Full Name
Jessica Gonzalez
Job Title
Managing Counsel
Company
bp
Speaker Bio
Jess has been an in-house counsel at bp since 2004. She is the Managing Counsel of a team of US attorneys who support the environmental, health, and safety regulatory compliance issues across most of bp’s US businesses, as well as commercial issues generally at bp’s US refineries, terminals, and pipelines. All of her work requires strong communication skills, team-building capabilities, and the management of diverse business, technical, and legal interests. She is currently the co-Chair of the bp Legal America’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Committee. She is also a core member of the Chicago chapter of the bp Women’s Network (bp WIN), where she has primary responsibility for distributing the chapter’s communications.
Outside of bp, she seeks to give back to the Latino community, especially the Latino lawyers coming up through the ranks. She is currently the Chair of the Selection Committee for the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois (HLSF), leading the team that reviews the applications and conducts the interviews of current law students seeking financial support for law school education. She was featured in the March/April 2016 and Q1 2019 editions of Hispanic Executive, where she spoke of her family background, her fortuitous educational opportunities, and the soft skills necessary to be successful in a large corporate environment.
Prior to joining bp, she was an Associate at Winston & Strawn LLP. She earned her law degree from Stanford Law School, where she was the Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review and the co-President of the Environmental Law Society. She earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s School of Public and Internal Affairs. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and the product of the Chicago Public Schools “gifted program” elementary curriculum. She is an active member of several of her alma maters’ alumni associations, including Princeton Diversity Discussions, Princeton Prize in Race Relations, and the Princeton Club of Chicago’s Director of Diversity Initiatives.
Jess is a native Chicagoan who grew up in Portage Park/Belmont-Cragin. She is the first person in her immediate family to go to college, let alone law school or boarding school. She has lived in Old Town since returning to Chicago after law school and currently shares her condo with three cats, many books, and almost always full DVR and streaming accounts.
Outside of bp, she seeks to give back to the Latino community, especially the Latino lawyers coming up through the ranks. She is currently the Chair of the Selection Committee for the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois (HLSF), leading the team that reviews the applications and conducts the interviews of current law students seeking financial support for law school education. She was featured in the March/April 2016 and Q1 2019 editions of Hispanic Executive, where she spoke of her family background, her fortuitous educational opportunities, and the soft skills necessary to be successful in a large corporate environment.
Prior to joining bp, she was an Associate at Winston & Strawn LLP. She earned her law degree from Stanford Law School, where she was the Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review and the co-President of the Environmental Law Society. She earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s School of Public and Internal Affairs. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and the product of the Chicago Public Schools “gifted program” elementary curriculum. She is an active member of several of her alma maters’ alumni associations, including Princeton Diversity Discussions, Princeton Prize in Race Relations, and the Princeton Club of Chicago’s Director of Diversity Initiatives.
Jess is a native Chicagoan who grew up in Portage Park/Belmont-Cragin. She is the first person in her immediate family to go to college, let alone law school or boarding school. She has lived in Old Town since returning to Chicago after law school and currently shares her condo with three cats, many books, and almost always full DVR and streaming accounts.
Speaking At
