Whataburger hires new chief lawful officer from Walgreens

Whataburger has hired Elena Kraus as its new Govt Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Kraus is a seasoned govt with far more than 30 a long time of in-house authorized expertise at Walgreens Boots Alliance, the mum or dad enterprise of Walgreen Co. and the nation’s second major retail pharmacy chain. For the past six several years, Kraus served as Senior Vice President and Typical Counsel for Walgreens.

In the course of her tenure at Walgreens, Kraus oversaw the system and shipping of legal solutions to the organization throughout a time of innovation and report enlargement. She constructed and led the superior undertaking Walgreens legal workforce, promoted critical initiatives these kinds of as the Walgreens Authorized Professional Bono application and mentored climbing talent across the group.

Kraus’ to start with working day on the career at Whataburger is Monday, April 11, 2022.

Whataburger’s present Government Vice President and Main Lawful & Franchise Officer Michael Gibbs is retiring at the stop of April 2022 and was seriously involved in the lookup for his successor. Gibbs, Whataburger’s initially-at any time in-house general counsel, has served the brand for 17 several years. He plans to expend time with his spouse and children and engage in pro bono function.

“Elena is a authorized powerhouse with deep know-how of company legislation and decades of knowledge navigating a quickly-increasing retail huge,” Gibbs states. “Her know-how will be so valuable as Whataburger proceeds to grow and broaden.”

Kraus acquired her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin and her legislation diploma from DePaul University College of Legislation in Chicago. She began her job in a Chicago law organization and joined Walgreens in mid-1991. Kraus will be relocating from Chicago to San Antonio to do the job in Whataburger’s property business office. She and her spouse, also an lawyer, have a few grown kids.

“After emigrating to the United States from the Soviet Union, I lived in El Paso, Texas, where I graduated from superior college in advance of heading to faculty at UT Austin. During these yrs, Whataburger was a group collecting spot and a favored destination,” Kraus says. “I am thrilled to return to Texas and my good friends here — and to do the job for a company with a exclusive model, a robust relatives culture and a distinct business enterprise method.”

“Whataburger is a tradition of development, and Elena’s practical experience will assist the model achieve new heights,” states Whataburger President and CEO Ed Nelson. “She places an emphasis on giving sensible authorized information to the company and on creating associations and creating people — all of which are extremely essential to our brand as we provide our 50,000+ Family Members and 60 million consumers.”