Tanya Jaeger de Foras is a forward-thinking global legal executive with over 20 years of leadership experience across complex, highly regulated industries including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, consumer durables, food and beverage, and luxury retail. A proven enterprise leader and trusted boardroom advisor, she has served on public and private company boards and driven high-impact strategies across corporate transformation, M&A, ESG, and crisis management. Tanya is also deeply committed to civic and professional engagement, serving on several not-for-profit boards and is a frequent speaker and mentor in the legal field.

Tanya Jaeger de Foras is Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer, and a member of the executive leadership team at Ingredion Incorporated, a Fortune 500 global leader in nature-based ingredient solutions. She has direct responsibility for global strategy in legal, regulatory affairs, government relations, and ESG, and plays a leading role in corporate governance, risk oversight, and enterprise-wide compliance and transformation.

Prior to joining Ingredion, Tanya served as Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Whirlpool Corporation, based in Benton Harbor, Michigan from mid-2020, and previously served as General Counsel Whirlpool EMEA, based in Italy from 2015. Before that, she was Deputy General Counsel Luxottica SpA from 2012 to 2015, also based in Italy. She began her in-house legal career with Pfizer, Inc. in New York, serving in roles of increasing responsibility over eleven years and eventually taking the role of General Counsel Specialties Business Unit Europe, based in Rome, Italy from 2009 to 2012. Tanya began her legal career in 1998 as a securities, corporate and project finance associate at the global law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, working in their New York and Paris, France offices. Tanya is admitted to practice law in New York and Illinois.

A purpose-driven leader, since arriving in Chicagoland in 2021 Tanya has joined the boards of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum & Chicago Academy of Science and Girls Inc. of Chicago, and the advisory board of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. She is an active member of the Economic Club of Chicago and The Chicago Network, and a frequent speaker on career development, leadership, integrity, and sustainability. Tanya also serves on Ingredion’s Inclusion & Belonging executive committee, as executive sponsor of the company’s business resource groups for LATINX and disabled employees, and as a trustee of the Ingredion Foundation.

Tanya holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. She rowed varsity crew at Georgetown and served as research assistant to Professor Robert A. Mnookin at the Harvard Program on Negotiations. She grew up in the Toronto, Canada area. She is a global citizen, conversational in four foreign languages and has lived and worked in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. She is married and has two teenagers and a dog. Tanya likes to spend her spare time in nature and with friends and family.

The William H. Avery Award was established by the Legal Aid Society (LAS) of Metropolitan Family Services in 1985 in memory of William H. Avery, former partner of Sidley Austin LLP, to recognize and encourage outstanding leadership in the provision of legal aid to those persons unable to afford or retain an attorney.

Originally given only to Legal Aid Society volunteers, donors, and staff, recognition through the award has since expanded outside the LAS community to honor those who have made an outstanding contribution to the legal community and to equal justice.

William H. Avery served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of both the Legal Aid Society and of Metropolitan Family Services, and chair of the Legal Services Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. Among Avery’s many accomplishments, he authored the “Avery Plan”, a Chicago Bar Association dues check-off program for legal services support which is still in effect.

The Legal Aid Society pioneered the concept of equal access to justice over 125 years ago. LAS provides critical legal services to low-income families in the Chicago area, protecting them in cases of domestic violence, elder abuse, housing consumer and anti-trafficking issues. Today LAS serves more than 15,000 families and individuals each year.

 

Recent William H. Avery Award Honorees:

2025: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Regina Bynote Jones, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer

2024: TransUnion and Heather Russell – Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer

2023: Hope D. Mehlman – Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Discover Financial Services

2022: Laura J. Schumacher – Vice Chairman, External Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, AbbVie

2021: Sean Martin – Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Baxter International

2020: Hubert Allen – Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Abbott

2019: Jerry Krulewitch – Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, McDonalds Corporation

2018: Brett J. Hart – Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, United

2017: Elena Kraus – Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Walgreens

2016: Susan C. Levy – Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Northern Trust

2015: Anne Pramaggiore – President and CEO, ComEd

2014: D. Cameron Findlay – Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Archer Daniels Midland

2013: Kelly McNamara Corley – Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Discover Financial Services

2012: Paulette Dodson – Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, PetSmart