Bahara Stapelberg

General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer for mission-driven institutions, principal advisor to Presidents, Trustees, and Cabinets on the decisions that protect the enterprise and advance its purpose. I currently serve as Chief Counsel, Vice President of Compliance & Policy, and Corporate Secretary at Pacifica Graduate Institute, a WASC-accredited, BPPE-approved California graduate institution. I report to the President/CEO and the Board of Trustees and sit on the Executive Leadership Team. Private higher education in California lives at the intersection of two regulatory regimes: federal (DOE Title IV, Title IX, Title VI, FERPA, Clery/VAWA, ADA/Section 504, Title VII, FLSA, FMLA) and California (FEHA, Cal-OSHA, CFRA/PDL, CCPA/CPRA, BPPE). Few markets demand dual fluency at this depth. It is where I do my best work. Selected outcomes at Pacifica: · $3M+ in legal savings in year one through preventive law, outside counsel restructuring, and risk mitigation· Principal legal counsel on a $6M multi-site real estate transaction, deal structure, due diligence, vendor agreements, and regulatory compliance· In collaboration with the Board of Trustees, built the institution's AI governance framework addressing academic integrity, legal and regulatory compliance, vendor due diligence, and generative-AI risk among others My path here is deliberately non-linear. I practiced as a corporate and securities attorney at a Southern California business firm, served as in-house counsel and corporate strategist to a hospitality group (including an $8M multi-jurisdictional resort sale), and served as Executive Director of SurfAid International, a board-governed nonprofit operating across four countries. I then earned my MBA at UVA Darden focusing on asset management. What you get when you hire me: a lawyer who reads a balance sheet, a regulation, and a room with equal fluency, who builds legal teams and compliance systems that scale, and who has sat on the client side long enough to know what it costs when counsel gets it wrong. Admitted: State of California (Bar No. 232826), active and in good standing.Education: UVA Darden (MBA) • Chapman University School of Law (JD) • UCLA (BA).  Contact: baharas@mac.com; 949 697-7724