Leslie Marie Turner is currently in what she identifies as her “preferment” status—the opportunity to do as she prefers—spending time with family, friends, and in service with select organizations. She is a Board Member for the Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corporation and serves on the Boards of a number of nonprofit institutions, including the Bay Park Conservancy in Sarasota, FL, Manor College in Jenkintown, PA, and Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, AL. 

From 2012 to 2018, Tuner served as senior vice president and general counsel for the Hershey Company. Before her role with Hershey, she served as associate general counsel for the Coca-Cola Company’s Bottling Investments Group and then as chief legal officer of Coca-Cola North America. 

She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable William C. Pryor, former Chief Judge of the D.C. Court of Appeals in 1985. In 1986, Turner joined Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld’s litigation practice group and in 1993, she accepted the U.S. Senate-confirmed position of assistant secretary for the Office of Territorial and International Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior. She became counselor to then-Secretary Bruce Babbitt and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs within the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1995. 

Turner is the recipient of numerous professional awards, including the Lifetime Achievement General Counsel Recognition Award from the NYSE Governance Services, Legends in the Law Award from the Burton Awards, the Wiley A. Branton Award, M. Ashley Dickerson Award, Diamond Award from Corporate Counsel Women of Color, and the Paul R. Dean and Women Alumnae awards from Georgetown University Law Center. 

She earned a B.S. from New York University, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Master of Laws in Law and Government from American University. She is a member of the Board of Regents with Georgetown University, member and most recent chair of the Board of Visitors with Georgetown University Law Center, and a Trustee at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.