Association Leadership

 

James G. Keane

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

 

James G. Keane, executive vice president and general counsel of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, joined the Y in April 2005.  He is responsible for the Association’s supportive housing and senior housing missions, as well as a number of other human services programs. Additionally, Jim oversees the Association’s real estate, property management, capital construction, and building and maintenance departments.  Also, he is responsible for the Association's legal affairs.  Among other duties, Jim leads the Association’s active real estate program, which evaluates the Y’s presence in relation to community needs.

 

Prior to joining the YMCA, Jim spent over five years as the associate general counsel at Sears, Roebuck and Co. where he and his team were responsible for all corporate and securities law matters. This also included the company's public securities filings and financial disclosures, board and corporate governance matters (Sarbanes-Oxley), the proxy statement and annual shareholders meeting, insider trading policy, executive compensation, investor and media relations, accounting matters, corporate financings, tender offers and share repurchases. Jim provided assistance on mergers and acquisitions, including the Sears/Kmart merger, the sale of Sears Credit and the acquisition of Lands' End.  In addition, he worked on the sales of credit card receivables portfolios and a variety of securities litigation matters. From 1996 to 1999, he served in a variety of senior attorney roles at the company, most notably as lead counsel to Sears Credit Business. Before joining Sears, Jim worked as a corporate and securities associate at Schiff Hardin & Waite in Chicago.

 

In addition to his work as a legal practitioner, Jim has presented on corporate and securities matters to national and regional law groups, including the Practicing Law Institute, the Corporate Legal Times Superconference, the Chicago chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Chicago Bar Association.

 

Jim's first career was as a teacher of high school English, economics and history at Loyola Academy in Wilmette and at the Latin School of Chicago. He earned his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1992 and his undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1984.