Ice Miller hires Jennifer Fredericks for business development role

Jennifer Fredericks joined Ice Miller LLP last month to take on the newly created role of director of business development for public finance.

Fredericks left Bank of New York Mellon, where she was a vice president of business development for the corporate trust group, to take the Ice Miller position. At BNY Mellon she led corporate trust business development efforts for public finance and municipal not-for-profits with an additional focus on project finance and public-private partnerships.

“Jennifer’s experience, industry knowledge and contacts are unparalleled and will be immensely helpful to the firm as we continue to grow this practice,” said Jane Herndon, a partner at the Indianapolis-based firm and chair of the firm’s public finance practice. Fredericks is based in Chicago.

“This was a unique opportunity for me to continue to use my experience and industry knowledge in a new setting and learn a different side of the industry,” Fredericks said. “I will continue to use my understanding of deal structures, project finance and P3 knowledge to help Ice Miller grow its well-established practice.”

Before joining BNY Mellon in 2018, she served as regional president and vice president of product program and retail operations for the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana for six years.

Fredericks previously worked for six years at JPMorgan, where she was an assistant vice president of securities and managed a team of relationship managers. Fredericks is also an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Calumet College of Saint Joseph, where she graduated with a bachelor of science. She earned her master’s degree in business administration from Purdue University Northwest.

Fredericks also serves on the Women in Public Finance board.

Ice Miller’s hiring of Fredericks follows its June hiring of a seven-member team of rebate compliance specialists from BNY Mellon to expand its on-the-ground expertise in the sector. BNY Mellon had recently announced that it was exiting the arbitrage rebate field. Fredericks hiring was not related, Ice Miller said.

The firm ranked ninth last year among bond counsel in the Midwest credited, with 230 deals valued at $3.4 billion and was the top-ranked firm in Indiana, according to data from Refinitiv. The firm has 340 legal professionals in its seven offices covering 20 practice areas.