Tegna’s Legal Chief Harrison to Exit After $5.4B Sale Collapses

Tegna Inc.’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel Akin Harrison is leaving the broadcast and digital media company.

The announcement comes less than a month after Standard General’s $5.4 billion deal to acquire Tegna fell apart amid regulatory scrutiny.

Harrison will depart the company at the end of month, Tegna said in a June 5 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Marc Sher, the company’s assistant general counsel and board secretary, will lead Tegna’s legal department while Tegna searches for a successor.

Harrison didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

“After two decades with our company, Mr. Harrison is pursuing a terrific new opportunity,” said Anne Bentley, chief communications officer for Tegna. “We have the highest esteem for him as a colleague and wish him success and fulfillment in his new endeavors.”

Akin Harrison.

Harrison, who was tapped for the role in 2019, was highlighted in Bloomberg Law’s Black General Counsel Project in 2020, reporting that Black general counsel surpassed 5% of all general counsel in Fortune 1000 companies.

Tegna was created in 2015, when Gannett Co. split into two publicly traded companies. Harrison had been with Tegna since 2003, when it was still considered a part of Gannett.

Standard General originally agreed to buy Tegna in February 2022, after an extensive courtship. Tegna said it axed the deal after the Federal Communications Commission failed to vote on the transaction by a May deadline.

Harrison earned nearly $2 million in total compensation last year according to another Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He holds approximately $1.7 million in Tegna stock, according to Bloomberg data.

Bigger Picture

Harrison is among several Black lawyers who have left top roles at Fortune 1000 companies in the past three years.

Some have departed for positions at other companies, while others have retired.

Albertsons Co.'s Juliette Pryor left her role as one of the top lawyers with the Idaho-based grocery store Albertsons, for a job with Lowe’s Companies in April. The departure came as Albertsons seeks to close a $25 billion merger with Kroger.

Coca-Cola announced two years earlier that Bradley Gayton, a leading voice on diversity issues in the legal industry, was out from his role as the company’s legal chief. He was later replaced by another Black lawyer, Coca-Cola veteran Monica Howard Douglas.

Just more than 2% of all law firm partners were Black as of 2021, industry-wide data show. Less than 1% were Black women.

“Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is both qualitative and quantitative,” said Jean Lee, president and CEO of Minorities Corporate Counsel Association, said in an interview. She said people of color have to be invited to the table, but must feel a sense of belonging there as well.

“Workers need a shared, common experience to make them feel like they belong,” said Lee. “A sense of belonging is actionable.”

Lauren Rikleen is a former law firm partner who now focuses on workplace culture issues as a consultant through the Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership. She said one of the most pressing issues within the legal industry is holding firms and companies accountable when it comes to diversity and inclusion.

“Holding people accountable is just not happening in firms,” Rikleen said regarding lawyers of color and female lawyers being paid the same as their counterparts. “Unless firms are paying incredibly close attention to [origination] accreditation in firms, women and people of color tend to be overlooked.”

—Brian Baxter contributed to this report.