Neil Taylor named Director of UC Law’s Corporate Law Center
Neil Taylor (JD ’91), an international business leader and legal professional, has been appointed Director of the Corporate Law Center at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Taylor brings over 30 years of legal and business experience to this newly created position, including roles as in-house counsel for major corporations globally. His distinguished career includes positions as chief operating officer, general counsel, and chief ethics & compliance officer.
“I am thrilled to return to Cincinnati Law after so many years away,” said Taylor. “I am looking forward to working to help create useful and engaging content for our students, practicing lawyers and corporate counsel and engaging with the local, national and global legal community to ensure that the center’s work is timely and relevant to the practice of corporate law in its many forms.”
This new role aligns with Taylor’s commitment to serving the field of law and supporting the next generation of attorneys. He will be responsible for crafting the vision for the 30-year-old center, ensuring its long-term success. His work will focus on raising the center’s profile through its well-known symposium which provides an opportunity for scholars, regulators, practitioners, and law students from across the country to exchange ideas, debate issues and discuss ongoing research and scholarship on current topics. Additionally, he will develop content in the field and develop strategies to enhance exposure to corporate law experience for Cincinnati Law’s students.
I am looking forward to working to help create useful and engaging content for our students, practicing lawyers and corporate counsel and engaging with the local, national and global legal community to ensure that the Center’s work is timely and relevant to the practice of corporate law in its many forms.
Neil Taylor (JD '91)
“I am truly excited to have Neil Taylor serve as our first full time director of the Corporate Law Center. From his very successful time as a student at the College of Law, Neil has embarked on an incredible career involving work within corporate leadership at a variety of companies in numerous capacities. I am grateful he has decided to come home to Cincinnati to help us reinvigorate the Corporate Law Center and bring it to the next level,” said Dean Haider Ala Hamoudi, University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Neil Taylor
Prior to joining Cincinnati Law, Taylor served as chief operating officer of Infinite Foods Group in South Africa, where he led all commercial and operational functions for the African startup distribution platform of leading plant-based foods. His leadership role in the first substantial Sale-and-Leaseback transactions of telecommunications towers in Africa while General Counsel of Luxembourg based Millicom International Cellular S.A., led to a ten-year focus on telecom infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa, including roles as chief legal and commercial officer at Eaton Towers Limited, chief executive officer of the Econet Power Division of Econet Limited, and as chief legal officer for Helios Tower Africa. While based in London, those roles focused on operations in over a dozen sub-Saharan African countries, including Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, the DRC, Uganda, and South Africa.
Additional professional highlights include his role as general counsel of Millicom, the NASDAQ 100 provider of mobile telephony in emerging markets in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia; senior vice president, deputy general counsel and chief ethics and compliance officer for Avnet, Inc in the US and Brussels, leading the legal team for the Americas and later for Europe, Middle East and Africa for the Fortune 200 distributor of electronic components and computer products; and associate attorney at Lewis Roca, LLP, one of Arizona’s leading law firms.
In addition to his professional work, Taylor has authored scholarship focusing on corporate governance and dispute resolution. His work has been published in the Hastings Business Law Journal and Business Law Today.
Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a juris doctor degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Lead photo: Mark Herboth; Taylor: Joey Yerace
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