FGIC names Derek Donnelly CEO and Carolanne Gardner general counsel as Travers and Turi retire

Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC) said on November 12 that its chief executive and its general counsel will both retire at the end of 2026. Both successors are long-serving insiders. The company announced the planned retirement of Timothy S. Travers, its Chief Executive Officer, effective year-end 2026. It also announced the retirement of A. Edward Turi, III, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, on the same timetable.

Who is moving into which role

Derek M. Donnelly will succeed Mr. Travers as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Donnelly joined FGIC in 2006 and has held various positions, including Senior Managing Director for Portfolio Risk Management.

Carolanne Gardner will succeed Mr. Turi as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Ms. Gardner joined FGIC in 1989 and has held various positions, including Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel. Her FGIC biography says she currently serves as Associate General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Human Resources Officer. Before joining FGIC she was an attorney at Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon, and she holds a JD from Tulane University School of Law.

The outgoing leaders

Mr. Travers joined FGIC in 2003 and held a number of positions before becoming CEO in 2013. A December 2013 FGIC release said he succeeded Dubel as Chief Executive Officer while serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Restructuring Officer.

Mr. Turi joined FGIC in 1991 and has served as General Counsel for more than three decades, while also overseeing various other FGIC business areas.

Company background

FGIC is a New York stock insurance corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of FGIC Corporation. It emerged from rehabilitation on August 19, 2013, and administers its outstanding policies under the First Amended Plan of Rehabilitation, dated June 4, 2013.

The announcement does not give a specific effective date for the new appointments beyond year-end 2026. It also does not say whether the board composition will change. FGIC's website currently lists Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Travers and Mr. Turi among its directors.

What this means for in-house counsel

The FGIC change is a useful model of a legal-department succession built on institutional knowledge. Ms. Gardner has been with the company since 1989 and already held the associate general counsel and corporate secretary roles. She takes over the top legal job from a general counsel who has led the function for more than 30 years. For legal leaders planning their own exits, the lesson is that a long-tenured deputy with corporate secretary experience can carry forward the history of governance decisions, regulator relationships and open claims. Documenting that history before the handover date matters most when the predecessor has led the function for decades.

The pairing also matters for other companies planning simultaneous changes in business and legal leadership. Here, the incoming CEO comes from portfolio risk management, and the incoming general counsel from the legal and corporate secretary side. Counsel at similar entities may want to confirm that board authorizations, officer certifications, delegations of authority and signatory lists are updated before year-end. Counterparties, auditors and regulators will expect the new officers to be reflected in those records.

Finally, Ms. Gardner has also held the chief human resources officer title, according to FGIC's site. Where a general counsel's portfolio has included non-legal functions, successors and boards should decide early whether the combined remit continues or is split. The release says Mr. Turi oversaw "various other FGIC business areas" in addition to legal work, and it does not say how those responsibilities will be allocated going forward.