NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced today it has named Audrey Strauss Chief Legal Officer, effective May 1. Strauss will also hold the titles of Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary. She succeeds Kurt Waldo, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, who is retiring on August 1. Strauss will serve on the Alcoa Executive Council, the senior leadership group that sets strategic direction for the company. She is currently a senior Litigation Partner at the law firm of Fried Frank Harris Shriver and Jacobson, based in New York.
“We are extremely pleased that Audrey will spend the next phase of her distinguished legal career with Alcoa,” said Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. "We look forward to gaining the benefit of her thoughtful counsel and experience as Alcoa continues to build on its reputation as a high-performance, values-based company.”
Kleinfeld thanked Waldo for his years of effective service to Alcoa. "Kurt has had a highly successful 32-year career at Alcoa, serving in virtually every major position in the Legal Department," said Kleinfeld. “He has earned the trust, respect and gratitude of his Alcoa colleagues. We wish him the very best."
Biographical Information on Audrey Strauss:
Audrey Strauss has counseled corporations and individuals in a wide range of matters while at Fried Frank. Prior to private practice, she served in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. There she was Chief Appellate Attorney, supervising the office’s criminal appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She also served as Chief of the Fraud Unit, where she supervised all securities and other fraud cases prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office.
Strauss has received a number of prestigious awards from organizations such as the Federal Bar Council and the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, and has been consistently recognized by the highly regarded “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.” She is President of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and Vice President of the Federal Bar Council. Strauss earned her Juris Doctor at Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Kent Scholar. She received her Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) at Barnard College.
About Alcoa
Alcoa is the world’s leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminum, as well as the world’s largest miner of bauxite and refiner of alumina. In addition to inventing the modern-day aluminum industry, Alcoa innovation has been behind major milestones in the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation, consumer electronics and industrial markets over the past 120 years. Alcoa markets solutions including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions and forgings, as well as Alcoa® wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems in addition to its expertise in other light metals such as titanium and nickel-based super alloys. Sustainability is an integral part of Alcoa’s operating practices and the product design and engineering it provides to customers. Alcoa has been a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 10 consecutive years and approximately 75 percent of all of the aluminum ever produced since 1888 is still in active use today. Alcoa employs approximately 61,000 people in 31 countries across the world. More information can be found at www.alcoa.com.
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