initiatives to growth and how to move the business forward this year — opportunities for new sites, product designs, whether construction is on time or delayed and why, and lease negotiations. I also work with the technology parts of our business. We are building an omnichannel digital and physical set of experiences that work together — nobody in our space has achieved that yet. It’s strategically important to develop those capabilities. I typically get home around 7:30 p.m., get some dinner and work a couple more hours. Then I’m in bed by 10:30 p.m. One of the cool things about my business is that I get to experience the product with my family every day. I’ll run into my wife or my children at different points of the day since my kids all play sports and train. I’ll see my middle daughter doing basketball practice. I’ll see my youngest daughter at lacrosse practice or my wife or eldest daughter working out. I’m able to incorporate my family life into my business life because the business I’m in is compatible with our lifestyle. And they are the first ones to let me know if something isn’t up to The St. James standard. How does your legal experience help you in your role at The St. James? I analyze and solve problems all day. I communicate. I negotiate. Business is just solving problems or pain points for people and getting them to pay you enthusiastically for it. My legal training has been very helpful in my business career. We also sometimes have actual legal issues to deal with, but we have a general counsel. I am now officially “retired” from practicing law, but early on our business was just two people — Kendrick and I did everything. More than two years ago, we hired a general counsel because we got too large as an organization to be without one and I was too busy to deal with legal issues myself. We were using law firms, McGuireWoods principally. But we needed somebody who could make sure issues were managed and talked through every day, and that can only be done well by someone inside the business. My legal training in school and in practice gave me a framework to absorb information quickly, analyze it and make — hopefully — good decisions. Those are important skills to have as a businessperson in a fast-paced environment like I’m in now. What memories stand out about your time at McGuireWoods? It all starts with Jackie. She brought me into the firm. She recognized my talent and ambition and did everything she could to make sure I was noticed. She always tried to get me into the game and I love her for it. She also is single- handedly responsible for a ton of talent that has come through the doors over the years. Others at McGuireWoods also played an important role in my development and in my life. Don King was my supervising partner and he continues to be a friend and mentor. Don changed my life in profound ways. He pushed me hard to be excellent and let me know that he believed that I was. Don was able to couple this demanding set of expectations with an unwavering belief in my ability to meet those expectations. You don’t always get that from people in law firms. Don said, “This is what you need, this is what the expectation is, and I know you can do it and here’s how.” That was different than some of the experiences I had before I got to McGuireWoods. I’m appreciative of that and 8 ONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22His parents are from Jamaica: I promote Jamaican culture and pass it on to my children. It’s an important part of who I am, my value system and mentality. I go back to Jamaica again and again because those roots are foundational to who I am. He is passionate about art: I collect art. I used to be on the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation board. I’m involved in other arts organizations, including the Jamaica Arts Society. I like to go to galleries and make friends with artists. That part of my life is important to me and something I like to share with family and friends. His brother is an actor: My younger brother is actor Brandon Victor Dixon. He lives in New York. He has had many wonderful roles, among them Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” and he has been nominated for multiple Tony Awards. He has done television as well. He’s super-talented — more talented than me! He originally wanted to be a doctor: My father had wanted to be a doctor. Life circumstances denied him that opportunity, but he put the idea in my head and, for a long time, I thought that’s what I wanted to do. But once I got to college, I learned very quickly that medicine wasn’t for me. Once I understood medicine wasn’t my dream, but was my father’s dream, I was able to find my own path. He has gotten over it, though. him. That’s how he is as a person — very generous. I got to be close with him and his family. In fact, Don and his late wife, Ann, are godparents to my youngest child. That’s how close our relationship is. Most people don’t develop that kind of relationship with a boss. But he became a mentor and a friend. McGuireWoods helped me understand how to maneuver in the law firm, how to build a portfolio that positioned me for success and become a trusted adviser, as George is for so many people. He invested a tremendous amount of time in me even though he had his own work to do. He’d always stop what he was doing when I popped by or gave him a call. I probably would have been frustrated at times if I had been in his shoes, but he never gave me an inkling that he didn’t have time for me and I am deeply appreciative. And George continues to do work for us now. Former firm chairman Richard Cullen also was a mentor — someone I could always talk to about the “big picture” and who gave me support and opportunities critical to my advancement. And former managing partner Tom Cabaniss played an important role in my career development, particularly with respect to the Smithfield work when I was at the firm. I’m also close with McGuireWoods friend when I was at Smithfield. At the end of the day, it’s the people at McGuireWoods that make the firm what it is. A big part of the reason I trust McGuireWoods with my own legal needs now is because of the quality of the people I worked with when I was at the firm and who continued to help me at Smithfield and today at The St. James. FOUR THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CRAIG DIXON ONE McGUIREWOODS | SUMMER 20 22 9Next >