Marc L. Kesselman

Marc is Vice President and General Counsel of Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.  As General Counsel, Marc oversees a wide variety of legal, regulatory and policy issues relating to Frito-Lay’s $13 billion snack food business and its 45,000+ employees.

Prior to joining Frito-Lay, Marc served as General Counsel of the United States Department of Agriculture.  After being nominated to this position by the President and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Marc advised the Secretary of Agriculture and directed all legal activity for the Department, including litigation, counseling and regulatory development.  He led a team of more than 300 legal professionals in 18 offices across the country.

Before joining USDA, Marc served as Deputy General Counsel in the White House Office of Management and Budget.  There he handled a wide range of regulatory, budgetary and legal policy matters; mediated interagency disputes; and formulated Presidential Executive Orders.  Marc has also worked at the United States Department of Justice as Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Policy, and as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Division.  The Attorney General presented Marc with the John Marshall Award, the Department of Justice’s highest award for trial of litigation.

Previously, Marc worked as an attorney at a Washington, DC law firm.  He began his legal career as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Julia S. Gibbons, then the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

A native of Memphis, Marc graduated with high honors from Cornell University, and with honors from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  He currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Dallas Symphony Association and on the Committee of 30 for Dallas CASA.  Marc and his wife, Risa, reside in Dallas with their two children.