Leonard Ciriello
Attorney at Law
New York
NY
About
• 10 years M&A at Skadden Arps
• 4 years at American Express
• Co-Founder of online B2B network
• General Counsel for leading prepaid debit card product
• EVP and GC of $1.4b global customer loyalty solutions provider
• General Counsel of a global biotech company
• 1st in MBA class, 4th in JD
• Licensed in NY and MA
Expertise
• Biotech, Payments, Loyalty Program and FinTech
• UDAAP, Advertising and Marketing Law
• M&A
• FDA Compliance
• Securities Offerings, Financing Transactions, including VC and IPOs
• Corporate Governance and Secretary
• Compliance and Investigations
• Litigation Management and… read more Settlement
• IP Protection and Licensing
experience
Representative Clients
Practice Areas
Client Reviews
"had the great opportunity to work directly with Len during his secondment at American Express. Our group benefited greatly from Len's broad legal expertise, creative and critical thinking and extensive business experience. Len is the type of attorney that can jump into any business, especially one in an emerging space, and contribute immediately and significantly. In particular, Len has deep practical experience in the consumer financial services space. I really enjoyed working with Len through challenging product questions and the day-to-day work on an emerging payments service. I really counted on Len for advice, analysis and gut-checks. One of Len's strengths is his ability to analyze an issue/project end-to-end, which really helps our client to ultimately launch strong, legally compliant and user-friendly products."
"Len joined American Express at a crucial time for our Emerging Payments group and hit the ground running. He impressed with his extensive knowledge of the payments landscape -- both from a regulatory and business perspective. Our business partners benefited greatly from Len’s experience and valued his strategic insights. His pragmatic, solutions oriented approach was well received and appreciated. In addition to being a top-notch lawyer, Len is a great colleague and one that people want to work with. Len would be an asset to any organization.Len joined American Express at a crucial time for our Emerging Payments group and hit the ground running. He impressed with his extensive knowledge of the payments landscape -- both from a regulatory and business perspective. Our business partners benefited greatly from Len’s experience and valued his strategic insights. His pragmatic, solutions oriented approach was well received and appreciated. In addition to being a top-notch lawyer, Len is a great colleague and one that people want to work with. Len would be an asset to any organization."
Work History
Streck Labs
General Counsel
May 2018 - Jan 2019
Leader of the Legal Department.
• Negotiate all contracts, including manufacturing, quality and supply agreements
• Advise CEO and senior management
• Manage outside counsel and litigation
• Corporate Secretary and governance
Axiom (American Express)
Consulting Counsel
Nov 2013 - May 2018
Secondment at American Express with Plenti, first US coalition loyalty program
• Negotiate agreements with Fortune 100 companies like AT&T, ExxonMobil, Rite Aid and Macy's
• Review all marketing; advise on UDAAP, privacy issues
Previously in Amex Enterprise Growth group
• Developed prepaid card, mobile and payment platforms
• Negotiate distribution, marketing and capability agreements
RecruiterAccess.com
Founder
Apr 2019 - Nov 2013
Co-Founder of RecruiterAccess.com, a B2B platform for companies to confidentially post their job recruiting projects and get search proposals from recruiters.
The Approved Card
General Counsel
Feb 2011 - Sep 2013
APPROVED developed and marketed The Approved Card from Suze Orman. The Approved Card is a prepaid MasterCard. Named one of the 5 Best Prepaid Cards by U.S. News and World Report
• Responsible for all legal matters, including privacy, financial product regulation
• UDAAP marketing
• FTC/CFPB compliance
• Responsible for program rules, privacy policy, etc.
• Negotiated all vendor agreements
Affinion Group
EVP and General Counsel
Apr 2019 - Jan 2011
With $1.4b in sales and 4,100 employees worldwide, Affinion is a leading global provider of loyalty, points and mileage programs. Over 5,500 marketing partners in financial services, retail, travel, telecommunications, utilities and the online businesses.
• SEC filings, advertising regulatory matters, litigation, bank agreements, customer and vendor negotiations, M&A
McGuireWoods
Partner
Sep 2007 - Feb 2009
Counseled clients in public and private M&A purchase, sale and joint-venture transactions
• Financial services, steel and building material manufacturing industries
• Hostile and international transactions
• Negotiated corporate restructuring in bankruptcy
• Advised public clients on governance matters and takeover preparedness.
International Paper Company
Senior Counsel - Transactions
Jan 2004 - Aug 2007
Global leader in the paper and packaging industry.
• US and multinational M&A and finance transactions
• Responsible for negotiation and closing M&A and joint ventures
• Transactions from $20 million to over $6 billion
• Worked closely with C-suite
• Managed large, cross-functional deal teams and law firms
• Environmental, labor, intellectual property issues
Skadden Arps
Senior Associate
Sep 1994 - Jan 2004
• Primary responsibility negotiating, documenting and closing M&A, corporate finance and commercial transactions from $10m to over $10b
• Hostile takeovers and proxy contests
• IPOs, bank, privately placements
IPOs, bank, private and public debt, and private equity and VC investments
• Corporate governance, SEC and regulatory matters