SENIOR ATTORNEY JAMILA GRANGER IS THE PERSON WHO TAKES THE TIME TO MENTOR AND TEACH ME WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GOOD ATTORNEY. – KIMBERLY KENNEDY
KIMBERLY KENNEDY
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Krispy Kreme takes its mission—to touch and enhance lives through the joy that is Krispy Kreme—to heart. For Kimberly Kennedy, the com- pany’s corporate counsel, and her co-workers, this is more than just an aspirational slogan. She tells a moving story to demonstrate it.
Kennedy took advantage of an opportunity to volunteer
at one of the Winston-Salem, N.C., retail shops where the company is based to make and sell doughnuts. Kennedy encountered a family whose young daughter had some dietary restrictions, so her mother requested a specially made treat for her. Kennedy made a doughnut with sig- nifi cantly less sugar glaze than commonly used and just a couple of sprinkles for the little girl. When the child took her fi rst bite, she lit up with absolute delight. In myriad ways, Kennedy says, that is precisely what
Krispy Kreme strives to do for every store patron, for the people who work for the company, and for those who live in the surrounding communities. For example, Krispy Kreme provides four additional paid days off known as “Faith, Family, and Community Days,” for employees to spend time with family or working in the community. Last year, the legal department used one such day to volunteer at a local food bank. “It’s what we do,” she says. A 2003 graduate of Wake Forest University Law
School in Winston-Salem, N.C., Kennedy came to Krispy Kreme as a paralegal in September 2006. She had worked in the same capacity at BB&T bank after law school. During her fi rst year in the Krispy Kreme legal department, she worked long hours on a variety of
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® MAY/JUNE 2012
projects, including managing preparations for biannual meetings of shareholders. With several half-hearted attempts to pass the bar
behind her, Kennedy decided to take the test again in 2009.
Instead of a review course, she downloaded materi-
als from the internet and buckled down. From 7 to 10 a.m. each weekday she kept her head in her law books, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. she went to work at Krispy Kreme headquarters. When she eventually passed the bar, everyone in the company was excited for her. Krispy Kreme CEO Jim Morgan even came by to congratulate her personally. “T en he, the epitome of a Southern gentleman, asked if
he could give me a hug,” she laughs while relating the story, adding that she responded with, “Of course!” Today, Kennedy’s primary responsibility is to provide
advice and counsel to the human resources department. She also handles corporate governance and securities issues, drafts and negotiates various contracts, and manages outside counsel among other duties. T e company’s legal department is small with only
fi ve people, but has a signifi cant commitment to diversity. Women and people of color make up the majority of the department, and Krispy Kreme is dedicated to increasing the amount of money it spends with diverse law fi rms. T e com- pany is a member of the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms’ (NAMWOLF) Corporate and Public Entities Partnering Program and has set an aspirational goal of spending a minimum of fi ve percent of its outside counsel budget with certifi ed minority- and women-owned law fi rms. T e purpose of NAMWOLF is to encourage major corporations and public entities to utilize the services of minority - and women-owned law fi rms. Kennedy also represents Krispy Kreme at the National Bar Association’s Commercial Law Section Corporate Counsel Conference and has participated in the American Bar
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MANY PEOPLE HAVE HAD A HAND IN MY PROFESSIONAL GROWTH, BUT KRISPY KREME
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