BlufConstellis, a parent company to Triple Canopy (a company known by many for its 2014 acquisition of the former private military intelligence unit Blackwater), has promoted one of the members of their legal team to the position as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer. Melissa Taylormoore, who has worked for Constellis since 2015, is taking over for the former legal chief and corporate secretary Gearoid “Gary” Moore (Bloomberg). Mr. Moore has moved on to become the Chief Legal Officer of EmployBridge (InHouse), which describes itself as a workforce solutions company and the largest industrial staffing agency in the United States (Global News Wire). Who's the new player on the block?![]() Melissa Taylormoore has taken on a new role with Constellis as “the new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of the Company,” at Constellis, following years of working with their legal team. She has been described by the company as “an accomplished leader who has demonstrated sound ethics and integrity throughout her career advising and representing clients in employment and business tort litigation, investigations, and strategic business transactions” (Constellis). It was also noted that Mrs. Taylormoore’s job will be to “oversee all of the Company’s legal and compliance matters, including litigation, investigations, contracts, corporate governance, health and safety, environment, and ethics and internal audit functions.” Prior to Constellis, Mrs. Taylormoore operated with McGuireWoods LLP (Constellis), an international law firm based in the United States that has been in service since 1834 (McGuireWoods). During her time at McGuireWoods, she worked for the firm’s Labor and Employment group, where she largely practiced labor and employment litigation for government contractors. She also conducted internal investigations and provided legal counseling on government contracts law. Constellis has had an extensive partnership with McGuireWoods, which it has relied on for assistance in approximately 20 percent of its federal court cases over the last five years. One of the most infamous cases was when the former private military intelligence company, Blackwater, was facing wrongful death litigation in relation to casualties that occurred during its tenure in Iraq (Bloomberg). Mrs. Taylormore has represented Triple Canopy (a company under the Constellis network umbrella) and another contracting company, Booz Allen Hamilton, while working in private practice. Background On her LinkedIn profile, she wrote that she manages “all aspects of litigation and compliance matters implicating OCI, FOCI, ITAR, EAR, DFARS, the False Claims Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and the UK Bribery Act,” and that she is a “seasoned attorney with over fifteen years of experience counseling organizations and business leaders in a variety of complex legal and strategic business matters both as a Partner at an Am Law 100 firm and Chief Legal Officer of a 1.5B government contractor" (LinkedIn) Her time with Constellis started in September 2015, as the Vice President of Litigation and Employment in the Legal Department, where she oversaw “the legal defense of Constellis and its affiliates in all litigation and administrative matters in the United States and abroad” (LinkedIn). Prior to that, her profile notes that she worked for McGuireWoods from 2008 to 2015, which notably included “advising and defending clients in non-compete and non-solicitation negotiations and litigation, civil business conspiracy and tortious interference claims, executive contracts, whistleblower and retaliation litigation, trade secret disputes, and claims for breach of fiduciary duty and duty of loyalty.” From August 2007 to August 2008, she worked as a law clerk for The Honorable Stanley P. Klein in the 19th Virginia Circuit Court, and in June 2002 through July 2005, she worked as a specialist in the Civil Rights Division: Disability Rights Section for the Department of Justice. Taylormoore, who originates from New Mexico, moved to northern Virginia following her graduation from Stanford University. She also attended law school at George Mason University, and adapted to a variety of roles within Constellis since 2015, before taking on the role of VP in the company. Aside from her work with the company, she also works as an established soccer coach, and as a board member and pro-bono lawyer at Juliet’s Foundation. She currently resides in Vienna, Virginia (Juliet Foundation). Who Was the Prior Legal Chief? ![]() The former legal chief at Constellis, Gary Moore, left the company in early 2022, and has been working at EmployBridge (also known as EmployBridge Holding Co Inc) since March of 2022 (Bloomberg). In the same month, the