Whiting To Be Graham Media General Counsel

Heidi Schmid Whiting today was named VP-general counsel of Graham Media Group, effective Aug. 31. John Ronayne is retiring from that role and will become VP-senior counsel of the company before retiring next spring.

Emily Barr, president-CEO of Graham Media Group, said: “Heidi comes to GMG with a wealth of legal experience. Her knowledge of and practical experience working with cable and telecommunications businesses will prove extremely valuable to us as we continue to navigate the ever-changing landscape of broadcast TV, retransmission consent negotiations and the array of OTT and internet options. I am thrilled to have her join the team.”

For the past seven years, Whiting has been with the law offices of Cinnamon Mueller, a firm serving independent communications and technology companies. She has been managing partner for the past four years. Whiting was responsible for the firm’s financial management, business development and management of its attorneys. Her practice involved the representation of broadcast, telecommunications and technology companies, as well as working with independent cable operators and municipal cable providers. She handled transactional, regulatory and litigation matters, and dealt with the FCC, and state and local regulatory bodies.

Previously, Whiting spent several years at Mudd Law Offices in Chicago, where she worked on defamation, libel and slander, as well as IP matters, e-commerce and identity theft. Earlier, she worked for three years as a financial analyst in the controller division of Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York.

Whiting graduated cum laude from Villanova University with a B.A. in English and business and earned her law degree with honors as a dean’s scholar from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. A member of the Chicago Bar Association and Federal Communications Bar Association, she is active in several Chicago area trade associations and nonprofits.