Tracy Pyle

She additionally advises on governance of subsidiaries and joint ventures to help companies to minimize risk, increase efficiencies, and find value. Tracy works with owners, board members, and management teams to improve ways of working and help achieve strategic goals. Prior to joining Ankura, Tracy practiced law at Hogan Lovells, where she advised clients on joint ventures, public and private mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance matters. Tracy is based in Washington, DC.

Tracy joined Ankura with the firm’s 2020 acquisition of Water Street Partners.

Tracy’s professional experience includes:

• Advised an aerospace and defense company regarding the potential formation a joint venture in the Middle East, including developing deal concepts, advising on negotiation strategy, serving as lead negotiation facilitator, and managing process to develop a business plan for the venture.
• Advised a hydrogen joint venture regarding changes to its operating and governance model, including defining options for the go-forward model for owners, facilitating negotiations among partners, detailing out the preferred model, and defining an implementation plan.
• Conducted an assessment of a supermajor oil and gas company’s governance of its portfolio of non-operated joint ventures and provided recommendations to assist the company with implementing best practices to reduce the company’s risk and increase its ability to add value to its non-operated assets.
• Counseled a mining company on the structure and terms to propose for a joint venture to be formed as a result of a partial divestment of an existing company asset; terms were used as part of competitive bidding process to inform bidding partners’ views on how go-forward collaboration would work.
• Advised the board of directors of an over $100 billion oil and gas joint venture regarding joint venture governance, with a focus on helping the board effectively manage the venture while simultaneously planning for a major change regarding joint venture operations.
• Conducted an assessment of the CEO and Leadership Team of a financial services firm; made recommendations related to leadership team workings, engagement with firm owners, CEO leadership skills, and the planning cycle for the company to improve stakeholder relationships and effectiveness.
• Developed a set of processes and standards related to entry into and management of joint ventures for a growing Middle Eastern natural resources company; such processes and standards included a joint venture stage gate process to define approvals required when entering into a venture, a joint venture major clauses guide to set minimum standards for joint venture agreements, and a joint venture manager handbook for management of existing ventures.
• Advised one partner in a 50:50 chemicals joint venture after a material dispute between such partner and the other partner had eroded partner trust and affected joint venture governance; provided options for ways to restructure the venture’s governance system to restore partner collaboration, mitigate risk, and follow joint venture governance best practices.