Tara Plimpton Named Woman of Impact

By Candace Higginbotham 

Alabama-based Yellowhammer News recently announced its annual Women of Impact awards, and this year’s list includes Regions Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Tara Plimpton.

According to Yellowhammer News, Women of Impact recognizes the women in Alabama whose contributions have earned the authority and power to move the needle in their industry. “Our mission is to illuminate the personal and professional advancements of 20 women across business, government and nonprofit sectors each year.”

Yellowhammer noted that Plimpton was honored for her leadership and service to the community.

As a direct report of the CEO, Plimpton plays a key role in strategy and decision making for Regions Bank. Her areas of responsibility include all Legal matters, Government Affairs, Corporate Governance and Reputation Management. Plimpton and her team also manage the operations of subpoena processing and eDiscovery. As Corporate Secretary, Plimpton provides counsel to the Regions Board of Directors, ensuring it has the resources to fulfill its fiduciary duties.

Plimpton says that she recognizes she would not be where she is without significant mentorship and sponsorship from others, and that has meaningfully influenced her leadership style. Inclusion and broadening talent pools are key areas of focus. She frequently speaks about the value proposition for an inclusive workforce and how that impacts a company’s ability to compete and create better products and services for its customers.

“Early in my career, I realized that high-performing teams thrive when there is wide range of thought, experience and background,” Plimpton said.

Early in my career, I realized that high-performing teams thrive when there is wide range of thought, experience and background.

Tara Plimpton, Regions Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary

Plimpton recently oversaw the Regions Legal team’s achievement of Mansfield Rule Legal Department Edition certification, a well-known national movement to expand opportunities in hiring, development activities and outside counsel engagements, which is modeled after the Mansfield Rule for law firms. The Mansfield Rule guidelines do not include hiring mandates or goals for overall departmental makeup – but promote efforts to broaden opportunities for inclusive candidate pools, professional development and advancement.

“Obtaining Mansfield certification was a significant accomplishment for the team,” Plimpton said. “It was a lot of work, but it demonstrates a real operational focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and shows the practical value a good DEI program brings to the business.”

Plimpton helped launch the first Women of Regions Symposium, serves as the executive sponsor for the Regions South Florida DEI Network and continues to lead the Partnerships in the Profession program, which drives dialogue about diversity, equity and inclusion issues among members of the Birmingham legal community.

As a result of these efforts, Corporate Counsel named Plimpton a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion as part of its 2022 Women, Influence and Power in Law Awards.

Community engagement is another priority for Plimpton. She has served on the Georgetown advisory council, the Atlanta Women’s Care Network and the Board of Directors of the Atlanta United Way. She served as a Cabinet Member for the Birmingham United Way and led the Legal Division for the 2022 Campaign.

We’re so fortunate to have a leader like Tara who not only effectively manages a broad and complex Legal environment at Regions, but also mentors associates and continually sets a positive example for our team with her inclusion and community focus.

Andrew Nix, Regions Chief Governance Officer

Plimpton has been instrumental in the Regions Legal team’s community support efforts, including overseeing programs that provide financial education to inmates at an Alabama women’s prison and doing hands-on work with the Boys & Girls Club.

Plimpton was recently selected to participate in Leadership Alabama, an organization made up of Alabama’s most accomplished and forward-thinking leaders who share a strong commitment in serving the people of the state.

Chief Governance Officer Andrew Nix leads the Legal department’s Culture and Equity Team and praises Plimpton’s leadership. “We’re so fortunate to have a leader like Tara who not only effectively manages a broad and complex Legal environment at Regions, but also mentors associates and continually sets a positive example for our team with her inclusion and community focus,” Nix said. “I’m so pleased she has been recognized for those efforts by being named to the Yellowhammer News Women of Impact.”

The Yellowhammer News Women of Impact were honored at a dinner and ceremony in Birmingham on Jan. 25.