Tony West Biography
Tony West is an American lawyer who currently serves as general counsel of Uber. Before joining Uber, West served as executive vice president of government affairs, general counsel, and corporate secretary for PepsiCo. He also served as president of the PepsiCo Foundation. In addition to supporting the growth and sustainability of PepsiCo’s global business for its shareholders, West focused on promoting an ethical and inclusive culture at PepsiCo.
He emphasized that a company must start with an ethical culture to be a long-term, sustainable company. During his tenure, PepsiCo continued to be recognized as one of the world’s most ethical companies, increased diversity in both its Office of General Counsel and among its suppliers of outside legal services, and signed both the White House Fair Chance Business Pledge and the White House Equal Pay Pledge.
Tony West Age
He was born Derek Anthony West on August 12, 1965, in San Francisco.
Tony West Wife
West is married to Maya Harris.
Tony West (attorney) Height
He stands at a height of 5 ft 10 in.
Tony West Net worth
His net worth is under review.
Tony West Background and education
West was born in San Francisco, California, to Franklin and Peggy West. His father, the first person in his family to attend college, was born and raised in Georgia and worked for IBM while his mother, who was a teacher, was born and raised in Alabama. West was raised in San Jose, California, where he lived with his two younger sisters, Pamela and Patricia.
He attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Catholic, all-male, private secondary school, where he served as freshman class president, before graduating in 1983.
West received his Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard University in 1987, where he served as publisher of the Harvard Political Review. In 1988, West began volunteering and working on political campaigns, engaging in Democratic political causes, such as working as the chief of staff to the Boston, Massachusetts treasurer of Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign.
West also served as a finance director to the Democratic Governors Association, until 1989. He received his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1992, where he served as the President of the Stanford Law Review.
While attending Stanford, he worked as a summer intern for Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman in 1990. He also worked as a summer intern for Tuttle & Taylor, and Morrison & Foerster in 1991.
Tony West (attorney) Career
After graduating, West continued his work in Democratic politics, working as chief of staff to the finance chair of the California Democratic Party, while also working in private practice as an associate at the Bingham McCutchen San Jose office, from 1992 to 1993. In 1993, he joined the State Bar of California and was admitted to the Superior Court of California and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
From 1999 to 2001, he was a Special Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the California Attorney General, under Bill Lockyer. From 2001 to 2009, he was a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco. He also served as the California co-chairman of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
PepsiCo
On October 7, 2014, PepsiCo, Inc. announced that West had joined the company as executive vice president of government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective November 24, 2014. West succeeded Larry Thompson, who retired after almost a decade of service. West was responsible for PepsiCo’s worldwide legal function and government affairs organization, as well as the company’s global compliance function and the PepsiCo Foundation. He reported to PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.
While at PepsiCo, West elevated the Legal Department’s commitment to diversity in the legal profession. In 2016, West launched the Larry Thompson Fellowship Program, a summer program for 1Ls dedicated to diversifying the profession. West also committed PepsiCo to implement ABA Resolution 113, requiring its outside counsel to submit the ABA’s Model Survey on diversity, and using the diversity metrics in the surveys as a factor when selecting outside counsel.
In 2017, PepsiCo used the diversity metrics collected in the ABA survey to generate a diversity index score and recognize firms with scores above the median and demonstrated an exceptional commitment to diversity through qualitative efforts. PepsiCo’s outside counsel selection policy also requires its lawyers to obtain approval from the PepsiCo General Counsel before engaging a firm with a below-median diversity index score.
Uber
In October 2017, West announced that he was leaving PepsiCo to take a position as General Counsel at Uber. This announcement shortly followed the completion of an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Uber by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
The U.S. Department of Justice
West began his career at the Justice Department when he joined the Clinton administration in 1993, as a Special Assistant under Philip Heymann, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice, until 1994, when he was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the Northern District of California.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, West prosecuted child sexual exploitation, fraud, narcotics distribution, interstate theft, and high tech crime.
Civil Division
In 2009, West returned to the Justice Department when President Obama nominated him to serve as Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice Civil Division.
Protecting Taxpayers and Consumers
In addition to focusing on traditional areas of the Civil Division’s work, West helped the department further its most important priority – protecting national security. He also bolstered the division’s affirmative civil enforcement efforts in areas such as health care fraud, mortgage fraud, and procurement fraud to recover taxpayer money lost to fraud and abuse, resulting in unprecedented monetary recoveries.
During his tenure at the helm of the Civil Division, the Division recovered more than $8.8 billion in taxpayer money under the False Claims Act—the largest three-year total in history at the time of West’s departure from the Division.
On the consumer protection front, West oversaw cases that resulted in more than 115 criminal convictions, as well as recoveries of more than $3.5 billion, during his three-year tenure.
Tony West (attorney) Associate Attorney General
Beginning on March 9, 2012, West served as the Acting Associate Attorney General until the U.S. Senate confirmed West to be Associate Attorney General in a 98-1 vote on July 25, 2013. In 2014, Mr. West was awarded the department’s highest award, the Edmund J. Randolph Award. The Award, named for the first Attorney General of the United States, appointed by President George Washington, recognizes outstanding contributions to the accomplishments of the department’s mission.
Financial Fraud
As Associate Attorney General, West led the department’s efforts to combat financial fraud, securing record-breaking civil penalties and large global civil settlements against financial institutions in connection with their roles in precipitating the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. These include two of the largest civil resolutions against a single entity in American history: Bank of America ($16.65 billion) and JPMorgan ($13 billion).
In total, West’s efforts recovered nearly $37 billion for American consumers and investors harmed by the financial crisis. With each settlement, along with landmark monetary penalties, Mr. West has insisted on a robust statement of facts outlining each institution’s conduct, as well as meaningful consumer relief to assist homeowners across the country who are still struggling to recover from the financial crisis.
Additionally, Mr. West led the department’s investigation and filing of a civil lawsuit against the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s Rating Services for allegedly engaging in a scheme to defraud investors in structured financial products, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars by investors, many of whom are federally-insured financial institutions.
The investigation and lawsuit involved collaboration with several state attorneys general offices, a number of which also filed civil fraud lawsuits against S&P alleging similar misconduct in the rating of structured financial products.