Monica Howard Douglas, general counsel for Coca-Cola North America, is recognized for her impressive pro bono service and leadership. Under her leadership, Coca-Cola’s pro bono activities have grown into a dynamic, year-round program with extensive impact in local communities. Monica has always been committed to advancing the public interest. During law school, she helped charter the Stanford Chapter of Street Law where she actively promoted the rights of incarcerated juveniles. She has served on the Board of Directors of CASA (Child Appointed Special Advocates) and Cool Girls, Inc. and currently is on the Board of Junior Achievement USA. Monica was also a proud Big Sister with the Big Brother, Big Sister Program. She is passionately committed to improving the wellbeing of America’s youth. After earning her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Stanford Law School, Monica began her legal career as a judicial law clerk for Damon J. Keith on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States. She later joined the law firm of Troutman Sanders, where she was an associate in the corporate practice group, then subsequently gained inhouse experience as a generalist at the Atlanta based Equifax Corporation.
Monica joined The Coca-Cola Company in 2004 as Marketing and Supply Chain Counsel for North America. She then had the unique opportunity to play a role in supporting the largest vertical integration in North American history when The Coca-Cola Company acquired its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, in 2010. The result was the creation of an integrated operating Company, Coca-Cola Refreshments, which housed the product supply and customer care businesses that Monica supported as Vice President and Senior Managing Counsel. In 2013, Monica seized the opportunity to move to Johannesburg, South Africa where she served as the Legal Director for the Southern and East Africa Business Unit that included 24 countries in Southern, East and Central Africa. After spending four years in South Africa, Monica returned to The Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta where she currently serves as the General Counsel of North America.
Frank R. Jimenez, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Raytheon Company, is recognized for his extraordinary leadership in promoting equal justice for all. In addition to cultivating a strong pro bono culture at Raytheon, Frank also boldly advocates for equal justice. As an initial signer of a letter to Congress in 2018 and 2019 urging for continued Legal Services Corporation funding, he helped encourage more than 260 other corporate leaders to sign on in support. Frank’s leadership on the board of directors at the Pro Bono Partnership, Equal Justice Works, Atlantic Legal Foundation, and other nonprofits strengthens both regional and national equal justice efforts. At Raytheon, Frank provides leadership for the company’s legal and regulatory affairs, ethics and compliance programs, and corporate governance activities. He is also responsible for corporate staff activities in the areas of real estate, risk management, and safety and environmental quality. Before joining Raytheon, Frank worked as general counsel at Bunge Limited, Xylem Inc., and ITT Corporation.
In prior public service, Frank served as the 21st General Counsel of the Navy, one of seven Senate-confirmed Pentagon civilians of four-star equivalent rank overseeing the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. He also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense and as the principal deputy general counsel for the Department of the Navy. Before his 2004 arrival at the Pentagon, Frank served as the chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and before that in the executive office of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, holding posts as deputy chief of staff and acting general counsel. Frank has also been a Miami litigation partner at Steel Hector & Davis LLP (now Squire Patton Boggs). He began his career in California as a law clerk for Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Frank graduated from the University of Miami and Yale Law School and holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.