BakerHostetler announced that Mark Hatcher was elected managing partner of the firm’s Columbus, Ohio office, effective Jan. 1, 2022. He will succeed Gary Wadman, whose term is expiring at the end of the year.
“I am honored to have led the Columbus office for the past three years and am extremely proud of everything we have accomplished, especially given the extraordinary challenges of a global pandemic,” said Wadman. “I am pleased that Mark will be my successor. We have worked together closely over the years, and as I return primarily to client service I do it knowing that the lawyers and staff in Columbus will be in great hands.”
Hatcher is a business lawyer, trusted counselor and strategic adviser to corporations, boards of directors and senior executives on matters ranging from corporate governance, real estate development and affordable housing, to health care and higher education.
A native of Detroit, Hatcher has been an Ohioan for nearly three decades and has strong ties to the Columbus community. Since 2016, he has been chairman of the board of trustees of Central State University and chairs both the Columbus Next Generation Development Corporation and the Isabelle Ridgway Foundation.
“Mark Hatcher has proven himself to be a strategic leader and a staunch advocate for his clients and for many organizations within the Greater Columbus area. Mark also embodies the firm’s core values, including our longstanding commitment to fostering an inclusive environment in which everyone can thrive,” said Paul Schmidt, chairman of BakerHostetler.
“Mark’s wealth of professional experience and community involvement make him the right person for this important position,” said Joseph Ezzie, a Columbus-based litigation partner and member of BakerHostetler’s Policy Committee (Board of Directors). “Mark is well-known in central Ohio and he is a thought leader on diversity, equity and inclusion. His fresh perspective will allow us to meaningfully address important issues, to expand our culture and respond to the needs of our clients.”
Hatcher works with several community organizations that advocate and advance diversity, equity and inclusion issues, including the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council of the United Way of Central Ohio, The Ohio State University Buckeye Research Venture Mentoring Program and the Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council.
Hatcher received an LL.M. in Business and Taxation, with honors, from Capital University Law School, a J.D., cum laude, from Capital University Law School, where he was the Business Editor of the Capital University Law Review; a Master of Criminal Justice from Tiffin University and a B.A. from The Ohio State University.
“In the past 16 years, I have come to know the partners here in Columbus, as well as nationally, very well. I am extremely proud to be a part of the firm and of the work we do for our clients,” said Hatcher. “Thanks to the hard work and leadership of Gary Wadman, I will be taking over a well-run office and I look forward to continuing to lead BakerHostetler’s Columbus practice to success.”
Hatcher has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America each year since 2019 in the areas of Health Law and Business Organizations and listed among the best lawyers in central Ohio by Columbus Business First in 2019. He is a 2016 Fellow of the Leadership Council for Legal Diversity and was twice named to Savoy Magazine‘s list of “Most Influential Black Lawyers in America” (in 2015 and 2018) and he received the Leadership Excellence Award from the Ohio Diversity Council in 2017.
