Rhonda Joy McLean is Deputy General Counsel of Time Inc. (a Time Warner company) in New York, New York. She was promoted from the position of Associate General Counsel to her current post in January, 2009. She is responsible for regulatory compliance of all consumer marketing materials for the 40 magazines Time Inc. publishes in the United State and Canada, including Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Real Simple, InStyle and Essence. In her new position, Attorney McLean manages administrative and support services for the law department, provides advice and counsel to more than 400 clients, negotiates promotion agreements, including electronic marketing matrixes and also participates in the shaping of national and international advertising and data privacy protocols for Time Inc.
Prior to joining Time Inc. in October 1999, Ms. McLean was the Assistant
Regional Director of the Northeast Region of the Federal Trade
Commission for nine years and won numerous awards for her consumer
education initiatives and case work that impacted traditionally
underserved communities. From 1995-1999, Ms. McLean taught
administrative law at the City University of New York.
EDUCATION
Ms. McLean received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1983. She received
a Master of Science degree in Adult Education and Leadership Development
from North Carolina A&T State University and completed her undergraduate
work in criminology and social work at Aurora University in Aurora,
Illinois.
BOARDS AND ORGANIZATIONS
In May, 2008 Ms. McLean was elected to the Yale Law School Fund board of
directors. Prior to that post, she served as chair of the Yale Law
School Alumni Association, which has more than 10,000 members. Ms.
McLean also represents Time Inc. on the board of directors of the Better
Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, which resolves more than
50,000 consumer complaints each year. She is a founding co-chair of the
Time Warner Women's Network, which launched in November, 2004 and now
has over 1,000 members. In June, 2004 she was inducted in the Greater
New York Chapter of the LINKS, Inc., a 60-year old international
community service organization comprised of 12,000 professional women of
African descent world-wide. She is now corresponding secretary of this
chapter as well as chair of the retreat committee.
RECENT AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
In November, 2009, Ms. McLean received the Global Vision Award for her mentoring work and her long service as a
volunteer with the New York Women's Foundation from the IFETAYO Cultural
Arts Academy at its 20th Anniversary Gala in Brooklyn, New York. She
was spotlighted by the Black Ivy Alumni League in its March, 2008 online
newsletter. In March, 2007, Attorney McLean was named by The Network
Journal as one of the "25 Influential Black Women in Business" and featured in the February, 2008 issue of ESSENCE
magazine. Also in March of 2007, Ms. McLean received The Ruth Whitehead
Whaley Public Service Award at the 30th
Anniversary Gala of the Association of Black Women Attorneys in New
York, New York for her extensive community service work and for
mentoring more than 100 young women -- primarily law students and young
lawyers -- during the previous twenty years.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
A noted public speaker, Ms. McLean most recently participated in a panel
entitled "Succeeding In-House: Leadership Models for In-House
Attorneys," sponsored by the New York City Bar
Associated, November, 2009 in New York. Prior to that, she spoke about
"Community Involvement: Serving on a Non-Profit Board," for the Time Warner Stars summer internship program participants, June,
2009 in New York. She was also a panelist discussing "Achieving
Success during Difficult Times: Lessons for the Employed & Unemployed," sponsored by the Association of Black Women Attorneys in
conjunction with the New York City Bar Association Office for Diversity,
New York, March, 2009.
ARTS
Ms. McLean is a classically trained pianist and mezzo-soprano. She
performs sacred music with chorales throughout the New York metropolitan
area.