Ascena appoints Wendy Hufford as SVP and General Counsel

Ascena Retail Group, Inc. has appointed Wendy L. Hufford as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, effective immediately. The company said, Hufford will oversee all legal matters for the company and will serve on the company’s leadership team, reporting to David Jaffe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

“In addition to her impressive legal career, Wendy is passionate about leading initiatives to help working women and families in the workplace and has been recognized for her dedication to mentoring and leadership development. This made Wendy the right person for this important role,” said Jaffe in a statement.

Hufford joins the company from Boehringer Ingelheim USA, where she was the chief operating officer, legal department & vice president, US litigation, risk management & human resources. Prior to that, she held executive leadership positions at ITT Corporation and Cardinal Health, as well as in-house roles at GE Consumer Finance and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Earlier in her career, Hufford was in private practice at Davis, Polk & Wardwell in New York, and served as a law clerk for Robert J. Ward on the US District Court of the Southern District Court of New York.

Hufford, a mother of eight, the company added, received a 2017 Working Mother of the Year award from Working Mother magazine. She has led women’s leadership programming throughout her career and in 2016 received a Transformation Leadership Award from Inside Counsel magazine for advancing the empowerment of women in corporate law. Hufford also designed and co-founded the Women’s Initiative Network at Cardinal Health, for which the company won an ACE Award in 2012 from the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.

Picture:Facebook/Ann Taylor