We recently caught up with Nancy Sanborn (NY, ’91), who retired earlier this year as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at the Church Pension Group. Nancy began her career at J.P. Morgan before going to law school and joining Davis Polk.
Read on to learn about Nancy’s career journey, her mentors and what she’s looking forward to in retirement.
You left Davis Polk in 2011 to join the Church Pension Group. Tell us about what prompted that move and what your day-to-day was like as Chief Legal Officer.
After I’d been at Davis Polk for almost 20 years, a recruiter called to ask if I might have any interest in the Chief Legal Officer position at the Church Pension Group. I didn’t know anything about the company, which is a nonprofit that provides pensions, health benefits, property and casualty insurance and life insurance (and also publishing) to support the Episcopal Church. But I happened to know personally, and have a great deal of respect for, the company’s Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Investment Officer. I also knew that the Church Pension Group was a client of Davis Polk, although I’d never worked with them. It felt meaningful to me because I grew up as an Episcopalian and the company’s role is to support the Episcopal Church, its clergy and lay employees in pursuing their good work.
Every day at the Church Pension Group was different, which I enjoyed. I had an experienced legal team who could generally provide day-to-day legal advice to the businesses, which allowed me to devote more of my time to other matters. That included, for example, corporate governance, such as planning, attending and following up on board and committee meetings; strategic issues and transformational projects, organization-wide policies and some (fortunately limited) litigation; and advising on the Canons (laws) and related matters of the Episcopal Church and fiduciary considerations involving our work with the Church.
How did your experience at Davis Polk prepare you for your role as Chief Legal Officer?
When I joined the Church Pension Group, I’d had limited experience with the laws and regulations applicable to the company’s businesses, and I didn’t expect my finance, bankruptcy and restructuring and M&A experience to be of much relevance. But I quickly discovered that my varied experiences, both at J.P. Morgan and at Davis Polk, were invaluable in preparing me for the role of Chief Legal Officer.
There were instances when my specific transactional work at Davis Polk was directly relevant to my work at the Church Pension Group. As examples, my work with private equity firms at Davis Polk was very helpful to me in advising on investment matters; I applied my M&A experience when we tried to sell one of our businesses and acquired an office condominium; and I even used my bankruptcy experience when the Church Pension Fund was named a defendant in the Tribune Company chapter 11 and our insurance company was a creditor in the Boy Scouts chapter 11.
More important, though, was my general training as a lawyer at Davis Polk and my exposure to a wide range of companies, people, transactions and experiences. At Davis Polk, I learned from so many skilled lawyers how to draft contracts and write effectively, how to negotiate, how to make smart decisions in the face of uncertainty, how to analyze issues from multiple perspectives and consider alternative solutions, how to work with teams and manage projects, and so much more. All of this I used every day.
Prior to attending law school, you worked in finance at J.P. Morgan. Tell us what prompted you to transition to a legal career.
I joined J.P. Morgan right out of college. I was interested in business and planned to go to business school after a few years as a banker. I had not considered law school at that time. I eventually became involved with bankruptcy and restructuring work at J.P. Morgan, which meant I was working with a lot of lawyers, and I really enjoyed it. As I thought about my next steps professionally, I realized that I preferred the lawyers’ work to my own – I liked digging deeper, understanding why and thinking through the implications of the legal documents.
What advice have you received in the past that has served you well in your career?
At one point, Bonnie Hurry, who led a team responsible for Davis Polk’s legal recruiting and professional development, gathered a group of colleagues and asked us to share important advice we’d received. One piece of advice from that event has always stuck with me: When you manage people, your role is to ensure that those people have the resources they need to do a great job. Those resources, broadly defined, may include access to information, other people, technology, etc. It’s such a simple point, but it has reminded me many times that the role of a manager is not to do the work of the team or micromanage, it is to empower your people to excel.
Was there an individual (or individuals) at Davis Polk who played an especially important mentoring role for you during your time at the firm?
There were many people at Davis Polk who were important to me. If I must name just a few, I’ll start with Bob Levine, who was a partner in the restructuring group. I will always be grateful to Bob. I first worked with him when I was a banker at J.P. Morgan and a client of Davis Polk. Bob’s enthusiasm for his work as a lawyer was instrumental in persuading me that I should consider law school. He showed me that practicing law can be challenging, interesting and fun too!
As I was considering which firm to join after law school, Bob’s enthusiasm for the firm and his work were important to me in choosing Davis Polk.
From my arrival at Davis Polk until Bob’s retirement in 2002, he would frequently stop by my office just to check in, and he was always available to answer questions and provide guidance and support. I really appreciated his taking the time, and I valued his advice.
I also have fond memories of the mentorship provided by Brad Smith and Charlie Hoppin, partners in Davis Polk’s finance practice, who were instrumental in teaching me the importance of ensuring that legal writing is clear and direct in articulating our clients’ business deal. I’ll never forget the excitement in Charlie’s eyes when he exclaimed to me: “I really love a well-drafted agreement!”
While at Davis Polk, you were part of multiple practice groups before becoming a partner in Mergers & Acquisitions. Tell us about what prompted those changes in practice groups.
My love of bankruptcy and restructuring work at J.P. Morgan prompted my interest in doing that type of work as a lawyer. I joined what was then called the Credit Department at Davis Polk, because the restructuring group was part of that department and also because it’s important for new lawyers to learn the legal fundamentals of credit and financing to be effective at restructuring and bankruptcy work.
My timing was not great, however. With each passing year after I joined Davis Polk, the U.S. and global economies strengthened, and by the late 1990s there were very few bankruptcies and therefore limited need for restructuring lawyers. The M&A market, on the other hand, was booming as the digital economy grew and transformed the way we worked and lived – it was the so-called “dotcom” boom. I stepped in to help the M&A team with quite a few transactions during that period, so by the time I was invited to become a partner in 1999, I was asked to be a partner in the M&A practice group – and I was happy to accept!
I remained in the M&A group until I left Davis Polk in 2011, but I continued to keep a toe in the bankruptcy waters, advising clients on acquisitions of companies in financial distress, including chapter 11, and helping the bankruptcy and restructuring team when they became stretched.
What are you looking forward to and what are you enjoying in retirement?
I retired at the beginning of 2025, so life in retirement is still a bit of a work-in-progress, with lots to look forward to! I love the time and flexibility that retirement offers, which has allowed me to spend more time with family members, including my husband and 96-year-old mother (who, I’m happy to report, continues to be reasonably healthy and live independently).
It has been wonderful to discover that I now have the time to pause for conversations. Too much of life pre-retirement was about execution and moving from one activity to the next, whether at work or in my personal life. Recent health issues have prevented me from playing golf, hiking and doing various other outdoor activities that I enjoy, including travel, so I am most looking forward to taking advantage of those opportunities once again. In the meantime, I’m enjoying time spent with others, my work on several boards, volunteering for a local history museum, learning Mah Jongg, doing a bit of gardening, reading and enjoying New York City – much more so now that I have the time!