Board of Directors
Tom Matarelli
President
Tom is has been part of ACEDS Central Texas since moving here in 2021, and became Board President this Spring. Tom is an eDiscovery executive in the legal technology and forensic accounting space. Tom has had leadership roles in both services and software, currently serving as Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at Reveal and recently lead the global advisory segment for Relativity.
Tom is a consultant at heart, bringing financial analysis, forensics, legal and technology leadership to help companies modernize their workflows and delivering first class legal services.
Laura Fichet
Vice President
Laura is a seasoned litigation technologist with 14 years of expertise in legal operations. Laura specialize in empowering legal teams to work more efficiently through innovative solutions and holistic matter management. Her extensive experience spans across the eDiscovery landscape and the full spectrum of legal lifecycle technologies, where I have consistently implemented best practices, standard operating procedures, and protocols.
A a senior director at Oracle, her primary focus is on building legal service delivery models and project execution strategies to contribute to Oracle's legal success, consistently delivering high-impact results that align with organizational goals.
Jeff Hirvela
Secretary
Jeff is long term Discovery profession who joined our ACEDS Board this spring. He is currently a senior Director for Epiq, a worldwide provider of legal and business services, serving law firms, corporations, financial institutions and government agencies. Jeff has a long trac record of helping his clients streamline the administration of business operations, class action and mass tort, court reporting, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, legal transformation, and bankruptcy matters.
Zach Keshner
Treasurer
Zach joined our Board this spring. He is an experienced leader in the eDiscovery and legal technology space, with over a decade of expertise in client success, project management, and eDiscovery managed services.
Currently serving as Program Director at Consilio, Zach oversees critical programs, driving efficiency and innovation while building strong client relationships. Throughout his career, Zach has held leadership roles at organizations such as Lineal and DISCO, where he managed complex client portfolios, led cross-functional teams, and delivered high-impact solutions in fast-paced environments. In addition, Zach serves as Treasurer and Board Member for ACEDS Central Texas Chapter, contributing to the advancement of industry standards and best practices. He is passionate about leveraging technology to solve legal challenges, creating value for clients, and cultivating high-performing teams that excel in delivering results.
Samantha Windham
PR and Marketing Director
Samantha Windham is a seasoned professional in the legal technology and e-discovery sectors, currently serving as an Account Director at Epiq in the Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area. With a deep understanding of the complexities of the legal landscape, Samantha is dedicated to providing innovative solutions that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of legal processes.
Her prior role as a Regional Sales Executive at DISCO allowed her to focus on the intersection of technology and law, where she played a vital role in helping legal teams navigate e-discovery and case management challenges. Samantha’s experience at Thomson Reuters further solidified her expertise, where she worked closely with legal professionals to drive compliance and improve case outcomes.
As a Board Member and Director of Marketing for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), Samantha is committed to advancing the field of e-discovery and promoting best practices among legal professionals. Her leadership in this role reflects her passion for education and advocacy within the legal community.
With a strong foundation in legal technology and a focus on delivering value to clients, Samantha is dedicated to enhancing the practice of law through innovation and collaboration.
Jason Atchley
Membership Director
Jason is an accomplished executive with more than 15 years of proven experience in executive leadership, technical sales, operations, and sales support. Jason focuses his efforts on market-facing sales activities with an emphasis on bringing solutions to clients and their counsel, both at law firms and corporate legal departments. Jason is a Senior Manager at Alvarez & Marsals.
Laura Ewing-Pearle
Director at Large
Laura joined the ACEDS board this spring an brings a wealth of big-law experience to the team. Her resume lists many fantastic achievements in her twenty-something-year career, with many successes have been in leadership roles in industries ranging from tech to toys. She loves to travel and have worked with multiple software apps for several year, She has created strategic reviews, project roadmaps and quality control processes. She is a quick learner of almost anything extremely quickly (except nuclear fusion & winning fantasy baseball). Laura is a Manager, eDiscovery at Baker Botts in Austin.
Jennifer Williams
Director at Large
Jennifer Williams is the Director of Practice Support & Office Services at Vinson & Elkins, LLP. Jennifer joined V&E in March 1999, originally as a member of the IT training and technical support team in Austin. She has been a part of the litigation and practice support group since 2004, and became the firm-wide director of the Practice Support Group in 2007. In 2008, she also became firm-wide director of Office Services. Jennifer directs all aspects of litigation support technology and electronic discovery for V&E. She works extensively with legal teams and clients, and provides both education and consultation (internally and externally) on all phases of electronic discovery and information governance. Jennifer has been a Certified E-Discovery Specialist through the ACEDS organization since 2017. She also provides oversight for reprographics and mail functions in the Office Services department firm-wide.
Adrian Skinner
Director at Large
Adrian Skinner is an electronic discovery specialist with the State of Texas Attoney General. He has a deep knowledge of information systems and end user data following 10 years of experience as an IT project manager with Motorola and Computer Sciences Corporation.
Adrian has been an eDiscovery professional since 2008 and worked on some of the most demanding eDiscovery projects between 2008 and 2012 including sub-prime lending investigations, insider trading, DOJ Second Requests, complex construction litigation, bankruptcy, intellectual property, and insurance litigation. He has spent the last 7 years helping the Texas Attorney General expand and modernize their eDiscovery practice.
Adrian graduated summa cum laude from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas with a bachelors in business management.
John Addington
Director at Large
John Addington is a Corporate Ediscovery Advisor currently with Corning’s litigation department. Working in the ediscovery field for many years on the vendor, law firm and corporation sides have provided Mr. Addington a unique perspective and broad area of expertise. He takes the lead in introducing new technologies and processes to improve efficiencies, and reduce costs in the corporate arena.
Additionally, Mr. Addington testifies as a corporate representative on ediscovery and knowledge governance topics and often publishes and presents on these topics. He is a Certified Electronic Discovery Specialist and was on a past ACEDS committee that revised the certification criteria.
Previous to Corning, Mr. Addington worked at Dell, where he directly managed the ediscovery in Dell’s largest litigation matters. As a result, Mr. Addington was a regular recipient of the annual Michael Dell Champion Award in recognition of superior performance.