Kristen Shaheen
Transforming complexity into clarity.
Fractional Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, and executive advisor to founders, CEOs, and boards navigating growth, governance, and global complexity across high-growth companies, technology ventures, and mission-driven organizations alike.
About
Kristen Shaheen is a six-time Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel who has built and led legal, privacy, and compliance functions for high-growth technology companies and mission-driven organizations. Over a 15-year career spanning private equity-backed and venture-backed companies across North America, EMEA, and APAC, she has served as a trusted advisor to Boards, CEOs, and executive leadership teams on complex regulatory, governance, and organizational matters.
Her work spans the full spectrum of legal leadership: from standing up legal functions at first-in-house-counsel stage to navigating multi-jurisdictional M&A, enterprise compliance programs, and board governance. She holds CIPP/US and CIPP/E certifications and has completed executive education in Generative AI for Legal Professionals at Berkeley Law and Legal Foundations of Nonprofit Organizations at Georgetown Law.
Kristen currently serves as a Board Member and Legal Advisor to Together Estranged and brings active nonprofit governance experience to every engagement with mission-driven organizations.
Who She Works With
- High-growth and scaling technology companies
- PE-backed and venture-backed B2B organizations
- Companies building or expanding their in-house legal function
- Organizations navigating M&A, restructuring, or global expansion
- Nonprofit and mission-driven organizations
- Boards and executive teams requiring senior governance counsel
How She Helps
- Build legal, compliance, and governance functions from the ground up
- Lead or support M&A transactions, due diligence, and post-integration compliance
- Design and implement privacy frameworks across global jurisdictions
- Advise Boards and executive teams on fiduciary duty and organizational governance
- Establish enterprise compliance programs covering cybersecurity, anti-corruption, and ESG
- Align legal strategy with organizational mission, growth objectives, and stakeholder interests
Why Kristen
Organizations at inflection points — scaling rapidly, entering new markets, navigating transactions, or building governance infrastructure for the first time — need legal leadership that is both technically precise and strategically grounded.
Kristen has led multiple cross-border M&A transactions across North American, European, and Asia-Pacific markets, built enterprise-wide privacy frameworks meeting GDPR, CCPA, and emerging global standards, and guided organizations through complex employment, compliance, and restructuring matters across more than 13 international jurisdictions. Concurrent with Legal, she has held operational responsibilityfor Human Resources, Security, IT, Business Operations, Procurement, and Facilities, bringing a cross-functional perspective that goes well beyond traditional legal advisory work.
For nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, Kristen brings deep familiarity with the governance, fiduciary, and compliance landscape specific to the sector, combined with the operational sophistication of a seasoned technology executive. The result is legal leadership that protects the organization, enables growth, and keeps the mission at the center.