Joseph P. Gromacki — Chair of Corporate Practice at Jenner & Block

Mr. Joseph P. Gromacki serves as Chair of Corporate Practice at Jenner & Block LLP. Mr. Gromacki served as Chair of Corporate Department & Transactional Departments at Jenner & Block LLP. Mr. Gromacki is a Member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Practice and the Defense and Aerospace practice. He also serves on its Policy Committee and the Diversity Committee. Mr. Gromacki served as the Co-Chair of the Jenner & Block' Securities Practice. Mr. Gromacki previously served on its Management Committee. He is based in its Chicago office. Mr. Gromacki has extensive experience structuring, negotiating and managing public and private mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, public securities offerings and other highly complex transactions. His broad base of experience includes equity and debt offerings, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, split-offs, tender offers and complex corporate recapitalizations. Mr. Gromacki regularly counsels clients regarding corporate governance and disclosure matters and Delaware law issues and other corporate and securities law matters. He regularly represents General Motors in corporate and securities matters. Mr. Gromacki represented GM in its 2007 sale of its Allison Transmission business to The Carlyle Group and Onex Corporation for $5.6 billion. He also represented GM in the 2003 split-off of Hughes Electronics from GM and the subsequent acquisition by News Corporation of 34% of Hughes for $6.6 billion as part of transactions valued at over $17 billion and GM's 2004 sale of $911 million of News Corporation Preferred ADSs in an underwritten public offering. Mr. Gromacki also represented GM in several of the world's largest public offerings of securities, including GM's 2003 global offering of $17.9 billion of debt securities; GM's 2000 exchange offer of $9 billion of its Class H common stock for its $1-2/3 par value common stock; and GM's 2007 offering of $1.5 billion of convertible debt securities. Additionally, he represented GM in the 1996 $28 billion split-off of EDS, the 1997 $27 billion restructuring of its Hughes Electronics subsidiary, including the spin-off of Hughes Defense followed by its merger with Raytheon, and the 1999 $1.7 billion initial public offering of Delphi Automotive Systems and the 1999 $9 billion spin-off of Delphi. In 2007, Mr. Gromacki represented Sam Zell in an $8.2 billion going-private transaction involving the Tribune Company. In 2006, he represented J.P. Morgan Securities in its role as financial advisor to WPS Resources in connection with WPS Resources' $1.6 billion merger with Peoples Energy. Mr. Gromacki represented the Chicago Board of Trade in connection with a wide variety of corporate and securities law matters, including its 2005 restructuring and demutualization into a stock, for-profit company in a transaction involving a public offering of securities to CBOT members. He also represented CBOT Holdings in its $200 million initial public offering later in 2005. Additionally, Mr. Gromacki represented BP in connection with certain significant transactions, including the 2000 and 2001 divestitures of its Alliance refinery and related assets in transactions valued at over $1.2 billion. Prior to joining Jenner & Block, he was a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis from 1994 to 2003. From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Gromacki has served as a law clerk to the Honorable Hubert L. Will, U.S. Judge in the Northern District of Illinois. After graduating from college and prior to law school, he worked for SmithKline Beckman in Philadelphia and Brussels, where he gained experience in corporate finance and international strategic planning. Mr. Gromacki is a Member of the American Bar Association and is admitted to practice in the State Bar of Illinois since 1992. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Historic Deerfield, Inc. since 2007. Mr. Gromacki serves as Director of the American Heritage Society of the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Gold Coast Neighbors Association, both since 2005. He also serves on the Committee on European Decorative Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago. From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Gromacki was a member of the Boards of Directors of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, where he also served as a General Counsel on a Pro Bono basis from 2000 to 2002. He has also published a Client Advisory: SEC Meets on Proxy Rules, in the Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards, on July 27, 2007. Recent events attended by Mr. Gromacki, includes the Practice Area Forum at the Yale Law School on 29th March, 2007; the Yale Law School Practice Area Forum at the Yale Law School on 6th April, 2006; and the Association of Corporate Counsel on 16th November, 2004. He was recognized by The American Lawyer as one of 2007's Dealmaker's of the Year, while Chambers & Partners USA has named him as one of the country's leading lawyers in corporate and mergers and acquisition law since 2004. Mr. Gromacki has been recognized by Chambers Global for corporate and mergers and acquisition law in 2004; by Illinois Super Lawyers in mergers and acquisitions for 2007 and 2008; by Lawdragon Magazine as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America in 2008, 500 Leading Dealmakers in 2007, and 500 New Stars, New Worlds in 2006; by Best Lawyers in America for mergers and acquisitions and securities law in 2006, 2007, and 2008; by Who's Who Legal Illinois for capital markets in the 2007 and 2008 Edition and for mergers and acquisitions in the 2007 and 2008 Edition; and by the Leading Lawyers Network, which published a profile about his career in 2007 and recognized him as a Leading Business Lawyer for mergers and acquisitions law, publicly held corporations law, and securities and venture finance law in 2006. He has received a J.D. in 1992 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was the Articles Editor for the Virginia Journal of International Law and a B.A. in History, in 1987 from Yale College.