Chief Project Implementation Officer and General Counsel
Chris serves as Chief Project Implementation Officer and General Counsel of Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (“HMGMA”), a $7.59 billion state-of-the-art smart automotive assembly plant currently under construction.
Chris was part of the site selection and incentive negotiations teams that chose the Bryan County, Georgia Megasite as the location of the Metaplant. He has been working on this project since December 2021.
Chris is currently responsible for ensuring internal and external coordination between all the stakeholders in the project, including the various Hyundai entities, state and local governmental entities, construction teams, utilities, and the local community. As General Counsel, Chris acts as the chief legal advisor to HMGMA’s President & CEO and the executive team.
Previously, Chris served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (“HMMA”), which is a $1.7 billion automotive assembly plant with 3,500+ employees. In that role, he oversaw all legal matters affecting the company and created the company’s first compliance, contract management, and litigation management programs. Before working as an in-house attorney, Chris practiced labor and employment law (representing companies exclusively) at both boutique and national law firms.
Chris earned a juris doctorate degree from the University of Alabama School of Law and an undergraduate degree in political science from Birmingham-Southern College. He studied design thinking, innovation, and strategy execution during a two-year executive education program at the Wharton School of Business, and he studied international civil procedure and arbitration at the Université de Fribourg in Switzerland.
Chris is a certified compliance and ethics professional and member of various bars and legal organizations.