Krista P. Hanvey

Krista Hanvey is Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice group and Co-Partner in charge of the firm’s Dallas office. She counsels clients of all sizes across all industries, both public and private, using a multi-disciplinary approach to compensation and benefits matters that crosses tax, securities, labor, accounting and traditional employee benefits legal requirements. Ms. Hanvey has significant experience with all aspects of executive compensation, health and welfare benefit plan, and retirement plan compliance, planning, and transactional support. She also routinely advises clients with respect to general corporate and non-profit governance matters. Ms. Hanvey also oversees the Dallas office’s pro bono adoption program.

Ms. Hanvey offers broad expertise on executive compensation securities disclosure requirements and all types of public and private equity compensation and employee stock purchase plans; 401(k), ESOP and 403(b) tax-qualified retirement and nonqualified deferred compensation plans; executive employment, severance, retention, change in control and non-compete agreements; performance bonus, sales commission and other incentive pay plans; and retiree medical, cafeteria and other welfare benefit plans. She regularly advises clients on the requirements of and compliance with tax laws, ERISA, HIPAA, COBRA, the Affordable Care Act.

Ms. Hanvey has been ranked for multiple years by Chambers USA in the area of Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation with clients describing her as “technically strong, enabling her to not only relay applicable rules in an easy-to-understand format but to also come up with creative and practical solutions when necessary.” She was selected as one of the Texas Diversity Council’s Top Women Lawyer Award Winners and has been ranked multiple years by Lawdragon500 as one of the nation’s Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers. Ms. Hanvey has also been named by the Dallas Business Journal to its 40 Under 40 list of “next-generation North Texas leaders” for 2025, and was elected to the Texas Bar Foundation Fellows.

Ms. Hanvey graduated first in her class from William and Mary School of Law, where she served as senior articles editor of the William & Mary Law Review. Ms. Hanvey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors in Government from The University of Texas at Austin.

Representative Experience

• Regularly advises numerous Fortune 500 companies on executive employment, separation agreement, and SEC disclosure requirements
• Advised on Pioneer Natural Resources $7 billion acquisition of Parsley Energy
• Advised iHeartMedia on its $230 million acquisition of Triton Digital from Scripps Media
• Advised on Ensco plc’s $12 billion business combination with Rowan Companies plc
• Advised CenterOak Partners LLC, a Dallas-based private equity firm, in its acquisition of Cascade Windows, Wetzels Pretzels, Aakash Chemicals, Full-Speed Automotive, Bowrail Group, Techna Glass, GNAP, Moore Services Holdings, and Service Champions
• Advised InfraREIT, Inc. in its agreement to be acquired by Oncor Electric Delivery Company
• Advised American Midstream Partners LP in the sale of its Propane Marketing and Services business to SHV Energy for $170 million
• Advised on benefits and equity aspects of AECOM’s $6 billion acquisition of URS Corporation
• Provided executive compensation advice on salesforce.com’s $2.5 billion proposed acquisition of ExactTarget
• Provided executive compensation advice on restaurant group’s initial and secondary public offerings, aggregating $170 million
• Advised on employee benefits and executive compensation matters for MetroPCS in their $32 billion business combination with U.S. mobile phone carrier
• Advised on benefits and compensation issues in connection with Mondelez International’s spin off of the Kraft Foods Group to its shareholders
• Provided employee benefits and executive compensation advice on Liquid Holdings Group’s $49.2 million initial public offering filings
• Represented private equity firms in numerous M&A transactions

Recent Publications and Speaking Engagements

• “Executive Compensation Disclosure Handbook: A Practical Guide to the SEC’s Executive Compensation Disclosure Rules,” Donnelley, October 2020 (co-author with Elizabeth A. Ising, Geoff Walter, James Kroll, Heather Marshall)
• “Pay Ratio Disclosures” chapter in A Practice Guide to SEC and Proxy Compensation Rules (co-author with Lilias Lee)
• Hot Topics in Compensation, SEC Conference, Dallas (May 2019)
• “IPO Readiness – Focus on Executive Compensation” (September 2018) (with Steve Fackler, Sean Feller and Stewart McDowell)
• “How Do the Controlled Group Rules Apply to Private Equity Funds?,” Benefits Law Journal, Autumn 2013 (co-author with Michael J. Collins)

Capabilities

• Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance

Credentials

Education:

• College of William & Mary - 2009 Juris Doctor
• University of Texas - 2006 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• Texas Bar