company also hired new Chief Digital Officer Don Sloan, and promoted current employee Marshall “Skip” Wood to the position of the President of the Commercial Division. Both Mr. Sloan and Mr. Moore were hired under the stated purpose of helping “advance the company’s technology and growth strategies” (Global News Wire). It is unclear at this time why Mr. Moore chose to leave Constellis, which serves a vastly different purpose than that of the workforce company EmployBridge, but his departure may have something to do with the restructuring that Constellis has been dealing with since early 2020, following difficulties surrounding a potential bankruptcy that it was facing due to Apollo Global Management Inc’s more than $1B in debt (Bloomberg). The new company describes Moore as having “significant operational experience,” and states that his new purpose will be to “oversee all legal activities, corporate governance, contracts and procurement” (Global News Wire). EmployBridge, which is headquartered out of Atlanta, Georgia, has been in operation since 2015 (Bloomberg). Company specialty divisions include ResourceMFG, ProLogistix, ProDrivers, Select, RemX, Remedy Intelligent Staffing, Westaff and Decca, Resdin, and Vaughan; and they describe themselves as “advantages of national scale, in-depth local market knowledge, supply-chain expertise, and powerful recruiting and retention tools,” which allows them to operate as “America's largest industrial staffing firm. In early October of 2022, EmployBridge acquired IAC’s BlueCrew, known for its status as “the first hourly W-2 workforce-as-a-service platform (Global News Wire).” This transaction has been described by the company as “highly strategic” and is expected to reap more than $4B in pro-forma revenue. Gary Moore’s LinkedIn page states he worked for Constellis from 2016 to 2022 as the Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, and for Triple Canopy from 2012 to 2015 as the Vice President and General Counsel-Vice. Prior to that, he worked on the legal team for Aparta, Inc (a digital publishing monetization company), November 2006 to February 2012; and as an associate for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati from April 2005 to November 2006. He also worked for Jones Day from 2003 to 2005, and for PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1998 to 2000. His LinkedIn noticeably does not mention what he did from 2000 to 2003 for work, but does mention that he was attending the University of Notre Dame during this time. He has been a volunteer soccer coach since 2014–a trait that he and Mrs. Taylormoore noticeably share. His LinkedIn also states that he belongs to the Washington, DC Bar, the New York Bar, and the Virginia State Bar. His college degrees include a BSBA in Accounting and Finance (Ohio State University, 1994 - 1997), a Masters in Business Administration (University of Notre Dame: Mendoza College of Business, 1997 - 1998), and a Juris Doctor degree (Notre Dame Law School, 2000 to 2003). Reconstructuring In recent years, Constellis has been facing a possible bankruptcy, as its major investor, Apollo Global Management Inc, has been struggling with more than $1B in debt. As government contracts were reduced overseas, Constellis began facing a money-flow issue, and it was determined that a restructuring was in order. It is not clear if this is the reason Mr. Moore left, but it could be one of several reasons he chose to seek employment elsewhere. Interestingly, Bloomberg Law notes that the company Mr. Moore moved to is under Apollo’s umbrella as well, after the investor acquired it in 2021 (Bloomberg). A Change in Leadership ![]() Terry Ryan was named the Chief Executive Officer in January 2021, following the resignation of Constellis’ former CEO Tim Reardon. Mr. Ryan’s LinkedIn profile states that he is “responsible for managing customer-critical technical services to government and civil agencies and commercial organizations worldwide” (LinkedIn). His experience includes the VT Group (CEO, February 2013 to present), ManTech (President and COO of Emerging Markets, September 2009 to February 2013); Mercury Federal Systems, Inc (President and Chairman, 2007 to 2009); SAIC (Senior Vice President of Strategic Development, 2006 to 2007); SRA International (Vice President, C4ISR Center, 2003 to 2006); Adroit Systems (President & CEO, 1999 to 2003); Department of Defense (Senior Executive, 1995 to 1999); US Senate and House of Representatives (a Professional Staff Member, 1990 to 1995); and the US Marine Corps Prior Service Recruiting, 4th District (Lieutenant Colonel, 1980 to 1993). Constellis noted a number of key points regarding Ryan’s achievements and capabilities, including:
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