Shari Wynne

CEO + MANAGING PARTNER

Shari Wynne is the CEO + Managing Partner of MWR Legal. Ms. Wynne’s entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to helping people achieve success drives the firm’s purpose, vision and mission.  Ms. Wynne is responsible for strategic planning and manages the execution of firm activities, including client service and development.

Ms. Wynne is a self-made, serial entrepreneur, starting her first business at the age of 16.  She co-founded MWR Legal in 1996, with the goal of serving all clients with the same skill, vigor and intelligence that benefits the largest companies in the world.  In 2006, she created 6Degrees Connect, a personalized referral match company founded to connect the firm’s small business clients with proven, vetted service providers.  In October of 2011, Ms. Wynne and MWR Legal will launch Incubation Station, an industry focused success-accelerator that connects entrepreneurs with the industry resources and mentorship needed to succeed.

Ms. Wynne is a Past President of the Austin Chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a global association of business owners; past co-Chair of the Austin Business Journal’s Fast-Fifty Executive Advisory Board and is the current president of RISE: Women, dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs.  Ms. Wynne has been honored on multiple occasions for her service to the Austin Entrepreneurial Community.

Ms. Wynne, along with Richard Ressler, the firm’s Managing General Counsel, provides legal services to the firm’s clients.  She often partners with outside consultants to lead Funding Consultations and Strategic Growth Consultations with MWR Legal clients, not only analyzing legal issues but guiding critical business decisions. 

Ms. Wynne started her legal career as an attorney for the Plan Benefits Security Division of the U.S. Department of Labor, where she litigated on behalf of the Secretary of Labor, breach of Title I of ERISA, fiduciary duty matters in connection with the investment and/or administration of pension plan assets. Thereafter, Ms. Wynne was associated with the national law firms of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson, as well as McDermott, Will & Emery. She practiced employee benefits law with a focus on fiduciary issues, and other Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) and Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issues such as funding, diversification, compliance, tax qualification and plan termination in connection with corporate/real estate transactions. 

Ms. Wynne was honored with the Labor Secretary’s Exceptional Achievement Award as the co-counsel in one of the leading cases in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals with respect to the fiduciary status and obligations of plan fiduciaries; see, Reich v. Lancaster, 843 F. Supp. 194 (N.D. Tex. 1993), aff’d, 55 F.3d 1034 (5th Cir. 1995).  

Ms. Wynne received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Davis and her Juris Doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley “Boalt Hall” School of Law.