College of Business

Meadow Clendenin Stahlnecker (’99) may have started out a small-town girl from Monmouth, Ore. but she never intended to stay that way. From the time she was a Portland Rose Festival Princess as a high school senior, she had plans for big things, so it comes as no surprise that she landed in the big state of Texas, where she is now an attorney with Patton Boggs, LLP.

While becoming an attorney was not always her goal, she knew she wanted to be in business. After graduating from the Oregon State University College of Business,

Stahlnecker worked five years in risk and insurance brokerage for Marsh, where her role involved working with outside and in-house counsel.

“I was trying to decide if I was going to go to business school or law school, and many of the clients I worked with at Marsh had law degrees and they were still practicing business,” said Stahlnecker. “I thought a law degree would provide flexibility for my long- term career.”

She was lured to law school at Emory University by the Georgia sunshine and the school’s technology transfer program. Having worked with emerging technology companies at Marsh and wanting to relocate somewhere in the Sun Belt, it seemed like a good fit.

The experience gained through
the TI:GER (technological innovation generating economic results) program while at Emory proved to be an important part in Stahlnecker’s education. As a member of a team that took part in business plan competitions, they created a business plan that focused on developing imaging agents for cancer.

While sitting at dinner during a competition at the University of Padua in Italy with the investors that sponsored the competition, Stahlnecker realized the magnitude of the work they had done.

“We were competing with teams from all over the world, and sitting at that dinner I realized that these people really truly believed in our idea and, in some cases, more than we did. I think if we would have asked, we could have

gotten a check to build our business,” Stahlnecker recalled.

Stahlnecker also recognizes that the TI:GER program emulates what she most appreciates about OSU.

“That is the culture that OSU continues to promote, focusing on supporting small business in Oregon and creating the incubators for businesses, and recognizing that you may not have all the Fortune 500 companies in your backyard, but what you do have are the people who are thinking about an idea while they are at their day

job and working on it in their garage on the weekends,” said Stahlnecker. “Those are the people that are going to continue to fuel the economy.”

As she finished law school and sought a company to intern with, Stahlnecker interviewed with Patton Boggs, LLP in Texas.

“I wanted to work on big deals, so
I was going to move to California or Texas,” Stahlnecker said. “I knew Pat- ton Boggs had a great financial institution practice.”

She moved to Texas in May 2007, studied for the bar that fall, started with Patton Boggs that summer and has been a business transaction attorney with the firm since.

Stahlnecker is also extremely committed to volunteering and providing pro bono legal services.

“I think that with privilege comes responsibility, and I’ve been fortunate in my career. I feel privileged to have an excellent education, I think it’s important to pay it forward to those less fortunate,” Stahlnecker explains.